Épisode L'alchimie du passé S02E01 - Mutant X Saison 2

                                              Past As Prologue  



[Opening Scene: The elaborate mansion of millionaire Neil Varady. Looking through the drawing room’s window, Shalimar watches Gabriel Ashlocke intimidating Neil with an energy ball as three of Gabriel’s mutant followers wait.]

Neil Varady: Don’t hurt me with that!
Gabriel: Stop your blubbering. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already. Where’s my urn?
Neil: Urn?
Gabriel: Make me look for it, and I’ll take you places you never thought pain can go. And I’ll take my time.
Neil: I...I think I have what you’re looking for in the wall safe. [Gabriel allows him to go to the safe, sending one of his mutants out to guard the door. Neil opens the safe and a second mutant roughly grabs the urn.]
Gabriel (gently taking it from him): Easy, easy. She’s been cooped up a long time. [He releases an energy ball at Neil, killing him.]
Shalimar (crashing through the window): I tried the front door. It was locked. [She knocks out the first mutant with one punch and the second with a flying kick. Gabriel just smiles at her.] You’re a dead man. [She leaps at him, but he shields himself with a force-field, which she bounces off onto the couch. Gabriel jumps on top of her.]
Gabriel (holding up an energy ball): Hi!
Brennan (coming in): Hey! You can look, but don’t touch. [He aims an electrical arc at Gabriel, spinning him to floor behind the couch. The two mutants attack them again, but Brennan knees the first in the face and Shalimar back-kicks the second. Then Brennan approaches Gabriel’s body.]
Gabriel (looking up at him): You are really starting to piss me off. [Brennan ignites a tesla coil, but Gabriel throws an energy ball into his chest and he crashes across the room. Gabriel turns to Shalimar.] And you? [He throws her to the ground with a second energy ball, and is creating a third when he suddenly doubles over in pain. Picking up his urn, Gabriel staggers out of the room.]
Brennan (getting up): Did you see that?
Shalimar (sitting up): I sure did. [They run to the window just in time to see the Double Helix fly up to the mansion.]
Brennan (shielding his face from the lights): Adam’s gonna be pissed.
Shalimar (resting her head on his chest): No kidding.

Opening credits. “Past as Prologue.”

[Scene: Inside the newly renovated Sanctuary. Shalimar and Brennan come in the front entrance to join Adam, who is watching Proxy Blue on a large computer screen in the main room.]
Proxy Blue: Months go by with nothing new to report. Then, everything goes to hell. In the last week, we’ve seen teenaged girls burst into flames in gym class, then walk away as though nothing happened.
Adam: What the hell were you two thinking? I hadn’t tracked you down, then what?
Brennan: Ashlocke was already gone by the time you got there.
Proxy Blue: Tonight, somebody just strolled through Neal Varadi’s web of security, brutally murdering the mega-billionaire and his staff and getting away without a trace. The cops are flabbergasted.
Adam: Right. So what were you doing there in the first place?
Shalimar: I tracked Ashlocke from the street.
Brennan: Mm-hm, and I followed her there. [Shalimar glares at him.] What? I was supposed to let you get yourself killed?
Shalimar: Well, if I go, I’m taking Ashlocke with me.
Brennan: Oh, that’s beautiful.
Proxy Blue (continuing as they talk): It is seen that the best way to get ahead is knowing your opponent’s weakness. We’ve all been left in the lurch at one time or another. It all depends on who you distrust. It seems like another story from the B.S. and bizarre file. [Adam repeatedly jabs a finger at his keyboard, trying to turn Proxy Blue off.]
Shalimar: Good grief. [She rips the feed wire apart, and the computer goes dead in a hail of sparks. She starts towards her room, then turns around.] You know, those people were massacred. Somebody has to stop him.
Brennan: You know, the only reason we survived is because Ashlocke almost passed out back there.
Shalimar: Like he was sick or something.
Brennan: Yeah.
Adam: What, like physically sick? [They nod.] Huh.
Brennan: Think we can take him down?
Adam: Well, this could be the opportunity that we’ve been waiting for.
Shalimar: Use his weakness against him.
Adam: No, actually, I’m talking about a cure.
Shalimar (sarcastically): Oh, that’s a good idea. Let’s just keep him around as little while longer. [She angrily paces out of Sanctuary.]

