X2: Survivors

The cheap flat would have been in utter darkness, if not for the hundreds of candles stacked upon almost every available surface. The numerous flames danced over the dark walls, silently aside from faint pops and puffs coming from the snapping tongues.

The cheap flat was also locked up tighter than Fort Knox. The door was double-locked and the deadbolt was drawn closed, the windows were shuttered, and even the crack under the front door was blocked off with a towel stuffed into the gap.

The flat's sole inhabitant sat in the middle of the floor, legs crossed, hands laid on his knees, and his eyes tranquilly closed. The candles continued to snap happily, the figure unmoving.

Then the candles set on top of the ancient television set began to display their spontaneity, different from their identically flickering counterparts. They all snuffed out at once, and then relit themselves. Then they began to bob up and down in oppositional sync, the even numbered candles from left to right dancing up, while the odd ones died down. For their finale, all of the little flames actually freed themselves from their slowly dwindling wicks and swirled independently in the air, waltzing around one another in circles, over and over and over…

A loud beeping caused a sudden burst of roaring fire from every candle as Colin Jamieson lurched up from the floor, cursing colorfully as he began stamping out a couch cushion that had caught light. Maybe he should keep the practice candles away from the flammable furniture from now on.

"Freaking, goddamn ringtone," he snarled as he stalked into his bedroom and pulled something from below his mattress. He stared at the almost blank screen.

Code 2. Old Jolie's nightclub at 11 tonight.

His right eyebrow rose, unaccompanied due to the jagged scar running down over his left brow and eye. There were only four codes that Coverts recognized: Code 1, the alert for a scheduled standard meeting for exchanging gained info; Code 2, the call for an emergency meeting over some urgent information; Code 3, a teammate's identity was compromised, and the dreaded Code 4: the entire team's cover was blown and it was every mutant for themselves. It was a rule during that instance that they couldn't go looking for their teammates, as it increased the risk of more of them getting captured.

Colin narrowed his eyes again, tossing the tablet back under his mattress. It was fairly late already, the sun setting outside his blacked out windows. Jolie's was on the other side of town, and as he didn't have a car and distrusted the cramped, boxed-in confines of public transport, it was going to be a bit of a walk.

He strode to his closet, opened it, and pulled a lockbox from the back. Opening it he removed a Kevlar vest, strangely armored pants and a leather jacket, and a belt with multiple loops like a utility belt.

He stripped off his holey white t-shirt, leaving the undershirt, and pulled on the vest. The rest of his uniform followed.

Colin stood and headed back to the living room. He would take the old fire escape on the back of the building. It faced the back alley and bad streets, so the windows of this bedraggled apartment building were always boarded up on that side. No one would see his departure.

Just before he uncovered the window and made his exit, Flashfire turned around. He spread his hand, holding it out into the room. With a quick movement, his fist snapped closed. The candles snuffed out all at once and plunged the tiny space into darkness. The fire escape clattered as he made his way into the once again darkening city.

Code 2. Old Jolie's nightclub at 11 tonight.

Alexandria Choi, codename Sentry, kept her face schooled into a disinterested expression as she read the message, before slipping her phone back into her pocket. Her finger hit the delete message button on the way out. She strode along confidently, her heels clacking against the polished floor as she attempted to tune out the consistent blabbing from her right side.

"Bought it basically brand new. Had to make a few adjustments with the engine and all, but mechanics are kinda my thing, you know. Seaworthy as a fish, and a sexier boat than anything else in the harbor. But anyway, like I was saying, you should really come join me for a day out on the waves Alex. Pretty girl like you spends waaay too much time on work, should lie back and enjoy…"

"Brian," Alexandria drew to a sudden stop, turning to face her fellow intern. From what she understood, his uncle was an important figure in BioTech Industries, and despite Brian's decided lack of professional attitude, scientific knowledge, and any kind of intelligence whatsoever, he was one of the head interns here at BioTech's Boston branch. Brian seemed rather shocked that she had interrupted him so abruptly. She alleviated his feeling of insulted pride by smiling charmingly at him, the special smile she knew made her eyes gleam and her Asian features practically glow with her natural prettiness.

"I'm sorry Brian, but I have to go. I have an urgent appointment that just got bumped up to today," she said pleasantly, rolling her eyes as if to say 'how dare those suits spoil the AMAZING conversation we were just having.'

