That night Shawn slept in their bed, alone since Emily still didn't seem to be in good enough shape to move about. When Shawn awoke that morning, he noticed that the shower was running. The silver man got up and walked out to the living room to see that there was no Emily lying on the couch. Streak wondered she was getting better, and if she was did she release her control over his body. The man of silver tried to move his arm. Nothing. Tried to walk. Nothing. Nothing was working. She still had a firm grip on him. Then Emily showed up in both his mind and in her body. She was wrapped up in a towel that just barely covered everything. Her wet hair was hanging down loosly and dripping on her back and into the towel.

Emily was actually smiling. She looked more alive than he'd seen her in weeks. "Hi." was all she said before disappearing into the bedroom to get dressed. The young woman put on a pair of pink sweat pants and a spaghetti strap top on. Sitting back down on the couch and wrapping herself up in the blanket she said, "I see you're happy I'm feeling better." Shawn couldn't say anything. He was to struck by her suddenly improved health that he'd lost the ability to respond. The Emily in his head merely smiled at him as she sat down on his lap on the chair. Emily had Shawn's body make breakfast. And Emily's body actually ate a little bit of food. It was apparent that she was getting better and this made Shawn happy. They both watched each other eat, as Shawn was happy she was getting better. Perhaps this would mean that she'll let me go son. Shawn thought. "Don't worry Shawn I'll let you go soon enough." Emily patted Shawn's head as she said this.

That day they toured the city like they used to before she got sick. The day continued much as it did when they first met. Though Shawn couldn't help but wonder when or even if she would let him go. He had no problem being with her, in fact he loved being with her. It was merely the thought of being forced to stay there while she continued to force him to play judge and jury on people's lives was one thing he couldn't stand.

Emily's health continued to improve over the following two weeks. As she improved, so did her attitude and her hold on Streak's mind started to slip. Shawn slowly started to gain movement and control over his body. Emily noticed what he was doing and tried to keep her hold on him. It wasn't working; however, she wasn't as powerful as she was when she was sick. Emily made one last push to control his mind and, as he fought back, she started to fiddle with his mind. She tried wiping his memory of being a mutant and before he knew what was happening, Emily had done it. Fortunately for Streak, she had missed a crucial part of his memory.

Next thing Emily did was she built little barriers to supress his powers. It was an even more difficult task for her since she'd grown his powers more than what he'd expected her to do. She managed to do it, and the next thing Shawn knew hew as a human who was shacked up with a beautiful woman. Shawn remembered that he was traveling the world. It had been probably a month, if not more, that he'd been living there. Shawn felt that it was time that he'd continued his world tour. This was the most time he'd spent in one place since he'd started his travels. Because he'd spent so much time with this one woman he wasn't sure of the best way to break it to her that he was leaving.

Looking back on their time spent together he decided that the best way to do it would be to just tell her out right. That night after dinner he broke the news to her. She had gotten very hysterical afterward and they had a little fight. The petite woman finally decided that she should give him something to remember her by. After spending the early part of the night watching some movies they retired early to the bedroom. They woke up early the next morning and Emily made him breakfast. Afterward she dropped him off at the fairy and bought him a ticket to go to France so that he could continue his journey. Shawn was surprised at how understanding she was with all of this. Little did Shawn know, she was still keeping part of her in his mind so that she would be able to keep an eye on him as he traveled.

The boat from London to Paris didn't take long at all. It was perhaps just over an hour. Shawn learned quickly that the French were apparently a much nicer group than were given credit for. Perhaps it was the fact that they were always liked food, no matter how weird their tastes were. Of course at this point Shawn realized that he didn't have any money on him. How was he going to get housing, food, and other amenities that would be needed during the winter months. More importantly how was he going to get back home, where ever that was. He racked his brain to remember how he;d gotten through the entire world to England and where he lied before he started his travels. He couldn't remember so eventually he gave up the idea and started looking for a place to eat.

He walked through town after town slowly, since he didn't have any money to pay for taxi's. Shawn did manage; however to steal a motorcycle or two and was able to make much better time through the cities. It was getting closer to dark and Shawn had been riding all day. He managed to steal things that helped him get through those cities like food, clothing and gas. Shawn figured that by the time they caught on he would be long gone and in a different city. He'd almost gotten caught once in a open market when someone he hadn't noticed had yelled after him about something in a different language. Of course he could only guess what the guy was yelling about because he didn't understand the language.