[Scene: Gabriel Ashlocke’s darkened bedroom. Gabriel rests in a big four poster bed with his physician, Dr. Aziza Deparis, surrounded by tiers of lit candles.]
Gabriel: I’m fine, Aziza. I just overdid it.
Dr. Aziza (climbing on top of him): Indulge me. [She puts on dark glasses and picks up a glowing red cylinder.] I’d be done a lot faster if you would just relax.
Gabriel: You know, it’s a good thing I love you. If anybody else talked to me like that, they’d be dead.
Dr. Aziza (opening his shirt): Spare me, Gabriel. This won’t take long. [She piercing his chest with the cylinder’s point as he gazes off in a daze.]

[Cut to: Shalimar, asleep in her bedroom. She jerks awake to find Gabriel watching her from the chair by her bedside. Her feral eyes flash.]
Gabriel (shaking his head): When are you going to stop playing hard to get? We both know we were meant to be together. [Shalimar leaps down from her bed just as Emma opens the door.]
Emma (in her pajamas): Are you okay? I heard something. [Shalimar looks back at the chair, but Gabriel’s vanished.]
Shalimar (looking around frantically): Where’d he go? Did you see him?
Emma: Who?
Shalimar: Ashlocke was here!
Emma (shaking her head): He’s not here. It’s just in your mind.
Shalimar (staring at the chair): No...
Emma (quietly): It’s okay.

[Cut back to: Gabriel’s bedroom. Dr. Aziza removes the cylinder from his chest and takes off her sunglasses. His half-closed eyes stare off at nothing.]
Dr. Aziza (leaning over him): Gabriel? Are you in there?
Gabriel (shaking himself, smiling): I guess I just got so comfortable, I got lost in the magic of your touch. [Disturbed, she rolls off him to sit on the edge of the bed.] So I take it I’m dying? I’m the most powerful man alive.
Dr. Aziza (standing up): That power is what’s killing you. Your accelerated metabolism in tandem with the rapid mutation of your genes.
Gabriel: What can you do?
Dr. Aziza: Other than make you as comfortable possible for the time you have left? Nothing.
Gabriel (getting up): I didn’t rot in that pod for 25 years just to drop dead!
Dr. Aziza (walking over to him): I’m afraid that’s exactly the way that it is.Gabriel (grabbing her face roughly): You don’t understand. I was born to rule. It’s the ones who get in my way who die. [He kisses her, then walks out of the room.]

[Back in Sanctuary’s main room, Adam’s telling Emma about Gabriel while Jesse listens from the computer behind him.]
Adam: All right, we need to take advantage of Ashlocke’s vulnerability right now.
Emma: Well, yeah. Hit him hard and fast.
Adam: No, no. I’m talking more along the lines of a rescue mission. You know, we’re not executioners.
Jesse (coming over): You’re talking about rescuing the guy that wants to kill us?
Adam: That’s right. And I need you to put your anger behind you. I need you two to go out there and get me a sample of his current DNA so I can save this guy. Let’s go. [Jesse and Emma reluctantly leave together.]

[Gabriel and Dr. Aziza stand in his bedroom before a wall lined with photographs and drawings of himself as a boy, a human wearing a horse’s head, and Shalimar’s face.]
Gabriel: They’re not fantasies. They were flesh and blood, as real as you and me.
Dr. Aziza: Oh, come on.
Gabriel: They called it alchemy. And what they were doing was no more magical than gene splicing or DNA therapy.
Aziza: Unless you’re going somewhere with this, we should–
Gabriel (grabbing her arm): I’m definitely going somewhere. [He ducks out of the room.] Why do you think I went to so much trouble to get that burial urn? [She trots down the hallway after him. As soon as they’ve passed, Jesse phases in through the brick wall. Emma starts to walk through too, but he lets go of the wall too early, leaving her stuck inside at the waist.]
Emma: Jesse! Jess!
Jesse (rushing back to phase the wall again): Oh! Sorry, sorry! [Emma steps out, rubbing her butt.] I’m sorry. I’m still not used to...um...
Emma (hitting his arm playfully): Yeah, well, just be careful. That hurt. [Looking down at his hand, Jesse follows her down the hallway.]

