DISCLAIMER!!!! Poseidon, January, February, Colin, Kit and Dana are mine. Everyone else is someone else's. I'm not making any money off this, just check my bank account. Puh-lease don't sue me!

Shadowy Domain ch 5

Ever so carefully Race opened his eyes, just enough to see down through his eyelashes. He didn't want them thinking he was awake, for he wasn't very alert and he didn't want to be knocked out again.

"Well?" He heard a woman ask impatiently.

"Well what? Every time we've tried to duplicate what they did with that serum the test subject dies! I don't understand how it worked . . . ."

"We have the three in the holding cell. Why not try it on them?"

Stephen cast a glance at his boss, wondering of she was serious. On the one hand, they might die. On the other hand, it was to further science, they weren't really human anyway, and that may be just what the serum needed . . . "Let me try a few more things, then maybe we can see if it'll work on them. We don't want those little freaks mad and powerful. Right now they're just mad and we can still control them." He said at last.

The Boss huffed and walked out the door, taking her cigarette smoke with her.

A voice on Race's other side spoke up now, "ya think that thing she made, the one to knock out anybody who carries the serum, would work on her?"

The other man laughed. "It worked on Bannon well enough. He crumpled like a crushed can."

So that was what happened. Race thought.

"Get another blood sample, will you?" Stephen said.

A needle was injected, blood pulled out and still Race hung so still as to make his muscles ache.

"I just don't get it. I mean, the government got this stuff to work . . . maybe it has something to do with his blood type or something . . . DNA . . . " The tapping on the computer grew quicker as the tech tried to figure out how it worked, and all conversation stopped. Race counted out how fast he was breathing, not wanting anything to give him away, and settled down to wait.

***

"There's a guard down that way . . . Jessie, you say your father is over there? Can you find how to get there?" January asked.

"I think so . . . " She closed her eyes, looking for the fastest passage to her dad. It took a little longer this time since she didn't have an exact idea of what she was looking for, but she found it at last. "If we go down this hall, turn left, right, follow it for a way, through three doors and some barracks, we should find it.

"Lead the way, sweetheart," Risk whispered.

Jessie took point, January right next to her making sure no one was coming the other way, Risk and Feb behind with the last three making up the back.

"Stopstopstop!" All froze, melting into the shadows. They linked hands and January truly made them disappear as three men walked by, talking. A moment later they were out again and walking down the hall. Jessie sighed with relief. All these super powered people sure made this easy.

They rounded the first few corners, and then Risk called them to a halt.

"It's not clear . . ." She trailed off, holding her head and thinking.

"What's she talking about?" Jonny asked February (he thought).

"The future. She's trying to read it."

"Oh." Jonny's mind boggled. This was to strange for school.

"Let's split up into groups. Jonny, Feb, Poseidon, you come with me. Hadji, January, Jessie you guys go together. Less chance of one of us being caught. We'll meet you . . . wherever we meet you." Risk, Poseidon, Jonny and February left, walking silently down the opposite way. Jonny looked back once, mentally wishing Jessie the best of luck, and then disappeared around a bend.

Jessie swallowed and led on.

***

"There's someone here. Dispatch a team, sector two-two-oh-eight." Stephen said, never guessing that the smaller team already stood in the room behind him.

"Dispatching."

***

Jessie held her breath and waited for January's okay. Finally the young woman nodded and they shadowported into the room, right behind the main guard.

January knocked the back of his neck, hitting the nerve cluster there and sending him unconscious. They 'ported again, appearing between the two scientists. Leaving Hadji and Jessie to get Race down January leaped across the room, claws flashing out and choking off any scream the first man might've had. The second had just enough time to hit the alarm before Shadow was there, karate kicking the man into his own computer. He didn't get up.

"Come on, let's go!" She shouted above the din of the alarm.

"Can't you shadowport us?" Jessie screamed.

"No! Your father's too weak! He'd lose it under the pressure!"