After Shawn found some bars, things started to go badly. Apparently bartenders don't like it when you leave without paying your tab. Luckily he was able to lose his attackers in a throng of people who were all going to see some big release of some movie. Or so he thought. Shawn ran down the side walk, trying to get away from the bouncers chasing him. He moved through the crowd, pushing people out of the way. "Move, Move, move!" He called as he continued to push through the crowd. "Bouger, bouger!" the bouncers yelled in French as they pursued Shawn. Finally Shawn got through the crowd and turned down an empty street. He found a good hiding spot and waited for the bouncers to run past him. After they past him he ran back to the place where he had parked the bike. Shawn needed to find a place to stay for the night as he let the events cool down. Finally he found a place he could sneak into to sleep for the night and he waited until morning before fleeing the country. It had been an exciting day in Paris and he still had many more countries to visit. The thought of how well he would blend into the other countries didn't strike him as welcoming at this moment.

Streak awoke the next morning early with a start. He heard shouting and loud footsteps outside the place he was hiding in. Shawn figured that they were all looking for him. He couldn't tell from the voices but it was a pretty good indication. As soon as Shawn stepped outside the room he looked for the voices that seemed so close. They were only a little ways away, around the corner of the hallway. The young man quickened his pace when he learned that they were just around the corner. Unfortunately they heard him walking and picked up their own pace. They rounded the corner as he was still in the same hallway. It was the a group of French police. After requesting for him to stop several times they drew their guns and started shooting at him.

Luckily for Shawn they were bad shots. "Jesus Christ!" he yelled as he covered his head. Shawn ducked down and continued to run away from them, rounding the corner at the opposite end of the hallway as fast as he could. Shawn exited the building and ran a few people over on his way out. The French police were quick to follow behind him although he was much faster than any of them. He headed the only place he could think of. The train station. It seemed like a logical option. Get out of the country as fast as possible. The next train that was about to leave was headed to Spain. He ran towards it. People were boarding the train as he ran. Since there seemed to be so many people getting on the train Shawn figured that he could get away with sneaking onto the train.

It took lots of patience and perfect timing before Shawn was able to sneak onto the train. Most of the people had boarded once he walked into the lounge of the train. There certainly were many people on the train; however, it wasn't nearly as crowded as it had appeared when they were all boarding. Perhaps it was because they were all milling about the entrance to the train. Whatever the reason was he was able to walk past them all as if there was no reason to suspect him. No one payed him any bother as he exited that train compartment and moved on to the next one. After walking down many corridors Shawn found an empty seating compartment where he could relax for a bit. A few people walked into the compartment a few minutes after Streak had settled in. Fortunately there were only a small group of them. The little group didn't question as to why Shawn was there.

Fairly soon the conductor came around asking for tickets. Shawn heard him coming while he was far off. Since it would have created a man hunt for himself, he calmly got up and left the room while the conductor checked everyone's tickets. Shawn walked up to a bathroom door and knocked on it. He repeated what the he'd heard the conductor saying. He knew it was wrong but he did it anyways. The person inside the bathroom stuck his hand out the door and handed Shawn the ticket. Shawn took the ticket and climbed into the bathroom that was across from the the man. The young man stayed quietly and heard the man across from him leave the bathroom. Within just a few minutes the conductor had appeared outside the bathroom doors. Knocking on them he asked for the tickets. Shawn promptly stuck out his hand and handed him the ticket. Secretly Shawn hoped that it was actually the conductor that had asked for the ticket and he hadn't just been had like he'd done to the other person.

The rest of the trip passed by rather uneventfully. Shawn and the rest of the people in the compartment conversed the entire time. They were apparently from America and were all traveling across the European continent. Shawn listened to everything they told him about their trip. So far their trip had been a little less eventful than his, no matter how fun it sounded. They finally came to a stop and everyone disembarked from the train. Once off the train Shawn separated himself from their little group and went about his way sneaking through the terminals of Spain.

Spain seemed like a much different place than France. Of course, it was a different country. Different culture and a different style of living. It seemed a lot more different than he would have expected between the two neighboring countries. The country was set up quite like France was, except for the fact that it was a little less crowded. He explored the surrounding area as he scrounged up some food. There were plenty of open markets around Spain so Shawn had to no trouble whatsoever finding an ample supply of delicious fresh fruits, vegetables, and other goods. Thankfully there was a giant crowd to conceal his thievish actions.