[In Sanctuary’s lab, Adam’s rearranging molecules on the computer screen to form Gabriel’s cure. Brennan sits behind him, playing with a glass paperweight.]
Brennan: You sure sending them in was a good idea?
Adam: What, you mean instead of sending you in?
Brennan: Well, let’s face it, I know a little more about breaking and entering.
Adam: Yeah, and a lot more about diving in first and checking for sharks later.
Brennan (switching paperweights): I don’t know, Adam, you really think this thing is gonna work?
Adam: Well, it’s not like I can do a run through; we’re just gonna have to bust in and hit him with it.
Brennan: Yeah? What if it doesn’t work?
Adam: Then go to plan B.
Brennan (smirking): That’d be great, except we don’t have a plan B.
Shalimar (coming in, looking at the computer): You’re kidding about this, right? You can’t cure him, you know.
Adam: Well, what are you suggest?
Shalimar: You know exactly what I think! We should take him out and be done with it!
Adam: Look, we have an opportunity here to–
Shalimar (interrupting him): This isn’t about you!
Adam (standing up): Well, it’s not about you! [He turns his back on her. Shalimar's feral eyes flash, and Adam glances around to see her eyeing the computer screen.] Look, you wanna break something, that’s fine. Just don’t break it in here. [He turns his back again. Shalimar stares, then stomps out of the room. Brennan and Adam hear glass breaking outside.]

[Searching the hallways of Gabriel’s lair, Emma finds Gabriel’s bedroom and calls Jesse over.]
Emma: Jesse! [Jesse finds that the door’s locked.] Go! [Leaving Emma to guard the door, Jesse phases into the bedroom and looks traumatized by all the photographs of Shalimar that he sees on the wall. Outside the room, one of Gabriel’s mutants, Valerie, comes down the hallway towards Emma.]
Emma (smiling brightly): Hi!
Valerie: You lost?
Emma: No, just...stretching my legs.
Valerie: Gabriel doesn’t like newcomers down here.
Emma: Actually, I’ve known Gabriel for quite a while.
Valerie (feral eyes flashing): Really? Then let’s you and I have a talk with him. [She starts to drag Emma down the hall by the hand.]
Emma (pulling away): You know what? I have a better idea. [She shoots her with a psionic blast, and looks around guiltily as Valerie slumps to the floor. Inside the room, Jesse uses tweezers to transfer a used tissue from the floor into a plastic bag, then phases out to find Emma staring at the moaning Valerie.]
Jesse: What happened?
Emma (grabbing his arm, quickly leading him out): I got a little carried away. Don’t worry, she won’t remember anything.
Jesse: You’d better hope not.

[Across the building, Gabriel and Dr. Aziza hurry towards Gabriel’s lab.]
Gabriel: I was born to power.
Dr. Aziza (throwing up her hands in despair): Gabriel, you should be resting!
Gabriel (entering the lab): Actually, I feel sensational. This is my future. [Inside the lab, a mass of tubes, wires, and equipment leads towards the room’s center, into a large tank filled with murky water. Gabriel shows Dr. Aziza a gold bracelet on his arm.] This bracelet belonged to an ancient alchemist named Avaris, the woman I have holographically reconstructed in all her glory. [He turns on a projector, and the image of a beautiful gold-clad woman appears above the tank.]
Dr. Aziza: So she was beautiful. Big deal.
Gabriel (leading her to the tank): Oh, babe, it’s a lot more than that.
Dr. Aziza: I still waiting to hear how any of this crap has anything to do with saving your life.
Gabriel: It has everything to do with it. [He lights up the tank, revealing a dessicated woman’s body floating inside.] Cultured from Avaris’s DNA. Avaris used her own magic to own her time. And once I’ve brought her back to life, she’ll use that same magic to help me own mine. [Dr. Aziza hugs him.]


[Gabriel and Dr. Aziza lean against Avaris’s tank, looking in.]
Dr. Aziza: You’re talking about primitives. People who believed in ghosts and gods and human sacrifice.
Gabriel (smiling): Sounds like mutants to me.

