Épisode Voyage dans le temps S02E03 - Mutant X Saison 2

                                               Time Squared  


[Opening Scene: It’s mid-day on a sparsely populated highway. Gabriel Ashlocke, wearing sunglasses, races down the highway behind the wheel of a red Camaro. He glances in the rear view mirror to see Jesse in close pursuit, driving one of Mutant X’s black cars. Over his comlink, Jesse calls Adam, who waits at a computer in Sanctuary’s main room.]

Jesse: I’m on Ashlocke. He’s alone, heading west on Route 17.
Adam (tracing the route on a map): All right, where’d you pick him up?
Jesse: Coming out of the old Strand building. He picked up some kind of a vial, filled with a blue liquid.
Adam: All right, stay on him, Jesse.
Jesse: Yeah, I’ve got him.
Emma (coming up behind Adam): What do you think’s in the vial?
Adam (facing her): No idea. Maybe it’s something he manufactured in his lab.
Emma: Well, whatever it is, it can’t be good. And what the hell is Ashlocke doing alone? He’s always surrounded by a swarm of people.
Adam: He’s dying, he’s desperate. Anything is possible. Now where are Brennan and Shalimar?
Emma: In the Mustang. [She goes to another computer to look at a map.] About 10 miles south of Jesse.
Adam: Right. Get them on the move.
Emma: Looks like they already are.

[Gabriel weaves dangerously around the traffic on the highway, trying to lose Jesse. Turning off the highway, he grins when a young woman pushes a baby stroller into the street in his path. She looks up in horror as Gabriel’s car speeds up rather than slowing down, forcing her to swerve out of his way. Behind him, Jesse brakes to a halt to avoid hitting the woman, and watches Gabriel race off.]

Opening Credits. “Time Squared”

[As a second woman runs up to the mother to make sure she’s all right, Gabriel peeks over his sunglasses and smiles when he sees Jesse’s been stopped by the obstacle. Jesse calls Brennan and Shalimar over his comlink to tell them the bad news.]
Jesse: Brennan!
Brennan: What’s up, Jess?
Jesse: He lost me.
Shalimar: Where?
Jesse (looking at the street signs around him): Uh...Mackenzie, heading towards 6th and Main.
Brennan: Well, we’re on it. [He spins the car around and heads back down the street.] What’s around there?
Shalimar (looking at a map of the area on the car’s computer screen): Um...parking lots, commercial buildings...Ellison Psychiatric Hospital.
Brennan: Well, maybe Ashlocke’s about to check himself in.

[Gabriel pulls up in front of Ellison Psychiatric Hospital, rides up the elevator and stops at the nurse’s station.]
The Receptionist (looking up from her phone call): Can I help you, sir? [Gabriel hurls an energy ball at her, sending her flying across the room. Reaching over the desk, he searches for Diana Moller on her computer, buzzes himself in and heads down the hallway to Ward Six. Gabriel blasts the doors open and sticks his head inside, looking around until he spots Diana, crouched on a couch across the room.]
Gabriel (grinning): Diana! You’ve been hiding from me. [The other residents flee from the room as Diana stands up to face him.]
Diana: Stay away from me.
Gabriel (coming slowly across the room): I need you to do this.
Diana: I told you, I can’t.
Gabriel: I don’t have time to play games. I’m dying.
Diana: You don’t really think I care, do you?
Gabriel: I found a way to stay alive. Help me or die.

[Outside the hospital, Brennan and Shalimar pull up next to Gabriel’s car and ride the elevator up. Shalimar runs over to the receptionist’s smoking body to feel for a pulse.]
Shalimar (looking at Brennan): He killed her.
Brennan (glancing at the computer screen): Ward Six. [He buzzes them in, and calls Jesse over his comlink as they hurry down the hallway.] Hey, Jess, we’re at the psychiatric hospital. Ward Six.
Jesse (in his car): I’m seconds away.