After eating a good portion of food he continued on. He spent his day wandering the streets of Madrid, heading in a generally eastern direction. The day wore on rather uneventfully. Not many people even noticed him walking around, which was all the better for someone who didn't have any money or know his way around the area. Shawn continued stealing food and hiding out until he found his way through the city safely. That is, until night came. Shawn had managed to find most of the bars in the city. He remembered the last time he had been in the bars in Paris. It hadn't ended so well. However, when he was in France there wasn't a giant tour bus sitting down the street with a flood of people coming off it. Perfect. Shawn thought as he began blending in with the crowd. Once at the bar he was able to open a tab under a fake name and start drinking. He was able to get away with that all night, and he was fortunately able to get very drunk. Shawn stumbled out of the bar and started to walk around the city. The young man eventually saw police lights headed in his direction.

Not one for wanting to get arrested, Shawn down a dark alleyway to hide. This perhaps wasn't the smartest choice in the world, however, considering the fact that hew as drunk many choices that wouldn't have been safe didn't seem that bad right now. As the silver eyed man walked farther into the alley, two large figures appeared. They stopped him from walking any further by blocking his path. Since he was drunk they figured they could mug him without anyone being any wiser and get away with it.

As Shawn walked closer to the two thugs he was able to tell what they looked like. One was taller than Shawn by a good half a foot and looked very over weight. The other was lanky and tall. They both seemed to work together to block his path like they'd done this plenty of times before. "Give us your money and we'll leave you alone." The skinny guy said to Shawn. The young man struggled to say upright. Swaying side to side, in an attempt to stay vertical, he tried to piece words together. "I..."He held up one finger to have them wait as he continued to put sentences together. "I...don't have any mu..mu...money on me. You should pickded someelse." Shawn replied to them. This wasn't the answer they were looking for but it was the best answer Streak could give them at tat point..

"Ohh, bad move mate. You're going to wish you had given us your money first." Shawn thought the voices sounded British. But why would a couple of British guys be waiting in an alley in Spain. The two advanced at Shawn. Being drunk meant that Shawn's reactions were slowed. Their punches came fast and he was soon backed into the wall. The inebriated youngster took many hits and ended up falling to the ground. The punches came faster and uninhibited by his collapse to the ground. All Shawn could do was cover his head to avoid many injuries. His blocks weren't working working very well, considering the fact that he continued to get hit in the head every couple of of punches. The scrawny thug was standing in the background as the larger man continued his assault on

After plenty of hits, one hit landed on his arm in the exact spot his scarred up tattoo happened to be. It started to tingle. It tingled more than any of the other hits had before it. The tattoo on his arm began to feel like it was bleeding. The cold liquid oozed down his arm. The odd thing was that it spread much more quickly than blood and that it moved up his arm towards his fingertips. The ooze seeped over his shoulder and covered his chest. The silver liquid continued to move up his body and to his head and other extremities. The beatings had finally stopped as they saw his skin taking on its silver color. "What the hell?" The fat mugger said to his companion. Both of them looked in shock as they blades erupted quickly from Streak's arms, ripping his clothing in certain spots. They couldn't see the blades on his back but Shawn knew they were there. He stood up with renewed vigor. It was as if he had never even been touched. Seemingly miraculously, he felt sober and very aware that these two idiots were the ones that were mugging him only seconds ago.

Streak had no mercy for these two. He wasn't thinking clearly and moving in for his attack while they were still trying to figure out what was going on. Their lives were over in the blink of an eye. Both throats were slit cleanly to the bone. He could have decapitated them but thought it was probably better if he didn't. Once they were dead, lying in pools of their own blood he looked himself over. Memories started to slowly flow back into his mind. He remembered everything from the time he discovered h was a mutant up to when he met Emma. Some things didn't match up right away but the more he thought about them the more he remembered and was able to piece together the better he was feeling about everything.

The word confusion didn't even begin to scratch the surface of what Shawn was feeling at the moment. Dumbfounded and flabbergast were probably better words to describe him. His emotions were running haywire. Aside from the aforementioned feelings, he was angry, scared, and happy among with others all at the same time. Within a matter of minutes he went from being just a normal American guy touring Europe with memories of friends, family, relationships, heartbreaks and fun times he had growing up. His world had been turned upside down from that mugging. The two bodies were still lying next to him bleeding out, and he tried to make sense of it all.

Now his mind was being flooded with memories of himself with other mutants, fights using his powers, injuries that he'd gotten from those fights, flying outside a plane, the registration camps, the torture, the abuse, the slurs, the fun, the mutant friends he'd made and considered more family than his real family and many other memories of his real life. Although the memories were coming back, quickly, the actual skills needed for him to control these powers were lacking. He had no control over it. He wanted to go back to looking like normal, however, he was afraid that if he did he didn't think that he would be able to get the silver back the way it currently was.