Each holding one of Race's arms to support him, they rushed to the door they'd come in through, only to have January stop them at the last instant.

"Men're coming that way. Go the other way."

The raced to the other side of the room, the other door, but it too was about to be bombarded.

"Crap." January looked around, trying to find anything to use as cover. With the amount of men coming even she couldn't hold them all back. "Up." She said at last.

"What?" Hadji asked.

"Up! See the grate? It's big enough to let Race through. We have to go up!"

"There's no way to get there, J!" Jessie protested.

"Have you ever seen Batman?" Shadow asked.

"Uh . . . yeah . . ."

"Well, you know that thing he's got?" Saying this she started pulling string out of one of the many compartments in her belt.

"Yeah."

"He's a great role model. I have one too." She smiled and started to tie it around Race, then took the other end and shot it grateward. The grate broke and Race started upward just as men appeared at the doors.

The wire came back down and Shadow grabbed it, handing it to Hadji.

"Upsy daisy!" And he too, raced through the air.

It seemed to take ages for him to get up there, and the locked doors on either side were beginning to give. Jessie swallowed and watched as Hadji made it to the grate and untied himself, then sent it back down.

Men pounded on the glass windows, shooting through with guns. She heard the door handle come off one door and someone started on the deadbolt. She thanked whatever powers that be that January had thought to lock them.

"Get down!"

Jessie threw herself on the ground as bullets whizzed by her head, watched as Shadow took one in the shoulder. Blood started to soak the suit, then quickly stopped as the girls healing factor closed the wound.

It seemed to be taking forever for that Batman thing to come back down. Finally it reached the floor and January tied it around Jessie's waist. Pushing a button she was pulled into the air, leaving January on the ground. The doors broke at last under the strain as Jessie pulled herself up with Hadji's help, and looking back she saw, with some relief, that Shadow had just 'ported away.

She turned and followed Hadji, who was following Race, down the tubes. She stopped suddenly when January materialized out of nowhere, blocking her path.

"Sorry, Jess! Let's go!" And on hands and knees they all started to race out.

***

This was not good. Jonny was sure of it. Feb had gotten note a minute before that they'd found Race and were heading out. Then they'd been attacked.

Risk's laser flashed pale light, knocking down another man. February created a black hole, pulling a small group of them in. Jonny sat behind a wall, feeling useless.

"Poseidon," He whispered, "can you control all water, or just sea water?" he asked, remembering what Feb had been saying shortly after they'd left the other group.

"All water." She whispered back.

"There's gotta be pipes around here somewhere, can you find them?" he asked.

Her face lit up and she nodded, closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Above us are pipes, below is a sewer outlet." She said, her eyes snapping open.

"All right then, can you break the pipes and blast 'em or something?"

The ceiling exploded suddenly, water shooting into the men with large guns. 'Seidon turned and started to pull a grate off a sewer outlet, smiling gratefully when Jonny bent to help.

"Guys! We've got a way out!" He shouted quickly.

Poseidon jumped in first, followed by Jonny, February and Risk. Lifting the blue haired girl on his shoulders, Jonny stood still while she shut the grate, keeping others from following.

"The sea is this way!" Poseidon said, starting quickly down one way of the dark, wet sewer, the only light that of Risk's laser.

"How are the others doing?" Jonny asked Feb as she caught up to him.

Her eyes lost focus for a minute, then sharpened again. "They're okay. They've got Race and are looking for a way out."

Jonny smiled. "Good. Hey, Risk, shine the beam into the water so we get the light, but we don't get shot."

Risk smiled. He was going to be quite the leader someday.

***

Jessie crawled on after January, panting. It was hard to breathe in this suffocating darkness. She'd never considered herself claustrophobic, but at times like these she wondered. She stopped for a minute, started to lean against a wall, only to find there was none there.

January thought she heard something, but February was talking to her and it dulled her senses, and often she heard things Feb was hearing. She didn't bother turning to look.