[Towering over her, Gabriel tells Diana what he needs from her.]
Gabriel: October 13th 1978. Take me back.
Diana: You can’t tell anyone who you are, or it will affect the continuum.
Gabriel (playing with her hair): Have I ever let you down before?
Diana: All the time.
Gabriel: When I get back, I’ll make it up to you.
Diana: Goodbye, Gabriel. [Holding up her hands, she creates a eddy of light in the air which grows into a large circular portal. Just then, Shalimar and Brennan run into the room. Gabriel aims three energy balls at them in succession as they try to stop him. Then he jumps into the portal and disappears. Brennan and Shalimar glance at each other, then leap in after him. On the other side of the portal, Gabriel tumbles out into the middle of an alley. He picks himself up just in time to see a Mack truck barreling towards him, and dashes out of the way. Brennan and Shalimar, tumbling out shortly thereafter, also find themselves in the path of the honking Mack truck, and scramble out of the way.]

[Jesse enters Ward Six to find it empty except for Diana.]
Jesse: What happened? [Diana starts to run towards the door, but Jesse grabs her arm.] Hey! What happened? Where are they?
Diana: They went in after him. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
Jesse: Where are they?
Diana: It was an accident! I sent Ashlocke back and they jumped in after him.
Jesse (staring at her): Back?

[Getting up after their near run-in, Brennan goes to Shalimar.]
Brennan: Are you all right, Shal?
Shalimar (looking around): What just happened?
Brennan: I don’t know. It just feels like my stomach got punched into my eyes.
Shalimar (looking up): Oh my God! [She walks up to a sign which says: “Future Home of Ellison Psychiatric Hospital, To Be Completed, 1981.] Completed in 1981?
Brennan: Wait, we’re at the psych hospital before it was built? We just went back in time.
Shalimar: That’s crazy!
Brennan: Woah, just don’t freak out, all right?
Shalimar: What, we went back in time and you’re telling me not to freak out?
Brennan: Okay, Ashlocke is around her somewhere. We need to find him. So can you track him? Can you sense him or something?
Shalimar (feral eyes flashing as she looks around): He went this way. [They head off in that direction.]

[Meanwhile, Jesse leads Diana into the parking lot by her arm.]
Diana: There’s nothing I can do; they’re on their own now. [Jerking her arm out of his grasp.] Let go of me! I’m not crazy, I was just hiding from him in there.
Jesse (over his comlink): Adam.
Adam (in the lab): Jess, what’ve you got?
Jesse (opening the car door for Diana): Run a scan on a Diana Moller. She must be a molecular-psionic mix.
Diana (sarcastically): Someone knows his mutations.
Jesse (shutting the door after her): Yeah.
Emma (coming into the lab): Who’s with Jess?
Jesse: She made Ashlocke, Shalimar, and Brennan disappear into thin air. [He gets into the car.] She’s not cooperating.

[Shalimar grins as she and Brennan walk down the street past people in bellbottoms and afros.]
Shalimar: How much do we stand out?
Brennan: Well, this was the me generation, so there’s a very good chance none of them are paying any attention to us. [He stops, throwing up his arms.] Which way? [Shalimar’s feral eyes glow, but she searches for Gabriel’s scent in vain.]
Shalimar (frowning): I’m not picking up anything. I lost him.

[Jesse drags Diana by the hand through the forest towards Stormking Mountain as a sudden thunderstorm drenches them.]
Diana: Where are we going? You didn’t tell me I was gonna need a raincoat.
Jesse: It’s not much further.
Diana: Well, we’re in the middle of nowhere! Is Sanctuary a building or is it a beach shack?
Jesse: Actually, it’s in the mountain.
Diana: I’m not going in any cave.
Jesse: I’ll get you there.
Diana: You’re not gonna do some molecular thing, are you?
Jesse (stopping to face her): I know where the door is.
Diana (pulling her hand away): Look, I’m sorry about your friends, okay? But right now you are blaming me for something I have no control over. You don’t know Gabriel Ashlocke.
Jesse: I know him pretty well.
Diana: Well then you know how he is. He’s overwhelming. When he and I were together, he was using me, and I knew it. He knew about my powers; he knew what I could do. That’s why I was hiding in the psych hospital.
Jesse: Sounds like that was the perfect place for you.
Diana: Look, I thought I would be safe there, okay? I thought he couldn’t find me, but he did.
Jesse: What did you do to him?
Diana: I sent him away from me. Forever.
Jesse: Brennan and Shalimar. Are they with him?
Diana: It’s a possibility. I don’t really know. [Jesse grabs her arm again, taking her towards the door.]

