Within These Walls
Mutant X Episode Synopses
Within These Walls: Episode #213.
Tag: The lives of the Mutant X team are threatened when they set out to capture a highly dangerous escaped convict. [ Transcript]
Cast & Crew: Written by Peter Mohan; Directed by Manfred Guthe
Steve Bacic....Nick Maddox
Tiffanie Bell....Receptionist
Lyriq Bent.... Harris
Anthony Grieco....Agent
Rachel Hayward.... Christina
Anna Silk.... Asia
Robert Thomas....Prison guard
Official Synopsis: Brennan (Victor Webster) and Shalimar (Victoria Pratt) follow an armored truck that’s transporting prisoner Nick Maddox (Steve Bacic), who is restrained with an elaborate headgear and shackles. Suddenly, a black SUV cuts in front of their car and affixes a black box from its front grill to the back door of the truck. The woman in the SUV pushes the button on a remote detonator and the black box explodes causing the truck to swerve off the street into a vacant lot. The occupants of the SUV, Harris (Lyriq Bent) and Asia (Anna Silk) race to the back of the truck and open fire at Brennan and Shalimar who dive for cover. Inside the truck, Asia drills out the locks on Maddox's headgear and shackles. Freed, he turns to the sun and his eyes begin radiating a red glow while his fingers spread to reveal red photon daggers. Maddox then thrusts his hand out toward Brennan and Shalimar and unleashes a series of deadly daggers in their direction. They rush out of the way, but one of the daggers severs Brennan's arm and he screams in pain. Shalimar rushes over and inspect his wound just as the SUV takes off. Back at Sanctuary, Adam (John Shea) examines Brennan's wound and deduces that he was hit with a powerful energy blast. Brennan is furious that Adam sent him and Shalimar into such a perilous situation without warning them of the risks involved. Although Adam feels bad that their lives were threatened, he is firm about keeping his source and specific information about this particular mission private. He then goes to his quarters and contacts a woman named Christina (Rachel Hayward) who refuses to meet with him. Infuriated, he tracks her location. Meanwhile, Jesse (Forbes March) shows Emma (Lauren Lee Smith) a picture of a young Maddox from the database and reveals that he was treated at Genomex for 6 months, but there’s no record of who put him there. Across town, Maddox and his cronies enter the Chadway Insurance office, kill two agents and threaten the receptionist’s (Tiffanie Bell) life unless she take him to Christina. Meanwhile, Adam arrives at a waterfront bar where he finds Christina franticly packing her belongings. Certain that she is running from Maddox, who is seeking revenge on her for locking him away, Adam tries to warn her that she’s in extreme danger. Suddenly, the two hear Maddox and his followers enter the bar. They rush to the safe room to hide, but suddenly Christina goes after Maddox, firing her weapon at him repeatedly. Evading the bullets, Maddox sends several sizzling photon daggers at the two, but Adam is able to grab Christina in the nick of time and rush her back to the safe room. Against her protests, he closes the room’s thick steel door sealing them inside. As Adam and Christina debate their next move, it becomes evident that the two have a long unresolved history with each other that stems back to Genomex. Christina admits to him that Maddox was an assassin for her agency who she locked away when it became obvious that he had his own agenda. As the hours go by, the Mutant X team begins to worry about Adam’s safety and decide to search for him. Meanwhile, an enraged Maddox orders Harris to use a drill and explosives to gain access into the safe room. Hearing the drill, Adam estimates that they have approximately 78 minutes to come up with a plan. Christina and Adam again argue about the past, but quickly realize that they must work together in order to save themselves. Impatient, Maddox uses the sun's rays and his powers to raise the heat in the safe room. Back at Sanctuary, Brennan takes over the position of leader in Adam’s absence. When the team learns that Adam had sent a message to the server at Chadway Insurance, they board the Double Helix and take off to investigate. Meanwhile, as the temperature in the safe room rises quickly, Adam breaks open a pipe allowing gushing water to fill the room. He assures Christina that when Maddox opens the door he’ll get hit with the water and they’ll be able to escape. At Chadway Insurance, Emma uses a psionic blast to coerce an agent (Anthony Grieco) into providing them Christina’s cell phone number which they use to track the area she made her last call from. Adam and Christina’s life threatening situation cause the two to open up and admit feelings from the past. As the water gets increasingly deeper, the two suddenly realize that the drilling has stopped. Fearful that they will drown, they are relieved when they hear the drill starts up again. The two share a long awaited kiss, but are suddenly interrupted by Maddox. Just as Maddox is about to push detonator on the explosives, Christina loses her footing and sinks down deep in the water. Outside the bar, the Mutant X team has just found Adam’s car when they hear the explosion. They reach the bar just as Adam and Christina are about to escape, but Maddox suddenly appears and blocks their path. Brennan calls out to Maddox and then quickly hides behind Jesse who masses out stopping the photon daggers Maddox shoots at them. Brennan then yells for Adam to get out of the water and he hits the powerful Maddox with a tesla coil that kills him instantly. Later at Sanctuary, Adam compliments Brennan on his leadership skills and the two make amends.
Quotes:
Shalimar: Do you think you could have picked anything a little more conspicuous?
Brennan: Come on, if someone’s gonna jack that prison truck, the last thing they’re gonna be expecting the backup to be driving is a vintage Cutlass, hm?
Shalimar: You know, that’s so dumb, it might actually be clever.
Brennan: I knew you’d eventually come around.
Shalimar: Who was that guy?
Brennan: I don’t know. Another couple of inches, he would’ve been the guy that killed me.
Brennan: Adam, when we go into a situation, we deserve to have some knowledge of the risk. Especially if you’re the one that’s sending us in. Then you have a responsibility to tell us.
