Fox shoved the dirty, smoky leather X-Men suit back into its case, wondering if the X-Men got their uniforms dry-cleaned. Then she trudged down the forbidden steel hall, entering the elevator and hitting the button for first floor.

She was worn-out, grimy and smelled slightly of smoke, but face shone with exhilaration. In her mind she replayed the fiery kiss over and over again, and in her hand she clutched the disk she had stolen from Dr Reyes. I scored some info and picked up Pyro. Pretty good for my first mission!

The elevator grinded to a halt at first floor, and Fox tramped out into the darkened halls. She was about to make her way to the kitchen in search of something to eat, when she stopped in her tracks. Seated in the lounge room were the entire senior X-Men team, and the Professor. She felt her gleeful smile drain away as they all turned to glance at her, faces stern and looking less than pleased.

Uh oh.

"Miss Fitzgerald," Scott stood from his armchair and crossed the room towards her, arms folded. "Care to explain yourself?"

Fox stared straight back at Cyclops - even through the ruby sunglasses she could feel his angry glare. Shit! What do I do? What do I say? Suddenly the look of apprehension left her face and Fox quickly plastered a smirk onto it instead. "Well, I was bored, so I went for a spin."

She looked from teacher to teacher; Scott was undeniably furious, Storm had a look of motherly concern, Jean was grim, Logan was somewhat amused and Kurt just looked uncomfortable. Fox could dismiss each of the X-Men with a careless eye roll, but when her gaze fell upon the Professor, she felt suddenly wracked with guilt.

Then the lectures began.

"You were bored? Do you know how much danger you put yourself into?"

"Anything could've happened to you out there!"

"Do you know how worried we've been?"

"Dakota, do you realize you've actually broken the LAW?"

Each reprimanding sentence bounced off Fox, as she sighed and leaned against the wall, bored again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, she muttered inwardly, a scowl creeping across her face. Suddenly, the Professor held a hand up to quickly hush the X-Men, and wheeled his chair forward to face Fox.

"Dakota," he began, speaking in such a calm tone that it eased her immediately. "You must realize that this sort of behavior is not tolerated at my school. You simply put yourself into too much danger."

She said nothing and broke eye contact, looking down at her feet. Despite her disdain for authority, Fox harbored enormous amounts of respect for Professor Xavier, and shrunk beneath his disapproving eyes.

"Why did you do it?"

She looked up again, her rich brown eyes meeting the Professor's cool blue ones. "I just wanted to help."

"To help?" Scott repeated. "You've set the entire mission back! You postponed our whole team! And you could've been killed!"

Fox shot him a glare of her own, then turned to the Professor, ignoring Cyclops for the time being. "Because I just wanted to be one of you. An X-Man," she added. "Well, maybe not you, Professor Summers, but an X-Man nonetheless." Apart from a snicker from Logan, nobody said a word. "Well, I'm sorry, ok?"

Then she turned away, not allowing the others to see her face. The Professor spoke again, in a calmer, more understanding tone. "Dakota, although you did break the rules, I see that you have indeed helped our cause."

He was referring to the disk, which she suddenly remembered. She spun around eagerly, holding the disk up for all to see. "Oh yeah, that." She waved the disk in front of Scott, savouring his surprised expression. "I swiped this from good old Dr Reyes."

The X-Men could only stare, Jean finally standing to her feet. "You broke into a biochemical research center - by yourself, while it was swarming with both scientists and Brotherhood mutants - and came back with that?"

Fox shrugged. "Well, yeah. Not bad, huh?"

Jean raised her eyebrows. "And how did you escape in one piece?"

"I'm... fast?"

Scott reached for the disk in Fox's hand. "What exactly is on it? Give it here."

But she sprang backwards, waving the disk just out of his reach. "No. Not until you tell me I did a good job. Even if I did DEFY you... Admit it, I did great. Good enough to be part of the team."

Everybody stared, flabbergasted at the haughty teenager. Fox looked around impatiently, waiting for somebody to respond, when suddenly the disk was wrenched from her grip by an unseen force. It hovered above her head, then floated safely across to Scott who gently plucked it from the air. Fox looked at Jean who crossed her arms over her chest pointedly. The teenager sighed. Obviously the crew needed time to chill.

"All right," she said at last, "Take it. I'm getting something to eat." She turned on her heel and strode towards the kitchen in a huff.