[In 1978, Gabriel gets into a yellow car parked on the street and picks up a copy of the book “I’m Just Fine – You’re Just Fine” on the seat next to him.]
Gabriel (tossing it into the back seat): And I’m just perfect. [He zaps the ignition with a jolt of electricity from his fingers to start the car and takes off.]
Shalimar (as he passes her and Brennan): Ashlocke. [Brennan runs over to a bicycle on the street, starts it with a zap of his own and races after Gabriel.]

[Jesse escorts Diana into Sanctuary’s lab.]
Adam (coming up to them): Are they still alive?
Diana (merrily): You’re Adam. I know all about you.
Adam (grabbing her arm): Answer my question.
Diana: Of course they’re still alive. But I can’t control what they’re doing, and that could change everything. I didn’t know that they were gonna follow Ashlocke back, okay? I’m so sorry.
Emma (coming in behind her): Well, you were right about her, Jess. Diana’s on the database as a psionic molecular. She can change the shape of atoms, alter the space-time continuum--
Diana: I affect the gravitational dilation of time. I connect psionically with someone and--
Adam (interrupting her): All right. Where are they?
Diana (shaking her head, smiling): Not where. When. October 13th, 1978. Ashlocke went back to find you. [She walks away.]

[Brennan chases Gabriel down the street until a truck backs up against a wall, cutting off Brennan’s path.]
Brennan (pounding on the side of the truck): Hey! Move it! Hey! [The truck slowly moves forward again, but Gabriel’s long gone.]

[Shalimar’s walking past a magazine kiosk when she spies something familiar on the cover of World Science Magazine. Pulling one of the copies down, she sees a very young Adam on the cover under the heading: “Young Geneticist, Adam Kane, joins Genomex at new facility.” ]
Shalimar: Adam?

[In Sanctuary’s lab, Emma walks up to confront Adam as he works at the lab table.]
Emma: Why did Ashlocke choose that date in particular? Adam?
Adam: In October 1978, I arrived at Genomex to work on the patient zero project. [He turns on the computer to show her the image of himself on the World Science Magazine cover.] I was the bright young star working at the hottest developmental facility in the world. And then, two weeks later, on October 13th, Gabriel Ashlocke’s parents brought him back into Genomex. [The screen switches to a picture of young Gabriel Ashlocke.] They were convinced that Genomex was responsible for his extreme aggression. And they were right. You know, Genomex had no idea what kind of a child he was until they’d given him unlimited powers. Take a look at this. [He shows her a video feed of young Gabriel playing with a toy as his smiling parents look on. Suddenly, the boy starts to rip the toy to pieces in a rage. Two scientists try to tackle him, but the boy raises his arm and sends one flying across the yard. The second scientists backs away in fear as Gabriel walks menacingly towards him.] See? He’s out of control. Nobody knew what to do. And then I came along, right? I was the savior. I designed a procedure, a procedure to make him more humane, give him a conscience. I had no idea that my procedure would cause his genes to mutate and make him into more of a monster. 6 months later, Gabriel Ashlocke killed both his parents. [He walks out of the room.]
Emma (running after him): So Ashlocke went back to change something you did.
Adam: Yeah, he’s figured something out; he’s engineered a way to keep himself alive. [He looks around.] Now, where’s Diana?
Emma: You’re gonna go back there, aren’t you?
Adam: Yeah.
Emma: But you already exist back then. How do you even know if it’s possible to–
Adam (interrupting her): Well, Ashlocke’s gone back to his own past. And if he finds a way to cure himself, he’ll come back invincible. I have to stop him.

