Épisode Le retour du passé S02E22 - Mutant X Saison 2

                                                      Lest He Become

[Opening Scene: Night in the city, the back alley behind a Chinese restaurant. Jesse and Brennan emerge from a nearby building into the alley.]

Brennan (carrying a metal suitcase): All right, stay cool, all right? As far as these guys know, the deal is going down exactly as the expected.
Jesse: I wish I knew what they expected. [They both jump as a cat knocks over some boxes behind them.]
Brennan (into his comlink): Hey, Shal. You getting all this? [Down the street, Shalimar stands with Emma, following the boys' actions on a small video monitor.]
Shalimar: In living color. Okay, the sign at the end of the alley is the one you're looking for. [Brennan and Jesse enter the back door of the Chinese restaurant and push past some curtains to find two men, Silva and Rucker, standing in front of the small shrine, waiting for them. Brennan clears his throat and they turn around.]
Rucker: Where's Haines?
Brennan: Couldn't make it.
Silva: Couldn't make it, or afraid that we'd double-cross him?
Jesse: You wanted to buy some information; we've got that information. Deal with it.
Rucker (starting towards them): Let's see what you got.
Brennan: Not so fast. See, now that we've come this far, I wanna know why you want these medical records.
Silva: Now why would you be interested?
Brennan: Well, you see, these must be pretty special people. I'm figuring there's more to it than the doc let on, and we should get a piece of the action.
Rucker: The only thing you can hope to get a piece of is getting out of here alive.
Brennan (holding up a tesla coil): Maybe I should ask that question again.
Silva (smiling): These guys are full of surprises. Guess what? So are we. [Roaring, Rucker draws back his fist and unleashes an enormous telekinetic blast at Brennan, hurling him crashing through the latticework behind him.]
Jesse (massing): I don't think that's gonna work with me.
Silva: It doesn't have to. See, when they made me, they wired my pain centers 24-7. Gives me a whole new relationship with hurt. [He stretches out his hand, hitting Jesse with a wave of concentrated pain. Convulsed with pain, Jesse falls to the floor. Silva runs over to open the suitcase.]
Jesse (groaning): Who are you?
Rucker (hovering over Jesse): We're the guys that are gonna kill you. [Just then, Emma and Shalimar burst into the room.]
Shalimar: I don't think so. [Rucker releases a second telekinetic punch, sending them both flying across the room.]

Silva (finding the suitcase empty): There's nothing here! [He and Rucker run out.]

Opening Credits. "Lest He Become."

[Scene: Sanctuary's main room. Adam looks up from the computer as Mutant X returns from the Chinese restaurant.]
Brennan: No, we should have taken them, Shal.
Shalimar: Were you unconscious when he was beating the crap out of the rest of us?
Brennan: They took us by surprise.
Jesse: Brennan's right. If we'd been prepared--
Emma: Look, if you two are through with your macho posturing, let's just think about this for a minute, okay? These were not just mutants. They were mutants with powers that we have never seen before.
Adam (holding out his hand): Brennan, let me see the flex scan. [Brennan removes the video camera from his forehead.] Good, thanks.
Shalimar: It was pretty wild. See, the guy with the telekinetic punch, I mean, that's similar to some of the other brain-based stuff we've seen. But the guy that ties people into his pain centers, I mean, that's a whole other deal.
Adam: I agree.
Jesse: He said that when they made him, they made him with his pain centers permanently on, Adam, that's just freakin' sick.
Shalimar: Well, who knows how to do that?
Adam (head in his hands): All right, look, obviously I was not the only scientist out there dealing with genetic research. We've got someone out there playing around, trying to crack the genetic code. If he succeeds, then, you know, dealing with these made-to-order mutants will be the least of our problems.
Brennan: What are you saying?
Adam: I'm saying he could create a superplague; he could send a genetic ripple through an entire population as easy as choosing flavors of an ice cream. [Adam's computer beeps. He goes over to answer the incoming message.] Richard, where are you?
Dr. Richard Haines (in his car, on his cellphone): What have you done to me?
Adam: What do you mean?
Dr. Haines: They're looking for me!
Adam: Who's looking for you?
Dr. Haines: The guys, the guys who want the names of the patients from their genetic records. They've already been to the hospital, Adam! [Jesse pushes in front of Adam and begins tracing the signal.] The duty nurse said she didn't know where I was, and one of them hit her with something, broke her ribs! I thought you said you would take care of everything!
Adam: I will take care of everything, Richard, but I want you to sit still. I'm gonna send my team over ASAP.
Dr. Haines: No. No-no-no-no. I'm not putting myself at any more risk. [Reaching across Jesse, Adam hastily turns off the speaker. Jesse frowns at him as Adam picks up the phone and walks across the room.] I don't know what's going on here, but I have the information with me, Adam. And I'm going to go to the police let them handle this.
Adam: No, Richard, I want you to calm down. I do not want you to go to the police, they will not be able to protect you. You do not know who you're dealing with.
Dr. Haines: I'll have to take that chance. [He hangs up.]
Adam (to Jesse): Did you get a location?
Jesse: Yeah. Derry and 15.
Adam: All right, Derry and 15. Shalimar, Brennan, you get over there ASAP. You convince him we're his only hope.
Shalimar (starting towards the door): What if he won't come with us?
Adam: Well, we kidnap him if we have to! [He pushes her towards the door.] Hurry, hurry, hurry.