"Meeting about what?" the young man scowled, obviously not very pleased to have his flirting interrupted.

Alexandria waved her hand airily about. "Just some side work I do for private contractors, really boring but it pulls in the cash. See you tomorrow," she daintily waved goodbye, winking as she slid through the doors exiting the BioTech office building and striding toward the parking structure. Thankfully, she had also managed to dodge having to reply to his offer of a boat ride. Slimy little cretin.

She mounted onto her pale blue Vespa and buzzed out of the garage, nodding to the security guard as she zipped away and into the city streets.

It was only when she was paused at a red light that she pulled her cellphone back out, entered in a hidden number into her text message box, and typed out a brief message to all included contacts.

Sentry en route

Jackson Winters grinned lopsidedly into the bright lights shining in his eyes, his ears cluttered with the sounds of clapping and cheering. He jammed once more on his guitar, letting loose one last powerful blast of lyrics, and his darkly enticing voice finishing the last long note of the rock song. He sucked in a deep breath, smiling again and waving to his fans crowded inside the small bar where he often performed. He clasped a few reaching hands, winked at a few pretty girls, before ducking into the small area behind the dining area that was 'backstage.'

He mopped off his sweaty forehead and sipped from a water bottle, before reaching into his jacket which he had discarded on the nearby chair to check his phone for messages. None appeared, but that only meant no one important had contacted him recently.

He peered around. No one was nearby, so he hurriedly punched in a series of numbers on the keypad. The screen lit up pale blue as a message flashed across, calling a Code 2 in the abandoned nightclub in only an hour. A series of very similar replies from his secret comrades were listed below it, confirming their approaching presences.

Flashfire en route

Sentry en route

Ashcloud en route

Lupus en route

Luck en route

So that meant he was one of the last to receive the message; only the members that stayed at the boarding house hadn't left yet.

A second ping sounded from the phone as new messages popped up: Pause & Acorna en route.

He was the last then. Swiping up his jacket, Jackson shouted a goodbye to the bar's manager to let him know he was leaving, and hurried for the back exit as he tapped in his reply.

Nyx en route

Trish, now going by Pause, slowed behind Acorna. She felt slightly irked to basically be back in the junior position. She had been with the Seekers for quite a while, and was used to commanding and leading on missions, being the guide to scared mutants as she and her teammates led them back to shelter. Now she was the one following closer as the narrow shape of Acorna led her through the city.

What stung the most was how little Trish knew of this city, even though she had grown up in it.

She hadn't mentioned it to anyone, deeming it unimportant, but coming back to the city of her birth was more painful than she had imagined. Seeing it so unfamiliar was like being dropped into a parallel dimension where everything's familiar, yet she was the stranger. Sure, the city wasn't structurally different, aside from a few new buildings, but the constant reminder of the patrols, curfews, and the ever-present threat of capture hung like a humid cloud in the air. Plus, when she had been here she had walked the streets openly, familiar with a bright, brine-scented Boston, the smell of the ocean always in the breeze. The winding path that Acorna had led her on tonight was dark, narrow, and stank of refuse. It was a whole other world.

What had brought them out of the safety of the boarding house was a secret message on Acorna's phone, saying something about Code 2. Rachel had explained that it meant an emergency meeting; probably pertaining to the 'job' Gemini and Replica had worked just a few nights ago. Trish had been curious, but hadn't expected that Rachel intended to take her along. Rachel insisted it was about time she met her new teammates, as well as got used to the Covert system of operating. So they had departed, some thirty minutes before the ten o'clock curfew, leaving Chatter to watch the kids. He would be in connection though, listening into the meeting through a wireless.

Suddenly, Pause's foot slipped from the thin concrete embankment and into the foul-smelling water. Her nose wrinkled, but she said nothing. She might not like it, but heading into the sewers was probably the best way to get to their destination without detection.

Up ahead, Acorna, a faint silvery blur because of her body armor, drew to a halt. She motioned Pause to the side, into the shadows. The curly blonde immediately responded, sliding into the deeper darkness. She could hear what her teammate had heard; the faint sloshing of feet approaching from an off-shoot corridor of the sewers a little ahead of them, among a four-way intersection of tunnels. The sounds were coming from the passage on the right. Pause's hands, half-gloved with fingers bared, reached into her pale white belt and withdrew a dagger. She crouched, ready for anything.

However, the moment the approaching person emerged from their pathway and into the intersection, Pause immediately lowered her weapon. The third party was definitely one of them.