[Shalimar strolls onto the grounds of Genomex just as young!Adam pulls up in the parking lot and gets out of his car. Hearing one of his colleagues call out his name, Shalimar turns around to look as he walks down the path towards the building. As he passes her, young!Adam looks her up and down appreciatively, grinning. Shalimar purposefully bumps into an employee on her way towards the parking lot, stealing her ID badge in the process.]
Shalimar: Oh, sorry. Excuse me, I’m sorry. [Pinning on her new ID, Shalimar waltzes into the building.]

[Driving his stolen yellow car, Gabriel pulls up to his childhood house and knocks on the door. His younger self opens the door.]
Gabriel: Huh. You’re smaller than I remember.
Young!Gaby (peevishly): Do I know you?
Gabriel’s father (calling from behind the boy): Gabriel, who’s at the door?
Gabriel (feral eyes flashing): Daddy. [His younger self smiles as his feral eyes flash in response.]
Mr. Ashlocke (coming to the door): We’re not buying anything you’re selling, buddy. [He bends down to scold young Gaby.] Now how many times have I told you not to let in strangers?
Gabriel: Hey, don’t talk to him that way.
Mr. Ashlocke: Excuse me? I’m his father.
Gabriel: Don’t I know it.
Mrs. Ashlocke (calling from the next room): Is there a problem, honey?
Mr. Ashlocke: I’m dealing with it!
Gabriel (stepping into the doorway): No. I am. [Smiling, he creates a force field with one hand, lifting his father off the ground. Then Gabriel propels his father across the room, smack into his mother. Both scream as they crash through the back window to land on the sidewalk outside.]
Young!Gaby (grinning up at him): Nice shot.
Gabriel (tousling the boy’s hair): There are days when I wish I had more patience. [He heads towards the back to check on his parents’ bodies.]
Young!Gaby (looking after him): I know just what you mean.
Gabriel (standing at the broken window): I’m from Genomex. I’m here to pick you up. We’ll take your dad’s car. [He grabs a set of keys from the table and tosses them to the boy.] You drive.
Young!Gaby (beaming): Cool!


[Brennan rides his motorcycle around the surrounding neighborhoods, searching for Gabriel’s car. In the meantime, Young!Gaby drives his father’s car towards Genomex; Gabriel gazes out the window from the passenger’s side. Seeing his younger self put a cigarette into his mouth, Gabriel reaches over and snatches it out.]

Gabriel: That is a filthy habit!
Young!Gaby: What do you care?
Gabriel (tossing the cigarette out the window): I still have this hacking cough!
Young!Gaby: What are you talking about?
Gabriel: You know how you can walk through walls? Jump off the Hallian’s roof without ever getting hurt?
Young!Gaby: How’d you know about that?
Gabriel: You know about Genomex, what they did to you, right?
Young!Gaby: Just what I stole from my file. I’m supposed to have an appointment there today.
Gabriel: They’re gonna do this procedure. It’s supposed to make you nicer, give you a conscience. The whole thing backfires. Turns you into some kind of freak. [He pulls the vial of blue liquid out of his pocket.] But this? This is going to make you invincible. [Young!Gaby tries to grab it out of his hand, but Gabriel anticipates his action and stows it back in his pocket. Then the two simultaneously run their hands over their hair in the same way. They smile at each other.]

[Inside Genomex headquarters, Shalimar, now wearing a lab coat, finds Adam’s office and lets herself in. She goes to a file cabinet and starts to rifle through it, looking for Gabriel’s name.]
Shalimar (finding the file): Gabriel Ashlocke. [She rips the name and address tab off the folder just as Adam walks in the door.]
Young!Adam: Oh, hello again. You must be new here. Are you on the project now?
Shalimar (thinking fast): I’m with...Dr. Breedlove’s office.
Adam: Oh. He’s one lucky scientist. It’s funny that you’re here. I was hoping we’d run into each other again.
Shalimar (giggling uncomfortably): Really? Has Gabriel Ashlocke been in yet?
Adam: No, his parents are bringing him in later.
Shalimar (surprised): Today? Oh. [She heads towards the door.]
Adam: Wait, wait. Hold on. I was, uh, I was hoping maybe we could spend some time together, get to know each other a little?
Shalimar (backing away as fast as she can): Yeah, I think that we’ll have a lot of time to do that. But um, I should go and inform Dr. Breedlove, so I’ll do that. [She runs. Young!Adam looks after her, disappointed.]

