Chapter Five.

Breaking into a run, I led the way to the back door, hoping the lock was still deactivated. Pushing at the door, it opened easily, and I entered the facility.

Chris, I heard Jacqueline's voice in my head, we're in trouble. Stay alert. There are other mutants in the building.

"I don't understand," said Chloe. "I thought Chris said this whole thing was set up by people who hate mutants. Why are there mutants here?"

"I don't know," I said. "There must be more to it than that. Come on, we've got to meet up with Chris. This way."

I turned right at the fork and headed down the corridor I remembered guiding Chris along to the security room.

"Somebody's coming," Jacqueline said suddenly. "Mutants. I can sense their presence."

"Is it Chris?" Chloe asked.

"No. Must be the guy Neil saw. Keep your eyes open."

Running down the corridor, we reached the third door on the right, with the words Security Control printed on it. I pushed it open, "Chris?"

There was nobody in the room. Five large computer terminals were dotted around the room with plain black swivel chairs in front of them. There were two filing cabinets against the far wall. Nothing else. Nowhere that Chris might be hidden. There were no others doors in the room that he might have gone through.

"Where is he?" asked Chloe. "I thought we told him to stay here."

"He may have changed to liquid," said Jacqueline.

Chris? she telepathed. No response. I focused beyond the wall to see through into the next room, in case Chris had gone in there to hide. No sign of him. I checked the corridor outside. Three men who weren't Chris were walking down the corridor towards the security room.

"They're coming this way," I said. "Three of them. I can't see Chris anywhere."

"Three of who?"

"I don't know. One of them is the guy who was looking at me through the wall."

"Can we make a run for it?" said Chloe.

"No, we'd have to get past them to get to the back door. Besides, we can't leave Chris. Jacqueline, what should we do?"

"I can't think of anything," she admitted. "Let's just see what these people want. If they are mutants, it's possible they could become sympathetic to our cause."

We backed away from the door as it opened. Three men stood in the doorway. The first was short and undeniably ugly, with lank, dirty hair, and a face that seemed to be permanently locked in an unpleasant sneer. He was the one who I had seen through the wall earlier. His eyes had gold pupils, the same as mine. I guessed he was about the same age as I was.

The second man looked something like the first, and I suspected they might have been identical twins before their mutations began to change their bodies. Everything that was bad about the first man seemed to have been corrected for the second. He was tall, probably good-looking (though I was no judge) and carried himself with a poise and grace that his slouching twin certainly didn't possess. He wore a lazy, sarcastic grin that reminded me of Chris.

The third man was older than the others, middle-aged with grey hair beginning to creep in at his temples. He was taller than either of the twins, and looked at me through a pair of startlingly bright blue eyes. His face was emotionless, and as he began to speak I detected an eastern European accent.

"We meet at last," he said, facing me.

The short, ugly twin looked up at him and hissed in a serpentine drawl, "Let me kill them now."

"Patience, Chameleon," the tall man replied. "In time."

He turned his attention back to us. "I regret to inform you that you are too late. It is already done."

I exchanged a glance with Jacqueline, who shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" she said.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I am referring to," the man said impatiently. "I know you have come here to stop me, but you have failed. I have all of the four now."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, a confused look on my face. "What are 'the four'?"

"Oh, come on!" the man snapped. "You know perfectly well what I mean! You've come to interfere with my experiment!"

"What experiment?"

He looked at me suspiciously, then laughed, "You really don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No, I don't."

His laughter increased in pitch and volume, "I suppose I should not be surprised. After all, what else could I have expected from a failed prototype like you?"

"What?" I responded in bewilderment. "What do you mean, a failed prototype like me?"

His face slipped back into an emotionless mask and he snapped in a cold voice, "Silence! I have no more time to waste with you. Inferno, Chameleon – kill them."

"Wait!" Jacqueline called, but the man had already turned on his heel and left the room, closing the door behind him.

The three of us were left facing the mutant twins.

"Why do you want to kill us?" Chloe asked, sounding upset.

"'Why do you want to kill us?'" mocked the smaller twin, the one named Chameleon. "Pathetic."

He spat on to the floor and cast his gold-centred eyes at me, "You are just a prototype, you know that? A prototype for me."

"I don't understand," I said.

"No, but then you wouldn't," said the taller twin, Inferno, with undisguised sarcasm.

They were the first words I had heard him speak. His voice seemed richer and sounded better educated than that of his brother. Chameleon's voice was like that of a snake.

Inferno smirked and continued, "Although it is quite amusing to see you with that bewildered look on your face, I feel I should explain. You, like my brother and myself, were not born a mutant."

"Of course I was!" I snapped.

"No, you weren't. You were born normal, like anybody else. You were the first subject to undergo mutation implant treatment, sixteen years ago, when you were still a baby."

"This is nonsense," I said.

