"You sure Papa's here?" Alex asked as he sat in the shadows of an underground facility. The hallway was dark, with a smattering of wall lamps every dozen feet that casted plenty of shadows along the stone and concrete.

"I'm always sure." A young girl's voice confirmed over his bluetooth earpiece. Alex had felt like a secret agent from one of Rose's mystery novels that morning. Even more so now that it was nighttime and he was dressed in dark jeans with a lightweight utility belt, long sleeved black sweater and the almost spy gear technology Rose had modified.

"Doesn't mean you're always right." Alex whispered as he peered around the corner of his hiding spot. He had arrived from the other side of the underground delivery drop off section. Walking from shadow to shadow to avoid the scientists and the guards had lead him to where he stood now. With several stairs on each side of the shadowy hallway, each probably leading to an unpleasant situation. The left went down going further underground, while the right went up heading towards the upper levels of enemy territory. Unsure of where to go next, the five year old knew it was time to contact Home Base again.

"James?" Alex asked as he closed his eyes.

"Don't panic." An older boy warned over the earpiece.

Alex focused on his breathing as a headache burned behind his eyes. He never liked it when James shared his eyes. Not only was it a pain to have the older boy seeing through his eyes, but Alex would be seeing double when he opened his eyes again. Ignoring the swaying of the small hallway, Alex opened his eyes and let himself adjust to the irritating feeling of shared senses.

"You have four options Alex." A soft voiced woman said over the earpiece.

"We need to find Papa." Alex stated determinedly, as he ignored the two choices he knew would be staying where he was or turning back.

"If you go down the stairs to your left, you'll reach an air duct in four minutes. Beyond the air duct are more stairs. By going up the stairs, you'll find a locked door, once on the other side, you'll find a laboratory." The woman informed him.

"Rose?" Alex asked as he started down the stairs, blinking away the feeling of James leaving his senses.

"The air duct leads to the jail like cells where the Snatchers are holding their captured mutants. We don't know which is holding Papa, so going through the air ducts would be best."

"Right." Alex sighed as he walked into a shadow between the lamps, before walking out of another shadow a dozen feet down the hall.

"Slow down your jumps," Rose directed him when the air vent came into sight.

"Sometimes I wish we were a normal family." Alex said walking up to the air vent as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Well we're not."

"I mean, what other five year olds do you know of go on rescue missions?" Alex asked as he stood under the air vent with his pocket knife.

"Papa, Aunt Luna, My Mummy and Daddy, your Mummy. Uncle Neville, Uncles Fred and George, Grandma Lilly and Grandpa James, Grand DogFather Padfoot, Big brother Teddy, you know, like, just about every person we know of?"

Alex rolled his eyes as he removed the air vent from the air duct opening.

"'Cause our family totally counts as normal."

"Of course not Mr. Sarcasm. We're an anomaly, due to the secluded Mutant society our ancestors lived in. In a normal 'Mutant' family only one or two teenagers would have the X-gene."

"Did you read another dictionary? I can't keep up with your vocabulary when you do that." Alex complained.

"Baby."

"Am not, Hugo's the baby." Alex huffed as he climbed into the air duct.

"Hugo is an infant, you're a baby."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Their not, and if you weren't such a baby you would know that."

Alex huffed as he crawled through the air ducts.

"Do you have any idea how uncomfortable this is?" The hazel green eyed boy asked as he bent his head, finding the small crawl space narrower than expected.

"Very much so, that's why you're there and I'm not."

"You know that's not true, I'm here because I'm the only one with a way into the building."

"Lilly could've gotten in."

"Not without a source of water. This place is full of shadows, which makes it my playground."

"Teddy could've gotten in."

"Maybe, after months of training as a member of the Death Eaters."

"Whatever, you're still a baby."

Alex ignored Rose's comparisons to the almost one year old, as he peered through the vents below and alongside the air ducts. There were many different mutants locked away in the cells below. Some were chained to the walls, while others floated in large tanks of not-water. Alex chewed on his bottom lip as he crawled past, ignoring the guilt he felt at being unable to help them.

"We're only kids, Alex. Aunt Luna's the only adult we have with us, and she needs to take care of Hugo."

Alex sighed in understanding as he continued pulling himself through the air ducts. His shadowed green eyes scanned the mutant prison underneath him as he passed by, until he found is target.

"I found Papa." Alex informed in a tense whisper as he looked down on the wounded young man in the cell below.