[Dr. Haines is sitting in his car when Rucker comes up and knocks on the window. Silva slides into the passenger's side door and sits next to him.]
Dr. Haines: What? What are you doing here?
Rucker (opening the driver's side door): We could ask you the same thing.
Silva: Responsible guy like yourself playing hooky from work.
Dr. Haines: I don't have time, I've got to go.
Silva: Don't think so, Doc. You see, you were supposed to deliver up some information.
Rucker (poking him in the chest): And instead, you tried to screw us.
Dr. Haines: Guys, it wasn't me. It wasn't me, I swear. I-
Rucker (holding up a finger): Doc. All is forgiven. We just want the information.
Silva: And you will give it to us. 'Cause I can be a real pain. [Rucker nods, smiling.]

[Shalimar and Brennan take the Double Helix towards Dr. Haines' location.]
Brennan: I got a bad feeling about this, Shal. You saw Adam's face when you asked him who was behind it. He knows something.
Shalimar: Yeah, well, maybe he's still trying to figure it out. You know Adam doesn't throw around wild guesses.
Brennan: More like Adam not telling you you're on fire until you can see the flames.
Shalimar: Hey, you know what? I don't want to get into your issues with Adam, okay?
Brennan: Look, if somebody's messing around with human genetics at this level, there can't be more than a handful of people who could do it. He knows every one of them.
Shalimar: Yeah, and he'll tell us when he figures it out.
Brennan: No, as usual, he'll tell us when he feels like it. Shal, you're way too supportive. I hope he deserves it.
Shalimar: Hey, slow down. We're coming up on Haines's position. [She runs a scan of Haines's car her computer.] Cell signal's coming from that grey car.
Brennan: All right. I'm taking her down. [Brennan lands the Helix, and the two walk towards the car.]
Shalimar: Get ready, in case he makes a break for it.
Brennan (noticing Haines in the front seat): What's he doing still sitting here?
Shalimar (knocking on the driver's side window): Dr. Haines? [She opens the door, sticking her head inside.] Hey. [She stops, seeing that he's frozen in place, his eyes completely white.] Oh, God. [She backs away. Brennan sticks his head in and picks up his hand, feeling for a pulse.]
Brennan (over his comlink): Adam, we found Haines. He's dead.
Adam (shaking his head): Cause of death?
Brennan (slamming the door shut): There's no visual signs, but I'd guess someone overloaded his pain centers.
Adam: All right, then, we have to assume that the killers are in possession of his records.
Shalimar: Look, there's gotta be another way for us to get our hands on that information.
Adam: I'll access the hospital's file server.
Shalimar (seeing a small camera mounted on a nearby rooftop): Hey, Adam, there's a security camera beside 78 Derry, can Jesse hack into it?
Jesse (at the computer): I'm already on it. I've got the camera, I'm just accessing the video files. Okay. [Adam watches over his shoulder as he plays a video of Silva and Rucker killing Dr. Haines.] That's our guys getting into his car. Fast forward...and there there are leaving his car with his briefcase.
Adam: All right, see if you can zoom in. See if you can read the plate.
Jesse: Okay. [He magnifies the 460-GE2. license plate on Silva's car, parked behind Dr. Haines's.] Increasing resolution..There it is.
Adam: Good. All right, now feed that into the DMV database, see if we can find out who owns this car--
Jesse (interrupting him): I'm on it. It's reading... Okay. Car doesn't belong to an individual. It belongs to a corporation, something called Naxcon Corp.
Shalimar (startled): What?
Brennan: You know those guys?
Shalimar: Naxcon's my father's company.

