Chapter Two: Without a Leader

After travelling the majority of the distance on three horses we'd found at a farm, we had let them go back home and continued the rest of the way on foot. We had almost arrived at the co-ordinates Storm had given us, when I sensed another mutant's presence.

"There's someone here," I said to the others. "Pretty close. Keep your eyes open. They may not realise we're here to help them."

We had left all signs of civilisation behind a while ago, and had no idea where we were. We were following a dirt track of sorts, currently walking across a rocky patch of ground, with a forest visible ahead of us.

"Where are they?" asked Chris.

"Up ahead. In the forest, I think."

"Moving?"

"No, staying still. They must be trying to hide from whoever is chasing them."

We came to the edge of the forest, and Chloe looked into the dark mass of trees apprehensively, "How do we know they'll even be friendly? What if they try to kill us?"

"We don't know if they'll be friendly. We can't be sure of anything. We just have to hope."

Chris led the way into the woods, and I concentrated my telepathic sense on trying to pinpoint the mutant's location.

"We're almost there. A few yards away," I said.

"I don't see anything," he said.

A figure appeared in my peripheral vision.

"Look out!" I yelled, grabbing Chloe and pushing her to the ground.

Chris dived to one side to avoid the jagged bolt of lightning that scythed through the air where we'd just been standing. I rolled over and looked to see the person, standing not far away, lifting their hand to send another lightning bolt in our direction. Quickly I raised my arm and used my telekinesis to hold their hand in place, preventing them from launching another attack. The figure struggled, but couldn't break out of my telepathic lock.

Now I could get a look at our attacker: a girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen, blonde-haired, wearing an ordinary T-shirt and jeans, looking terrified. I got to my feet, still using my power to hold her arm completely still, and approached her. Her eyes widened and she screamed, "Leave me alone! Please, don't hurt me, just leave me alone!"

"Relax. We're not going to hurt you. We're mutants too."

She gasped, "You are?"

"Yes. Promise me you won't fire another lightning bolt at us, and I'll let your hand go."

"I promise."

I relaxed my power, and the telepathic lock on her hand was taken away. She raised it once more, and I tensed myself to avoid another electric attack, but she merely used it to nervously brush a lock of hair out of her eyes. I stepped closer. Chris and Chloe were close behind me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Felicity. Some people call me Shock. Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Uh, that's a long story."

"You're not an American. Your accent – "

"No, I'm from Scotland," I said. "We're here to help you. You're running away, right?"

She nodded quickly, "Yeah. I heard some mutants destroyed a school. Everyone in my town got really angry and wanted to attack any mutant they could find. I'm the only mutant in my town, so I just had to run."

"What about your parents?"

"They knew it wasn't safe for me to stay. They gave me some money and tried to give me a head-start by delaying the people who were after me. I just headed off in any direction. I don't where I'm heading for, I don't have anywhere to go!"

"Don't worry about that. We can help you," I said. "I'm Neil. This is Chloe and Chris. If you come with us, you can be safe."

She backed away slightly, and I sensed her fear growing, "Come with you? Where?"

Suddenly there came a sound, from somewhere behind me, intruding into the peaceful quiet of the forest.

"Sshh! Did you hear that?" I said, raising my hand for silence.

"No."

"I didn't hear anything," said Chris.

I hissed, "Quiet! I'm trying to listen."

They fell silent.

"I can't hear anything," Chloe whispered.

"I can," I said.

"What?"

"A helicopter."

The sound got louder – obviously the helicopter was getting closer – and Chris nodded, "I hear it now."

"What's a helicopter doing here?" I said. "It must be flying pretty low. It must be just outside the forest."

The whirring noise of the rotor blades stopped, and I realised the chopper had landed.

"They've landed," I said to the others. "Come on. We'll hide somewhere and see who it is."

Chris nodded, and we headed further into the forest, seeking cover. The blonde girl, Felicity, hesitated for a moment, then ran after us. We found a hiding place behind a large rock, and crouched down to make ourselves invisible. I used my X-ray eyesight to look through the rock and see what was happening.

From our position, I could see the point where the dirt path entered the forest. The back end of the helicopter was visible, sitting on the ground just outside the trees. Three people had climbed out, and were walking down the path in our direction. One of them I didn't recognise. One of them I recognised because I knew him. The last I recognised from his description.

