JACE paced the floor in frustration.  The emotion was quite unfamiliar to him.  Usually he could accomplish anything to which he set his mind.  For once, however, even his brilliant intellect seemed insufficient to the task.  Despite his intelligence and his financial resources, he lacked the connections necessary to accomplish his goal. 

He had searched every DNA database on the planet, had scoured the city with his DNA detector on, he had even resorted to scanning warehouses looking for any sign of them, but the people who had kidnapped and tortured him had vanished.  After examining the possibilities, he had determined there were only three possible courses of action left to him.

The blip blip blip of a dial tone finally made it's way through Xavier's muddled thoughts.  After a moment, he realized that he still held the phone in his hand.

The caller was Mary Eisele, frightened, upset, and barely able to talk.  It had taken an excruciatingly long time to get the story from her.  Emily's ghost had taken her.  Emily wasn't there any more.  That's what she had said over and over and over and over, between body wracking sobs and accusations.  There was more, something about a virus and her husband getting swallowed by the bed.  ...even now after running the conversation through his head for the fifth time, there were too many holes.  The woman was frantic and obviously needed help.

“And now, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our valedictorian, Adam Finch.”

As the Dean of Archeology announced his name, Adam walked up to the podium with a broad smile on his face.  He barely noticed the heavy robe and hood that signified his doctorate degree.  The small crowd gathered for the graduation ceremony clapped politely as he stepped up to the podium.  Over the noise of the applause he could hear his mother yell his name.  She was waving excitedly from the first row, obviously telling everyone around her that Adam was her son.  As he waved back, he prayed she wasn’t also playing matchmaker.  The last thing he needed right now was another blind date with one of her friend’s daughters.

It was later than JACE had intended to return in the morning, but his late night meeting with Ophilia had forced him to sleep longer than was usual.  It shouldn't be a significant problem, however.  None of the experiments currently running were particularily time sensitive.  In addition, it was unlikely anyone else would be in today, unless they were forced to be.  As he moved down the hallway towards the laboratory, he continued his mental list of what experiments he needed to remove and how to do so safely.  The viral manipulation experiment was, by far, the most sensitive and dangerous.  He prefered it here.  If something went wrong he would much rather destroy the cathedral than his home.  After his discussion with Angelo last night, however, he

"No, not like that, ya kind of have ta fall on yer backside and roll a bit. Here, let me show ya." 

Jonathan heard the words over the monitors he had placed in the gym, the lilting accents of the teams newest member were unmistakable. Through his suits sensors, he saw the younger man rolling backwards onto his rear end, his left hand locked around the right arm of Heatwave. The pair tumbled backwards gently, with Heatwave being rolled up and over Danny's shoulder to land with a soft 'thump' on her rear end.

*** This Story Contains Graphic Violence and May Not Be Suitable For Everyone ***

ooc:  This takes place right after the events in Dear Jonathan.

"Wake up, Doctor." The voice slowly penetrated JACE’s awareness. It was harsh, unnatural; obviously computer generated or masked in some way. As he focused on the voice, he became slowly more aware of his surroundings. The next thing to hit him was pain. A deep aching pain radiated from the back of his head around his entire skull. He groaned and tried to raise his hands to his head, only to find they were tied down.

JACE sat quietly, reading the words on the screen.  To be honest, he had read the words already, he was just staring through the screen now, remembering them.  Normally his perfect memory was a blessing, now it felt more like a curse.  He couldn't stop remembering everything, even if he wanted too.  The letter was burned into his memory forever.

Dear Jonathan,

JACE was annoyed.  A lesser man would be angry, but he had much more control of himself then that.  He flew through the city, following the GPS signal from Ophilia's cell phone.  He had tried to contact her, but she hadn't answered.  Hoping she wasn't passed out in a drunken stupor, he was tracking her down.  The possibility of some kind of psychic or viral attack was too important to wait until morning.  Celeste was somewhat upset, but she understood.  How could she not, he had explained everything very clearly to her before sending the limo to her house.

The laboratory door opened and JACE walked in.  He was in something of a hurry.  The wasted time at the meeting had put him behind schedule and he wanted to make up the time.  He had reservations in Instanbul later.  Just a simple client meeting, but it wouldn't do for him to be late.  He considered going into his clean lab to work on his biomodification research but, with Soldier Boy coming, he didn't want to go through the decontamination proceedures.  Instead he moved over to the fusion research chamber and studied the outputs.  There was a slight drain in power production he wanted to locate.  Around the room a number of other projects continued to mature, sending him occasional update onto his HUD.