"Dakota," the Professor called, immediately bringing her to a halt. She slowly looked over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. A deep, meaningful smile crossed his face, with his surprisingly bright blue eyes sparkling. He paused for what seemed like eternity, then finally said, "Welcome to the X-Men."


Moonlight slipped through the window and sliced across the bed, like a silver knife. Fox had been tossing and turning for an hour now. Her roommates had long since nodded off. That full moon was shining too intensely, as a result it was partly responsible for Fox's newly-acquired insomnia. But the window had no curtains, so she settled for uncomfortably shifting positions.

Finally, the teenager sat up in bed, surrendering to her restless side. She silently cursed Jubilee for moving her bed so close to the curtain-less window, then threw the tangle of blankets aside. Fox stumbled out of bed, and groped around in the dark for her packet of cigarettes and a lighter. A digital clock brightly displayed the time 1:17 am in bold red letters.

Fox threw on a pair of jeans, seized her smokes and a lighter then crept out of the room. She treaded softly down the silent dark halls, sneaking down a flight of stairs and pushing through one of the back doors of the school. The cool night air greeted her, blowing through her thin black singlet, but she was unfazed and headed across the basketball courts and to the far end of the school grounds, so as not to set off a fire alarm or anything.

With a flick of her lighter, she lit up a cigarette, leaning against one of the walls that surrounded the school boundaries. She inhaled the smoke slowly, savoring the sharp taste and reminding herself that she really should try to quit the habit. I'll start cutting down this week, she told herself. Maybe.

Exhaling the smoke, she gazed over the still, lifeless grounds of the school. A small smile crept over her face as she replayed the events of the night through her mind. It played through her head as a blur: the X-Men meeting, the crazy motorcycle ride, the infiltration, the kiss... and of course, being finally accepted as the X-Men's newest recruit. Well, she corrected herself, a probationary X-Man. Which basically meant she had a lot of time and training to go before she was a full member.

She'd been lectured on responsibilities, what being an X-Man stood for, training and how she was to behave, but Fox hadn't given the dutiful side a second thought, and was only now concerned in the action. True, she was irresponsible and reckless in that respect, but her intentions were sincere in that she only wanted to help.

A flicker of movement caught her eye, and Fox turned her head sharply to the undergrowth on her left. "Who's there?"

Silence.

She shrugged to herself, concluding that she was still a little jumpy. Taking another drag, she was caught off guard when the burning tip of her cigarette abruptly went out – and the flame danced away across the night air. Fox's eyes widened as the small flame flickered brightly, like a miniature sun right before her eyes. Then it dissolved into the air, leaving the cigarette smoldering uselessly.

A grin crept across Fox's face, as she discarded the wasted cigarette onto the ground. Looking around herself again, she called into the night, "Where are you?"

Once again nobody replied, but Fox didn't give up, walking slowly forward. "C'mon, I know you're here." Still nothing.

On impulse, she burst into hyper-speed, becoming a mere streak of blurred light against time. She did a lap of the oval, looking intently among the hidden bushes and shrubbery. Everything appeared frozen in time to her as she moved beyond the realm of normal muscular movement. The bolt of light circled the grounds of the school, when it finally found what it was looking for.

She burst through some bushes and pounced on the figure hiding within, knocking him to the ground. They struggled for a moment until Fox pinned him to the ground. "Gotcha, Pyro," she hissed, grinning at him. She kept her hands firmly placed on his shoulders, pressing him into the ground.

Pyro's smooth brown eyes looked up at her, followed by a self-assured grin of his own. "Fox, what's goin' on?"

She raised an eyebrow, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "Lying in the grass."

She laughed softly, giving him a playful blow to the shoulder.

"Well, I was trying to figure out a way to get into the school, but I saw you come out."

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Fox detected a playful spark within his eyes as he answered. "To see you."

Suddenly he tossed her off balance, knocking her onto her side. Fox gasped as Pyro rolled on top of her, using his weight to pin her to the ground. He leaned forward slightly so that his face almost touched hers. "I wanna be on top," Pyro said, in a tone so shadowy and dangerous that Fox was briefly silenced. Then an irresistible grin spread across her face as she realized he was joking.

Her eyes stared in Pyro's, then they traveled down to his lips longingly. He quickly spoke. "Listen, Fox, I have a proposition for ya."

A look of curiosity flickered across Fox's face. "Yeah?"

Pyro had his hands on Fox's wrists, and rubbed them as he continued. "You and me – we're two of a kind."

The girl frowned, not understanding where he was going with this.