Silver Streak was back. He remembered what everyone at the mansion had called him. He had sort of developed the name and become the name. He didn't mind it. In fat, as he remembered, he preferred it to his the name his parents had graced him with. Shawn looked around as if truly seeing for the first time. The silver man looked around to see if anyone had seen what had happened. No one had. He was glad because he didn't have any control over what he was able to do, and was still having a little trouble remembering what he was capable of doing. He needed to leave. Not just leave the scene but perhaps even leave the country. They wouldn't find him because he never touched the two, therefore, no fingerprints. He also wasn't leaving the weapons behind so they wouldn't never know what happened. It was a perfect way for him to get away with it, not that he was particularly proud of what he'd done. Streak ran away, out of the alley, out of the blood, and back to where he'd been staying. It was amazing how fast you sobered up once you were attacked and killed two people in self defense.

Memories of himself going through walls flew through his mind as he ran past behind buildings and moving from alleyway to alleyway. He decided to try it. Why not? I've done it before, why wouldn't I be able to do it now? he thought as he turned to face a building. He ran straight at it. The only thing that ran through his mind as the wall drew closer and closer was, I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. the wall was getting bigger and bigger. He was beginning to see the individual holes in the bricks and then...Splat. He felt like Willey the Coyote trying to get through something the roadrunner just went through. He was stopped dead in his tracks. The pain was all over his body silver he didn't go through the wall. He slowly peeled himself off the wall. "Well, let's not try that again. At least not right away." He said to himself. He needed more practice before he would be able to do that again.

The new Streak continued to walk through the alleys to get as far away from the bodies as he could. He didn't know if anyone had discovered the bodies but every so often he would hear sirens in the distance. Shawn couldn't tell where they were coming from so he didn't worry that they were coming after him. After walking for what seemed like hours he sat down. He was in another dark alley. People wouldn't have seen him unless they were almost right on top of him.

He sat down in garbage filled alley with his head in his hands and his knees pulled up to his chest. "What did I do? What have I done? What came over me? Why did I do that?" Shawn couldn't help but say these words out loud. He didn't know what came over him. He didn't understand what had made him cross that invisible line between human person and murderous lunatic. Tears welled up in his eyes as the faces of the two men, along with his actions, played over and over in his head. Blinking a few times, the tears then ran down his face freely. He continued to weep over what he'd done.

The minutes turned into hours, and the hours dragged on through out the night. After a while he started to calm back down. Memories continued to flood into his mind like a flash drive plugged into a computer. One set of memories stuck in his mind. They weren't pleasant memories. They were in fact very troublesome memories. The memories of the camps. Everything leading up to them. Everything that happened during, in the middle, during the break out, and the repercussions after the camps. Streak was suddenly used to the idea of what he had just done.

Streak looked around. There was no one there. "Why am I all of the sudden used to this?" he questioned himself. "I've done it before and I'm used to it. I've only done it before because it was life threatening. Like tonight. That must be why my powers activated and I'm getting all my memories back." He mused out loud to himself. After reviewing more memories he got up and found a place where he could spend the rest of the night. The silver man had no intention of sleeping that night. He was going to be to busy trying to figure out how to get his powers working again. AFter he'd successfully broke into the building he immediately started working.

The first thing he focused on was the blades. They had so many uses and he was eager to explore every single one. The blades on his arms seemed the easiest to control. After about half an hour or so he was able to retract one blade at a time. Once he was able to do this fast he tried something a little more complex. He focused on retracting all four blades at once. At first nothing. Then...Something. It was subtle but it happened. The blades moved inward an inch. He stopped focusing because he was excited by what had happened. He closed his eyes and tried it again. Nothing. He kept trying and finally it happened again. They moved a little more this time. Focus. Focus. He thought as he concentrated on the blades. Once again they moved more, slowly at first and he focused harder. The blades soon picked up speed and were retracted all the way into his arms. "Yes I did it." He said out loud looking down at his now bladeless arms. He then extended the blades once again. He continued this operation until he was sure that he could extend and retract the arm blades very fast.

This was turning into a much easier undertaking than he thought it would be. Getting control over the blades was one thing that energized Streak into continuing to try getting his control back. He turned his focus onto his other remaining blades. The back blades seemed harder to control. Since they were intertwined He had to figure out how they would lay back down on his back. After a few more hours of trying to get the blades to hide he started to get discouraged. It was taking him a lot longer to even more these an inch than it did for him to move the ones on his arms. The sun had just started to peak over the horizon when the blades finally moved. With his spirit reinvigorated and his enthusiasm resorted, he concentrated harder. His blades moved a little more after a few minutes of hard concentrating. It seemed that they needed to lay down like the flaps on a plane. Eventually he had those blades melded into his back.

