He looks down upon the patient before him. An unimpressive mutant with gills. A fish in a very large pond. He would be finished analyzing this creature by night's end. In fact, he would probably have enough time to read the dossier on the Strucker children. They had eluded Sentinal Services again, only adding to their value in his mind.

Joshua enters the room with haste. "Dr. Campbell? Agent Turner is on the line. He said the matter was urgent."

"I thought Agent Turner wasn't interested in working with me. Hmm." A smile hints at the edges of his lips. He removes his gloves and walks to the phone nearest him.

"This Campbell?" a low voice grumbles.

"Agent, hello. Have you thought about my offer?"

"Yes." The quick admission was followed by silence. Consent.

"What changed your mind? I'm fascinated."

"The mutants I'm hunting…they're smart. They helped Strucker and Dane escape our convoy. They can do things I didn't know were possible. I need your help to catch them."

"Tell me about them. All of them."

"We know that Dane can control magnetism. Blood analysis revealed what we assumed. She's the daughter of Magneto and Mystique. I figured you'd like to know that."

Campbell clears his throat. "Yes. That is...interesting. Tell me, is she strong?"

"She crushed a door, forcing it open while wearing one of your little collars. She was incapacitated after, but I've never seen a mutant hurt a fly while wearing one of those things. I'd say she's dangerous. And she wouldn't tell me anything, even after I threatened her with worse than death. She's loyal to her people. Strucker, on the other hand, is a man you can negotiate with. At least I thought he was."

"Really?"

"He was a good prosecutor, but he'll do anything for his family. He's completely turned against the law and is working with the Resistance. Son of a bitch."

"How did they escape, exactly?"

"On the way to a secure facility, a tire blew out."

"Convenient."

"No. It was the mutants. Probably those kids. A camera has them on the roof of a building across the street. Girl is yelling at her brother and then all of a sudden they turn around and the tire explodes. Pretty remarkable considering we had Pulse with us. Their distance surpassed his bandwidth."

"They're already realizing the value of combining their powers."

"Yeah. It's a problem. So how are you going to help me take care of it?"

"It would have been easier if you still had those prisoners, but no matter. Send me a file on every mutant in the Resistance, and I will help you catch them."

"Done."

"And one more thing. When the Mutants are caught, I want access to them. All of them."

"I'm not sure I can arrange that."

"Put in the request. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised by the result," Dr. Campbell says, before clicking the receiver.

The next morning, Turner arrives at the lab with the requested files.

"Is this everything?"

"Everything we know about the mutant underground."

The file is rather slim—a disappointment.

Joshua spends the morning analyzing the fine details, then brings Campbell the highlights. "I think you'll be pleased, doctor. These mutants are a fascinating group. Their powers are impressive. Combined, they could rival the X-Men."

Campbell is pleased. It has been so long since a true challenge has come his way. "Tell me."

"Well, one of them, they call her Blink, has the power to create portals which teleport herself and others great distances. She was being held by Sentinal Services, but was able to escape using her gifts. If we had her, imagine how quickly we could round them all up?" Joshua muses.

Campbell nods, but his focus is elsewhere. "What does the file say about the Struckers?"

"It looks like the son, Andy, is the one responsible for the destruction at the school. Witnesses say that Lauren was dancing with her boyfriend when things started to fall apart. She ran into the fray and appears to have the ability to create force fields which helped her survive the collapse."

"A useful talent. And now I know how we'll find them."

Lauren loosens her ponytail, letting thick blonde curls pour over her shoulders. She wants to put on a new outfit this morning, but all she has is the same shabby shirt and jeans that she ran away in. Maybe she'll ask Polaris if she can borrow something. Not that she would want to bother her, now that she was with her boo, Marco… "Whatever," she mutters, heading downstairs.

In the kitchen, Andy gives her a wary gaze.

"What is it?"

"Just don't turn on the t.v., okay?"

"Umm, I wasn't planning on it. Why?"

His eyes widen even more. "No, no reason. Just, it won't help, that's all."

"Why are you being so weird?" she grabs the remote and turns on the t.v. Then she understands.

"Did you know that your girlfriend had mutant abilities?" the interviewer asks.

Jack shakes his head sadly. "Of course not, but that doesn't change the way I feel about her."

"She was involved in the destruction of a school, and now she's implicated in the escape of two known terrorists."

His shoulders slump. "I don't know about all that, but I do know that she's a good person. She'll do the right thing."

"The right thing would have been turning herself in. That's what you do when you've broken the law."

"Jack," she whispers, remembering the last time she saw him, when they were slow dancing. They hadn't even gotten a chance to kiss…

"Lauren, if you're out there, I want you to know that I…I love you. Please, just do what they say…."

The screen goes black. "That's enough of that," her father says angrily.

"Dad, I was watching that," she snaps back, brushing away tears.

"To what end? They are using him to get to you, and I won't allow you to be sucked into that."

"It's a little too late," she storms out of the room. She needs air, some space, a chance to breathe and recover from the revelation that Jack just professed his love for her on national television. She needs to find a phone. Now.