Adam: Don’t lecture me about my responsibilities, okay? I’m sorry you got hurt. I intend to find out why certain information was withheld from us. But there are decisions that I make and will continue to make that are made for my reasons and at my discretion.
Brennan: Okay, so do it because I said so. Ah, you know what? That sounds an awful lot like the reasoning my stepfather used to use.
Jesse: There may be a whole slew of mutants that Genomex created that we know nothing about.
Emma: Well, that’s a comforting thought.
Brennan: So what are you doing, going off on your own agenda again? Leaving us all in the dark?
Adam: I just don’t want to have this conversation again. We’ve been through this already.
Brennan: Yeah, but we haven’t settled anything. If where you’re going has something to do with Maddox, then we all have a right to know about it.
Adam: And when the burden of leadership falls on your shoulders, maybe you’ll come to understand that there are some decisions that you cannot make by committee and there is some information that has to stay private.
Brennan: Ah, so then you don’t trust us.
Adam: Yes, I do. There are other people who trust me with their confidences, and I keep them. Even if they don’t deserve it, like the woman in this case.
Brennan: What is with Adam and all of his secrets?
Shalimar: We all have secrets. In fact, I’ve been around when a few of yours have come back to bite you in the ass.
Brennan: Yeah, but the difference is, I don’t ask any of you to get involved in anything without knowing what the downside is.
Jesse: Brennan, half the people Adam uses as contacts don’t even officially exist. What’s the use of knowing who they are? You gonna send them a Christmas card?
Brennan: No, what I’m saying is I would feel better knowing what the deal is before walking into something.
Jesse: No, what you’re saying is that you can’t enjoy the ride unless you’re driving the bus.
Shalimar: Ouch.
Adam: Because you didn’t tell me what kind of a prisoner he was, one of my people almost got killed.
Christina: I didn’t think Maddox’s people were that good. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
Adam: Yeah, well it did. And because it did, I’m losing my team’s confidence.
Christina: You’ll survive, Adam. You always do.
Nick Maddox: You made me what I am. And then you tried to put me away ‘cause I did what came naturally.
Adam: Long as the doors hold, I think we should be good for a few days.
Christina: And who’s gonna find us in that time? If they’ve come this far, they’ve already taken out my backup.
Adam: My people will miss me, they’ll come looking.
Christina: Oh, so you told them where you were going?
Shalimar: When you’re on a mission, you call in every four hours. It’s Adam’s own rule.
Jesse: Yeah, it’s his rule, and if he wants to break it, it’s his call. For all we know, he’s at a movie.
Brennan: Shal is right, okay? He might not be in trouble, but what if trouble is headed for him?
Jesse: So we call out the calvary? Look, Adam’ll be pissed if we show up and he’s out on a hot date.
Emma: A hot date?
Jesse: Yeah, a hot date. He said it was a woman, you sensed those feelings--
Brennan: Yeah, I’m willing to take that chance. I don’t know about you guys. Okay, then check his personal terminal, see if there’s any communications left in the cache. You check the police records see if anything’s turned up on his vehicle.
Jesse: Nice. Adam’s only gone a few hours and you’re giving out orders.
Brennan: Just do it, okay?
Christina: He was an operative who went over the line.
Adam: I didn’t know your agency had a line.
Christina: Everyone has lines. Maddox was trained to carry out clandestine operations.
Adam: Assassinations. Why don’t you just say it?
Christina: Are you gonna let me speak? He forgot who he was working for. Without our knowing, he had set up his own organization to pursue his own goals.
Adam: Yeah, so he’s doing his dirty work instead of yours. I can see how your people would be unhappy about that.
Christina: Before you pick apart other people’s ethics, Adam, remember who it is who runs his own vigilante force. Or is that different because you’re so morally superior?
Adam: Mutant X protects people. You took an orphan kid and you put him into Genomex; you turned him into a high powered killer.
Christina: I knew there was no way to get you to do the work we needed. The rest of Genomex was open for business.
Adam: Right, so the whole time we were together, you used me to get to the people who would get you what you wanted.
Christina: It wasn’t like that.
Adam: No?
Christina: My superiors knew I was with you. I was given orders.
Adam: Oh, orders, right. The classic way to avoid responsibility.
Christina: You got what you needed. The people I set you up with helped finance your exit from Genomex. Without them, you’d never have been able to put Mutant X together. That seemed to be all you cared about back then.
Adam: Right, because I was trying to plug the leak in the dam ‘cause you and your people were busy making monsters like Maddox behind my back.
Christina: You had your mission, I had mine. Don’t blame me for us falling apart.
Christina: See, that is the problem with you. You are so damned blinkered. You think that everything can be solved by science.
Adam: Well, I’ll take science over espionage any day of the week.
Christina: Oh, this coming from the man who sat at the center of the biggest scientific disaster the world has ever seen. I’m sorry, Adam. I’m sorry, okay? I don’t know. It’s just everything with you is so clear-cut, so black and white. Good or evil.
Adam: Well, you know, maybe one of us has to know the difference.
Christina: Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s all about shades of grey.
Adam: I don’t want to get my head around a world like that. Where people, you know, pretend to be lovers. Where people warp the truth to get what they want.
Christina: You are still so pompous. It’s like you have a special relationship with the truth. It’s like you see it so clearly, but noone else has a clue. Well, I wouldn’t want to be on your team, Adam. ‘Cause with you, it’s not about teamwork. It’s about ego. And for all your idealism, it’s still a one-man show.
Brennan: Whoever Adam was trying to contact routed their communication through a third party, so it’s a dead end anyway.
Jesse: Or not.
Brennan: You know, just move on.
Jesse: Look, I mean, maybe this server had its own transmission history. Maybe it’s what Adam broke into. Either way, I’m pretty sure that I can complete the search from there. Therefore, dead end, not.
