Andy slid under the rapidly closing garage door and skidded to a stop in a dark room that smelled of metal and oil. The red light of an exit sign was enough to see the dim outlines of several parked vehicles, each identical to the one that had taken Vanessa. Standing up, Andy ran in a crouch to the nearest on and his behind it, listening for any sound. His heart was pounding so loudly in his chest that he thought it would definitely drown out any voices in the darkness. The angry that he had first felt when Vanessa had been taken from him had been growing rapidly as he had chased the van. He felt like a different person; He felt confident, determined…dangerous.

After a few seconds of waiting, his sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a car door opening on the far side of the garage. As he listened, he slowly looked around the van he was hiding behind and saw Sanders exiting the passenger side door of the black van. Out of the back doors came the five men in black, two of them carried Vanessa between them by the arms. Her legs dragged limply along the ground as they followed Sanders to a large metal door. He slid some sort of security card through a lock beside the door and with a small beep it unlocked. The five men walked through into the room beyond. The second they were all through Andy jumped out of his hiding place and darted through the door before it could close. He found himself in a large lobby-type room that looked like a prison…Plain walls and dull colors. He followed the sound of footsteps through a door to her left, again sneaking through a door as it closed behind the group. As he followed them into a hallway lined with doors, he suddenly realized how loud his shoes were on the tile floor. Pausing in a doorway, he quickly removed his shoes and put them on the ground behind a door. His hard-scaled feet made absolutely no noise on the floor and he could run much faster. He peered around a corner, saw the group split up, the three men went one way and Sanders and the two that carried Vanessa went the other way at a split in the hall up ahead.

Andy turned the corner and saw Sanders, his men, and Vanessa disappear into a room at the end of the last hall and he tore after them, only stopping when he reached the door and was holding it open with his fingers. Through the crack he could see what looked like an operating table, a large collection of computer equipment, medical tools, and notebooks on a rack of shelves on the far wall, and Vanessa being laid on the table. Andy wasn't interested in what they were planning on doing to her; he just never wanted them to have the chance to do it…

The doctor leaped back in surprise as the mutant before him suddenly opened her eyes and gasped, suddenly awakened by the shot he had just applied. She looked up at Sanders, his boss, and he nodded, more to himself than to him.

"That will be all for now, Mr. Wells." He said, pointing to the other side of the room. With a nervous glance at the girl regaining consciousness on the operating table, he obediently shuffled over to where two of his white-coated comrades awaited him. They stood at a safe distance and watched as Sanders moved toward the girl.

"Ms. Viorenza! So glad you're back with us…"

"Where's Andy?" She choked, still trying to force away the cloud of drowsiness that hung over her. Sanders smiled. Vanessa wanted to punch him. "I said…where is Andy?" She repeated. She tried to lift her arms to get up, but the restraints on her wrists and ankles held her firmly to the table. She struggled against them for a moment before realizing, somewhat belatedly…Oh yeah, I'm special…

Mustering her strength, she closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. She could feel Sander's humored smile as he watched her. Undeterred, she felt the familiar building of power running through her. She felt like she was carrying an electrical current. Suddenly put all of her built-up energy into her wrists and ankles. Immediately the smell of burning fabric filled the air; she was burning the trim of her sweater sleeves and jeans. She continued to force heat into the skin that was making contact with the restrains. She had melted things many times before, but for some reason this wasn't working. The heat was becoming unbearable to remain purely in her wrists and she felt the table warming beneath her. The strain was too great and she was forced to let go, realizing that she had been holding her breath she suddenly gasped for air, her head falling back against the hard metal of the table. Sanders' mocking laughter rang in her ears.

"Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that sooner. Those straps are made of a new material the lab boys over there have cooked up." He pointed to the three doctors on the other side of the room and they stood at attention under his eye, more like soldiers than scientists. "You can't burn your way out of this place." Vanessa had to accept that this was true…for the moment.

"You still haven't answered my question." She said staring at the ceiling, her eyes glowing a dangerous red.

"Hm?" asked Sanders offhandedly, as if she were his neighbor inquiring about the weather.

"Where is Andy?"

"Oh yes! I remember, the iguana kid! Oh, he's...well... Determined little thing, wouldn't stop chasing the van so we had to, you know, take care of him." There was a moment of silence, Sanders smiled and chuckled to himself. He turned away from Vanessa's unreadable expression and started to walk toward the door.

"What did you say?" Vanessa hissed after him. Sanders stopped, but didn't turn around.

"He's dead…because of you, actually. He seemed to be very attracted to you; talked about you till the very end."
"You're lying." Sanders turned around. His white teeth gleamed in the sharp lights as he grinned.

"No, you just can't accept the fact that you're dangerous! You can't come to terms with the fact that you put the people around you in danger! That's why you're here, Vanessa Viorenza! You are a murderer!"

"No!" screamed Vanessa. Her eyes burned like two savage flames and again she attempted to burn through her bonds. She only succeeded in scorching the majority of her clothes and melting some more of the table, and then it occurred to her. Letting the anger do its work, she gave everything she had into forcing her hands through the softened metal of the table, yelling in anger. Her hands came out on the underside of the table, the molten steel dripping from her fingers. The straps fell of and she sat up, throwing two fistfuls of the melted table at Sanders who only had time to give a sudden look of horror before it made contact with the side of his face. He wailed in agony, attempting futilely to wipe the stuff off with his hands, but only succeeding in spreading it over more of his skin. As it cooled it became hard, fusing to his flesh but never seeming to lose a single degree of heat. He continued to scream and the doctors ran to him, ignoring Vanessa who was now freeing her feet. The two guards at the door were also preoccupied with Sanders, giving her time to swiftly grab a white lab-coat from a shelf to cover her own scorched clothing. She scanned the room, looking desperately for an exit and wiping the tears from her cheek. Andy couldn't be dead…he couldn't…

One of the guards looked up from Sanders' still wailing form and saw Vanessa. She assumed as threatening a stance as possible but was unsure how hostile she actually appeared.

"Stay back!" She shouted as the guard stood up and pulled his weapon. "Stay back! Or I swear I'll hurt you!" He began to advance on her, and under any other conditions she would have thrown herself at him, fighting tooth and nail, but now it all seemed so pointless. He continued to advance on her and she eventually ran at him, screaming and raising the temperature of her hands. He fired twice and both bullets hit her outstretched hands melting on contact and only leaving two red welts in her palms. She tackled him and forced her hands onto his face. He yelled out but she didn't relent until he fell silent. She crawled off of him and looked up at the people that surrounded Sanders. His body was still. The doctors were no longer paying him any attention; all eyes were on her. She had just killed someone…again… What was she?

"I..." She whispered, her red eyes shifting between the people looking at her in fear and hatred. "I'm…" she tried again, but no other words came out. A doctor stood up and stared at her. He was tall and was dressed in a long white lab coat. As Vanessa watched, tears streaming down her face, the man reached up a hand and slowly lowered his medical mask. His face was strangely blank, like he was thinking very hard about something. His blue eyes became slits as his hand went from his face to his side. He reached into his lab coat and slowly pulled out a small handgun. His hands didn't shake, his breathing didn't change, he was just doing his duty. Vanessa looked up at him, kneeling on the floor beside the body of the second person she had murdered…no… the fourth. She let her eyes close and felt the hot tears falling down into her bloody hands. For the first time in her life she felt cold. She heard the cocking of the gun and took one last deep breath. The air smelled like blood and molten metal. There was a deafening bang and then silence.