"I know your type," he persisted. "I can see it in your eyes. I saw it in the alley, when you broke into the lab and when you attacked me. You're a wild child. You do things just for the thrill of it, plain and simple. You live off the adrenaline rush. It's like a drug - you'd do anything just to feel that rush. The things you do – stupid, risky things – you do them purely for your own amusement."

Fox listened intently, dark lips curving into an amused smile. Pyro was absolutely right of course. He leaned closer, his head alongside hers, his mouth against her ear. "You're the dangerous type."

As he leaned back to look into her eyes, he saw the fire in them. She grinned, lifting her head off the ground to bring her face closer to his. "Am I YOUR type?" she asked.

Pyro promptly kissed her in reply. A moment later and they were making out eagerly, giving in to the flow of desire running between them. As Pyro moved his lips from Fox's mouth to her neck she sighed, then suddenly asked, "Hang on, what proposition?"

Pyro gave a sheepish grin, pulling his head back to look into her face. "Oh, yeah, sorry. Look, basically I came here to offer you a place in the Brotherhood."

Silence ensued, he watched Fox's face carefully as she absorbed this, but was unable to read her expression. "What? Join the Brotherhood?" she asked, half doubtful, half intrigued.

"You're a powerful mutant," he explained, "You proved that today. Even without the whole X-Men squad hanging around, you could hold your own. And you're what, seventeen? Chances are, you haven't even reached your full potential yet. You're smart. You're fast. You're bad. We could use you on the team. I could use you on the team," he added, the meaning beyond the words clear.

Fox remained quiet, and now looked uneasy. "Uh, I don't know..."

"Come on, Fox," he insisted, "Think about it, you and me, action, adventure..." he trailed off, leaning forward ever so slightly to allow their foreheads to touch. "Something on the side?"

She grinned, then quickly threw Pyro off of her, rolling over until she was once again on top. "That's tempting," she murmured. She wasn't lying, the prospect of packing her bags and heading off into an action packed world with Pyro by her side was very, very tempting. "But..."

"But what?"

Fox frowned slightly, trying to think of a way to put it into words. "Well, first I don't really believe in what The Brotherhood stands for-"

"Aw come on!" Pyro let a laugh out with each word, and gave her a playful shove. "I know you Foxy, you don't care about that shit! All you want out of life is a kick or two, am I right?"

"Hey!"

"But it's true – you live for the thrill, like me. So what do you care which side you're on, as long as you're having a good time?"

Fox tried to argue but she didn't have a retort in mind. Pyro had a point, but he made her seem so shallow while making it. He was right when he said she was only out for a good time – hell yeah – but since meeting the X-Men Fox had unconsciously grown very attached to them despite her shortcomings. Fox had only been a part of the X-Men for about three hours, but now she realized that she harbored an intense loyalty towards them, and their cause. Pyro on the other hand was already happily settled into the Brotherhood, or so it would seem. They were on opposite sides of the fight.

This Romeo and Juliet-style complication was only growing worse.

Fox rolled off of Pyro and onto her back, lying next to him. She stared up at the stars, saying, "I don't think I can do it. They trust me, Pyro. They're my friends. Kinda."

Pyro glanced at her but she didn't meet his gaze. The corners of his lips drooped a little in disappointment, then he fully turned his head towards hers. "Listen, Fox I'll give you a week to think it over. I really want you to think about it."

Fox finally meet his stare without a word, her dark hair falling across her face. Pyro reached across to stroke the lock of hair, when Fox leaned closer. Raising her eyebrows meaningfully, she spoke. "There's more to me than you think there is. Don't pretend that you completely know who I am."

He didn't expect that change of tone, but nonetheless Pyro had a cool response waiting. "I know enough. You're self-satisfied. You're crazy. You're gorgeous."

Limbs entwined again, lips crushed together, and the two gave in to the flames of desire once more, not caring that they were enemies, only caring about each other.


It was long after Pyro had disappeared into the night when Fox finally made her way back to the mansion. An elated smile stretched over her face, and her mind was lost in thoughts of the Brotherhood flamethrower. Which is why she jumped out of her skin when Logan stepped out of the side door of the mansion, arms folded.

"Whoa!" she gasped, the only thing she could think to say in response. Fox couldn't recall Logan's name, in her head she'd always just referred to him as The Hairy Guy.

Before she could say anything more, Logan gruffly cut her off. "Look kid, I don't know how long this has been going on but it stops now."