Brennan: Whatever. Let’s just stop wasting time yapping about it and just do it!
Shalimar: You can’t put the stress you’re feeling on the people who are trying to work with you. You want to take the lead on this one? You’ve got to show some confidence.
Brennan: Oh, what, so I have to keep everything all bottled up, like Adam does?
Shalimar: That’s the job, Brennan. That’s what he was trying to tell you.
Emma: Adam is brilliant enough if he really wanted to cover his tracks, we may never find him.
Jesse: Yeah, serves him right for never trusting anybody.
Brennan: That’s enough.
Jesse: Excuse me? Somebody here spent the entire morning in a screaming match with Adam about secrecy issues, right? Now who was that?
Brennan: You know what? That was before I knew he was in trouble.
Jesse: Trouble. Yeah, right. You see, just so I know, have I changed my opinion, or are we still allowed to think for ourselves in this new regime?
Emma: Jesse, would you just cut him some slack?
Jesse: Why? Who was it that decided that Brennan’s suddenly in charge of this whole operation? And why does he think that I’m not gonna think for myself anymore?
Emma: Just because Adam is gone, doesn’t mean that we can lose focus. If we want to find him, we have to do this together. You know, someone here has to call the shots. And if you don’t have a real problem with it, I suggest that we listen to Brennan.
Jesse: Fine, we’ll see how it goes.
Jesse: They’ve got an office downtown.
Brennan: So?
Jesse: Well, even though I know it’s a dead end... *glare* ...it’s kind of interesting. I can’t seem to find a single policy that this insurance company has underwritten.
Emma: Government?
Brennan: I don’t know, but whoever it is, they’re connected to the person who sent Adam on the mission to cover Maddox, so it’s worth checking out.
Jesse: He sounds so commanding when he says that, don’t you think? Oh, is the 'Fearless Leader' thing working for you, Sir?
Brennan: Well, you know, just 'Sir' would work out all right. Go get the Helix ready.
Christina: You’re supposed to be the smart one. Figure it out.
Adam: Oh, so now you’re willing to try the scientific approach?
Christina: I’m willing to try anything that will get me out of here in one piece. Preferably uncooked.
Adam: I have an idea, but it’s fairly radical. You trust me?
Christina: I don’t trust anyone.
Adam: This idea doesn’t have any gray areas, this is black and white. Live or die.
Christina: Just do it!
Jesse: Sir? Now might be a good time to say a little somethin’.
Jesse: Spooky.
Shalimar: Just be glad she’s on our side.
Adam: We wouldn’t be in this situation if you and your team hadn’t done what you did to Maddox.
Christina: We used the technology that was available. Same thing you were doing. Same thing you’re still doing with Mutant X.
Adam: Yeah, except you used it to create a killer.
Christina: An operative. The killing is something that came to him naturally.
Adam: Sure that would make a difference to the families of his victims.
Christina: You can’t talk. You’re the man who created Gabriel Ashlocke.
Adam: I was trying to help him.
Christina: No, you were feeding your ego. You were so wrapped up in patents and new discoveries that you didn’t see what was going on around you.
Adam: Well, I certainly didn’t see what was going on with you. You know, certainly took me long enough to realize what your so-called government job was all about.
Christina: You didn’t realize. I told you. And instead of working out something between us, you just ended it.
Adam: Well, what do you expect? You lied to me.
Christina: I didn’t lie. I just couldn’t tell you the truth. You know about secrets. About having things you can’t share with anyone else, especially those close to you.
Adam: All right, so we both had secrets. You know, maybe that’s why we got along.
Christina: Got along? I loved you.
Adam: What about you? Would you have left your agency to be with me?
Christina: We could have found a middle ground, Adam. That’s what people do.
Emma: I was beginning to wonder whether Brennan and Jesse were gonna get through this without killing each other.
Shalimar: Yeah, I guess I never really thought about that whole power struggle thing either.
Emma: Well, that’s probably a good thing. Means you’re not a control freak.
Shalimar: I guess. I mean, it’s just so strange being a part of a group. I just never thought about running one, you know?
Emma: I thought all ferals had pack instincts.
Shalimar: Well, I don’t know what the psychology is, but you know before Adam brought me in, I was a lone wolf the whole way.
Emma: You must have had friends as a kid.
Shalimar: I scared all my friends. I think it started when I made my ex-boyfriend eat his math textbook.
Emma: Yeah, that would probably do it.
Shalimar: What about you? Any desire to be the queen of Mutant X?
Emma: No, I’m the same as you. I’m just so grateful that I have these four amazing people in my life now who aren’t scared of me. You know, leadership isn’t really an issue. I’m just glad you guys don’t think I’m a freak.
Shalimar: Well, I think we’re all in the same boat there. You know, on that whole power thing, I think it has more to do with testosterone than anything else. You know, I don’t think Jesse wants to boss anybody around, but Brennan, he goes all alpha male and Jesse just gets his back up.
Emma: That’s exactly what if felt like.
Shalimar: If Brennan didn’t want to run things, I think Jesse would step up and insist that he did.
Emma: You know, I don’t know what Jesse would do with himself if he wasn’t swimming against the current. If that makes any sense at all.
Shalimar: Honey, it makes as much sense as anything does around here.
Christina: How did you see your death?
Adam: Well, I always saw myself dying of old age. You know, with lots of friends and colleagues lined up to pay their respects. Of course, as it turns out, I don’t have any friends and colleagues except for Mutant X, and the way things are going, I’m not sure they’d show up. How about you? Did you ever think about this?
Christina: Gun fight. Foreign agents. Car chase. Pipe bomb under the seat. Something a little more active.