[Back at Sanctuary, Adam comes back into the lab, dressed in 70s wardrobe.]
Emma (smiling): Very retro.
Diana: I can’t let you do this.
Jesse: Adam, it’s too much of a risk, you know this. You interfere, you might create a–
Diana: A break in causality, please listen.
Adam: If you send Ashlocke back, you can send me back.
Diana: I didn’t have a choice with him.
Adam: Well, you don’t have a choice with me; it is my job to stop him.
Diana (shaking her head): I’m not gonna do it.
Adam (walking over to Emma): Emma. [Emma shoots a psionic blast at Diana’s head.]
Emma: She’s good to go.
Adam: Thank you. [ In a daze, Diana raises her hands and creates a new portal.] Keep your eye on her! Don’t let her out of your sight! [reaching an arm in to test it, he walks hesitantly into the portal.]
Jesse (seeing Emma walk towards the portal): Emma! [Emma walks in after Adam; both come tumbling out on the other side in the middle of the forest.]
Adam (sitting up): What are you doing here?
Emma (picking herself up): I thought you needed company.
Adam (helping her brush leaves and dirt off her arm): You okay?
Emma: Yeah.
Adam: What made you think that?
Emma (looking at him pointedly): The temptation to change things that I did would be incredibly tempting, but...that’s just me.
Adam: Well, yeah, you’re right. There’s plenty back here that I would like to change. Not so sure I can. Come on. Let’s see if we can find Genomex.

[Outside the Genomex building, Shalimar strolls into the parking lot, wrapping her lab coat around her hand. Pulling back her arm, she’s about to smash in the window of one of the cars, when she notices that the door is already open. Grinning happily, she gets in and hotwires the car to start the engine.]
Shalimar: Sweet. [She drives off.]

[In the present Sanctuary’s lab, Jesse’s at the computer when he comes across a newspaper article about young Gabriel: “Young son suspect in death of parents.”]
Jesse: April 16th, 1979. Gabriel killed his parents when he was ten!
Diana: Why does that not surprise me?
Jesse: Huh.
Diana (massaging her head): Look, can we go somewhere? I’m going crazy in here.
Jesse: Nah, we have to stay until they get back. [As he reads the article, the screen suddenly flips, showing a new lead article on April 16th 1979: “Mayor Bloom denies allegations of sexual affair.”] Hey, look at this! [Diana comes over.] What date did you send them back to?
Diana: October 13th, 1978. [When Jesse inputs that date, the lead article comes up with a photo of the Ashlocke’s house: “No suspect in bizarre murder.”] Oh my God. I warned him not to change anything.
Jesse: What did you think he was gonna do?
Diana (shaking her head): Ashlocke has affected the timeline too much. Your friends aren’t coming back.
Jesse: Diana!
Diana: I’ve been back plenty of times myself, but I’ve never sent anyone else. [She shrugs.] I don’t know how they’re gonna get back. I don’t know.

[Finally finding Gabriel’s yellow car parked on the street, Brennan lets himself into the front door of the Ashlocke house. Sneaking through the house to the broken back window, he sees the Ashlockes lying on the ground outside. Meanwhile, at Genomex, young!Adam is in his office watching through the window as a nurse sedates young!Gaby. When she leaves, Gabriel comes in the door.]
Gabriel: Hello! I’m Dr. Fischer. [Shaking his hand, he releases a psionic blast at Young!Adam’s head.]
Young!Adam (believing he recognizes him): Dr. Fischer, yes! I remember your work from MIT.
Gabriel: Of course you do! I was instrumental in getting your research grant approved. And I’m here once again. This time to save your ass.
Young!Adam (scoffing): I don’t think I need saving, do I?
Gabriel (holding up the vial of blue liquid): Aaah. I brought you something.
Young!Adam: What’s that?
Gabriel (pouring some onto a glass slide under the microscope): Why don’t you take a little look? Site directed mutagenesis. This will strengthen existing DNA to withstand any genetic manipulation.
Young!Adam (looking in): Where’d you get this?
Gabriel (smiling): My lab. Once again, I’m two steps ahead of you. [He looks at his sleeping younger self through the window.] You plan to do a genetic treatment to Patient Zero, but you failed to consider the impact of that purified genetic material on his existing DNA.
Young!Adam: This site-directed mutagenesis...
Gabriel: Stabilizes genes. Why don’t you have a look at strand 19? [Young!Adam grabs a chart and starts to read.] You missed the weakness, Doc. You didn’t take time to consider the possibility of new mutation.
Young!Adam: I can’t believe I missed this.
Gabriel: It was an honest mistake. But watch yourself. This place is full of jealous researchers just waiting for you to screw up. Now, in about 20 minutes, his body temperature will be low enough for you to add this. [Handing him the vial, Gabriel pats his shoulder and walks out.]