Fox raised an eyebrow quizzically, and for a moment she thought he was talking about her smoking habit. She was about to protest angrily until she remembered that he was constantly smoking cigars in the school hallways. Obviously, he was referring to something else.

"What are you talking about?"

Logan took a step towards her, as if to emphasize their considerable differences in height. Fox was practically breaking her neck just to look in his eyes. "I'm talking about you, and a certain pyromaniac from the wrong side of the tracks."

Fox froze with the realization her secret was out, and couldn't think of a reply, let alone an explanation or excuse. She settled with letting her mouth hang open, then slowly casting her eyes downwards. Aw, shit.

Logan maintained his dominant body language, and continued his questioning. "Well? What's the story?" She said nothing, so he probed further. "Is that why you went to the research centre alone, to see him?"

"No!" Fox shouted. She placed her gaze back firmly on the ground. "It's nothing," she murmured, knowing that she was lying through her teeth.

"That's bullshit, and we both know it," Logan snapped, then changing his tone as that familiar scowl crept over Fox's face. "Look, this is dangerous shit you're getting into. That Pyro kid can't be trusted, you understand? He made it clear he didn't want to be a part of us a long time ago, when he joined our enemy. Christ kid, he's playing you! He's using you to get to the X-Men!"

"That's not true!" she argued, jabbing a pointed finger at Logan. "He... I-"

"What?" Logan insisted.

"We... we understand each other. I like him. He's not what you make him out to be-"

"There, you see that? He's got you wrapped around his little finger. I would've thought you of all girls would be the last one to fall for a couple of 'I love you's!"

For ages Wolverine ranted at Fox, and it hurt her to realize that he didn't trust her nor believe her in the slightest. True, that was to be expected, given her behavior that day, but Fox thought Logan of all the X-Men would understand her, being an outsider like herself. Argument after argument followed, the he's-using-you's always countered with the you-don't-understand-a-damn-thing's. Finally Fox gave up, throwing her hands up in the air.

"All right, I've had enough of this!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to bed. Later."

"You do that," Logan replied, and his angry tone swiftly changed to one of subtle guidance. "Just remember, being a probationary X-Man has responsibility. Think about where your priorities lie. Maybe you don't understand, but Pyro is a threat to us. Which means if you keep it up with him, you could be a threat to us. If Pyro gets info outta you, the Brotherhood will have an advantage. You play with fire, and you'll get us all burnt."

Fox halted mid-step, stunned by Logan's acute insight. She slowly looked over her shoulder at him, dark hair swinging around wildly, and her face registering... guilt? Regret? Fear? Whatever it was Fox quickly looked away from Logan and hurried inside, with Logan satisfied that he had gotten to the stubborn teenager.

Curling up again in her bed, Fox stared up at the ceiling, reluctantly letting Logan's words replay over and over again in her mind. She had a choice to make now. Follow the wild path offered by Pyro and the Brotherhood, with the promise of unlimited adventure, passion and the ultimate in good times? Or stay with the X-Men, who'd done their fair share of scolding her, but stood for what Fox knew was just and right? Her consciousness floated into dreams as the moon held its throne high in the night sky.


Stomping down the corridor, his determined footsteps echoing off the metal walls and floors, the teenage fire manipulator stormed across a narrow metal bridge. He turned sharply to his left, and veered straight into the metal laboratory door he'd been heading for. John jerked the handle roughly – locked, unsurprisingly – then decided to bang his fists furiously on the metal door.

"Hey!" John shouted, "Cecilia! Doctor, whatever! I know you're in there, open the door before I burn it down!"

He heard a hurried scuffling inside, then after a series of clicks the sealed door slid to the side, with Dr Reyes standing on the other side. A white surgical mask hung loosely around her neck, her black hair pulled back tightly as usual. She looked at Pyro nervously, but tried to maintain her composure as she asked, "What the hell do you want?"

John kept his hand planted firmly on the door, so the doctor couldn't suddenly slam it shut. "I want in."

"Beg your pardon?"

His face darkened with determination. "I said I wanna see what you're doing in there!" he barked, his voice growing louder with each word. "Open the freaking door!"

Despite herself, Cecilia Reyes obediently stood to the side, slightly frightened of Pyro's volatile temper. John shoved his way inside, allowing his eyes to feast on what lay beyond the metal lab door.