Adam: Drowning in a vault, that’s pretty active.
Christina: Did you miss me, Adam?
Adam: Yeah, I missed you. Missed you every day. I used to think that being angry with you would burn it out of me, and it hasn’t.
Christina: Is that why you kept in contact?
Adam: Yeah, maybe.
Christina: But you were too stubborn to say anything.
Adam: Yeah. And what about you, huh? I mean, did you ever think about what you might do different if you had to do it over again?
Christina: Can’t go back.
Adam: And if you could?
Christina: I never would have hurt you.
Jesse: No. I’m not going to apologize.
Emma: Come on, Jess. Now’s our chance.
Jesse: No.
Shalimar: Jess.
Jesse: What?
Shalimar: Tell him.
Brennan: Tell me what?
Emma: Come on, Jess. You can do it. Just say the words.
Jesse: Okay. Okay. I thought you did okay as an interim leader.
Shalimar: And...?
Jesse: And... I am sorry for giving you so much grief before. Sort of.
Brennan: Thanks. That’s a real vote of confidence. I think.
Brennan: I realize now that you can’t always tell us everything.
Adam: Well, that’s funny. Because I was just wondering how to apologize to the four of you. I think almost dying in that safe room put some things in perspective for me.
Brennan: Oh yeah? Is that because you were trapped, or who you were trapped with?
Adam: Maybe both. Did a good job holding things together while I was in there.
Brennan: Thank you very much. You know, I’m beginning to realize now how difficult leadership is.
Adam: And I know it’s not easy working with me sometimes not getting the whole picture. And I realized something about myself in there. Which is that sometimes I hold back so that I can be the only one who sees all the cards. So that I can stay in control.
Brennan: Well, you gotta do whatcha gotta do, right?
Adam: No, I’m saying that’s wrong. If you guys share in the danger, you should share in the information.
Brennan: Glad you think that way, cause now you can explain to me who Christina is.
Adam: Some things remain a mystery. Even to me.
Adam: I was thinking about some of the things we said.
Christina: We thought we were gonna die. People say things they don’t normally say.
Adam: Still sometimes things need to be said.
Christina: We can’t just pick up where we left off. We’re still the same people we were when we went in there.
Adam: Are we?
Christina: You know where to find me.
Trivia & Nitpicks: Special guest star: Lyriq Bent, who plays Harris, will return with more independence and an improved vocabulary in “The Art of Attraction” as art thief Randall Blake.
We finally find out at least one of the sources of Adam’s wealth: Christina’s contacts. Adam and Christina had an affair while he was at Genomex. She received orders to use his connections to help her agency create covert mutant assassins like Nick Maddox. She hooked him up with powerful people who helped finance his escape from Genomex and creation of Sanctuary and Mutant X.
Adam reveals that the comlinks won’t work in a lead-lined room.
Shalimar confesses to Emma that she had no friends growing up after she made an ex-boyfriend eat his math textbook in school.
The vintage Cutlass Brennan stole has the same license plate as the black car he was driving in “The Grift.”
If Nick Maddox can only produce as much energy as sunlight he absorbs, a more logical plan might have been for Christina to transport him at night...or, since we now know that it rains in the Mxverse, during a storm. Not that that would necessarily work, since Nick demonstrates that he can somehow still kill security guards even when inside a room bereft of windows, like Chadway Insurance.
When Nick and Asia step out of the prison truck, Shalimar and Brennan just stare at him, rather than taking him out immediately, giving him time to charge up. That’s uncharacteristic of Brennan, who usually shoots first and asks questions later.
Jesse announces that he has access to Sanctuary’s and Genomex’s databases of new mutants and another section of Genomex’s treating people with no signs of mutation at all. That’s new. When did they obtain these?
When the team is trying to find Adam, why doesn’t Emma try to reach him telempathically, the way she found Brennan in “I Scream the Body Electric”? Lead may affect comlinks, but it shouldn’t have any effect on her abilities. This same question will come up again in “Final Judgement.”
Christina’s company is called Chadway Insurance, but the company Jesse pulls up on the screen is called Montclair Insurance. As it turns out, Montclair Security is actually the name of Simon Fletcher's office in "One Step Closer." Silly computer.
As Mutant X enters Chadway Insurance, Shalimar uses her yellow!feral vision to determine that people died in the room, despite the fact that her eyes aren't glowing. That's a first.
Though a frustrated Christina tells Adam that Nick has taken out her backup, three guards soon demonstrate that they are alive enough to confront Mutant X as they look around Chadway Insurance.
Jesse says that they can track Christina’s cellphone even though it’s not on, because it leaves a digital trace from node to node. Really? You'd think such a top-secret operative would’ve have found a way to make her signal untraceable.
Shalimar tells Emma that before Mutant X, she was a lone wolf all the way. Yet it's revealed in "Dream Lover" that she hung out with Gia Duchamps while she was on the streets. And what about Zack Lockhart?
When Brennan and Jesse are in the Helix, Brennan asks Emma to patch them into Sanctuary’s system so that Jesse can trace Christina’s phone. Aren’t the two computer systems already connected?
It’s ironic that Adam congratulates Brennan for keeping the team together while he was gone. In fact, Brennan was too busy blowing his top to do much of that. Despite Brennan’s impatience, it was Shalimar who decided when it was time to find Adam. While Brennan’s arrogance bruised egos, Emma kept Jesse focused on the task at hand, and Shalimar kept Brennan in check. Jesse persevered until he found Christina’s company in spite of Brennan’s belittling his judgement. It was Emma who obtained Christina’s cell number when Brennan’s intimidation tactics failed, and Jesse who traced it to Adam. Shalimar and Emma may not have leadership aspirations, but had it not been for them, the team would have fallen apart.