*******Commercial Break********

[Back at Sanctuary, Jesse and Adam work at the computer as Shalimar and Brennan watch.]
Shalimar: You know, my father might be a class A creep, but he's not a killer.
Brennan: Relax, Shal, okay? There could be a lot of explanations. Maybe somebody stole the car.
Shalimar: Come on, these guys are driving a car owned by my father's company. It can't just be a coincidence.
Adam: I agree. There's gotta be a connection.
Jesse: Shalimar, what do you know about your dad's company?
Shalimar: Not much. I mean, he took me to the office a few times, but he was always trying not to let other people meet me because he was so embarrassed.
Adam: When Shalimar first joined Mutant X, I did some research. Now back then, Naxcon was a low-level chemical company. Jesse: Hm, doesn't sound like the kind of place that would be into cutting edge genetics, does it?
Shalimar: He hated genetic research. I mean, that's what caused my mutation, everything that made me different. [Emma comes into the room.]
Brennan: People change, Shal.
Shalimar: Well, not my father. He was all about appearances, you know, whatever society thought was normal. And those guys we fought tonight, they made him sick.
Adam: The guys who killed Hanes were after the names of specific people whose DNA must be needed to crack the genetic code, right? Now these people must be in serious danger.
Shalimar: We need to find them. We need to protect them.
Adam: Exactly, but the root of the problem is in your father's company. So Shalimar, you have to go in; you have to find out what it is.
Shalimar (laughing): Okay, hold on. You don't actually think I'm gonna go in there.
Adam: Well, you have the best chance to get past security.
Shalimar: Yeah, and I have the best chance of killing him if I get my hands on him too.
Brennan: Shal, he's right.
Shalimar: Oh yeah? Well, let me tell you a little story about a kid 10 years old. Different from her friends. Different from her parents. Stronger, faster, and a whole lot wilder. And because those parents didn't see her fitting in, instead of loving her for what she was, they threw her into a psychiatric institution. Can you imagine being 10 years old and scared out of your mind in a place like that. They pumped me full of enough Thorazine to put ten kids under, but it didn't work on me. So when they found they couldn't sedate me, they turned to beatings to keep me down. Three or four grown men laying into a little kid!
Jesse: Your parents must have known something was wrong, Shal.
Shalimar: Yeah, my father knew. He told them to keep it up. Whatever it took to make me normal. But what they didn't know, was that my powers were still growing. And then one night when the orderlies came for me, I was ready. [Flashback to a small girl in a hospital room, beating up an orderly on the floor. She looks up, feral eyes flashing.] I showed them what it was like to be really scared. That was the night I ran. So when you're asking me to reconnect with my loving father, that's what I'd be going back to.
Adam: Shalimar...
Shalimar (walking up to him): Adam, until you came and found me, I didn't have a father. Please don't make me do this.
Adam: Shalimar, your father, or someone working with your father is playing with secrets that could destroy the world as we know it. We have to find a way in. [Shalimar looks around the room at all of them, then goes back to her room.]

[Scene: Midday, inside Naxcon Corporation, a large industrial building suspended by towers over the water. A receptionist wearing a headset answers the phone.]
Receptionist: Naxcon Industries.
Shalimar (in her room, on her cellphone): I'm calling for Nicholas Fox.
Receptionist: Can I ask who's calling?
Shalimar: Tell him it's his daughter.
Receptionist: One moment, please.
Nicholas (sitting in his office, picking up his cell phone): Shalimar?
Shalimar (pausing): Yeah, it's me.
Nicholas: Baby, you don't know how long...how long I've hoped to hear your voice.
Shalimar: Well, I've been thinking about you too. I wanna see you.
Nicholas: Of course. Tell me where you are; I'll come to you.
Shalimar: No, I...um...I'll come to you. How's 2?
Nicholas: I'll clear my schedule. Shalimar, you don't know how much this means to me.
Shalimar: Yeah.... Look, I'll see you a little bit later, okay? [Brennan walks up to her doorway, watching.]
Nicholas: Okay.
Brennan (knocking on the door): Hey, what you're doing is brave.
Shalimar (tossing her phone on the bed): Yeah. Masochistic or stupid might be more to the point. Families are supposed to love each other. The only thing any of us ever felt was bitterness and hate. Not much like your typical sitcom family, huh?
Brennan: More like a real family. Nobody's family is perfect. Look, I'm not making excuses for the guy, okay? But people change. I mean, maybe he is interested in making things right.
Shalimar: Yeah, well if that were the case, he would already stopped breathing. [She stalks out of her room. Jesse runs down the stairs to join her.]
Jesse: Ready to go, Shal?
Shalimar: Yeah, I will be soon.

[A little while later, Shalimar enters the front door at Naxcon and looks around the foyer, impressed.]
Shalimar (over her comlink): This place is amazing. The last place was nothing like this. Just a few offices and a couple of labs.
Jesse (flying around in the Double Helix): Yeah, your daddy's been a busy boy. It's up to you to find out what nasty things he's been doing to make all of this happen, Shal.
Shalimar (walking down the long corridor towards her father's office): You getting all this?
Jesse (monitoring her video feed): Crystal clear.
Shalimar (reaching the receptionist's desk): Shalimar Fox to see Nicholas Fox. [As the receptionist calls Nicholas, Shalimar looks around the room to give Jesse a full view of the security system.]
Jesse: Okay, we have...cameras above the door and entrance to the secure area; we've got motion detectors in the ceiling. This is cutting edge stuff, Shalimar. They're not fooling around.
Shalimar: Can you get through it?
Jesse: Yeah, I can get through anything. It's just gonna take planning.
Nicholas (coming up to her): Shalimar? I can hardly believe it.
Shalimar: I look different out of a straight jacket, don't I?
Jesse: Easy.
Shalimar (shaking her head): I'm sorry, that just came out.
Nicholas: I deserve that and anything else you can throw at me. After what they did to you. What I did to you.Shalimar: Well, that was then, huh?
Nicholas: Why don't you come inside, I'll show you around. [The receptionist hands him a visitor's badge.] Thank you. One of the changes that comes with growth: without one of these, you'd have half a dozen guards on you before you knew it. [Putting an arm around her shoulder, he walks down the hallway with her.] Welcome to Naxcon.
Shalimar: You look good.
Nicholas: So do you. My God, I've missed you becoming a woman. So tell me how you are, what you're doing.
Shalimar: I'm fine. Have a job in a clothing store, few friends. Life's pretty boring.
Nicholas: I'm happy for you. Boring is good. The way you were before...
Shalimar: Got through it.
Nicholas: Of course you did. You've grown into a beautiful woman. Why did it take you so long to call me?
Shalimar: Well, I don't know if you remember, the last time we saw each other, you threw me into an asylum. Guess I wasn't racing to get back to that.
Nicholas: And why now?
Shalimar: Guess I got past some stuff. Wanted to see how you and mom were doing.
Nicholas: Your mother and I split up a couple of years after you left. She moved west. I think she always blamed me for what happened to you. Adam Kane took a lot from me.
Shalimar: So what about this place? This is nothing like I remember it.
Nicholas: I've come a long way, huh?