Three metal lab benches lay adjacent to the far wall, completely covered with various pieces of science equipment. Dr Reyes must have been in the middle of testing something, because a Bunsen burner was still alight and Pyro could see an assortment of chemicals exposed in glass jars and test tubes. A desk sat slightly to the left, which had files and roughly scribbled notes sprawled messily across. Other than the work surfaces, the lab was relatively clean, and once Pyro had finished taking in his surroundings, he turned to the doctor.

"I wanna know everything," he said bluntly. "What the hell do you do here all the time?"

Dr Reyes stepped past him, approached the bench she had been working on and switched the Bunsen burner's gas connection off, for fear that Pyro might snatch the flame away. "Magneto hasn't authorized you to this area, nor that kind of information."

"Cut the crap, Cecilia," John shot back. "If I'm risking my ass for anything, I wanna freaking well know what it is." John closed the gap between them, leaning casually on one elbow which he propped up on Dr Reyes's workbench. "So what is it? Some kind of acid that burns your insides up? A deadly poison? I knew you were a sadist underneath that white coat."

Dr Reyes sighed, trying to ignore her intruder, and leaned over to adjust a microscope. "This may be beyond you, John, which is why Magneto didn't want details disclosed." Seeing John beginning to bristle again, she quickly changed her mind. "But if you must know..."

The doctor carefully selected a test tube, one that was corked tightly and had a clear-blue liquid inside. Showing it to the teenager, but not letting him touch it, she began. "This is a liquidated virus. I came across it some time ago, back when I was working for the FBI. I've developed it further into what I believe is a new form of the bacteria. It's called Bacillus fatalicis – Fatalite." She waited for John to add something, but he was surprisingly quiet for his brazen self. "Ok, think Anthrax. This is just as lethal: it has the same properties, same spore structures, everything, except for two major differences. One is that this particular virus is highly infectious from person to person – Anthrax is not. Secondly, Fatalite only affects organisms with non-mutated DNA structures."

John's eyes snapped up from the test tube to the doctor in an instant focus. "Wait... what-"

"It only affects humans; mutants are virtually immune to it."

John stared at the doctor, stunned. "What? That's impossible. How did you do that?"

"I manipulated the spores."

"Is there a counter-virus?"

"Technically no. I have found that in liquid form it's destroyed by flame, though."

"You invented this? And you're gonna release it into the public?"

The doctor looked back at him calmly, eyebrows raised. "We are going to release it, all of us. Don't look so shocked. You know this is exactly the kind of thing Magneto wants. An epidemic like this would wipe out the entire human race, and leave us mutants untouched."

John's mind was in turmoil, he looked around at the chemicals that littered the bench tops, unable to believe that something so lethal was harbored here. "But... You're a doctor, aren't you supposed to have morals and stuff?"

"Morals?" she repeated indignantly, "I have no morals? Listen to me Pyro, I am twenty eight and you know what I've learned from this fucked up world? Nobody goes by morals. You have your days, when everything seems great and life is good, then suddenly you're being mobbed, harassed and attacked, because you happened to be born different! And me, I've experienced the worst of it three ways – I'm black, I'm a woman, and I'm a mutant. I'm nothing to the human race, nothing!" Angry tears started to stream unnoticed down Cecilia's cheeks.

John was growing apprehensive, visibly uncomfortable at Dr Reyes's sudden emotional eruption. He reached out to touch her but she flinched away, only just beginning to warm to her argument. "Ok, ok, doctor-"

"I was born the way I am, and that gives people the right to abuse me? To attack me for no reason in the streets? To refuse me jobs, friends, dates? Does that give people the right to destroy my family? To kill my father? Does it, Pyro? Huh? The human race is fucked, you better believe it! Are they a race that deserves not to die a slow painful death, one by one? No. I want them all to suffer, the way us mutants have for centuries, the way they made my father suffer!" she screeched, clenching her fists by the sides of her head so tightly her knuckles were turning a deathly white.

Pyro was backing away now, his hand reaching into the comfort of his pocket and retrieving the steel lighter. Holding it defensively, and flicking it on and off alternately, he tried to speak again. "Look, just chill, all right? Calm down..." She said nothing, turning away angrily to the bench and snatching a random test tube from its rack. Pyro knew there was something more to Dr Reyes, but he didn't know her problems were this deep, or that her motives were that sinister. "Ok, we've all had problems with humans. Believe me, I have. And yeah, sometimes you feel the hatred burning so intensely inside you, you just wanna reach out and kill a person, a normal person. But Jesus, do you really want to go down in history as the chick who wiped 'em all out?"