Return to The Mutant X Warehouse
Within These Walls: Episode #213.
Tag: The lives of the Mutant X team are threatened when they set out to capture a highly dangerous escaped convict. [ Transcript]
Cast & Crew: Written by Peter Mohan; Directed by Manfred Guthe
Steve Bacic....Nick Maddox
Tiffanie Bell....Receptionist
Lyriq Bent.... Harris
Anthony Grieco....Agent
Rachel Hayward.... Christina
Anna Silk.... Asia
Robert Thomas....Prison guard
Official Synopsis: Brennan (Victor Webster) and Shalimar (Victoria Pratt) follow an armored truck that’s transporting prisoner Nick Maddox (Steve Bacic), who is restrained with an elaborate headgear and shackles. Suddenly, a black SUV cuts in front of their car and affixes a black box from its front grill to the back door of the truck. The woman in the SUV pushes the button on a remote detonator and the black box explodes causing the truck to swerve off the street into a vacant lot. The occupants of the SUV, Harris (Lyriq Bent) and Asia (Anna Silk) race to the back of the truck and open fire at Brennan and Shalimar who dive for cover. Inside the truck, Asia drills out the locks on Maddox's headgear and shackles. Freed, he turns to the sun and his eyes begin radiating a red glow while his fingers spread to reveal red photon daggers. Maddox then thrusts his hand out toward Brennan and Shalimar and unleashes a series of deadly daggers in their direction. They rush out of the way, but one of the daggers severs Brennan's arm and he screams in pain. Shalimar rushes over and inspect his wound just as the SUV takes off. Back at Sanctuary, Adam (John Shea) examines Brennan's wound and deduces that he was hit with a powerful energy blast. Brennan is furious that Adam sent him and Shalimar into such a perilous situation without warning them of the risks involved. Although Adam feels bad that their lives were threatened, he is firm about keeping his source and specific information about this particular mission private. He then goes to his quarters and contacts a woman named Christina (Rachel Hayward) who refuses to meet with him. Infuriated, he tracks her location. Meanwhile, Jesse (Forbes March) shows Emma (Lauren Lee Smith) a picture of a young Maddox from the database and reveals that he was treated at Genomex for 6 months, but there’s no record of who put him there. Across town, Maddox and his cronies enter the Chadway Insurance office, kill two agents and threaten the receptionist’s (Tiffanie Bell) life unless she take him to Christina. Meanwhile, Adam arrives at a waterfront bar where he finds Christina franticly packing her belongings. Certain that she is running from Maddox, who is seeking revenge on her for locking him away, Adam tries to warn her that she’s in extreme danger. Suddenly, the two hear Maddox and his followers enter the bar. They rush to the safe room to hide, but suddenly Christina goes after Maddox, firing her weapon at him repeatedly. Evading the bullets, Maddox sends several sizzling photon daggers at the two, but Adam is able to grab Christina in the nick of time and rush her back to the safe room. Against her protests, he closes the room’s thick steel door sealing them inside. As Adam and Christina debate their next move, it becomes evident that the two have a long unresolved history with each other that stems back to Genomex. Christina admits to him that Maddox was an assassin for her agency who she locked away when it became obvious that he had his own agenda. As the hours go by, the Mutant X team begins to worry about Adam’s safety and decide to search for him. Meanwhile, an enraged Maddox orders Harris to use a drill and explosives to gain access into the safe room. Hearing the drill, Adam estimates that they have approximately 78 minutes to come up with a plan. Christina and Adam again argue about the past, but quickly realize that they must work together in order to save themselves. Impatient, Maddox uses the sun's rays and his powers to raise the heat in the safe room. Back at Sanctuary, Brennan takes over the position of leader in Adam’s absence. When the team learns that Adam had sent a message to the server at Chadway Insurance, they board the Double Helix and take off to investigate. Meanwhile, as the temperature in the safe room rises quickly, Adam breaks open a pipe allowing gushing water to fill the room. He assures Christina that when Maddox opens the door he’ll get hit with the water and they’ll be able to escape. At Chadway Insurance, Emma uses a psionic blast to coerce an agent (Anthony Grieco) into providing them Christina’s cell phone number which they use to track the area she made her last call from. Adam and Christina’s life threatening situation cause the two to open up and admit feelings from the past. As the water gets increasingly deeper, the two suddenly realize that the drilling has stopped. Fearful that they will drown, they are relieved when they hear the drill starts up again. The two share a long awaited kiss, but are suddenly interrupted by Maddox. Just as Maddox is about to push detonator on the explosives, Christina loses her footing and sinks down deep in the water. Outside the bar, the Mutant X team has just found Adam’s car when they hear the explosion. They reach the bar just as Adam and Christina are about to escape, but Maddox suddenly appears and blocks their path. Brennan calls out to Maddox and then quickly hides behind Jesse who masses out stopping the photon daggers Maddox shoots at them. Brennan then yells for Adam to get out of the water and he hits the powerful Maddox with a tesla coil that kills him instantly. Later at Sanctuary, Adam compliments Brennan on his leadership skills and the two make amends.
Quotes:
Shalimar: Do you think you could have picked anything a little more conspicuous?
Brennan: Come on, if someone’s gonna jack that prison truck, the last thing they’re gonna be expecting the backup to be driving is a vintage Cutlass, hm?
Shalimar: You know, that’s so dumb, it might actually be clever.
Brennan: I knew you’d eventually come around.
Shalimar: Who was that guy?
Brennan: I don’t know. Another couple of inches, he would’ve been the guy that killed me.
Brennan: Adam, when we go into a situation, we deserve to have some knowledge of the risk. Especially if you’re the one that’s sending us in. Then you have a responsibility to tell us.