"Magneto," I whispered to the others.

"Here?" Chris gasped. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know. John's with him. And some small, ugly guy – don't know who he is."

"Is Jacqueline there?"

"What's going on?" a terrified Felicity whispered.

"He's coming this way," I hissed. "Quick, anything on you that's made of metal, get rid of it! Now!"

"Why?" Felicity asked.

"Because Magneto can control metal! Just do it!"

Rummaging through our pockets, we hurriedly discarded any metallic items we had in our possession. Fortunately, the communicator Storm had given us was constructed entirely of non-metallic materials, presumably with Magneto in mind.

Stay still and don't make a sound, I telepathed to the others, if we're lucky, they won't find us.

Felicity jumped slightly when my telepathic voice came into her head, but thankfully that was her only reaction. I watched as Magneto, John and the small man came further down the path, stopping a few yards away from our hiding place.

"I don't see anyone," said John. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Psyche located a mutant here. She isn't usually wrong," Magneto replied.

The small man sniffed at the air for a few moments, then said, "Somebody is here. Mutants. Three – no, four."

"Four?" said Magneto. "Psyche said there was only one. Ha…I wonder if Charles has sent his people to get here before us?"

John looked up at him, flicking on his lighter, "Xavier's people? Here?"

"Rat, where are they?"

The small man sniffed at the air again, and turned his head in our direction, "Over there."

Rat? I wondered if this was the mutant who had been at the elementary school last night. A mutant who was like a rat, Chloe had said. This man certainly fit the description.

They know we're here, I sent to the others, we can't hide.

We can fight, said Chris.

We could try and get away, said Chloe.

Let's try and talk to them, I said, I don't think Magneto will kill us. He's only interested in killing humans.

I hope you're right, Chris responded.

I'll talk to him, I said, you three get ready to run.

Go for it.

I got up from behind the rock, and walked on to the path. The small rat-man saw me and alerted the other two.

"Magneto," I acknowledged him.

The grey-haired leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants looked me up and down, and replied, "And you would be…?"

"Oculus."

"Ah, yes. Psyche has told me about you. I suppose Gaia and Shapeshifter are here too? And the fourth would be the mutant we came here to find."

"What do you want with her?"

"The same I want with any mutant. To help them fulfil their potential."

John flicked on his cigarette lighter, and took a step forward. I faced Magneto, "So why does that involve setting fire to an elementary school? What does that accomplish?"

"Two things," Magneto replied. "First of all, it sends a message to humans that we are no longer prepared to wait for evolution to take its course. We are already the superior species and we will ensure the survival of the fittest."

"And the second…?"

"…does not concern you," he said. "Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Would you be willing to join me?"

The answer came quickly and easily to my lips, "No."

"Ah, so Charles has already filled your head with his fantasies about coexisting with humans," Magneto laughed. "We both know it will never happen. Humanity will never accept us."

"You don't know that," I challenged. "It may yet happen. Give humans a chance to show their true face."

In a split second, his expression changed. Anger appeared on Magneto's face, and he raised his arm. I had no metallic items left on me, so there was nothing he could do to hurt me. Nothing happened. Attack, it seemed, was not his intention. Instead Magneto pulled up his sleeve and held up his fore-arm.

"See that?" he snapped coldly, pointing to the number burned into his skin. "I got that in the Nazi death camps when I was a boy. I have already seen the true face of humanity, thank you, first as a Jew and now as a mutant. Do not presume to tell me I have been wrong for nearly sixty years. You will join us or we will be forced to kill you."

"In that case, you'll have to try and kill me."

John stepped forward, holding his lighter, but Magneto raised a hand to stop him.

"Wait," he said. "So Oculus will not join us. What about you, Shapeshifter? Gaia? I know you're both here somewhere."

Chris was the first to appear from behind the rock. Standing beside me, he shook his head, "Sorry, Granddad, but I'll stick with Xavier. You're probably right that humans will never like us, but that doesn't mean we can go around killing them."

Don't piss him off, I sent, we have to get out of here alive.

