“One Step Closer” is episode nineteen of season two of Mutant X.
Brennan and Shalimar are bodyguarding a teenage girl, Megan, who seems to have a crush on Brennan and is the daughter of a senator; her mother has been receiving death threats. In the car park, they get accosted by three men. Things aren’t going well for the men until Brennan tries using his powers. The rapidly get out of control and Shalimar is knocked down by them. The three grab Megan as Brennan hangs in the air until he finally drops. Shalimar calls Jesse and tells him Megan is gone and Brennan is down.
The senator isn’t happy and is letting Adam know. He promises her they will get Megan back but she’s turned over the investigation to a team who does this kind of thing. Adam says they could make it worse; she doesn’t think things could be worse. After the conversation, Brennan comes to and asks what happened. Adam tells him he needs to run some tests; it could have been a random occurrence. Brennan doesn’t like that term and thinks Adam wouldn’t tell him what was wrong even if he knew. Adam says as soon as he knows something definite, Brennan will be the second to know.
Shalimar reassures Brennan and says Adam likes having all the facts. He doesn’t have that with Brennan and that scares him. Brennan is upset because Megan got kidnapped. Shalimar tells him that what happened to him, if it is about his mutation taking another step, is about all of them.
A man is lighting candles with a blowtorch and telling a tied-up Megan that it’s like Halloween. He’s going to go to her mother’s to trick or treat her. If Megan’s mother gives him a treat, the man will go next door and scare the neighbours. If there’s no treat, he will have to do a trick. A really bad trick. One where Megan ends up dead.
Emma and Jesse are talking. Perhaps this is a natural progression of their mutation. They are all continuing to mutate and maybe they burn bright but burn out faster. Adam has no answers. Brennan overheard some of the conversation and isn’t happy. Then Adam shows; it’s time to pay the senator an office visit.
Adam, Emma and Jesse walk in on a meeting. The senator introduces the head of her security team, Simon Fletcher. They don’t want help. Jesse is using his phasing ability to plant something and, after that’s done, they leave. Emma is uncertain by something she sensed in the room.
Back at Sanctuary, Jesse says there’s been no call from the kidnappers. When they call, they will know where they’re calling from; what Jesse planted piggybacks the other team’s method of tracking the call. Adam wants Shalimar to lead the team there and for Brennan to stay at Sanctuary. Brennan wants to go but Adam says he can’t in his unstable state. Brennan doesn’t take that well and gets angry, causing electricity to start sparking from him. He’s saying he’s fine. He really isn’t. Jesse gets zapped then Brennan collapses.
Brennan is unconscious and Adam doesn’t know what’s happened. Brennan is highly unstable. Jesse is worried about the rest of them; Adam reassures him that he has no reason to think they are in any danger. He wants to stabilise Brennan to make sure nothing bad happens to the rest of them. Brennan wakes at this point. They’ve been thinking about what happened to Gabriel Ashlocke; whether they’d self-destruct like he did. Adam tells Brennan that Ashlocke’s genes were ripping apart; Brennan’s are just highly unstable. He believes Brennan’s power is ramping up; he just needs to find a way to control it. Until then, Brennan needs to control his emotions which are triggering the problem. Brennan starts losing control of his emotions again, causing his powers to get out of control, but Adam manages to talk him down.
The kidnapper finally calls the senator; he wants the $5 million in her campaign fund. Or lose her daughter. She has 24 hours. Jesse has traced the call to a factory and he, Shalimar and Emma head there. This seems a bit easy. Inside, the place is empty bar for some computer equipment. Jesse says it relayed the call and can trace it to where. However, the kidnapper set a bomb and they have to flee before the call is traced further.
Brennan, meanwhile, has decided that he’s dying and isn’t being very cooperative for Adam. There’s a strong sense that he will start to cooperate and he will play a role in getting Megan back, however.