[Cut to: Sanctuary, where Adam's working on a computer in the main room. Emma comes out of her bedroom to join him.]
Emma: Anything?
Adam: Well, I've broken into Haines's private computer. Once I've reconstructed the search, I can confirm the names of the people that the killers are looking for.
Emma: Confirm? So you have some idea who they're looking for.
Adam (shaking his head): No, I didn't mean confirm.
Emma (staring at him oddly): Are you okay?
Adam: Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just, you know, I wanna find the people before the killers do.
Emma: What do you want me to do? Pretend that I believe you?
Adam (glaring at her): I want you to stay out of my head. You're not invited. [Into his comlink.] Jesse, I want you to patch me into Shalimar's feed from Naxcon.
Jesse (flipping a switch in the Helix): Coming at ya.
Nicholas: We've developed the broadest range of supplements in the industry.
Shalimar: Surprised you haven't moved into genetic research. You know, modified grains, that sort of thing.
Nicholas: That's a science that betrayed me once. I have no interest in giving it another chance.
Shalimar (nodding to a door in front of them): What's in there?
Nicholas: Oh, the labs where we do our most cutting edge R&D. I'd show you around, but they have some...sensitive tests they're doing.
Shalimar: Sounds mysterious.
Jesse (talking over Nicholas's answer): Shalimar, whatever we're looking for is behind that door. Whatever's in there, they're protecting with more security systems than the rest of the place put together.
Nicholas (continuing): Our competitors are always trying to get an early look. [Taking her arm, he leads her away.] Let's go back to my office, and let's talk. I still want to know more about you.
Shalimar: I told you.
Nicholas: Knowing you work in a clothing store doesn't tell me anything. I want to know what you do with your spare time, what you like, what you care about.
Shalimar: I don't know. I like exercise. I like being outside. Not crazy about being cooped up in a place like this.
Nicholas: And how do you feel?
Shalimar: You mean, am I still different? Yeah.
Nicholas: But you're okay. I mean after what that bastard did to you.
Shalimar: Who?
Nichloas: The doctor from Genomex. Adam Kane. You were too young to understand, but I found out a lot of things about him afterwards. [Listening at Sanctuary, Emma frowns at the back of Adam's head, her eyes narrowed.]
Shalimar: What are you talking about?
Nicholas: It's not important now. He's water under the bridge. What's important is that we're together again. You and me. I've got so much more to show you. [In Sanctuary, Emma slowly turns away from Adam, avoiding his eyes. She goes back to her room. Adam closes his eyes, shaking his head.]
Shalimar: You know what? I should go.
Nicholas (stopping her): Shalimar, I don't want this to end.
Shalimar: Well, I think it might be a little to late for cheery family dinners and opening presents around the tree.
Nicholas: No. [He kisses her hand.] Not too late. Not if we don't want it to be.
Shalimar: You know, what? Let's not rush this, okay? We'll see. [Pulling her hand out of his grasp, she walks out. As Nicholas gazes after her, a man walks up behind him.]
The Man: Well?
Nicholas: It was good. It happened exactly the way you said it would. [The man approaches him, and we see it's Mason Eckhart, with brown hair.]
Mason: We'll just continue on as we planned, Nicholas. And you'll have your daughter back. Both of us will have everything we want. [He smiles.]