Adam: Don’t lecture me about my responsibilities, okay? I’m sorry you got hurt. I intend to find out why certain information was withheld from us. But there are decisions that I make and will continue to make that are made for my reasons and at my discretion.
Brennan: Okay, so do it because I said so. Ah, you know what? That sounds an awful lot like the reasoning my stepfather used to use.
Jesse: There may be a whole slew of mutants that Genomex created that we know nothing about.
Emma: Well, that’s a comforting thought.
Brennan: So what are you doing, going off on your own agenda again? Leaving us all in the dark?
Adam: I just don’t want to have this conversation again. We’ve been through this already.
Brennan: Yeah, but we haven’t settled anything. If where you’re going has something to do with Maddox, then we all have a right to know about it.
Adam: And when the burden of leadership falls on your shoulders, maybe you’ll come to understand that there are some decisions that you cannot make by committee and there is some information that has to stay private.
Brennan: Ah, so then you don’t trust us.
Adam: Yes, I do. There are other people who trust me with their confidences, and I keep them. Even if they don’t deserve it, like the woman in this case.
Brennan: What is with Adam and all of his secrets?
Shalimar: We all have secrets. In fact, I’ve been around when a few of yours have come back to bite you in the ass.
Brennan: Yeah, but the difference is, I don’t ask any of you to get involved in anything without knowing what the downside is.
Jesse: Brennan, half the people Adam uses as contacts don’t even officially exist. What’s the use of knowing who they are? You gonna send them a Christmas card?
Brennan: No, what I’m saying is I would feel better knowing what the deal is before walking into something.
Jesse: No, what you’re saying is that you can’t enjoy the ride unless you’re driving the bus.
Shalimar: Ouch.
Adam: Because you didn’t tell me what kind of a prisoner he was, one of my people almost got killed.
Christina: I didn’t think Maddox’s people were that good. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
Adam: Yeah, well it did. And because it did, I’m losing my team’s confidence.
Christina: You’ll survive, Adam. You always do.
Nick Maddox: You made me what I am. And then you tried to put me away ‘cause I did what came naturally.
Adam: Long as the doors hold, I think we should be good for a few days.
Christina: And who’s gonna find us in that time? If they’ve come this far, they’ve already taken out my backup.
Adam: My people will miss me, they’ll come looking.
Christina: Oh, so you told them where you were going?
Shalimar: When you’re on a mission, you call in every four hours. It’s Adam’s own rule.
Jesse: Yeah, it’s his rule, and if he wants to break it, it’s his call. For all we know, he’s at a movie.
Brennan: Shal is right, okay? He might not be in trouble, but what if trouble is headed for him?
Jesse: So we call out the calvary? Look, Adam’ll be pissed if we show up and he’s out on a hot date.
Emma: A hot date?
Jesse: Yeah, a hot date. He said it was a woman, you sensed those feelings--
Brennan: Yeah, I’m willing to take that chance. I don’t know about you guys. Okay, then check his personal terminal, see if there’s any communications left in the cache. You check the police records see if anything’s turned up on his vehicle.
Jesse: Nice. Adam’s only gone a few hours and you’re giving out orders.
Brennan: Just do it, okay?
Christina: He was an operative who went over the line.
Adam: I didn’t know your agency had a line.
Christina: Everyone has lines. Maddox was trained to carry out clandestine operations.
Adam: Assassinations. Why don’t you just say it?
Christina: Are you gonna let me speak? He forgot who he was working for. Without our knowing, he had set up his own organization to pursue his own goals.
Adam: Yeah, so he’s doing his dirty work instead of yours. I can see how your people would be unhappy about that.
Christina: Before you pick apart other people’s ethics, Adam, remember who it is who runs his own vigilante force. Or is that different because you’re so morally superior?
Adam: Mutant X protects people. You took an orphan kid and you put him into Genomex; you turned him into a high powered killer.
Christina: I knew there was no way to get you to do the work we needed. The rest of Genomex was open for business.
Adam: Right, so the whole time we were together, you used me to get to the people who would get you what you wanted.
Christina: It wasn’t like that.
Adam: No?
Christina: My superiors knew I was with you. I was given orders.
Adam: Oh, orders, right. The classic way to avoid responsibility.
Christina: You got what you needed. The people I set you up with helped finance your exit from Genomex. Without them, you’d never have been able to put Mutant X together. That seemed to be all you cared about back then.
Adam: Right, because I was trying to plug the leak in the dam ‘cause you and your people were busy making monsters like Maddox behind my back.
Christina: You had your mission, I had mine. Don’t blame me for us falling apart.
Christina: See, that is the problem with you. You are so damned blinkered. You think that everything can be solved by science.
Adam: Well, I’ll take science over espionage any day of the week.
Christina: Oh, this coming from the man who sat at the center of the biggest scientific disaster the world has ever seen. I’m sorry, Adam. I’m sorry, okay? I don’t know. It’s just everything with you is so clear-cut, so black and white. Good or evil.
Adam: Well, you know, maybe one of us has to know the difference.
Christina: Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s all about shades of grey.
Adam: I don’t want to get my head around a world like that. Where people, you know, pretend to be lovers. Where people warp the truth to get what they want.
Christina: You are still so pompous. It’s like you have a special relationship with the truth. It’s like you see it so clearly, but noone else has a clue. Well, I wouldn’t want to be on your team, Adam. ‘Cause with you, it’s not about teamwork. It’s about ego. And for all your idealism, it’s still a one-man show.
Brennan: Whoever Adam was trying to contact routed their communication through a third party, so it’s a dead end anyway.
Jesse: Or not.
Brennan: You know, just move on.
Jesse: Look, I mean, maybe this server had its own transmission history. Maybe it’s what Adam broke into. Either way, I’m pretty sure that I can complete the search from there. Therefore, dead end, not.