A tall, pale girl had emerged, dressed in black and army cargos. On the sides of her head, pointed black ears poked out from what looked like mixed black and white hair, and a long black tail brushed along her calves and barely skimmed the water's surface. The girl's eyes were all black, apart from her flashing green irises.

Pause would have stepped out, but the girl raised her head first, sniffing the air. Her head turned toward them, angling her body in the direction of the other two Coverts. Pause widened her eyes; the girl's left arm wasn't flesh, but instead a mechanical limb.

"Lupus," Acorna sighed with relief, stepping out. The hybrid female nodded, her green eyes flashing.

"I thought I'd come across you," she said, her speech colored a bit with a Canadian-French accent. "I smelled Luck along these corridors, not ten minutes ahead of us, and as you two were some of the last I guessed we'd cross paths." Her gaze then turned to Pause, who maintained a steady gaze back.

"So you're our new team member? From the Seekers I hear." Her eyes were slightly narrowed and the black ears were slightly flattened. Distrust obviously; new members probably had a way of putting Coverts on edge. A mole could be disastrous among the secretive group, much more so than among her former teammates.

Pause nodded blankly, showing that she wasn't intimidated. "Temporarily. I'm not really suited for undercover work."

"Then why join?" Lupus cocked her head questioningly.

"I'm looking for someone," Pause said vaguely, before turning her head down the passage again. "Shouldn't we be getting to this meeting?"

"Yes," Acorna said. She had been standing off to the side, wondering if the muted hostility between Pause and Lupus would need to be tempered. Thankfully, Pause had closed off the discussion and put them back on track. "We need to go, it's almost eleven."

"I'll lead," Lupus growled quietly before pushing forward, her steps sloshing in the dank water and her tail twitching in irritation.

"Don't worry," Acorna said as she fell in beside Pause. "Lupus is always like this with new members. She'll warm up to you after a while."

"Truthfully, I'm hoping I won't have to be here long enough for that to happen," Pause mumbled. She appreciated what the Coverts did and what they risked, but ever since coming back to her home city, it had been nothing but bittersweet memories and consuming thoughts about her little sister. All she could see when she closed her eyes was Gina's smiling little face, or the sight of her parents dragging her away the day she innocently showed them the tiny flame she could conjure with a snap of her fingers. And it had been her fault, she just knew. Ever since she had discovered her abilities to turn the powers of other mutants on and off at will it had haunted her, that perhaps she had been the reason they had taken Gina away. She just wanted to find her sister, make up for her terrible mistake, and leave this place that had so many bitter memories attached to it.

Acorna didn't respond to her quiet sentence, merely casting a sympathetic glance.

The trio trudged on silently, before Lupus drew to a halt. She raised her head, sniffing at an access hatch above their heads.

"We're here," she said, before beginning to climb the ladder that led up through the manhole.

Lupus lifted the heavy metal cover, groaning a bit, but her mechanical limb lent her extra strength. She peered about the empty street, as well as scanning the skies. No air patrols were to be seen, and on this old deserted street there wouldn't be any cameras.

"Clear," she whispered back to the other two, before pulling herself up and out of the opening. She crouched there until her companions made their exits as well.

The street was dark, not even a worn out street lamp lighting it up. Several unkempt buildings lined it, all abandoned and falling into disrepair. Pause stared for a moment at the small store front across the road from them. Scrawled across the building in what was presumably red spray paint, though it looked black in the gloom, was a message. With the building wearing down and a large chunk of the front knocked in some of the message was lost, but she saw the words mutant and devil and kill interspersed throughout the scrawl. In fact, the large portion of the destroyed storefront looked like it had been blasted in by something powerful and hot, judging by the burn marks around the hole. Pause shivered a bit, guessing why this street was emptied.

Jolie's Nightclub was an unremarkable building, just as deserted as the others on the street, the neon lights broken and the bright colors faded. Lupus shoved against the sticking door with her shoulder, barreling her way in. They wound past the front into the largest open area in the center of the building.

It appeared empty, but Pause wasn't fooled. She guessed that Coverts were well-versed in hiding and disappearing; they were here somewhere.

She waited for a moment, before Acorna and Lupus each exclaimed lines of poetic, old-world literature into the vacant space. Pause recognized them as stanzas from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Apparently these lines were passwords of some sort, because the moment the two other Coverts fell silent, some half a dozen figures melted out of the shadows like ghosts.