Magneto had not responded to the granddad remark. Perhaps he had not heard it. Chloe and Felicity were now with us. Chloe was trembling, and I could sense her fear, but she spoke defiantly to Magneto, "I'll never kill an innocent person. You're a murderer and I'd sooner die than join you."

"That can be arranged," said Magneto smoothly. "What about you?"

He was addressing Felicity, and she looked up at him, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even know who you are."

"I am someone who can help you. Someone who will protect you from the humans who want to hurt you. Someone who can make sure they never threaten you again."

"Yeah, by killing them," said Chris. "Don't listen to him. He wants to kill every human on the planet. He's a psychopath."

Felicity's eyes widened and she looked at Magneto in fear.

"Everything that I do is in the interest of mutants, people like yourself," said Magneto, trying to convince her. "We have tried extending the hand of friendship towards humans, and they have rejected it. Our only interest now is defending ourselves."

"Defending yourselves?" Chris demanded. "What did a bunch of kids in an elementary school do to you, that meant you had to burn down their school in return?"

"I grow tired of your insolence," Magneto snapped. "Your smart mouth may amuse Charles Xavier, but you will find I do not share his sense of humour. Now, my dear girl, will you join me?"

"No!" Felicity said. "I don't trust you! You're like a snake!"

Magneto narrowed his eyes at the four of us, but only for a second. His face returned to his cold, evaluating stare, and he turned to walk back to the helicopter, "So be it. Kill them."

The other two, John and the one called Rat, began moving towards us. John flicked on his lighter and flung a ball of flame towards us. Chris ducked and it flew over his head, igniting the branch of a tree.

"Come on, John, you can't do this!" Chris exclaimed. "We were friends!"

"Not any more," Pyro snapped.

It seemed to me that Magneto had made a mistake, leaving two to fight the four of us. Admittedly we didn't know powerful Rat was, but surely the odds were in our favour. That was until I saw the female figure climbing out of the helicopter and begin walking down the path towards us.

Jacqueline.

This made things considerably more difficult. Not only was she a more powerful telepath than I was, she knew all of our strengths and weaknesses, having fought alongside us enough times.

"Jacqueline!" Chris exclaimed.

"She is gone. I am the one called Psyche," Jacqueline said. "You are going to die. Rat, go for Gaia. She is the weak link. There are no animals here. Pyro, take Shapeshifter. I will destroy Oculus."

"What about the other one?" Pyro asked.

"Watch her and see what she does."

The three of them moved towards us. Instinctively we backed away, but I knew we couldn't do that for ever.

"We're screwed," Chris said. "How are we going to do this? We can't hurt Jacqueline if we want to get her back. The same goes for John. I'll happily kill the rat guy, mind you."

"We've got to try and escape," I said. "Can we out-run them?"

Before Chris could reply, Psyche had raised her hand and flung the four of us backwards. I couldn't react quickly enough to slow us, and we collided painfully with the rock we'd just been hiding behind.

"What are you waiting for?" Psyche shouted. "Kill them!"

Rat was coming for us now, covering the ground quickly, his clawed hands outstretched to slash at us. Chris moved forward to face him, but another fireball from Pyro forced him to roll to one side to avoid it. Rat dodged past him and made for Chloe. I lifted my hand and used my power to throw him away from her. Psyche gave an angry snarl, and sent me flying into the trunk of an oak tree. Chloe and Felicity backed off uncertainly, trying to get away from Rat.

Psyche raised her arms, and the next thing I knew, the giant oak tree was collapsing down towards me. I rolled aside, and it crashed down beside me with inches to spare. Pyro tried to flame Chris once more, but my friend again managed to dodge, and headed towards Psyche. Chloe, hurrying backwards to get away from Rat, tripped over a tree root and fell. The rodent-like mutant pounced. Felicity fired a blast of lightning towards him, forcing Rat to leap sideways to get out of the way.

"Pyro, forget Shapeshifter. Kill the other girl instead," Psyche demanded.

"Oh, Psyche, I never knew you cared," was Chris' sarcastic response, as he moved to attack the girl who had been Jacqueline.

