[FM] 00 - Describe a Dream

It's in your blood. Coursing. Pumping through your veins. Making you different. Making you whole. Making you better than they are. Embrace it. Live to the best of your capabilities. Do you see yourself? Look in the mirror.

Shalimar moves through the mist towards the mirror. She sees herself. But the reflection is shifting. She watches as her eyes go feral, and her teeth begin to grow sharper. Her hands reach up to her lips, pushing them out of the way to view the fangs that she now possesses. But the sight of her own fingertips startles her in the silver glass. Nails filed into points, and claw like features beginning to form.

This is who you are. Do you not feel it? Does the beast not breathe within you? It's there. Ever present. Always beating. You are not who you think you are Shalimar. Go beyond. Step through your sight. Step beyond your interpretation of yourself.

Instead of taking that single step forward her feet scuffle a few movements away from the mirror. Away from whatever she is becoming. Away from the nightmare that she can't seem to wake from.

"No.. that isn't me. I'm not like that. Do you hear me?? That's not me!" She screams it only to hear it echo back at herself repeating over and over until she can't hear her own thoughts. They make her deaf to the sound of her own voice as she begins to run from the mirror. The hallway never ends though, and she is forever running.

Keep running. You run from who you are. Run from what you believe in yourself to be true. You need to stop running Shalimar. You need to stop running. Stop running. NOW!

Her feet skid to a halt quickly bare heels trying to gain sudden traction on the slick tile below her. She loses her footing which is something rare for her, and feels her backside slam hard onto the ground. The sudden burst of pain to her lower half is more than she wants to bear at that moment. The jarring motion causes her to suddenly taste copper in her mouth. Her tongue feels around her mouth to find the soft spot inside her cheek that had been bitten when she fell. The blood feels warm and tastes bitter to her. It pools a bit around her gums and she spits it onto the floor.

Try to rid yourself of it and it will just grow stronger. You can't fit it. You can't just force it away. It is inside of you. Learn to live in that moment Shalimar. Learn to unrestrain yourself. Learn to grow with only - - a forty two percent chance of rain today folks. I tell you it's gonna be a wet one today. Don't forget those umbrellas in your car!! That's it from me for Weather back at the threes with your traffic!

Her eyes startle awake staring into the blackness of her room. Her hand fumbles along side her bed for the switch of her bedside lamp. Fingertips find the small toggle and press upward flooding the room with a soft white light. Her heart is still racing and her body is covered in a thin film of sweat. Some nights she knows she needs to sleep, but waking is always a welcome moment most mornings. Her feet hit the cool ground below her bed as she moves toward the bathroom. Pressing her palms on opposite sides of the mirrored medicine chest she exhales staring at herself in the mirror.

"I know who I am."

[FM] 00 - What have you learned from your past?

"Jesse?"

"Yeah Shal?"

"Just checkin' that you're still listening is all."

"Always, can't leave you to do anything alone anyway. Wouldn't want you getting all the credit."

"Thanks. I'll have to remember that." Shalimar laughs to herself as she waits for the final guard to pass their post. It wasn't as if she hadn't done the same type of operation before, or even a dozen times over the course of her years with Mutant X. It was the mere fact that each time they took Genomex down a peg, they seemed to be putting the finishing touches on the next step. It was more than annoying, it was just downright rude. She watched them walk past her position on the outer wall, and as soon as they round the corner she moves inward. "Going in, you know you would think they would learn by now that these things aren't really paying off. Those guards are pretty inept most times."

Her steps are quiet along the steel catwalk as she moves toward the main computer system. Keeping a watchful eye out for someone trying to take her by surprise she places the uplink cable onto the side of the terminal. "Transmitting now, are you getting this?" The files opened and closed in front of her repeating over and over with the information that Genomex had rebuilt since the last time they had wiped them clean. "Yeah, it's coming in good. they work fast that's for sure. Most of this data had to have been brought in from a secondary source." Shal nodded in agreement. This was too much information for just a few months of work.

Her breath halted for a moment when she heard a low voice from behind her. It was still more than a few feet away, and Shalimar was going to need those few moments to get out of sight. Glancing around at her options she spotted a ledge about twelve feet above her head. Crouching low and pushing her self upward with as much force as she could her hands latched onto the ledge allowing her strength to pull herself up onto the ledge, carefully watching the guards resume their post. Quietly she breathed into her commlink, "Jesse... we have a tiny problem."

"Yeah? What might that be?"

"Oh, me about twelve feet up with two guards right below me?"

"Oh that sort of problem. Just give me a minute to access their network. I'll set off the fire alarm on the floor below you. Should get them distracted."

"Good. Distraction is good."

Within moments the sound of the alarm rang into her ears and the guards ran from the room. Leaping down with grace she landed on arched feet and moved quickly to the terminal where the files had finished transmitting. Pulling the uplink off the back she wound the cord and tucked it into her pocket. The alarm was still going off and it was going to give her enough time to get out with minimal detection, when something that she hadn't expected happened.

She ran the entire way across the lot and onto the frontage road where Jesse had parked the truck. Opening the sliding door she wasn't too pleased. Jesse hearing the door slide open too a glance to Shalimar and burst out laughing. She was soaked from head to toe. The alarm he so convienently set off to distract the guards had also triggered the sprinkler system.

"Next time? You go in, and I get to play in the van."