Some of them Pause recognized, by description if not by familiarity. Mainframe and Replica she could spot easily enough, having heard them described by Donovan and occasionally Evangeline before. Flashfire she could also recognize; he had stopped by the boarding house a few weeks ago for a short time before departing again. There were a few others she didn't know.

"Now we're only missing Nyx," Mainframe spoke up first among the group.

Lupus sniffed the air again deeply, before turning to her leader. "He isn't far."

Indeed, only a few minutes later, a very tall and handsome boy with black hair arrived at their rendezvous spot. All the Coverts were assembled.

Mainframe, probably the orator of the group, much like Limb was back with the Seekers, spoke again. "Three nights ago Replica and Gemini came across some unexpected information during their mission. This is the reason why we called the emergency meeting. First off though, I should introduce our newest member, Trisha West, or Pause." He motioned to her. She merely nodded in greeting, which they all returned. Mainframe then pointed out by name everyone she didn't know, including Sentry, Nyx, a narrow-faced Indian boy named Aakar and codenamed Ashcloud, and a petite Japanese girl called Asuka. Her codename was Luck. It wasn't exactly the type of meet-and-greet where you go in a circle listing off your name, age, and favorite cereal, but it helped Pause a bit to actually know who she was in league with.

"Chatter, are you on with us?" Mainframe asked to their single member that wasn't present.

"I can hear you all." Chatter's voice, emanating from a small radio link clipped to Acorna's belt, confirmed that he was listening in.

"Good." Mainframe turned to Replica. She didn't speak, but pulled out a standard black tablet. She turned it on, pulling up some images.

"While I was searching for the testing information, I came across some other hidden information on Hanson's computer. It was on a secret file hidden on a private server. Whatever it is, it's not general information among the company." She hit something on her screen.

Pause saw all of the others pulling out their phones, all of which were of the same unobtrusive make and model. She followed suit, and found that Replica had transferred a file. She opened it, and all the Coverts began to examine it.

There was silence for a while, as they all absorbed what Replica had uncovered.

"Testing to begin… testing for what?" Sentry asked, her voice and face grim.

"I don't know," Replica grunted. "I didn't have much time to read through what was there. Also, I had to pull out fast, so some of the information on the original disk isn't complete. I brought it," she said, pulling the disk from a pocket on the right thigh of her suit. "I was hoping you can take a look at it Sentry; see if you can't get something more out of it."

Sentry took it tenuously. Pause watched curiously. Aside from the other girl closing her eyes, she didn't really see her doing anything. Then when she glanced down a bit, she saw spider-web-like tendrils of dark blue running along Sentry's hand, and scrawled over the disk's surface. The lines weren't solid, more like shadows being cast over the hand and disk, but it was too dark for any such shadows to be cast.

Sentry reopened her eyes, shaking her head as she handed the disk back to her teammate. "I didn't think it would work, but it was worth a try. I get information from the objects specifically, relating to who's been in contact with them. All I can see with this is when you used it to copy the info, not much else."

Replica let out a disappointed sigh, but nodded her thanks for the effort anyway.

Chatter's transferred voice joined in the conversation. "These slides…of the X genes – I think this relates to the testing."

"No shit?" Lupus grunted sarcastically.

"No, I mean that we're probably thinking along the lines of the Toxin, but these specific genes are biological codes for different individual mutant powers."

"Why do you think that?" Luck asked questioningly.

"Well, the text covering most of the pages Replica managed to recover use terms relating to specific chromosomes and genes. It looks like they were decoding the DNA strands for those specific parts of the code."

"Yeah, I saw that," Mainframe murmured, but he seemed only half-present, still consumed in reading the information.

"In the first pages, it lists all of the codes in order according to which mutant's genes it belongs to, but in the later pages they start jumbling, mixing into hundreds of different combinations."

"Mixing X genes?" Pause had spoken the thought on an impulse, not having really thought it out. Everyone turned to stare at her.

"What?" Luck asked.

"Uh… it sounds to me like mixing X genes?" She stated it more like a question than a statement, her stomach coiling a bit in embarrassment. It sounded incredibly far-fetched now that she was paying attention to what she'd said.

Mainframe stared at her. She felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny, but he slowly began to nod, casting his eyes back down to his phone. "That might be a possibility. The combinations of genetic codes, possibly to grant mutants additional abilities, or to create a whole new one altogether."