"I'll be making the world a better place for us. For mutants."

"You don't believe that."

Cecilia Reyes looked Pyro squarely in the eye. "Magneto does."

And that made absolute, perfect sense. Of course he does, Pyro thought. It was all he believed in, mutants dominating and ruling over the human race. Granted, Magneto sincerely cared about the welfare of mutants, but at the same time he was intent on the complete annihilation of humans. For a while Pyro believed it too, that mutants and humans could never co-exist, that it was always either one or the other. For a while, the fire inside him burned with hatred and rage at what the human race had done to his kind and it seemed that nothing would ever extinguish the flames of loathing. But nonetheless the idea of him being a part of the team that caused humans to practically become extinct... that unsettled him greatly.

Another thought struck John, and he turned to Dr Reyes with a little panic. "How can you be sure it doesn't affect mutants? What is it kills us all?"

"I know it won't."

"But how?" he demanded.

Cecilia Reyes twisted around suddenly, her eyes spitting fire at Pyro. "This is how!" she snarled, and ripped the sleeve of her coat upwards to reveal the mutilated flesh underneath. Pyro's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he saw the rows of scars and gashes that disfigured the skin of her arm. Then he realized that she'd inflicted these on herself, with a knife, and she'd applied the bacteria to the wounds in order infect her own bloodstream. Some gashes were quite old, some were thin as cat scratches, some had been bleeding quite recently and stained the inside of her jacket a bright red, and others were a strange, deep purple color. Doctor Reyes was using herself as a human guinea pig for her virus.

"Jesus Christ!" he yelled, recoiling in horror. "You tested the disease on yourself?"

The sinister glimmer in the doctor's eyes gave Pyro the answer. "You gotta do what you gotta do. Rats just don't cut it when it comes to mutated genetics and Fatalite."

Eyes glued to the doctor's maimed arm, Pyro backed away further. "You're crazy!" he spat. "You're fucking crazy! I can't believe you'd do that. You're the one with problems, not the human race! Fuck me!" His mind was churning. This doctor was completely insane, she had to be! Inventing a plague-like disease, using herself as a guinea pig... Pyro looked around frantically, as if suddenly afraid the virus was airborne and about to devour him.

Doctor Reyes stepped forward, brandishing her arm as if it were a weapon. She was obviously enjoying intimidating the haughty teenager. "Not so tough now, are ya? You little punk, I-"

John ignited his lighter with the flick of his thumb and formed a fireball with the flames. Guiding it slowly towards the doctor, he said venomously, "Don't touch me."

The doctor's confidence wavered a little when confronted with the sight of the flames and she drew back, clearly afraid of fire. Pyro was regaining control of the situation, and he split the fireball into multiple tongues of flame, which danced around him like nuclear fireflies. "I could destroy your precious virus right now, doctor."

"Oh, but how ironic, because you wouldn't dare," she replied smoothly. "After all, Magneto would – how should I put it? – be terribly displeased. Are you a part of the bad-ass Brotherhood or not? They're all about domination, killing humans, whatever – but you don't even have the balls for that!"

Something inside Pyro snapped, and in his fury he launched all of the airborne fireballs directly at the doctor. She yelped and instinctively covered her head with her hands, but she needn't have bothered. Her energy shield automatically triggered on impact, and each fireball sizzled uselessly and disappeared once hitting the doctor's self-generated force field.

Dr Reyes quivered slightly, but knew she was safe. Her energy shield was now fully active, and nothing, not even fire, could harm her. Slowly lowering her hands from her head, she peered at Pyro and said, "Look John, all I'm saying, is that the future of mutant kind, lies in the destruction of humankind. If you can't accept that, then what exactly are you doing with the Brotherhood in the first place? After all, that's precisely what they're fighting for."

John stared, feeling sweat evolve from the hand that was gripping his lighter. It was only then that he understood that two equally opposite and significant choices lay before him – either stay with the only organisation that he had ever really belonged to, or follow his conscience and stand up for what he believed in. John could easily play the hero and destroy the virus now, preventing what would surely be a global plague-like crisis. Couldn't he?

But Pyro looked deeper in Dr Reyes eyes, and suddenly he recognized the pain, misery and burning hatred at the human race that stared back at him. That same anger and hatred at the world lay inside him, buried, undealt with. The flames burned day and night, yearning for... what? Vengeance?

John made his choice.