[Outside the Ashlocke’s house, a police car pulls up behind Gabriel’s yellow car and Brennan’s motorcycle. Two policemen run into the house to find Brennan looking at a picture frame of the Ashlocke family.]
Cop #1 (drawing his gun): Hold it!
Brennan (pointing to the broken back window): Oh, man, am I glad you guys arrived! I just found them like that.
Cop #1: Sure you did. Put your hands where I can see them! What’s your name?
Brennan (holding up his hands): I’ve got lots of names. [The cop grabs his arms behind his back to handcuff him.] This is gonna hurt a little. [He electrifies the handcuffs, and the cop stumbles back against the wall. Brennan knocks the other cop against the wall and dashes out the front door. As a second police car speeds towards the house, sirens blaring, Brennan hops into the back seat of Shalimar’s car.] What are you waiting for? Drive!
Shalimar (shaking her head): It doesn’t matter what decade we’re in, they find you. Like sharks to surfers.
Brennan (climbing into the front seat): Yeah, well, let’s just say they were very shocked to see me.
Shalimar: What happened?
Brennan: Looks like Ashlocke killed his parents and took his ten-year-old self somewhere.
Shalimar: Genomex.

[Arriving in the parking lot outside Genomex headquarters, Adam shows Emma his Genomex ID badge as they head into the building.]
Emma: Where’d you get that?
Adam: I work here.
Emma: Oh, right. So what do we do now?
Adam: Well, why don’t you see if you can find Brennan and Shalimar. But watch out for Ashlocke, don’t let him recognize you.
Emma: Okay. What about you?
Adam: Well, I have to go find myself.

[In his lab, young!Adam is just about to add the blue liquid to young!Gaby’s drip when Adam bursts through the door.]
Adam: Adam!
Young!Adam: I’m sorry, sir, this is a restricted area.
Adam: Have you done the procedure yet?
Young!Adam: I said this is a restricted area, sir!
Adam: Now, look. [Hearing the commotion, Gabriel returns to stand behind them.] I’m here to protect you.
Gabriel (shaking his head): What a nice surprise. You’re too late.
Adam (to his younger self): Do the procedure exactly as you planned. He’s trying to get you to drastically alter the outcome of your project.
Gabriel: Ah, the poor guy is sick with jealousy!
Adam: I know how incredibly important this project is to you. [Coming up behind him, Gabriel grabs him and throws him against a cabinet.]
Young!Adam: Hey, hold on a second!
Adam (getting up): Do the procedure! Then put the child in stasis! [Gabriel shoots a psionic blast at Adam’s head. Adam slumps against the cabinet, holding his head.]
Gabriel (to young!Adam): This is what you call a security breach! And that should never happen at Genomex. Can you imagine what would happen if your technology fell into the wrong hands? [He drags Adam towards the door.] He’s sick. And I’m gonna make sure he gets some help. You know what you have to do, Doc. [He pushes Adam out the door and follows him out. Disturbed, young!Adam goes back into young!Gaby’s room and places the vial’s needle into his IV bag.]