"Why would they do that?" Ashcloud asked. "They've been trying their damnedest to wipe us out. Why would they be working on giving a single mutant even more power?"

"Profit maybe," Lupus spoke. "Mixing genes isn't totally unrealistic." All attention turned to her. Lupus was most often the Covert member that was responsible for smuggling fugitive mutants out of the city and into remote regions, mostly empty areas of southern Canada. Her knowledge of goings-on outside the borders of cities was probably more extensive than any of her other teammates, excepting Pause.

"Mixing genes, or 'splicing' I think it's called, has been used before," she began. "Though, from what I've heard it has a very low success rate. There are groups of humans that don't live inside city limits, and those usually tend to be of the undesirable crowd that happened to smell cash even in our country's decrepit state. The hot commodity switched from drugs to mutants, plucked fresh from the wild." Her voice was filled with dark humor, her green irises flashing dangerously.

"How do you make a profit off of that?" Acorna asked. Her face was etched with a dour expression.

"Anyway they know how," Lupus growled. "You know people these days can purchase mutants, just like slaves or rare animals? Course that comes at a high price, all these new licenses and precautions and such to make sure said mutant doesn't get loose, or go on a rampage. It's not cheap."

There was a seething tension in the room now. To hear about selling and purchasing of people like them was beginning to bite deep. Pause bit on the inside of her cheek, trying to hold in the roiling anger.

Lupus continued. "These cartels, that's basically what they are, can offer mutants for much cheaper prices with under-the-table deals, that tend to skip all the licensing and extra payments required for a legal purchase. Some under the radar kind of people might buy a mutant, say, if they find there would be a thrill in owning a beautiful female mutant for their personal needs, or a strong young male they can enter into underground fighting rings. Mutants with flashy powers tend to fetch higher prices. More risk, more show-off potential."

Pause tensed, an awful thought coming to mind. Was this was how Gina was living now? Enslaved to the will of some sick-minded monster, or fighting for her life in a cage surrounded by screaming, jeering onlookers? She shoved the gut-twisting thoughts away.

"That's where splicing comes in," Lupus said. "Like I said, it's probably a twenty-five to one chance it won't work, but there are cases where transferring additional X genes into a single mutant has worked. It's a way to raise the price on a mutant whose power might not bring in as much as the cartel wants."

Replica's lip was twisted in fury, but her mind was still focused enough. "So what, the Genesis Company is trying to perfect it? They'd certainly be a lot more capable than some hacksaw surgeon working for these cartels out in the boonies."

"This is all circumstantial," Mainframe reminded them all. "We're just drawing our best guess from what we've seen so far. We have no way to be positive this is what this means."

"Yeah, but if they were, why would they do it?" Acorna asked.

"Military applications probably." Flashfire had spoken for the first time. His glare, twisted a bit because of his long facial scar, was ponderous, thinking ahead to what this could mean. "They're being ordered to do this, by whoever or whatever this "B" is that sent the email to them. The only thing that could have the power to hold influence over this kind of large corporation would be a government faction. Whether they're splicing or not, whatever is going on, this "B" is the source of it."

They all agreed on that point. "Chatter and I will work on this, try and get it translated," Mainframe said. "Whatever operation they're running has been sped up, according to the email. It's best we figure this out as soon as we can."

"Does that mean we take our eyes off of BioTech?" Sentry asked.

"No, we're keeping our finger in that pie, but we're going to have to pay special attention to Genesis from now on."

"I got the CEO's office bugged," Replica added. "Wish I could have stolen a pen or something though; Sentry could have given us a lot of information from something like that. Maybe I'll stalk him to the Laundromat again, steal one of this ties or something."

"Just make sure it's clean," Sentry smirked, garnering a chuckle or two.

"Do you think the other teams should be alerted to this?" Chatter's question caused Mainframe and Replica to pause. They both exchanged looks, thinking.

"No, I don't think so. Not yet at least," Mainframe decided. "The ball is still in our court at this point, and we don't know much yet. If we find anything that concerns them, we'll send out the message."

Replica checked her watch, and then looked up at their circle. "I have a feeling we're drawing to a close here. The eleven-forty-five air patrol will be passing over in a few minutes, so if we want to get out of here at the safest time, we'd better wrap this up."

They all nodded, confirmed they had the necessary data stored with them, and then broke apart.