**********Commercial Break************

[Back at Sanctuary, Jesse shows Adam the details of Naxcon's security system.]
Jesse: Okay. We're talking about a security system that would make the Pentagon look like an open house. Besides the motion detectors and full spectrum scanners, the elevators that give access to the secure area are tricked out with a retinal scan.
Adam: So a fly couldn't get in there.
Jesse: Well, it could if it had the right accessories. The whole system is controlled by security cards. I figured that Shalimar's dad had the highest security rating, so I recorded the coded transmissions from his card.
Adam: So all we have to do is transfer that onto a new card.
Jesse: Exactly. I've got two cards already marked up and ready to be coded. Now, as for the retinal scan, I made a scan of Shalimar's dad's eye. All I've gotta do is make a holographic image of it, then we should be home free.
Adam: Yeah, except then you've gotta get in there, you've gotta tap into their information system.
Jesse: Shalimar and I can be in there within the hour.
Adam: Great.
Shalimar (walking in with Brennan): No way!
Adam: Shalimar, you're the only one who's been in the building.
Shalimar: Look, I've told you guys before, I don't think my father is involved.
Jesse: Shalimar, it's a hell of a time to develop a set of family values.
Brennan: You know what, Jess? Why don't you pour yourself a big glass of shut the hell up!
Adam: All right, you two guys relax. Shalimar, all you have to do is guide. Jesse'll take it from there.
Shalimar (rolling her eyes): Whatever.
Emma (joining them): Adam, I got the information back of the names on Haines's database.
Adam: And?
Emma: There was two. Christopher Darnell and a woman named Elizabeth Burton.
Brennan: That's it?
Emma: I uploaded the information onto the main computer.
Adam: All right. You two go find them. It's imperative that we find them before the other guys do. Go. [Brennan and Jesse leave. Emma doesn't move.]
Emma (walking up behind him): You know there was another name on the list. Yours. So what the hell is your name doing on a list of people needed by somebody manufacturing mutants?
Adam (not looking at her): My name is on a lot of lists.
Emma: That's not the right answer, Adam.
Adam (glaring at her): It's the only answer available right now. [Emma leaves.]

[Down the hall, Shalimar's walking towards her room.]
Brennan (running to catch up to her): Hey, hey. Shal. Shal, what's going on? Talk to me.
Shalimar: I don't know. I've hated him for so long, and then I see him again and it feels like none of that bad stuff ever happened.
Brennan: Well, we look at things differently when we get older.
Shalimar: You know what? It's more than that. Okay, my father said something about Adam carrying out some kind of plan.
Brennan: Plan?
Shalimar: C'mon, you saw the way he's acting. He's hiding something.
Brennan: No, he was as shocked as the rest of us.
Shalimar (sighing): I don't know anything anymore.Brennan: Okay, Shal, listen to me. If your father is not involved in this, we will make sure nothing happens to him, okay?
Shalimar: Okay.
Brennan: Look, I have to go to the Helix. We'll talk when I get back. [He leaves.]

[Up in the Double Helix, Emma and Brennan fly towards Christopher Darnell's house.]
Emma (working on the computer): Damn it. We have to change course.
Brennan: Why?
Emma: I tried to contact the first name on the list, Darnell?
Brennan: Yeah?
Emma: He disappeared
Brennan: Guess our friends got to him first. All right, feed me the coordinates for the next name on the list. We need to get there before they do. [Emma pulls up the next address on her computer.] All right, thanks. Listen, Emma. Did you get any kind of a strange hit off Adam back there?
Emma: Look, if I sense something from someone, it's like a priest hearing a confession. I can't talk about it.
Brennan (scoffing): Okay, Emma, it's good to have morals, but you gotta know when to cut them loose.
Emma (looking over at him): Brennan, I'm really worried about Shalimar.
Brennan: Oh, so her you can talk about.
Emma: She's going through what we all go through. Adam is more of a father to me than my own father was. All of you guys are my family. But sometimes I wish that my mom had done the right thing, you know? That she had been there to worry about me instead of going off on whatever new age kick was popular at the time. But I mean sometimes, I still think about looking her up.
Brennan: So why haven't you?
Emma: Because when you can see into someone's soul, you don't have the same illusions that other people do. You want to believe that people can change, but they don't. Shalimar has to realize that.

[Meanwhile, Shalimar leads Jesse into Naxcon.]
Jesse (holding up his badge): If these things work the way they're supposed to, we should have free run of the place. [He successfully runs the card through the front door's lock, and they walk in. They're headed towards the secure area when two security guards come up behind them. Shalimar touches Jesse's back, taking him up halfway up a flight of stairs until the guards pass. Coming back down the steps, Jesse holds his holographic imager up to the retinal scanner.] Here goes nothing. You ready to see what this is all about?
Shalimar: Let's do it.
Jesse: Good. [The holographic image of Nicholas's eye works, and they enter.]