[Brennan and Shalimar walk up the path towards the Genomex building.]
Brennan (holding up a tesla coil): So how’s this gonna work? We get to have a little fun?
Shalimar: Put it away. There’s an emergency exit on the south side. I’ll let you in.
Brennan: So what’s young Adam like, anyway?
Shalimar: He’s not what I expected. He’s naive and...sweet.
Brennan: Must be before his fall from grace.

[In the supply room next to young!Adam’s lab, Gabriel shoves Adam against the wall.]
Gabriel: I offered your younger self redemption. And he took it. I’m sorry you can’t handle that.
Adam (holding his head in pain): You don’t know what you’re doing.
Gabriel: You made me who I am. And now you want to deny me the chance to try to save myself?
Adam (getting up): We thought we were saving you.
Gabriel: No, you thought, Adam. Then your ego got out of hand. You thought you had a chance to create a race of super humans and you took it.
Adam: That’s not the way it was!
Gabriel (creating an energy ball): Oh? I was your one big mistake. And now you’re gonna die knowing I’m gonna live on and on and on. [Coming in through the door behind Gabriel, young!Adam stares in horror, watching the energy ball between Gabriel’s hands grow.] And everything I do, I’ll do in your memory. [Gabriel sends the huge ball at Adam’s chest, throwing him across the room to land inside a plastic crate. Adam’s open eyes gaze sightlessly up as Gabriel laughs over his smoking dead body. Young!Adam looks in, terrified.]


[Jesse’s standing in the hallway at Sanctuary when he hears a rumbling noise and feels the floor quake under him. His eyes widen as the wall begins to disappear, the mountain surrounding Sanctuary grows inward.]
Jesse (running towards the lab to grab Diana): Diana! We’ve gotta move fast!
Diana: What’s happening?
Jesse (pulling her down the hall): Sanctuary’s disappearing! Go! [They race towards the exit as the main room around them is devoured by the surrounding mountain.] Take us back!
Diana: No!
Jesse: Take us back now; there’s no other way!
Diana: What if we make it worse?
Jesse: It can’t get worse! Take us back!

[Meanwhile, Emma walks into young!Adam’s lab to find it empty except for young!Gaby sleeping peacefully in his bed. Getting short psionic flashes of what happened to Adam, she leaves and opens the door to the next room. She sees Adam’s body crumpled up inside the plastic crate.]
Emma (running to him to feel for a pulse): Adam! Oh my God. [She gets up and heads back out of the room. Young!Adam, looking green at the gills, stumbles headlong down the hall past Shalimar and Brennan.]
Shalimar (looking after him): Hey! Adam?
Brennan (smirking): Woah, that’s Adam?
Emma (running up to them): Shalimar!
Shalimar (frowning): Emma? What are you...
Emma (in tears, grabbing their hands): Adam’s dead! Ashlocke must have killed him.
Brennan: What?
Emma: We’ve gotta stop Ashlocke.
Shalimar: I’ll go get him. [She runs down the hall after young!Adam.]
Brennan (to Emma): Show me where the kid is, come on. [They head back to young!Adam’s lab.]

[Jesse and Diana tumble out of her portal onto the 1978 beach next to Stormking Mountain.]
Diana (helping Jesse up): Are you gonna be able to find Genomex?
Jesse (looking around): Hope so.

[In the Genomex parking lot, young!Adam is walking towards his car when Shalimar runs up to him.]
Shalimar: Adam!
Young!Adam (fumbling to open his car door): I can’t talk right now.
Shalimar: What happened?
Young!Adam: I’m not sure.
Shalimar: Tell me.
Young!Adam (hitting the door in frustration): Some guy just died in there because of me. He used this...um... This is insane. I’m not going back in there. [He finally gets the door open.]
Shalimar (slamming it shut): You have to.
Young!Adam: I can’t!