[Near the entrance of Gabriel’s hideout, three of Gabriel’s followers are talking when a fourth comes up to them.]
Follower #4: Gabriel says there’s been an intruder. He wants us all inside until it’s safe. Let’s go. [They run inside just as Shalimar arrives at the building. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she spins around to find it’s Emma.]
Shalimar: Why are you following me?
Emma: Relax!
Shalimar: He’s a murdering psychopath!
Emma: I know how you feel–
Shalimar: No, you don’t!
Emma (touching her arm): Come on. [A car drives up to them.]
The Driver: Hey, ladies. I could use a little company.
Emma (sighing): C’mon, let’s go. Let’s get out of here. [She starts to leave, but Shalimar’s feral eyes flash. Smiling, she ambles towards the car, then kicks a huge dent in the driver’s door. Grabbing the top of the door, she bends it down to a 90 degree angle.]
Shalimar: Explain that to your wife!
The Driver (freaked out): A simple no would’ve been fine. [He drives away.]
Emma: Now can we go?
Shalimar: Now we can go. [They leave.]

[In his bedroom, Gabriel’s resting in bed next to Dr. Aziza. Restless with pain, he gets up and walks over to examine his pictures of Shalimar. Cut to: Shalimar and Emma return to Sanctuary, walking along the balcony.]
Shalimar: Can you believe that cheeseball? He actually had a baby seat.
Gabriel (appearing on the balcony): I told you we’d get together again before you knew it.
Shalimar (narrowing her eyes): How’d you get in here?
Gabriel (walking up to her): Have you ever wanted to make someone so happy, but they just wouldn’t let you?
Emma: He’s not real, Shal.
Gabriel: She’s crazy about me. We were made for each other.
Shalimar: Like hell we were. [Standing behind her, Emma’s forehead starts to glow.]
Gabriel (grinning at Emma): That won’t work.
Emma: Not on you. [She delivers a psionic blast to Shalimar’s head, and Gabriel vanishes.]
Shalimar: Thanks.
Emma (holding her shoulder): Come on. [Back in his bedroom, Gabriel angrily sweeps piles of books from the tables around him and goes back to stand before the wall.]

[The next day, Brennan and Jesse are playing basketball in the main room of Sanctuary. Using his jet propulsion to send him over Jesse’s head, Brennan dunks the basketball into the net.]
Jesse: Hey! I thought we agreed, no powers!
Brennan: No, you agreed. I scored. Heh-heh.
Adam (coming in, grabbing the ball away from him): Hey, sorry. Game’s over. Things are happening at The Strand.
Brennan: Well, wait, but I’m up by one point! [They follow him over to the computer.]
Adam: Believe me, I understand how important that is, but Ashlocke’s on the move. I’ve been using satellite surveillance to keep my eye on the activity. One of the strike teams is in Manhattan. You guys are gonna go check it out.
Brennan: Okay. [Jesse grabs the ball from Adam’s hand.] Hey!
Jesse (making a basket): Too slow. And now we’re tied. [He leaves.]
Brennan (hitting Adam’s arm): Oh, great, you happy? [He follows Jesse out.]

[In downtown Manhattan, Valerie leads two mutants through the outer doors of the Gallery of Games, armed with flashlights.]
Valerie: If anyone gets to these things first, Ashlocke will have our heads. [The electrical elemental disables the inner door’s lock with a jolt of electricity, and they enter, searching the display cases of room. Valerie finds a yellow crystal triangle labeled “Ancient Egyptian Divination Game 177-176 BC.”] Over here. [The molecular phases his hand through the case’s glass, picks up the triangle and its small square of parchment, and hands them to Valerie. They head towards the exit, past a “Please do not touch the displays” sign.]
Brennan (sitting on a pool table): Aren’t you guys a little old to be playing games? [The electrical elemental sends arcs of electricity at Brennan and Jesse, who duck out of the way. Brennan aims his own arc at the elemental, sending him to the floor. Valerie leaps up on the pool table, hurling balls at Brennan, then picking up the cue. Brennan grabs a second cue, and they battle it out. In the next room, the molecular sends baseballs at Jesse.]
Jesse (massing): Come on! [When he runs out of breath, Jesse picks up a baseball bat and sends one of the balls back at the molecular, hitting him in the head. The elemental wakes up and shoots arcs at Brennan and Jesse until Brennan zaps Valerie into unconsciousness. Picking up the crystal, the two other mutants flee, leaving Valerie in Brennan’s arms.]
Jesse: All that for a chunk of glass.
Brennan (shaking Valerie): Come on, wake up.