[In a flower shop downtown, Silva and Rucker hold down Elizabeth Burton to get a genetic sample from her. A third mutant who is on crutches, Mal, stands guard near the door. ]
Elizabeth (struggling): No! No, let me go!
Silva: Hold her still!
Emma (walking up to the building with Brennan): This is it.
Elizabeth (inside the building): Let me go!
Brennan (to Emma): Let's go! [Walking in the door, he tries to get Rucker and Silva's attention.] Hey. Hey! I was hoping I'd run into you creeps again. What are you doing, picking on a girl? Why don't you try someone your own size?
Rucker (standing up): What, didn't you learn the last time?
Mal (holding Rucker back with on of his crutches, then turning to Brennan): You look about my size.
Brennan (seeing the crutches): I don't think you want to do this. [Mal attacks Brennan with his crutches, knocking him over a table. Across the room, Emma dodges two telekinetic punches from Rucker.]
Rucker: Nowhere to run?
Emma: Guess not. [She aims a psionic blast at Rucker's head. He crumples to the floor. Standing up, Silva unleashes concentrated waves of pain at Brennan and Emma, incapacitating them both.]
Mal (looking over at Rucker's body): He's dead!
Silva (holding up a test tube of Elizabeth's blood): I've got what we need. Let's move. [He and Mal rush out. Recovering, Brennan looks over to Rucker's body.]
Brennan: Emma, did you have to kill him?
Emma (sitting up): I didn't even hit him that hard.

[Jesse and Shalimar step out of the elevator to enter the darkened secure area. Jesse looks up at the clear glass ceiling, where the rippling waters of the lake overhead can be seen.]
Jesse: Wow.
Shalimar: Can you believe this?
Jesse (turning on his flashlight): Welcome to the secure area. [They walk down the metal staircase into a large room containing lab tables and shelves filled with glass jars. As Jesse shines a light on one of the shelves, Shalimar picks up a jar with a distorted human fetus inside.] Still wanna believe this is all about harmess experiments, hm?
Shalimar: Oh my God. What is he doing here? [She and Jesse crouch down by the computer on a desk so that Jesse can copy the information.]
Jesse: This is it. In just a few minutes, I'll have the whole hard drive. [Just then, the elevator doors on the floor above open, and Mason and a mutant step out.]
Mason: Fox's security signature can't be coming from two places at once.
The Mutant: Maybe it's a ghost signal.
Mason: He's not supposed to be here at all, you idiot. Contact security and get confirmation of his signal.
The Mutant: Already did.
Mason: Then do a search of the area of the lower labs and holding scanned with a fine-toothed comb. If anyone's been in here, I want to know it.
The Mutant: I'll get on it.
Shalimar (whispering to Jesse during Mason's conversation): That's Eckhart! What the hell is he doing here?
Jesse: I have no idea. [Shalimar's feral eyes flash, as she starts to get up.] Shalimar, don't!
Shalimar: I can take care of him right now.
Jesse (holding up his disk): We're taking this back to Adam. Come on! [She reluctantly follows him towards the wall, which Jesse phases.]
Mason (spotting her as she gets up): Get them! [The mutant leaps down to the floor, but Shalimar and Jesse have already vanished.]
The Mutant (looking up at Mason): They couldn't have gone through walls.
Mason: Oh, yes they could. When the others return, send them to me. We have to prepare for guests.

*********Commercial Break**********
[Returning to Sanctuary, Shalimar and Jesse walk up to Adam, who is still standing at the computer.]
Shalimar: Okay, Adam we've been patient. I wanna know what the hell Eckhart's doing at my father's company.
Adam (facing them): He's tricked your father into providing him with the resources he that needs to support his new project.
Brennan (looking up from the computer across the room): Which is?
Adam: Well, according to the material on these hard drives, Eckhart is on the verge of controlling the keys to life. And what he plans to do with it, of course, we'll have to ask him in person.
Shalimar (frowning): Okay, if he's so close to having his hands on such big secrets, why are his mutants so messed up?
Jesse: The guy who died in the flower shop had the metabolism of an 80 year old, Adam
Adam: Eckhart is attempting to do selective mutation from a specific blueprint, but he doesn't have the required DNA to perfect the process. The samples that he's collecting will allow him to do that.
Brennan (getting up): How do you know all this?
Adam: It's not important how I know it. What's important is that we get in there, we get him. We shut his operation down as quickly as possible. [He turns back to the computer.] So I'm gonna ready the Helix for immediate takeoff, and then you four are going in.
Emma (walking in, shaking her head): No. [Her forehead starts to glow as she stares at Adam.]
Brennan: Wait, wait, Emma, what are you doing?
Emma: You were right, Brennan. There's a point where you have to go past your usual moral code. Now I've understood what's been going on for a long time, and I think the rest of you deserve to know too.
Adam: Emma. Stop it.
Emma: I could make you talk, Adam. But you're gonna do it yourself. [The glow on her forehead disappears.] So tell them about the third name on the list. Tell them what it all means.
Adam (sighing, turning to face the rest of the group): All right, so you wanna know how Eckhart got the blueprint for making mutants? He got it from me.
Jesse: What?!
Adam: After I realized the genetic mutations that my therapies were causing, I stopped using them to treat people. But I couldn't just throw that information away, so I gathered specific genetic samples, including my own DNA, and I experimented. On selected mutations. In secret. Shalimar (in shock): Yours was the third name on the list?
Adam: He needs our DNA to complete my work. He wants to recreate it.
Shalimar: That's what my dad was trying to tell me. You're no better than Eckhart.
Adam: I was on the verge of cracking the genetic code. [Shalimar shakes her head in disgust.] The possibilities for humanity? They were limitless.
Brennan: So you were just in it for the knowledge? Oh, must be hard to go back to being plain ol' Adam Kane after playing God for so long.
Adam: All right, look, I knew nobody should have this information; it was too dangerous for anyone to have. So what did I do? I stopped my experiments! I encrypted my information. I took it out of Genomex as quickly as I could.
Shalimar: You can't hide anything from Eckhart; you should know that!
Brennan: For all we know, you wanted him to have it!
Adam: And what does that mean?
Brennan: I don't know, okay? All I know is we're having a hard time believing anything that's coming out of your mouth right now. [He and Shalimar start towards the exit.]
Adam: Wait, wait. Where're you going?
Shalimar: To Naxcon. I'm gonna get my father away from Eckhart before he gets in too deep.
Adam: Shalimar, it's too late for that!
Shalimar (spinning around): I spent all these years hating him, thinking you were my family! And now it turns out he might be the only one telling me the truth. [She stalks out.]