"Come on," Acorna nodded her head away, calling Pause to head back to the boarding house. She was about to follow when she spotted Mainframe and Replica heading towards her. She stopped, as did Acorna as she waited for her just out of earshot.

"I'm guessing you've wanted more information on your sister," Mainframe said without prelude as he arrived. Pause nodded slowly, trying to keep her emotions hidden. The tall young man withdrew an SD card and a small sheaf of papers from the black jacket he wore that went with his 'working suit.'

"We found this among a census database listing all tagged mutants in Boston and its connected regions, listed as Regina Denise West, age 10. Other information like her birth date and mutant powers was in there too. Does it sound like her?"

Pause read through the information, taking in a shaky breath. "Yeah… yeah, it's her."

Mainframe nodded, his brilliant golden eyes softening. Her walls were cracking, letting some of her sorrow slip through, but he would never judge her for it. "We have a few pictures too," he said, motioning to the SD card. "These were actually taken a few months before we found her name in the census, of a truck transporting mutants between containment camps in the outer regions. They're always shifting the tenants between the camps to keep them from formulating escape plans or rescue attempts. We were staking it out, trying to figure out the pattern for transport dates and destinations. Chatter found it not long after we found her name; we think that she's in some of the pictures, among the transport group."

Pause remained quiet, only nodding. She didn't trust herself to speak without her voice shaking.

Mainframe nodded in farewell, before falling back. Replica meanwhile, who had been quiet until now, stepped forward.

"You're gonna want these," she said, handing over a thin package. "It's your fake ID, insurance, birth certificate, everything you need to blend in. I, uh, noticed you weren't exactly unfamiliar to Boston, so your name is different. Better get used to using it before you reemerge to the surface world. And I took the liberty of renting you a small apartment on the north side, about a mile away from where I'm staying. Everything's in your name and you're expected to move in next week on Wednesday."

"Thanks," Pause smiled thinly, "but you didn't have to. How did you even pay for it?"

"We pool our funds," Replica shrugged, twitching a dark curl from her face. "Oh, and one last thing. This is the number for your private bank account for the boring stuff, like groceries, bills, et cetera, et cetera. And this is the number for the joint account we share for emergency needs, like if one of us breaks a leg or something. It's under the name 'Boston Interest and Loan.'"

"Thanks," Pause said again.

"Don't mention it. Welcome to the fold soldier," Replica grinned a bit, before looking toward Acorna who still waited patiently. "Better get back before the next patrol swings by. See you in the funny papers." With that Replica sauntered off, disappearing into the shadows. By this time everyone else had departed, leaving Acorna and Pause alone. Pause glanced down at the objects she held in her hand. Her desire to get back to the house increased tenfold. She pivoted around swiftly, and followed Acorna as they too proceeded to vanish into the darkness.

Tyler Dyson clung tightly to the metal piping that crawled like a skeleton through the newly re-erected energy tower's center. His spade-like tail flicked absently, its end wrapped as tightly as it could around a set of pliers.

"Which one was it?" he yelled back down about twenty feet.

"It should be the copper one, about a foot above your head and connected to the green slot."

Tyler found the correct connection, and twisted out the ruined wire. There was a brief spark, but the heat didn't bother him. Once disconnected, Tyler proceeded to tear out and coil up the rest of the old wire around his shoulder. Then he slid back down toward ground level, trying to ignore his aching muscles.

The past several weeks since the attack had been consumed with trying to repair the massive damages caused to the facilities. He saw his two brothers a ways off; Benj was helping shift the rubble left into trucks to haul it away, while Leo was up on another energy tower, using both his metallic lion claws and a plasma torch to cut away the twisted sections.

He finally dropped to the dusty ground to join his working partner, Jesse Taylor.

"And that should be it," Jesse murmured, his Australian accent still heavy as he peered through the tower's blue prints to make sure they had gotten out all of the defective parts. He nodded and looked up, smiling amiably at Tyler. "Nice job Ty."

Tyler nodded. Jesse was perhaps the most average of people one could come across; his brown hair and green eyes nothing exceptional, and his attitude as close to average as one could get, especially in these days. Normally Tyler could always feel a bitter taste in his mouth around mutants like Jesse, ones that looked so normal. It wasn't personal, but after all of the crap he'd suffered at the expense of his demonic appearance, it wasn't something he could really help. However, it wasn't really a problem around Jesse. Despite everything he always seemed lighthearted, and even with his frightening looks Jesse had never seemed wary around the eldest Dyson. Tyler had found against all odds he had grown to like the guy. Not that he'd ever tell Jesse that; give the kid an inch and he would be spouting out unfunny jokes at every opportunity.