[Brennan sits on the pool table, trying to revive Valerie as Jesse hovers over them.]
Brennan (shaking her): Come on, look at me. [She opens her eyes.] What’s Ashlocke up to?
Valerie: Do you really think he tells me anything?
Jesse: Come on!
Valerie (convulsing in pain): Please! Gabriel! No!
Brennan (picking her up): Oh, this isn’t good. Come on. Let’s get outta here. [Jesse stops to pick up the parchment the mutants left.] Come on, let’s go!

[In Sanctuary’s lab, Adam examines Valerie on the biobed.]
Emma: Is she gonna be okay?
Adam (shining his penlight into her eyes): Her pupils seem to be reactive, but the brain scan will tell us the whole story. Check it.

[Jesse and Brennan sit at the computers in the next room, researching the crystal.]
Jesse: Ashlocke was ready to kill for this?
Brennan: Ashlocke is ready to kill to get out of a parking ticket. He’s out of his freakin’ mind.
Jesse: Yeah, must be all that power, huh? The more you’ve got, the more you want and the further you get from human.
Brennan: What are you trying to say?
Jesse: I’m just thinking. Every day we learn more about these abilities
Brennan: What, are you trying to tell me you think we’re gonna end up like Ashlocke?
Jesse: Nah, that’s not what I’m saying.
Brennan: No, that’s exactly what you’re saying!
Jesse: Not what I was saying.

[In the lab, Emma looks at Valerie’s brain scan.]
Emma: She seems to be stabilizing.
Adam: Good.
Emma: So what do you think caused the seizure anyway?
Adam: Ashlocke. He must have given her a post-hypnotic suggestion. He probably programmed her to self-destruct if she was ever captured. [Valerie opens her eyes.]
Emma (taking her hand): Valerie?
Adam (smiling): Valerie? Hey. You all right? Valerie? [Her eyes roll up, and she starts to convulse again.] Valerie!
Emma: Adam, do something.
Adam (gripping her shoulders): Valerie! Valerie! [She flatlines and goes limp in Adam’s hands. Emma, holding her hand, gets a flash image of Gabriel jerking backwards in pain.]
Emma: Adam!
Adam: Did you get a read?
Emma: Ashlocke’s dying.

[Dr. Aziza kneels on Gabriel’s bed next to Gabriel, lying on his back to examine the crystal.]
Gabriel: Valerie died for me. But for what? A 3 thousand year old piece of glass that’s a dead end. Without the other half, this is nothing more than a worthless trinket.
Dr. Aziza (preparing a needle): This will take the edge off.
Gabriel (knocking her hand away): The last thing I want is to kill the pain. It’s the only thing I have to keep me focused. [He gets up and goes to gaze at the wall o’ Shalimar.] That, and the thought of sharing that same agony with Adam, of course.

[Back at Sanctuary, Shalimar walks into the lab to find Adam.]
Shalimar: Emma’s resting.
Adam: So, you happy? You may get your wish. Ashlocke’s dying.
Shalimar: Good. Let him die.
Adam: It’s not that simple.
Shalimar (smiling): Well, it seems pretty straightforward to me. Stand back, he dies. End of story. It’s that simple.
Adam: It’s not that simple. If he’s dying, then he’s got nothing to lose. If he’s got nothing to lose, that makes him even more dangerous.
Shalimar: I’m listening.

[Dr. Aziza comes up behind Gabriel.]
Gabriel: When I die, one thing’s for sure. [He grabs her by the throat.] Life is never again gonna be the same for those I leave behind. So you’d better help me find that miracle.
Dr. Aziza (pulling away his hand): I might have an idea.
Gabriel (smiling): Really?
Dr. Aziza (squeezing his chin): Yeah. Now you be a good boy and you go get some rest. I mean it. [She kisses him and leaves.]