She lifted her hand to fling him aside, but I was ready and I countered her attack, holding Chris in place. Felicity, growing in confidence, launched another bolt of electricity, this time at Pyro, who had to dive headlong to avoid being hit. Rat got to his feet, looking less than pleased. Felicity was unaware of him coming towards her, but Chloe was able to stick out her leg and trip Rat, who went flying. Reacting quickly, the small man placed his hands on the ground, pushed away, and slammed into Chloe's side with both feet.

Like a red mist passing before eyes, I felt the fury travelling through my veins, and I entered my berserk state. It was another of the mutations I had been implanted with as a baby, and it was usually triggered by extreme bursts of rage, such as when someone tried to hurt Chloe. Such as now. Moving across the ground with enhanced speed, I ducked a fireball from Pyro, and pulled back my fist to deliver a devastating punch to Rat.

He was too fast. Moving aside, he sent his own fist into the side of my head, stunning me, knocking me to the ground. Felicity screamed as a burst of fire hit her in the side. She fell to the floor, clutching her abdomen, trying to will the pain away. Pyro smirked. Chris gave a cry of surprise as Psyche launched him through the air, landing painfully on his back. We were losing.

I tried to think logically. Who should we concentrate our attack on? Who was their weak link? Pyro, of course. Take that lighter away from him and he'd be defenceless. I stretched out my hand, whisking the lighter out of his, and sending it spinning through the air into the depths of the forest. Pyro turned to face me, fury mixed with fear etched into his face.

"Psyche! Help!" he exclaimed.

Ignoring him for the moment, I turned my attention back to Chloe. She'd picked up a fallen branch and was using it to fend off Rat. Felicity was nearby, still on the ground, holding her side, sobbing in pain. I grabbed Rat from behind, and threw him away from Chloe. Chris was struggling, getting to his knees, refusing to give up, fighting to the last. Psyche was circling him like a predator stalking her prey, just waiting until he dared to approach her once more. Raising both arms, I used my power to lift Rat off the ground, and send him flying into Psyche's back. Taken by surprise, she was knocked to the floor, and I seized the opportunity.

"Come on! Let's make a run for it!"

Pulling Chris to his feet, I frantically waved to Chloe to start running along the path that led further into the forest. Felicity wasn't moving, so I scooped her up in my arms and began hurrying after Chris. Psyche had picked herself up and was staring after us with hatred. It both scared and saddened me. Was Jacqueline so far gone that she was trying to kill us? Was there nothing remaining of her previous self? Was she gone forever?

"Are they following?" Chris called back over his shoulder.

"No…in fact, they're retreating. Magneto's beckoning them back to the helicopter…"

Her body rigid with fury, Psyche reluctantly began to follow Pyro and Rat back to the chopper.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Oh, wait…I see why."

In the field behind the 'copter, our jet was just beginning a vertical landing. Magneto was cutting his losses and beating a retreat before the numbers were irreversibly in our favour. The helicopter took off, and the four of us hurried back along the path towards the jet.

Storm and Wolverine were the first to emerge from the jet and hurry towards us.

"Was that Magneto?" Storm called as she approached.

I nodded, "Yes. And the rest of his crew, minus Mystique. I don't know where she was."

"We do," said Wolverine. "Hurry up and get on the jet, and we'll fill you in."

We followed them back towards the aircraft, and as we got on board, Storm ran to the cockpit to take the controls. Wolverine helped me lower Felicity on to a bench. She was asleep or unconscious. She'd received burns from Pyro's attack, but they didn't seem to be serious.

"Did you find all the mutants you were meant to be rescuing?" I asked.

"Yeah," Wolverine replied. "We came here to pick you up with the last one. But it seems you ran into some trouble."

"Magneto was looking for her too. He wanted her to join him. He asked us as well."

"I take it you refused."

"Of course. What's this about Mystique?"

Wolverine sighed, "It's bad. Cyclops and the Prof never made it to Washington. They disappeared en route. We've tried contacting them, but got nothing. We tried tracking their progress, to see how far they'd gotten, and it seems they were grabbed by Mystique. We don't know how she did it."

"It was a trap," I realised. "Magneto said he had two reasons for setting fire to that school. I'll bet the second reason was so he could lure the Professor away from the mansion. What will he do? Will he kill him?"

"Don't ask me, kid," said Wolverine. "I can't fathom the mind of a megalomaniac. We're going back to the mansion now. We'll drop off the kids we rescued, then see if we can't work out some plan for fixing this whole mess."