[At Naxcon, Shalimar and Brennan run up the stairs to the receptionist's desk.]
Shalimar: I'm here to see my father.
The Receptionist (into her headset): Shalimar Fox is here to see her father.
Brennan: Listen, I'm not sure if you're doing the right thing here, okay? All right, maybe there is no right thing. But you keep your eyes open.
Shalimar: I thought I had my eyes open. I was looking right at Adam and I didn't see him at all.
Brennan: Yeah, I know. All I'm saying is just make sure. You know, before you go putting your faith in someone else.
Shalimar (smiling at him): Thanks. I can always count on you, can't I?
Brennan: Always.
The Receptionist: Uh, okay. [She hands them visitors passes.]
Shalimar (heading back to her father's office): We know where we're going. [She walks up to stand in front of Nicholas's desk.] Why'd you do it? Why'd you get involved with Eckhart?
Nicholas: Shalimar, I did it for you.
Shalimar: You did this to build up your company, you didn't do this for me.
Nicholas: Eckhart came to me, yes. He offered me money for my business. But he offered me a chance to get you back.
Shalimar: What?
Nicholas: The way you were. Before Adam Kane changed you. He's working on a cure.
Shalimar: There is no cure! It's not a disease! I am what I am, and I like what I am! Can't you understand that? And I would have liked myself a whole lot sooner if I thought for one moment that you and mom liked me too.
Nicholas (standing up): But we loved you! Do you know what it was like watching the pain you were in? Losing control of your anger, your fear. What did you want me to feel, Shalimar?
Shalimar: You were supposed to treat me like a daughter. Not like some kind of freak.
Brennan (coming up behind her): You know, this man that you put your trust in is a murderer. You know that he's killed hundreds of people?
Nicholas: He said you would say that. [Raising his arm, he pushes a button on a device he's holding. A green force field descends over Shalimar and Brennan, freezing them in place.] It's for the best, Shalimar. You'll see.
Mason (walking in, smiling at them): Adam has them so turned around they don't know who their real friends are. Hello, Shalimar. Mr. Mulwray. It appears we're all together again. I told you, Nicholas. You're going to have your daughter back.

*********Commercial Break*********

[Back at Sanctuary, Jesse and Emma monitor two computers in the lab while Adam waits by the lab table.]
Adam: Damn it! Why haven't they called in?
Jesse: 'Cause their comlinks have gone dead, Adam.
Adam: Because Eckhart knew that they'd be coming. [Emma's computer starts to beep.]
Emma: Adam, there's a call coming in from Naxcon.
Adam: Patch it through.
Mason (appearing on the video screen in front of Jesse): Hello, Adam. Have you missed me?
Adam: You're looking more like your old self, Mason.
Mason: Feeling like a million bucks. It's amazing what a new hairstyle can do for one.
Adam: What have you done with Brennan and Shalimar?
Mason: I'm afraid you'll have to come and see for yourself. And Adam...time is of the essence. [He cuts off the connection. Adam grabs a device from the table and starts to leave the lab.]
Emma: Where do you think you're going?
Adam: Well, you should know. You seem to know everything else.
Emma: Look, Adam, I didn't want it to happen this way.
Adam: None of us did.
Jesse: Wait, what are you doing? Your DNA is the last piece that Eckhart needs to control mutations. Are you just gonna deliver that up to him?
Adam: I'm not gonna let Brennan and Shalimar suffer for my mistakes.
Emma: After he gets what he wants, he will kill you.
Adam (holding up the device): I didn't say I was going in unprepared. I have a plan.
Jesse: Good. So do you want to fill us in?
Adam: What do you mean, us?
Jesse: Yeah, us. It took me 28 years to find someone to believe in, Adam. I'm not just gonna throw that away.
Emma: Let's do this. [They follow him out.]