[In the main room of Sanctuary, Brennan’s telling Adam about the parchment Jesse found.]
Brennan: So this Ouija board belonged to a ancient Egyptian alchemist named Avaris, whose burial urn was owned by Neil Varady. Well, that was, of course, until Ashlocke stole it.
Adam (taking the parchment): So Ashlocke must believe that he can save his life through a translation of the formula inscribed on the crystal.
Brennan (nodding): Yep. Oh, wait, check it out. What Ashlocke may not know this is that there’s two crystals, though. So unless he has them both and they’re interlocked, the piece that he has? [He blows a raspberry.] Worthless.
Adam: And this is the map that’ll lead us to the other crystal.
Brennan: Yeah.
Adam: Hm. Nice work.

[Scene: A pyramid in Egypt. Jesse flies the Double Helix overhead, calling Adam in Sanctuary over video link.]
Jesse: Adam? Dropped off Emma and Shalimar at the pyramid; I’m running guard duty until they’ve got the crystal.
Adam: Well, keep your sensors on full alert and your eyes open. Ashlocke makes a move, it’ll come out of nowhere.
Jesse: Still think I oughta be down there. Phase in, phase out, we’d be done with it.
Shalimar (inside the pyramid, listening over her comlink): Yeah, well, I don’t give a damn what you think.
Emma (wiping cobwebs out of their way): Look out.
Shalimar (ducking): Gross!
Emma: Disgusting! Are you feeling any better?
Shalimar: Oh, just marvelous. [They search around the room with their flashlights.] Wait a minute. I think this is it. [She traces a symbol on the wall, then kicks in the tile. She and Emma peer into the dusty hole and she picks out the crystal.] Let’s get outta here.
Emma: Jesse, we got it.
Gabriel (appearing in front of them): No! That’s mine.
Shalimar (smiling): I don’t think so. [She and Emma walk through his image; Shalimar calls back to him over her shoulder.] Sucks to be you. [Grinning at each other, Emma and Shalimar leave. Cut to: A close-up of Gabriel’s face as he sitting in his room, staring at the wall.]


[In Sanctuary’s lab, Shalimar watches Adam examine the crystal and the parchment.]
Adam: We are talking about a very powerful magic here. If Ashlocke had gotten his hands on the both of these crystals, we would never have been able to stop him.
Shalimar: So what’s your plan?
Adam: Well, time to try it my way. [He heads towards the lab table.]
Shalimar: Well, I hope it works. ‘Cause if you’re wrong, Ashlocke’s gonna tear you limb from limb before I get the chance to kill him.
Adam (picking up the gun containing the cure): I know I’m putting us all at risk here. But believe me, the decision to try to save his life is the most difficult choice I’ve ever had to make.

[Dr. Aziza sits on the bed behind Gabriel, massaging his shoulders.]
Gabriel (holding up the crystal): What’s the point? Without the other half, this thing is useless. [He rests against her chest.] And there’s no way we can regenerate Avaris in the time I have left.
Dr. Aziza: I promised you I’d go to any length to save your life. So, I’ve adjusted Avaris’s DNA. I’ve reconfigured it slightly, just enough to allow her to accept genetic matter not her own. So we can completely regenerate her without any more of her own DNA. It is not a perfect solution. She’ll only live for a couple of weeks, but...
Gabriel: Long enough for her to work her magic, save my life?
Dr. Aziza (whispering in his ear): Absolutely. [He takes her hand and leads her back to the lab. They stand together on the platform above the tank, looking down at Avaris’s body.] All we have to do is introduce a human host into the tank. The adjustments I’ve made will do the rest. [She reaches down to run her fingers through the water. Gabriel kneels beside her to kiss her. She smiles happily at him.]
Gabriel: Thank you. I’ll never forget your sacrifice.
Dr. Aziza: Sacrifice?
Gabriel (grabbing her by the neck): Oh yeah, sacrifice. Who gave you the right to tamper with Avaris?
D. Aziza: I saved your life, dammit!
Gabriel: That’s right. And I’ll never forget you.
Dr. Aziza: Gabriel? Gabriel, please!
Gabriel: You went behind my back. And let’s face it. In any relationship, trust is everything!
Dr. Aziza: Gabriel! Gabriel, no! [He shoves her into the tank and stands back to watch. Bright lights flash as Dr. Aziza is violently attacked under the water. Her face disappears from the glass and is replaced by that of a young girl with long flowing dark hair. Gabriel slowly approaches the tank when Avaris emerges from the water, glancing around the room.]
Avaris (seeing Gabriel staring up at her): Vas. Schlemme ka ma vite.