Brennan: Whatever. Let’s just stop wasting time yapping about it and just do it!
Shalimar: You can’t put the stress you’re feeling on the people who are trying to work with you. You want to take the lead on this one? You’ve got to show some confidence.
Brennan: Oh, what, so I have to keep everything all bottled up, like Adam does?
Shalimar: That’s the job, Brennan. That’s what he was trying to tell you.
Emma: Adam is brilliant enough if he really wanted to cover his tracks, we may never find him.
Jesse: Yeah, serves him right for never trusting anybody.
Brennan: That’s enough.
Jesse: Excuse me? Somebody here spent the entire morning in a screaming match with Adam about secrecy issues, right? Now who was that?
Brennan: You know what? That was before I knew he was in trouble.
Jesse: Trouble. Yeah, right. You see, just so I know, have I changed my opinion, or are we still allowed to think for ourselves in this new regime?
Emma: Jesse, would you just cut him some slack?
Jesse: Why? Who was it that decided that Brennan’s suddenly in charge of this whole operation? And why does he think that I’m not gonna think for myself anymore?
Emma: Just because Adam is gone, doesn’t mean that we can lose focus. If we want to find him, we have to do this together. You know, someone here has to call the shots. And if you don’t have a real problem with it, I suggest that we listen to Brennan.
Jesse: Fine, we’ll see how it goes.
Jesse: They’ve got an office downtown.
Brennan: So?
Jesse: Well, even though I know it’s a dead end... *glare* ...it’s kind of interesting. I can’t seem to find a single policy that this insurance company has underwritten.
Emma: Government?
Brennan: I don’t know, but whoever it is, they’re connected to the person who sent Adam on the mission to cover Maddox, so it’s worth checking out.
Jesse: He sounds so commanding when he says that, don’t you think? Oh, is the 'Fearless Leader' thing working for you, Sir?
Brennan: Well, you know, just 'Sir' would work out all right. Go get the Helix ready.
Christina: You’re supposed to be the smart one. Figure it out.
Adam: Oh, so now you’re willing to try the scientific approach?
Christina: I’m willing to try anything that will get me out of here in one piece. Preferably uncooked.
Adam: I have an idea, but it’s fairly radical. You trust me?
Christina: I don’t trust anyone.
Adam: This idea doesn’t have any gray areas, this is black and white. Live or die.
Christina: Just do it!
Jesse: Sir? Now might be a good time to say a little somethin’.
Jesse: Spooky.
Shalimar: Just be glad she’s on our side.
Adam: We wouldn’t be in this situation if you and your team hadn’t done what you did to Maddox.
Christina: We used the technology that was available. Same thing you were doing. Same thing you’re still doing with Mutant X.
Adam: Yeah, except you used it to create a killer.
Christina: An operative. The killing is something that came to him naturally.
Adam: Sure that would make a difference to the families of his victims.
Christina: You can’t talk. You’re the man who created Gabriel Ashlocke.
Adam: I was trying to help him.
Christina: No, you were feeding your ego. You were so wrapped up in patents and new discoveries that you didn’t see what was going on around you.
Adam: Well, I certainly didn’t see what was going on with you. You know, certainly took me long enough to realize what your so-called government job was all about.
Christina: You didn’t realize. I told you. And instead of working out something between us, you just ended it.
Adam: Well, what do you expect? You lied to me.
Christina: I didn’t lie. I just couldn’t tell you the truth. You know about secrets. About having things you can’t share with anyone else, especially those close to you.
Adam: All right, so we both had secrets. You know, maybe that’s why we got along.
Christina: Got along? I loved you.
Adam: What about you? Would you have left your agency to be with me?
Christina: We could have found a middle ground, Adam. That’s what people do.
Emma: I was beginning to wonder whether Brennan and Jesse were gonna get through this without killing each other.
Shalimar: Yeah, I guess I never really thought about that whole power struggle thing either.
Emma: Well, that’s probably a good thing. Means you’re not a control freak.
Shalimar: I guess. I mean, it’s just so strange being a part of a group. I just never thought about running one, you know?
Emma: I thought all ferals had pack instincts.
Shalimar: Well, I don’t know what the psychology is, but you know before Adam brought me in, I was a lone wolf the whole way.
Emma: You must have had friends as a kid.
Shalimar: I scared all my friends. I think it started when I made my ex-boyfriend eat his math textbook.
Emma: Yeah, that would probably do it.
Shalimar: What about you? Any desire to be the queen of Mutant X?
Emma: No, I’m the same as you. I’m just so grateful that I have these four amazing people in my life now who aren’t scared of me. You know, leadership isn’t really an issue. I’m just glad you guys don’t think I’m a freak.
Shalimar: Well, I think we’re all in the same boat there. You know, on that whole power thing, I think it has more to do with testosterone than anything else. You know, I don’t think Jesse wants to boss anybody around, but Brennan, he goes all alpha male and Jesse just gets his back up.
Emma: That’s exactly what if felt like.
Shalimar: If Brennan didn’t want to run things, I think Jesse would step up and insist that he did.
Emma: You know, I don’t know what Jesse would do with himself if he wasn’t swimming against the current. If that makes any sense at all.
Shalimar: Honey, it makes as much sense as anything does around here.
Christina: How did you see your death?
Adam: Well, I always saw myself dying of old age. You know, with lots of friends and colleagues lined up to pay their respects. Of course, as it turns out, I don’t have any friends and colleagues except for Mutant X, and the way things are going, I’m not sure they’d show up. How about you? Did you ever think about this?
Christina: Gun fight. Foreign agents. Car chase. Pipe bomb under the seat. Something a little more active.