Jesse wiped his hands off on his grey pants, peering up. "That's three down. 'Bout a dozen more to go." Tyler let out a deep breath through his nose, rolling his shoulders.

Suddenly Jesse leaned over, peering intently back towards where the guard stations were. "What's goin' on over there?"

Tyler turned to look. There was a cluster of guards gathered near the stations, more so than there probably should be. They must have just recently assembled, because Tyler couldn't recall seeing them there hardly fifteen minutes ago.

Suddenly two burly guards toting semi-automatics began striding toward them. Several other men broke off from the group and began to advance on the mutant workers.

"What are they doing?" Jesse questioned, fear beginning to creep into his voice as he backed up into the tower. Tyler stood his ground, narrowing his icy blue eyes. Whatever the guards intended to do, he wasn't going to cower away.

The guards drew to a halt, leveling their weapons at the two. Tyler tensed, preparing to dodge, but the man on the right grunted deeply.

"These two can go first." Tyler didn't have much time to be confused before the big man barked at him. "Alright, you two mutants move it."

"What for?" Tyler growled defiantly. He was answered by the gun barrel slamming into his ribcage. He dropped to his knees, gasping in pain. Jesse ran up to help him, but the second guard grabbed him by the hair and shoved him past.

"I said move it, and if you don't want a lot worse than what I just gave you, you'll do it quietly." The first man seized Tyler roughly by the short horns on his head and pushed him after Jesse, keeping his weapon level with the young mutant's back. Tyler stumbled along, his tail thrashing as he fought back both murderous fury and the pain throbbing from his ribs. In his peripheral vision he could see the other guards containing the rest of the workers. Among them, Benj and Leo stared after him with fear and frustration, unable to follow. He tried to convey that he would be fine, but he doubted the message would go through.

Tyler and Jesse were herded through the dirt roads, one guard leading and the other keeping his weapon pointed between their shoulder blades.

"Where are they taking us?" Jesse whispered, quietly enough to keep the guards from hearing.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," Tyler muttered back. He didn't know what was going on, out of nowhere as it was, and he couldn't say there was much they could do about it.

They were marched to the community's perimeter, and outside the gates. They were confused, until the saw an idling black car waiting ahead. For a long time all Tyler or Jesse had seen were dirty and rusted trucks and Jeeps used by the guards around camp, so the pristine cleanliness of the black vehicle seemed alien.

The guards halted them. The man in the rear hit a small remote attached to his sleeve, and the lights on the collars around their necks turned on. Their powers, which were in use when they worked, had just been shut off.

"Get in," the talking guard growled, giving the two boys another shove. Tyler scowled, but knew better than to test the man further. He slid in through the open door first, Jesse tentatively following. Then the door slammed behind them.

It was pitch black in here. The dark windows weren't just tinted, they were blacked out. It was almost uncomfortably warm in here, but aside from that the car was nothing but comfort. Tyler's tail brushed against smooth leather seats, and soft flooring was beneath their feet.

Suddenly, a light in the ceiling switched on, causing them to blink. It lit them up, but the other portion of the back seat was left dim. A voice came from the shaded side.

"Welcome. I hope you find things comfortable."

The two mutants said nothing, merely staring warily at the space from which the voice had come. There was a slight creaking of shifting leather, before a form sidled partially into the light. The face was still hidden, but the legs and lower torso of a man in a well-tailored suit was revealed. Long, pale fingers clasped together as the mysterious man shifted again.

"Anything you'd like? Water? A soft drink maybe? I'd imagine they'd be a rather rare treat in these parts." Tyler could barely restrain the ugly comment on the tip of his tongue. Was the man totally oblivious, or just a sadist? This place was hell, and to just barely mention it in such an offhand way made him want to strangle the jackass.

The man moved on though, brushing an unseen speck of dust off his impeccable slacks. "Anyway, I'm sure you're wondering why you've been brought here?"

"Kinda," Tyler grunted shortly. Jesse stayed silent, but his eyes were fixed keenly on their faceless host.

"Well, it really isn't much," the man said. Tyler decided suddenly that he despised everything about the guy: his voice, his suit, even the way his fingers tapped away absently on his knee. "We're just trying to piece together what exactly happened a few weeks ago."