"Oh, it isn't, I assure you," said Inferno. "As Chameleon said, you were a prototype for further development of the treatment. The methods that gave you your mutations also weakened you beyond the point of being useful, so you were discarded and sent to live with your grandparents."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I've only got one mutation. And how have I been weakened?"

"Duh!" Chameleon said. "Are you stupid, or what? You can't even expose your eyes to light! That's your weakness! The treatment was improved before it was used on me. That's why I don't need those," he pointed at my sun-glasses.

Inferno said, "That's why we thought you knew what was going on here. We thought you must have figured out what had happened in your past, and had come here to stop the experimentation."

I looked at both of them. They sounded as if they believed what they were saying, but it couldn't possibly be true. I'd been born a mutant, that was all. Nothing sinister had happened.

Or had it? I had no way of knowing. Admittedly I had no idea how my parents had died. My grandparents had refused to speak on the subject. Had they died trying to protect me from being used in these experiments? I looked at Chloe, then at Jacqueline. Both of them looked as confused as I did.

"Prove it," I challenged.

Inferno snorted with laughter, "We don't have to prove it! I don't particularly care whether you believe me or not! You're going to be dead in less than ten minutes."

"But what's the point of the whole experiment? What was I used as a prototype for? What happened to you?"

"Mutation implant treatment," Inferno said. "Designed as a method to introduce mutant powers into the bodies of ordinary human beings. I had the treatment when I was three, so I don't remember much about it. As far as I know, the research was begun by a man – an ordinary human – who detested the fact that certain people – mutants – were seemingly randomly born with special powers."

"In other words, he was jealous," said Jacqueline. "He wanted to have mutant powers himself."

Chameleon glared at her. Inferno shrugged, "Possibly. He decided to develop a method of artificially bestowing mutant powers upon normal people."

"But spontaneous mutation is the whole point of evolution," said Chloe. "We can't take control of our own evolution."

"Listen to her," Chameleon mocked. "Who's swallowed a biology textbook, then?"

Inferno ignored both his brother and Chloe, and continued talking to me, "Before he was willing to perform the implantation therapy on himself, the researcher needed test subjects. You were the first."

"We were the second," said Chameleon.

"But why me?" I asked.

"I don't know!" said Inferno with mocking laughter. "I'm the same age as you, so I would have been a baby as well, when it happened to you."

I refused to believe it. I refused to believe that I had been an unknowing party to these experiments. The treatment itself sounded vaguely plausible – not that I knew anything about advanced genetics – but there was no way I could have been involved. It was one of those things that happened to other people.

But then, so was mutation.

"So this researcher who gave us the treatments," I said. "That's the guy who was just here with you a minute ago?"

"Yes. Which reminds me: we're supposed to be killing you, and we haven't done it yet."

Inferno stepped back to stand in front of the door and block our escape. Was it my imagination, or was a small puddle of water forming by Inferno's feet? Chameleon crouched slightly, and walked forward slowly towards us. We backed away.

"Now wait!" I said. "You haven't told me everything yet! I want to know more about the experiments!"

"You've wasted enough of our time already," the ugly twin hissed. "It's time I showed you why I'm known as Chameleon."

"I assumed it was because you look like one," came a sarcastic voice.

"Shut up, Inferno," Chameleon snarled.

"Ah, that wasn't me," Inferno said.

With my attention fully centred on Chameleon, watching him for any sign of attack, I hadn't even noticed the puddle at Inferno's feet re-coalescing into Chris. He now stood just behind Inferno, with his arm wrapped around the tall twin's neck, squeezing hard enough to make breathing difficult, but not hard enough to kill.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Chameleon snapped, turning to face Chris.

"Through the door. Just like anybody else," Chris said, flashing his cocky, annoying grin. "Of course, it's much easier when you can change into a liquid. You don't even have to open the door."

"You idiot, Chameleon! I told you there were four of them!" Inferno said angrily.

"Don't blame him, he probably can't count that far," said Chris, ignoring the furious look on Chameleon's face. "Now here's what you two are going to do, if you don't want me to snap your neck. First of all – hey, what the hell?"

Chameleon had disappeared. One second he had been standing equidistant between Inferno and myself, the next second he had vanished. Chloe gasped, "Where's he gone?"

My eyesight was good enough to make out the outline of the small twin, moving stealthily across the room towards Chris.

"He's camouflaged himself!" I said. "He can make himself look like whatever he's standing in front of! That's why he's called Chameleon!"

"Oh, you are fast," Inferno said sarcastically.

"Chris, look out! He's – "

Chris was taken completely unawares as Chameleon leapt from a standing position to deliver a devastating two-footed kick to Chris' mid-section. Giving a cry of pain and surprise, Chris crumpled to the floor, letting go of Inferno, holding his hands to his painful abdomen.

"Thanks, brother," said Inferno. "Now let's finish them."

