"..this mutant threat is real. Police have already captured and contained one mutant; Shalimar Fox. Possessing feline strength and agility, she can be seen here attacking these gentlemen in the corner, seemingly unprovoked. The men that were attacked have been taken to a nearby hospital where we are glad to report that all three are in stable condition.. Other mutants are still out there.. The police are combing the area looking for any traces of......" Turning the volume down on the monitor, Mutant X's leader, was at a loss for words.

"We have to get her out Adam.." Emma spoke, interrupting the silence with her sobs. "Who knows what they are doing to her." She buried her face into Jesse's shirt, unable to control her emotions.

Jesse tightened his grasp around the young girls waist, sighing in complete and utter frustration. "Can't we just go in there and break her out? I mean, who cares about witnesses, everybody knows now."

Adam groaned with internal conflict. He wanted so much to rescue their teammate, the one person that was the closest to him. He'd often thought of Shalimar as his own daughter, and the thought of anything bad happening to her because of his research... "I.. I think we should wait.."

"What??!" Demanded Brennan, straightening his back as he walked closer to Adam. "You can't seriously expect us to agree with you."

The older man nodded, rubbing the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Brennan, we don't know for certain that they're treating her any worse then any other criminal-"

"Even still! She's NOT a criminal Adam!"

"I know, but listen.. If we go in there and break her out, then we're just feeding the media with what they want. There's no more hiding, if we want to be accepted by society, we can't appear threatening. Once we strike, it's over."

Emma was first to reply. "Adam, what if they *are* harming her... We know that the GSA is in contact with the authorities." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Yeah, they've probably given her a subdermal governor.. She's practically defenseless." Brennan added, running his hands through his hair in distress.

"Well, I've been trying to contact the authorities that have her, hoping to get permission to speak with her."

"What, like a visit?" Jesse asked, wondering where Adam was going with this.

"Exactly. Unless they've completely thrown out the rule book, they shouldn't say no to a monitored meeting. If at that time it's apparent that.." His voice broke and he took a moment to regain himself before continuing. "..that they have mistreated her..."

"Then we go in and bust her loose." Brennan finished, not caring if that's what Adam was originally intending to say.

Relenting, Adam nodded. "If not, then we try to play this thing out legally.. Convince a judge that those men she attacked were trying to harm her.. Ya know, get some leverage on our side."

"all right.. " Brennan agreed, staring at the older man. It was killing him inside to think about all the possibilities. He was fairly certain Shalimar wasn't being treated gingerly, but as much as he wanted to disagree, he could see Adams point in waiting. "I think you have a few phone calls to make."

Nodding, the leader of their team turned and left the room.

*****

Shalimar hissed through clenched teeth as yet another foot connected with her ribs, causing her to roll even closer to the wall. Blood dripped into and down her mouth from a nasty cut in her lip, but the taste was soon growing familiar. She had no conception of time since she'd been brought into the facility, having been denied her watch or any other of her previous possessions. Frankly, she was surprised they even bothered giving her the standard bright orange uniform, although by now, she was sure, it was no longer bright, or for the most part, orange.

Her pen mates were, as she quickly learned, pre chosen. At the first notice of her impending arrival, the guards had held a raffle, giving each inmate a fair shot at being one of the first few men to formally greet the mutant. After the initial 'greeting' began, she found herself hoping that this wasn't a very large prison.

Rolling her onto her back, the largest of the pen mates had taken up space sitting on her pelvis, while he and the other two inmates took delight in rubbing dirt and grime from the cells floor into every one of her visible abrasions. "This way you'll never forget who got you first.." He had sneered, spit falling from his mouth onto her face and chest.

With nothing else to do but lay there and withstand the torture, Shalimar took great salvation in the fact that one of the first things the guards had told the pen mates after shoving her into the cell, was that they were by no means allowed to kill, or mortally injure her. With that little bit of hope situated in her mind, she knew that once her friends freed her from this place, she'd be able to come back and properly thank those who were doing this to her.

After what seemed, at least to her, an exorbitant amount of time later, the three pen mates began to lose interest with her, or so she thought. Having satisfactorily infected most all of her wounds, the largest inmate moved off of her, and motioned the others to let her alone. "I think it would be most beneficial if we let our little friend here get some rest. We want her to be at her... Well, best tomorrow.. Especially with what we have in store.." He grinned sadistically at the other two, who nodded eagerly in agreement.

Grabbing Shalimar aggressively by her hair, the inmate dragged her seemingly limp body across the cell and tossed her roughly onto a cot. Reaching down, his rough hands roamed her chest briefly before grabbing and squeezing one of her nipples. "Sleep tight, darling." He laughed, moving back towards the other two to begin making plans for tomorrow.