"What else is there to know? Some other mutants attacked and caused damage."

The man remained silent for a few seconds. "It's much like a police investigation; we just need to go over all of the details, all the eye witness accounts. What exactly happened to both of you that night?" the man asked conversationally as he reached over to what looked like a mini fridge and poured himself a stiff drink.

The boys hesitated, casting looks at one another. Jesse shrugged; what did they really have to lose? They weren't involved in anyway, and hadn't seen much really. The younger boy was the first to talk.

"There isn't much to tell. I woke up in my bunk hearing this huge scream and a crash. It was barely a minute later that I could smell the smoke from the fires. I got out of my bunk and went looking for my friends, to make sure they were safe. I never actually saw the intruders in all the chaos." Jesse omitted the part of the story where he, the Dysons, and Strobe had made a break for freedom that had ultimately failed. The man said nothing, shifting to face in Tyler's direction. The red-skinned mutant shrugged.

"Pretty much the same. Woke up to all hell breaking loose, went looking for my brothers, didn't see the invaders."

The only sound for about twenty seconds was the faint clinking of the ice in their interrogator's scotch glass. He swilled the liquid, as if in thought.

"Fairly simple stories. You're quite sure you didn't… I don't know, go anywhere else? See anything else?"

Despite the uneasiness in both their guts, both young men shook their heads. He either didn't know and was just fishing for information, or he already knew and he was playing with them. Was he searching for the mutants who had attempted to escape, so they could be punished?

The man sighed a bit. "Very well. I'll let you get back to your work."

The two slid toward the exit door, glad to be able to escape. The more time they spent in the mysterious man's company, the more unsettling he became. There was something about his genial manner and subtle menace that was sending shivers up their spines.

Just before Jesse cracked the door open, the man spoke once more. "One last thing. Those friends of yours, did you find them?"

"What?" Tyler asked, feeling the cold knot that had been forming in his stomach the past few minutes tighten.

"Your friends. Did you find them alright? Everyone accounted for?" The last sentence seemed heavier than the rest. Tyler repressed the gulp. His mind flicked to Kota, and what Benj had told him and Leo after his trip to see Bones.

He replied as steadily as he could, but it seemed like the unseen eyes watching them were boring right through his smooth skull, and into his brain, lighting up the lie under a glaring spotlight. "Two of our friends died," he rasped, trying to sound both angry and sorrowful.

A frozen moment passed before the man replied. "My condolences," he said in a cold, almost mocking voice, before waving a hand to indicate they could leave. The two spurred out the doors and back to their work stations with all haste.

The man settled back into his smooth seat, gulping down the last of his drink.

"And they were only the first," he grumbled. "Disgusting creatures." He set down the glass and began rifling in his suit pockets. He pulled out his cell and pressed one on speed dial.

It barely finished the first ring before it was picked up. The abrupt greeting didn't faze the man.

"Yes, Moore here. Well, I've seen enough for myself to know it's time something was done." He paused, listening. "Certainly it's a tedious job, talking to the things, but thoroughness is vital to upholding the safety of this country. I'll just gather whatever details I can; the more we know, the better we can prepare. By the way, how are the productions going?" He listened, and then smiled thinly.

"Excellent. They should be ready for deployment soon. But remember, it's only the first step. After all, the fisherman first has to disrupt the flow, cloud up the river, if he wants to catch the big fish. Very good. Well, let's get this show on the road, shall we my friend?" Moore grinned, his glasses flashing ghoulishly in the dim light as he ended the call.

"So the game begins," he chuckled good-naturedly as he settled back into the shadows.

A/N: And the plot thickens, as the literate people say. Finally, I'm past the buildup of the first act and I can start getting into the more action oriented chapters of the second act. I think…

Also, I'd like to thank Arian Eripmav, Super garurumon, Stormplains, and dawnoftheceruleansky for their reviews. Speaking of reviews…tsk, tsk, tsk, only four reviews last time? After you guys did so well in chapter nine? As I told my little brother not long ago, I'm a vengeful person. Tell ya what I'm gonna do. More reviews I get, faster I write and update. Less reviews, slower updates. Capiche? Seriously though, we're getting close to a hundred people. Let's push it to triple digits!

Oh, and if you see more than a few mistakes in this chapter, I just didn't feel like proofreading.