[Brennan and Emma run into young!Adam’s lab, stopping in the doorway where young!Gaby’s sleeping. Brennan lights up a tesla coil.]
Emma: Don’t.
Brennan: If I do it now, he won’t feel a thing.
Emma: He’s Adam’s research. If you destroy him, you might destroy us. [Brennan stops.]
Gabriel (sitting on a desk across the room): So weak, Brennan. [He thows an energy ball at Brennan, knocking him unconscious.] Emma. Emma, Emma.
Emma (shaking her head): It’s not gonna work, Ashlocke. Adam wouldn’t adjust the procedure.
Gabriel: You’re right. That’s why I did it myself. [Emma whirls to see that young!Gaby’s IV bag is now blue. Waking up, Brennan zaps the bag with an electrical arc, destroying it. Emma dives to the ground to avoid Gabriel’s energy ball, then Brennan zaps him. Gabriel falls the floor and lies still.]
Jesse (coming in with Diana): What happened? [He goes over to help Brennan pick Emma up.]
Brennan: Adam’s dead. Young Adam’s on the run.
Jesse: How’d he die?
Emma: Ashlocke blasted him.
Jesse: When?
Emma: About five minutes ago.
Jesse: Five minutes ago. [He returns to Diana.] Okay, send me back to just before he died.
Diana: That could mess things up even more.
Jesse: Adam can’t be dead! Send me back.
Diana: It’s gonna be fast. [She creates a portal. She and Jesse tumble out at Adam’s feet just as Gabriel’s throwing his huge energy ball at Adam’s chest. Jumping up, Jesse masses in front of Adam, deflecting the energy ball back at Gabriel. Gabriel crashes against the wall behind him and lies still. Adam nods his thanks at Jesse.]

[Having heard the noise from his lab next door, young!Adam comes in just as Adam, Jesse, and Diana are walking out.]
Adam (walking him out of the room before he can see Gabriel’s body): Hi. It was just a misunderstanding. Dr. Fischer didn’t quite grasp my position. [Emma, Shalimar, and Brennan, running down the hallway towards them, stop dead in their tracks to see the two Adams together.]
Shalimar (hesitantly): Adam?
Adam: Yeah. [He takes the blue serum from his younger self.] Look, why don’t I take that back. Don’t you have a procedure to do?
Young!Adam: I do. Excuse me.
Adam: Hey. Hang in there.
Young!Adam: Thank you. [Staring at Emma, Shalimar, and Brennan, he backs into his lab.]
Adam (leading them into the next room to join Jesse and Diana): Okay. Get us out of here. All of us. [Nodding, Diana creates a portal.]
Jesse (pointing to Gabriel in the corner): And him?
Adam: Yeah, him too. [Jesse starts to pick Gabriel up, but he wakes up and shoves Jesse off, leaping into the portal before they can stop him. Following behind him, Mutant X and Diana tumble out in the middle of a large warehouse.]
Shalimar (feral eyes flashing): I can feel him. He’s here. He’s alive.
Brennan (looking around): Would you take a look at this place? He could be anywhere.
Adam: We’ll find him. All right, let’s get outta here. Let’s not give him another chance to get to Diana. All right, everybody stay alert. As long as he’s alert, nobody’s safe. [They leave, looking over their shoulders.]

[Later that night, Emma tosses and turns in bed, hearing Gabriel’s laughter in her head. Waking up, she walks into the lab to find Adam working at the computer.]
Adam: Hey.
Emma: I need to ask you something.
Adam (turning off the computer, facing her): Sure.
Emma: When we were back there, something terrible happened to you.
Adam: I know. Jesse told me.
Emma: Oh. Well, after that, after I saw you dead, Brennan wanted to kill young Ashlocke and I stopped him.
Adam (standing up): Wait, so are you asking me if you did the right thing?
Emma: I couldn’t let him do it. He was still just this little boy lying there. But if I hadn’t stopped him, if Brennan had killed him, then what would have happened with you?
Adam: That’s a good question, I don’t know.
Emma: Well, would you have left Genomex? Stopped all your research?
Adam: Oh, c’mon, Emma. You saw what kind of person I was then. I thought everything I did was the solution to a lot of problems. And I didn’t think about the ramifications because I didn’t think I had to. But would I have left Genomex? I don’t know. Ashlocke was the first new mutant. And I learned a lot. And if I hadn’t made the mistakes with him, I might have made them with you.
Emma (shaking her head): I’m not a psychopath.
Adam: No. If you had been given all those powers, you might have become one. [Smiling, he kisses her forehead.]