[Back at Sanctuary, Adam works at an instrument panel in the lab. Behind him, Emma watches from across the room.]
Emma: So what if he does access her magic?
Adam: Well, yeah, exactly. What do we do then?
Emma: Look, I grew up in a house where magic was a lot more real than physics. You know, my mom always talked about spells having their opposites. Incantations that would turn their power against the user.
Adam (coming over to her): Huh. Well, look, my skills in the dark arts leave a little to be desired. But I’m guessing that’s a little like science, where every action has a reaction. Where there are equal but opposing forces. So, wait, are you saying that if we could somehow find this other crystal, that we could use it to turn their power against them?
Emma (shrugging): It’s worth a try. [Adam nods, smiling.]

[Gabriel watches appreciatively from a chair in his bedroom as Avaris gets dressed behind the thin curtains around his bed. Meanwhile, back at Sanctuary, The Mutant X team talks about Shalimar as they enter the Double Helix to go to Gabriel’s lair.]
Jesse: She says she’s all right. But I don’t know.
Brennan (sitting down next to him): You wanna tell her that?
Emma (coming in): Yeah, well, let’s just keep an eye on her. Because her okay and my okay are a little different.
Shalimar (striding in): You talking about me? Relax. I think this mission is a disaster, but I did sign on for the long haul.
Adam (coming in to take Jesse’s seat beside Brennan): All right, so we’re all agreed? We go in, we finish the job. [He hands Jesse the gun with the cure in it.] Thanks.
Shalimar (grabbing Jesse’s hand as he passes her): Hey. Sorry I snapped at you.
Jesse: It’s okay. [He sits down in the back.]
Adam: All set?
Brennan: Ready.
Adam: Let’s go. [They fly out of the landing bay, heading towards Gabriel’s lair.]

[In Gabriel’s bedroom, Avaris and Gabriel kiss.]
Gabriel: You’ve made yourself into a goddess.
Avaris: First you get my crystals, and then I’ll save your life.
Adam (waling in, raising the gun with the cure in it): I’ll save your life. Right here and right now. [He shoots the gun at Gabriel, who dodges behind Avaris. The canister breaks against her stomach.]
Gabriel (peeking out from behind Avaris): You come into my house and try to kill me?
Adam (fumbling to replace the canister in his gun): I’m trying to save your life. You’ve got to trust me. I’ve got a cure.
Gabriel (turning to Avaris): This one’s mine. [He holds up an energy ball.]