Adam: Drowning in a vault, that’s pretty active.
Christina: Did you miss me, Adam?
Adam: Yeah, I missed you. Missed you every day. I used to think that being angry with you would burn it out of me, and it hasn’t.
Christina: Is that why you kept in contact?
Adam: Yeah, maybe.
Christina: But you were too stubborn to say anything.
Adam: Yeah. And what about you, huh? I mean, did you ever think about what you might do different if you had to do it over again?
Christina: Can’t go back.
Adam: And if you could?
Christina: I never would have hurt you.
Jesse: No. I’m not going to apologize.
Emma: Come on, Jess. Now’s our chance.
Jesse: No.
Shalimar: Jess.
Jesse: What?
Shalimar: Tell him.
Brennan: Tell me what?
Emma: Come on, Jess. You can do it. Just say the words.
Jesse: Okay. Okay. I thought you did okay as an interim leader.
Shalimar: And...?
Jesse: And... I am sorry for giving you so much grief before. Sort of.
Brennan: Thanks. That’s a real vote of confidence. I think.
Brennan: I realize now that you can’t always tell us everything.
Adam: Well, that’s funny. Because I was just wondering how to apologize to the four of you. I think almost dying in that safe room put some things in perspective for me.
Brennan: Oh yeah? Is that because you were trapped, or who you were trapped with?
Adam: Maybe both. Did a good job holding things together while I was in there.
Brennan: Thank you very much. You know, I’m beginning to realize now how difficult leadership is.
Adam: And I know it’s not easy working with me sometimes not getting the whole picture. And I realized something about myself in there. Which is that sometimes I hold back so that I can be the only one who sees all the cards. So that I can stay in control.
Brennan: Well, you gotta do whatcha gotta do, right?
Adam: No, I’m saying that’s wrong. If you guys share in the danger, you should share in the information.
Brennan: Glad you think that way, cause now you can explain to me who Christina is.
Adam: Some things remain a mystery. Even to me.
Adam: I was thinking about some of the things we said.
Christina: We thought we were gonna die. People say things they don’t normally say.
Adam: Still sometimes things need to be said.
Christina: We can’t just pick up where we left off. We’re still the same people we were when we went in there.
Adam: Are we?
Christina: You know where to find me.
Trivia & Nitpicks: Special guest star: Lyriq Bent, who plays Harris, will return with more independence and an improved vocabulary in “The Art of Attraction” as art thief Randall Blake.
We finally find out at least one of the sources of Adam’s wealth: Christina’s contacts. Adam and Christina had an affair while he was at Genomex. She received orders to use his connections to help her agency create covert mutant assassins like Nick Maddox. She hooked him up with powerful people who helped finance his escape from Genomex and creation of Sanctuary and Mutant X.
Adam reveals that the comlinks won’t work in a lead-lined room.
Shalimar confesses to Emma that she had no friends growing up after she made an ex-boyfriend eat his math textbook in school.
The vintage Cutlass Brennan stole has the same license plate as the black car he was driving in “The Grift.”
If Nick Maddox can only produce as much energy as sunlight he absorbs, a more logical plan might have been for Christina to transport him at night...or, since we now know that it rains in the Mxverse, during a storm. Not that that would necessarily work, since Nick demonstrates that he can somehow still kill security guards even when inside a room bereft of windows, like Chadway Insurance.
When Nick and Asia step out of the prison truck, Shalimar and Brennan just stare at him, rather than taking him out immediately, giving him time to charge up. That’s uncharacteristic of Brennan, who usually shoots first and asks questions later.
Jesse announces that he has access to Sanctuary’s and Genomex’s databases of new mutants and another section of Genomex’s treating people with no signs of mutation at all. That’s new. When did they obtain these?
When the team is trying to find Adam, why doesn’t Emma try to reach him telempathically, the way she found Brennan in “I Scream the Body Electric”? Lead may affect comlinks, but it shouldn’t have any effect on her abilities. This same question will come up again in “Final Judgement.”
Christina’s company is called Chadway Insurance, but the company Jesse pulls up on the screen is called Montclair Insurance. As it turns out, Montclair Security is actually the name of Simon Fletcher's office in "One Step Closer." Silly computer.
As Mutant X enters Chadway Insurance, Shalimar uses her yellow!feral vision to determine that people died in the room, despite the fact that her eyes aren't glowing. That's a first.
Though a frustrated Christina tells Adam that Nick has taken out her backup, three guards soon demonstrate that they are alive enough to confront Mutant X as they look around Chadway Insurance.
Jesse says that they can track Christina’s cellphone even though it’s not on, because it leaves a digital trace from node to node. Really? You'd think such a top-secret operative would’ve have found a way to make her signal untraceable.
Shalimar tells Emma that before Mutant X, she was a lone wolf all the way. Yet it's revealed in "Dream Lover" that she hung out with Gia Duchamps while she was on the streets. And what about Zack Lockhart?
When Brennan and Jesse are in the Helix, Brennan asks Emma to patch them into Sanctuary’s system so that Jesse can trace Christina’s phone. Aren’t the two computer systems already connected?
It’s ironic that Adam congratulates Brennan for keeping the team together while he was gone. In fact, Brennan was too busy blowing his top to do much of that. Despite Brennan’s impatience, it was Shalimar who decided when it was time to find Adam. While Brennan’s arrogance bruised egos, Emma kept Jesse focused on the task at hand, and Shalimar kept Brennan in check. Jesse persevered until he found Christina’s company in spite of Brennan’s belittling his judgement. It was Emma who obtained Christina’s cell number when Brennan’s intimidation tactics failed, and Jesse who traced it to Adam. Shalimar and Emma may not have leadership aspirations, but had it not been for them, the team would have fallen apart.
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