We travelled back to the mansion in silence, other than Marie, who was helping to reassure the children who had been rescued. They were all younger than I was, and looked scared. I often wondered why most mutants were my age or younger, whereas there only seemed to be a handful the same age as Wolverine or Storm, and no others, as far as I knew, the same age as the Professor or Magneto. Perhaps it was because human mutation was becoming more and more common as time went on, but had been extremely rare up until 20 or 30 years ago. Maybe Magneto or Xavier had been the very first mutant. I didn't actually know which of them was older. It wasn't really the kind of thing either of them was likely to talk about.

My mind was wandering, as it would often do when I was confused, and I forced myself to focus on the situation at hand. It was not good. Magneto seemed to have been at least one step ahead of us all the time. He'd set the fire – I'd tricked him into admitting to that – to start this whole thing off. At least we had managed to rescue all of these children before he could get his hands on them. But at the same time, he'd been able to grab the Professor and Cyclops. We had no way of knowing what he'd do to them, so we had to act fast.

It didn't take long to get back to the mansion, and Storm called us to Xavier's office for an emergency meeting. Bobby and Marie disappeared to help the rescued children find somewhere to settle in, and the rest of us gathered in the office. Nightcrawler had been informed, and was waiting for us. In the absence of the Professor, Cyclops would normally take control of things, but with him also gone, I was unsure where the chain of command led next. Storm seemed to be taking charge for now.

"Here is the situation," she began. "The wave of unrest from the fire is still spreading across the state, and the Professor and Cyclops have been captured by Magneto. We know Magneto was responsible for the fire, but we have no idea what his next move will be. We are without a leader and without a clear goal."

Wolverine spoke up, "The worst thing is, if we get too close to him, Magneto can threaten to kill either Cyclops or the Prof. In the face of that kind of threat, we'd have to back down."

"So what do we do?" Chloe asked nervously.

"We stick together. And we fight," Storm said. "I can't come up with a master-plan that will solve everything, the way the Professor would. And I can't motivate people the way Cyclops can. But we've got to think of something. Anything that will set on us the right path."

"What about talking to the President?" Nightcrawler suggested

"I don't know if that would help," she said. "The Professor has a way with people, a way I don't have. There's no guarantee I could get the President to listen to me, and that could make things worse."

"So, we need the Professor back," said Chris. "That's got to be our first priority. Find out where Magneto's holding him, and get him out."

"Easier said than done," Wolverine replied. "How do we find him? The traditional way might be a bit slow."

There was silence. Nobody could think of anything. Suddenly I had an idea. I wondered why it hadn't occurred to me before.

"I could use Cerebro," I said.

Five pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. At least three voices said simultaneously, "No!"

"You're not powerful enough," Storm answered. "Don't you remember what happened when your friend Jacqueline tried to use it? It nearly destroyed her. And you've said yourself, you're not as powerful as she is."

"I know…but if we can't think of anything else…" I shrugged. "It might be our only chance. I'm willing to risk it."

"That's a last resort," Wolverine decided. "There's got to be something else we can do."

"I had an idea earlier," said Chris. "I don't know if it would work now."

"Let's hear it."

"OK. Let's say one of us joins Magneto and works against him from within. They might even be able to free the Professor."

Storm raised her eyebrows, looking thoughtful. Wolverine frowned, "Mmm…might work. Who's going to join him, though? He knows us all too well to be fooled by a trick like that."

"Not me," said Nightcrawler.

We turned to face him. He opened his hands and said, "I met him during the Alkali Lake affair, but I've never – how would you say – had a run-in with him? He might believe I was sincere."

"It would be risky," Storm said. "If he found out you were deceiving him, he'd have you killed."

"And you're forgetting about Psyche," I said. "She'd read your mind and know what you were planning."

"I believe I can fool her," he replied. "It is risky, but not as risky as trying to use Cerebro."

"True. Storm, what do you think?"

She sighed, "I think we should try it. I have to say, though, I think it's a bad idea. We have no idea what will happen. But we're in a hopeless situation, and it's the best we've got. All right, now we have a plan, let's sit down and decide how we're going to make it work."