The ability to control these blades was better than he could have hoped to have gained in one night. Yet he had gained that ability and he was wondering what else he could do with them. After he had extended the blades once again he looked around to see what he could do. The wall. He walked up to the nearest wall and stuck both arm blades in it. He tried pulling himself up on the wall but was unable to because the blades only made gashes in the wall. Just then an idea came to him. He turned around and jumped onto the wall. The blades automatically stood straight out of his back. Once he had connected with the wall the blades immediately recrossed so that he was hanging on the wall. "Cool. Now how do I get down from here?" He said as he looked at the floor about a foot below his feet. Streak chuckled a little at the thought of being stuck in this spot. It was actually an amusing picture if someone were to walk into the building at that moment. He then did what he'd been doing all night long. He closed his eyes and concentrated on straightening his blades. Rather quickly they stood straight up and he was able to push himself off the wall. He landed quietly on the floor and walked around the floor once again. Streak then looked at himself and said, "Man I can't be walking around like this. It'll draw too much attention to myself and that's the last thing I want. I've had enough attention to last me the rest of my life." And he couldn't have been any closer from the truth. Shawn didn't need to even think about what he did next. He pulled in the silver that was covering his body to where his memory told him that it should be. Once he started looking like a normal person he left the building with his clothes torn a little.

The once again silver man walked out of the building and into the public. People didn't pay much attention to him because he looked like a normal person that had a few rips in his clothes. The night before was still fresh in his mind. He knew what he needed to do. He needed to leave the country. Streak hopped on the next train out of town. With no money he didn't think that it would be to hard to blend in and stow away on the train. It was easier to sneak on a train than a plane or any other means of transportation. Mainly because everyone was so busy with the goings on that they wouldn't notice one person climbing on the back of the train. The caboose was completely filled with peoples belongings. No one was coming back there any more. They were all busy filling up the compartment in front of him with people and more supplies.

After hiding for a while, and being quite bored, he left the compartment and walked around the people who had actually purchased tickets to be on the train. There were plenty of open seats in the dinning section of the train. He took a seat at an empty table and watched the people around him getting waited on. Finally a waiter came up to him and took his order. After about a minute or so he came back with the sandwich and a beer. As he ate the food a young woman came up to him. "Mind if I sit with you?" She asked with a heavy Italian accent. Shawn cleared his throat with a sip of his beer and said "Sure." He indicated the seat in front of him. He wasn't sure why she wanted to sit down with him and how she even guessed that he spoke English. The woman sat down in front of him and the waiter came over to take her order. She was dressed very elegantly, like she was from high society and very rich. Why she would want to sit with someone who was wearing ripped clothing didn't make any sense to him. She was wearing a brown fur coat, tan tank top, with a skirt that came to just above the knees, and high heels. She sat down and shook off her coat to reveal her bare shoulders. The woman's curly dirty blond hair rested on her shoulders. "'Ello. My name iz Delanna. What 'appened to ou zat ou 'ave torn clozing?" She asked him. Her English wasn't perfect but it was better than no English at all.

Just then the waiter brought her her order and went about his way. "I was in a, uhh...fight." he responded giving her only part of the truth. Shawn may have been a little less suspicious if she wasn't so expensively dressed. He wasn't sure if she bought it but he was happy with his story and he was going to make something up if he could that would sound good enough to explain the reason for his appearance. The continued conversing as she pointed out certain discrepancies in his story. After all he wasn't very good with lies. At least not to attractive women. It was about then that the conductor came through and asked for their tickets. Oh boy. Streak looked up immediately when he saw him. This ain't be good. He thought. "Well. It's been a fun conversation but I've got to go." He said dismissing himself from the lady. She continued to sit in her spot a little perplexed as to why he'd taken off so suddenly. She looked up as the conductor walked up to her and she presented her ticket. There was no way for Shawn to get away from this one. The silver eyed mutant saw that they were passing grassy hills somewhere in the mountains. He didn't exactly want to jump off the train because he still didn't have control over his powers. Streak did the next thing that came to him. Hide in the same place where he got on. Streak ran to the caboose and hid out there until the conductor had gone through all the passenger compartments and collected all the tickets. He didn't exactly want to return to the dinning cart because he didn't want to face any questions from the lady he'd met just a short time ago.

Streak decided to remain there until the train arrived at its station. Once it had come to a stop Streak got off where most of the people were disembarking. The language was different than it was where he'd got on the train so he could only assume that he was in a different country. Streak wandered the town until he found a shipping company. He would easily be able to sneak onto the ship and get out of Europe quickly.

(continued in [FP] The Sahara's Hot (solo)