***

Jonny slugged through the muck, following the gilled woman. her fins were out, spiny things on her lower arms and legs, and her hands had become webbed. He heard a squeak and shuddered at the thought of rats. At least Jessie was in a better place.

***

Colin sniffed her hair carefully. She was awfully quiet. The guard said she'd fallen right into their bunks, so they dumped her in here and waited for her friends to come back for her.

She groaned and he jumped back, into the darkness that was his home.

Jessie sat up, rubbing her head. Where was she? It was too dark to see anything, far darker then anything she'd ever been in. The walls were farther then her senses could tell her, and she sat in something wet. A rustle in the corner made her look up, and she called out.

"Hello?"

Silence greeted her call.

"Is anyone there?" She asked.

"Who are you?" It was a male voice, fairly young, still changing.

"I'm Jessie. Where am I?"

"In our home. They put you here."

"They who?" She sat up on her knees and there was a sudden scuffle, as if children were playing hide and seek.

"Stay there!" The voice quavered and she wondered if it would do anything if she didn't.

"Sorry. Who are "they"?"

"They're the guards. And the people who feed us." This was a different voice, still male and about the same age as the first. It was in another corner of the room and Jessie turned her head.

"Who're you?" She asked.

There was silence.

"You don't know? Everyone knows about us." The second voice whispered.

"It's a trick. Like that last time. We should kill her." That was the first voice now, lower than it had been, deadly sounding.

"I'm not helping in any trick." She tried to assure them.

"Let's kill her." He said again.

"Kit, no. Leave her alone."

"Why should I?" It sounded normal again, a brother defying a brother.

"Because A), you couldn't do it, B) that's sick, C), we'd get in trouble and D) she might be telling the truth. You said the alarms went off."

Both boys were quiet for a bit.

"Are you guards?" Jessie asked at last.

"No." A female voice, light and young. Early teens?

"What's your name?" She asked the girl.

"D-Dana." She stuttered. A definite note of fear crept into her voice now.

"Leave her alone," the second boy said, moving to the girl.

"Sorry." Jessie answered quietly.

"Hey! You freaks in there! Shudup!" A man shouted from outside.

There was a crash, running sounds as the other's tried to escape and then sudden silence. A door opened behind Jessie and she turned, the light hurting her eyes. The cell was in disarray, things that had once been bed and tables broken and lying sidewards on the floor. The lights above had been broken, smashed by who knew what. Thick wooden rafters stretched across the top of the room, one almost rotted through. A rat scurried into darkness, and nothing was seen of other children.

"You freaks shut up! I don't wanna hafta listen ta you all day!" He threw a chunk of wood over Jessie's head, smacking it against the broken and upturned bed on the other side. Something behind there ducked, moving it slightly and Jessie strained to see. But he was still well hidden and there was no part of him showing.

"That goes for you too, girl. Keep quiet!" He slammed the door again, leaving Jessie in utter darkness.

"Hey, wait! You can't just leave me here!" She stood up and started banging on where she thought the door was, slamming her fists there until she thought they'd been bruised. Staggering back at last she fell down, landing hard on her tailbone.

"They won't listen," the second boy said.

"They never do," the first echoed.

"Be quiet so they won't try to kill us," was the female's addition.

"Where are you?" Jessie yelled, her short temper finally snapped.

"Shhh!"

"Shhh! yourself. Where are you?!"

There was silence, the siblings afraid to tell her.

"Will you be quiet if we tell you?" One finally asked.

"Yes."

"Over here. I'm right here." A hand touched her foot for an instant, then leaped back before she could do anything.

"Thank you." Jessie said quietly. At least she knew this wasn't some cruel trick. Letting her hear voices when there wasn't anything there.

Silence descended again, broken only when one of them would shift position for some reason. She heard a sudden rocking of furniture, as if someone had jumped from it, and then a soft landing above her. She looked up quickly, even though it was futile. She couldn't see anything anyway. Sighing, she settled against the wall, waiting for her captors to make some move.

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