He took a deep breath, and exhaled a ball of flame in my direction. I managed to duck to avoid it, but in doing so I lost sight of Chameleon, still in his camouflaged state. Inferno gave me a maddening, cocksure grin, and exhaled once more, this time a continuous stream of flame that leapt through the air and passed inches over my head.

"Now you know why they call me Inferno!" he smirked.

"He can breathe fire!" Chloe screamed. "Jacqueline, what do we do?"

"Chloe, just get to safety!" I cried. "Get outside!"

Chloe couldn't contribute anything to the fight without any animals present, and I wanted her safe. She ducked underneath another fire ball from Inferno, and ran for the door. She was knocked off balance and thrown to one side as the near-invisible Chameleon slammed into her side. I saw red. Nobody was going to hurt Chloe, not while I was there to protect her.

With a speed and strength I didn't know I possessed, I drove straight towards Inferno and charged him to the ground. He inhaled deeply and prepared to breathe fire into my face, but I slammed my fist into his throat, making him cough and choke desperately for air. Seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, I was able to roll to the side and soften the blow that came from Chameleon. He clawed at my sun-glasses with his grubby, sweaty hands, realising my weakness. I kicked him in the side and got to my feet before he could recover.

Inferno was still clutching at his throat and gasping for breath. Chris had risen to his knees, and was still holding on to his side. Chloe was on her feet, and darting for the door. Chameleon ran to intercept her, but I could still see his outline despite his camouflage, and tackled him to the ground. Inferno got to his feet and breathed fire directly at Chris' face. Jacqueline raised her hand and used her power to stop the flame before it could harm Chris. Chameleon pulled free of my grasp and ran towards Chloe. I stumbled after him, but Inferno chopped me in the back of the neck and I fell forward, on the brink of unconsciousness. Chameleon grabbed Chloe and flung her across the room, away from the door and away from safety.

Jacqueline stretched out her arm and sent one of the black swivel chairs crashing into the side of Inferno's head. The fire-breather cursed and turned a venomous glare on her. Chris swiped weakly with his fist at Chameleon's legs, but the reptilian mutant jumped over him, and, while in mid-air, delivered a spinning kick to my face that sent my sun-glasses flying off.

"Neil!" Chloe cried.

I shut my eyes before the light could burn into my retina, and instinctively dodged to one side, feeling the rush of air as Chameleon's fist went past me.

"Open your right hand!" Jacqueline exclaimed.

I didn't know if she was talking to me, but I opened my right hand anyway, guessing what she had in mind. Jacqueline used her telekinesis to return my sun-glasses to me, and I slipped them back over my eyes. I opened them and my sight was restored.

Chris had recovered partially and was fighting with Chameleon. What the smaller man possessed in natural agility, Chris countered with his knowledge of martial arts, but it was obvious that my friend was tiring more quickly. Turning around, I saw Jacqueline and Inferno, locked in a battle of wills, her using her power to hold back the intense stream of fire that was bursting from his mouth. She was weakening, I could see it. Her power had to be almost exhausted by now. Picking up the chair she'd used earlier, I threw it towards Inferno. Not waiting to see whether or not it hit (a cry of pain suggested it had), I turned to help Chris. He'd lost the fight with the reptilian and was lying off to one side. Chloe, though no match for Chameleon, had bravely, though briefly, challenged him. He kicked her in the chest and she hit the floor, not moving.

The red mist passed over me again. Nobody was going to hurt Chloe. Running across the room, I thrust my hands around Chameleon's neck and began choking him. He twisted and struggled, pulling me this way and that, but I kept my grip. He had moved about so much that he was now between me and Jacqueline. I noticed with dismay that the losing battle she had been fighting, had just been lost. Inferno tossed her aside, and moved to help his brother. Chameleon swiped at my sun-glasses, and I had to release one of my hands from his neck to stop him. He pulled free and kicked me to the floor. Tiredness swept over me, and, combined with the pain, just made me want to go to sleep. Chloe and Jacqueline were already lying unconscious, and Chris was dragging his weakened form towards Inferno as one last show of defiance. I tried to stand, but couldn't. I collapsed on to my back. Inferno and Chameleon walked towards me. It was over.

The explosion ripped the door from its hinges, and knocked Chameleon and Inferno to the floor. From the corridor outside I could make out two people hurrying into the room. The dust thrown up the explosion, along with my tiredness, meant I couldn't see anything else. I tried to sit up to get a better view, but my muscles weren't having any of it. I had one last view of the room, and somebody standing over me – a man wearing a red visor – then unconsciousness claimed me.

A/N: OK, that was an action-heavy chapter! Apologies if it sucked, but I love mutant-v-mutant battles and I wanted to play with some new characters. Chameleon and Inferno are my own creations and are not intended to bear any resemblance to any other characters who have ever gone by that name. Please review to tell me what you think of them, as well as any other aspect of the story. :-)