[In Gabriel’s bedroom, Avaris watches as Gabriel slowly approaches Adam, holding up an energy ball.]
Gabriel: Who the hell do you think you’re dealing with? The ten year old boy you used to slap into a box? [He hurls the ball at the gun, ripping it out of his hands.]
Adam (picking it up): I’m trying to help you!
Gabriel (shaking his head): Like you helped me before, Adam? Right into a 25 year coma?Adam (dropping the gun): All right, fine. Don’t say I didn’t try. [He holds up the second crystal.]
Gabriel: I have waited years for this. I only wish I had the time to make you suffer for as long as I have. [As he creates a second energy ball, Jesse phases in through the wall, runs through Adam and masses in front of him. The energy ball bounces off his massed body and shoots back to knock Gabriel off his feet. Gabriel angrily throws two more energy balls at the massed Jesse, but to no effect. Running in, Emma projects a psionic blast at Avaris’s head, but Avaris just reflects it back at Emma.]
Adam (running to Emma): Are you okay?
Emma (holding her head): Yeah. Go! [Adam races towards the lab. Emma aims another psionic blast at Avaris to no avail.]
Jesse (running to Emma): Wanna run?
Emma: Yeah. [They flee from the room.]
Gabriel (getting up, going to Avaris): Let’s go get your crystal. [They chase after Adam, who has reached the lab just as Shalimar takes out the mutant guarding the room.]
Shalimar (grinning at Adam): Guess things didn’t quite go according to plan, huh?
Brennan: Well, looks like we’re gonna have to live with plan B.
Adam: Why don’t you rub it in?
Shalimar: Wouldn’t dream of it. [She hands him the first crystal.]
Adam: Great. [They hear crashing noises outside. Adam hurridly places the two crystals and parchment on the desk, trying to figure out how they fit together. Shalimar and Brennan dash out of the lab to meet Jesse and Emma, running towards them. Shalimar’s feral eyes flash, then she drop kicks the mutant guard chasing them.]
Emma (to Brennan): Just in time. [Shalimar looks up when Avaris and Gabriel round the corner.]
Brennan (shouting to Shalimar): Get down! [She ducks. Brennan throws two electrical arcs at Gabriel, but Avaris steps in front of him and absorbs the blasts. Shalimar joins her teammates behind a wall as Gabriel hurls an energy ball at them.]
Jesse (ducking behind the wall with Emma): I thought this guy was supposed to be sick!
Emma (running into the lab): Anything I can do?
Adam (still working on the crystals): Yeah. Watch my back. [As Gabriel and Avaris continue towards them, Brennan lights a tesla coil and nods at Shaliamar.]
Brennan: Go! [Shalimar emerges from the wall to retreat to the lab, but Avaris hurls a series of fireballs at her, forcing her back against the wall. Jesse masses in front of them long enough for Brennan and Shalimar to escape, then runs after them.]
Adam (showing Emma the interlocking crystals): Hieroglyphics!
Shalimar (running into the lab): We couldn’t stop them! [Brennan and Jesse run into the lab, Gabriel and Avaris in close pursuit. Jesse masses to protect Adam at the table from Gabriel’s energy balls. The glowing Avaris walks up to the platform above her tank and spreads out her arms, emitting enormous beams of electrical energy. She begins to chant an incantation.]
Adam (finally figuring out the pattern): I’ve got it! [Screaming over the noise, he reads a spell from the parchment, holding up the crystal.]
Avaris (lowering her arms): No! You have no right! [Gabriel hurls another energy ball at Adam, but Brennan jet-propels himself across the path of the ball, throwing off Gabriel’s aim. Avaris grimaces in pain as Adam finishes the incantation.]
Adam: We’ve gotta get outta here! Come on! [They run up the stairs towards the exit as Avaris explodes in a starburst of light; the resulting gigantic fireball envelops the entire building.]

[Back at Sanctuary, Shalimar finds Adam in the lab.]
Shalimar: Got a minute?
Adam (sitting at his desk): Always.
Shalimar (walking towards him): I...uh...just wanted to say that I’m sorry about getting in your face about Ashlocke.
Adam: Look, I know asking you to help keep Ashlocke alive seems crazy, particularly after what he’s done to you, but there’s a lot I can learn from him.
Shalimar (sitting on a chair in front of the desk): It’s all about learning with you, isn’t it, Adam? It feels like Genomex all over.
Adam (sitting next to her): What I can learn from him is how to keep you alive. Ashlocke’s not the only one with ongoing mutations. You’ve seen your powers change. Chances are, they’ll change again.
Shalimar: You’re saying we’re gonna flame out like he is?
Adam: You’re not like him. All of you are more stable.
Shalimar: So, um, do you think he made it out of that building before it went up?
Adam: Well, you know how tricky Ashlocke is. I won’t believe he’s dead until I see him lowered into the ground. [She gets up to leave, then turns back.]
Shalimar: Hey, Adam. You think you can do something to keep him out of my head? I mean, I can deal with him wanting to kill me, but man, when he gets in there.... [She starts to cry.]
Adam (getting up, coming over to her): Hey, you okay?
Shalimar: Look at me, I’m acting like a little kid. I just never thought that I’d meet anybody that could make me feel this weak.
Adam: It’s not weakness. The way he got to you is through your soul. Anybody would feel this way. Okay? [He hugs her.]
Shalimar: Look, we have to stop him before he gets his hooks into anyone else’s soul.
Adam (smiling): We will.