[Arriving at Naxcon, Adam, Emma, and Jesse walk up to the secure area. Silva's guarding the door.]
Adam: I'm Adam Kane.
Silva (not impressed): I know who you are. [Turning away from them, he looks into the retinal scanner, opening the door.]
Emma: Are you sure this is the right thing to do?
Adam: I'm sure it's our only chance. [They ride down with Silva in the elevator. In the secure area, Mason, Nicholas and a couple of mutants are waiting on the ground floor; Shalimar and Brennan near the far wall, frozen in their separate force-fields.]
Mason (looking up as the elevator doors open): Adam. It's been a long time. Of course, being in the pod made it seem even longer.
Adam (exiting the elevator): How'd you get out?
Mason: You don't think I'd devise a trap without a back door for me to wriggle out? Six months in, any pod that I hadn't coded the locks on was automatically reopened.
Adam (coming down the stairs): I was hoping that you'd have used some of that time to think about all of the damage that you'd done.
Mason (smiling): Beautiful. As sanctimonious as ever. Actually, I did use my time for thinking. I thought a lot about you and what I planned to do when I got out.
Adam: How long have you had my files?
Mason: I had your files as soon as you saved them. But it took my people until just a few months ago to break the encryption. You always were the best. And now your brilliance and your DNA will change the world in a way you never had the courage to.
Adam: It wasn't about courage. It was about the fact that there are some things that people shouldn't try to control.
Mason: Adam, I thought you'd understood. Destroying disease. Creating a race of perfect humans. Turning on genes to make people live forever. These are dreams that people like you live for. Thanks to your research and your DNA, I'll be father to a whole new race. [He turns on the computer monitor, showing them a room filled with rows upon rows of mutants in pods.]
Nicholas: What's going on? That's not the agreement. You can't do it! I won't let you!
Mason: I'll keep my end of the bargain. Your daughter will be returned to you cured, as soon as I get what I want.
Adam (looking at the mutants around the room): What about your friends here? What have you given them besides a lot of pain? All he's given you is a life that's gonna end very soon.
Silva: What is he talking about?
Adam: Why do you think he needs my DNA? He needs it to perfect the process of mutation because you're just rough drafts. I mean, that's why your friend died. That's why you're gonna die. What, you forgot to tell them this, Eckhart?
Mason: That's enough! I need the samples. Take him.
Adam: I don't think so. [Holding up the device he took from Sanctuary's lab.] This is an electromagnetic pulse generator. This is strong enough to fry every piece of electronic equipment in this building.
Mason: Really, Adam? It showed up on the sensors the moment you walked through the front door. And that's when it was rendered unworkable. When are you going to learn that I really am a step ahead? Take him. [Adam bashes the first mutant in the head with the pulse generator, then howls as Silva unleashes a wave of pain at him. Jesse, running down the stairs, goes to release Brennan and Shalimar from the force-field.]
Silva (preparing to throw some pain at Emma): Lady, you are about to have the worst day of your life.
Emma: I don't think so. [She hits him with a psionic blast, making him feel the effects of his own pain wave.] It's hard to share pain that you don't feel, isn't it?
Jesse (releasing Brennan and Shalimar): Come on! [Shalimar backhands the first mutant who attacked Adam, sending him flying. Mal attacks Brennan again, but this time Brennan gets the upper hand. As Mason watches the scene in front of him, Nicholas goes to the computer behind him and starts typing. The computer screen shifts to display a warning sign: Critical pressure loss detected: Core meltdown imminent.]
Mason (as alarms blare all over the building): You idiot, what did you do?
Nicholas: I opened up the steam valves. I released the pressure. It's all about to go up! [Mutant X ducks as the stopcocks on the steam pipes blow, releasing jets of high pressure steam into the room.]
Mason: You always have to screw things up, don't you Adam? [He races towards the stairs and gets into the elevator with Silva.]
Adam: Look out! [A large pipe falls from the ceiling, narrowly missing Nicholas. Adam grabs his shoulders, shouting over the noise.] How much time do we have?
Nicholas: About a minute, maybe less!
Adam: Is there another way out of here?
Nicholas (pointing to a small door in the wall): That way!
Adam (to Brennan): Hit that! [Brennan shoots electrical arcs at the door, which comes crashing down. Adam pushes the team through the portal and up a metal ladder towards the ground floor.] All right, let's go, go, go! Go! [Enormous explosions rip through the building as the team and Nicholas race along the corridor towards the exit. Coming to a fork in the hallway, Adam calls back to Shalimar.] Which way?
Shalimar (pointing): Left, left! [They head that way just as the support columns under the building begin to collapse. The entire building sways and topples to the side, pitching the team onto the floor. Lined up in a row, Emma, Adam, Nicholas, Jesse, Shalimar and Brennan desperately hang by their fingernails onto a small crevice on the floor as the floor tilts vertically, suspending them over the churning waters far below.]
Adam (grabbing Emma's hand on the crevice): Emma!
Shalimar: Hang on!
Adam: All right?
Shalimar (losing her grip): Brennan!
Adam: Emma! Hang on! [An explosive fireball shatters through the glass windows of the wall above them. As more support columns break, the entire building hangs precariously downwards towards the sea.]

The End