Chapter Seven: Stab in the Dark

Chris reacted fastest, and did the first thing that came into his head. In his hand he was holding the last of the explosive charges, and he threw it as hard as he could towards Mindstorm. Still a little disoriented, and her nudity making her feel uncomfortable, she was taken by surprise, and the explosive hit her squarely in the forehead. Stunned, she fell backwards, and Chris pushed Fliss towards the exit, yelling, "Come on! Hurry!"

Before Mindstorm could react, the four of us had sprinted out of the lab, and Fliss hit the switch to open the secret door. We spilled out into the basement, and I slammed the door shut behind me. Chris reached into his jacket pocket, and said, "Take cover!"

He was holding the remote control for the explosives. We backed away from the door, not sure just how powerful the blast would be. Chris hit the button. Three identical explosions shook the building as one, and I put my arms around Chloe to protect her from any falling debris. The secret door must have been virtually soundproofed, as the sound of the detonation was relatively silent. When all was still once more, Fliss relaxed, removed her arms from covering her face, and said, "Whew. She's dead, right?"

"She must be," said Chris.

I pushed out with my senses, and my momentary relief was squashed, "No…no, she's still alive."

"What?" said Fliss in shock. "How could she have survived that blast?"

"She must have used her power to protect herself."

"That was Mindstorm, right?"

"Yes."

"Aren't we going to get out of here?" asked Chloe nervously. "I don't want to face Mindstorm."

Hardly surprising, given that the last time they had met, Mindstorm had used her telekinesis to try and literally tear Chloe limb from limb.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Constantine must have heard the explosion. I'm trying to sense what he's doing. We don't want to be trapped between him and Mindstorm."

"Then I suggest we run," said Fliss.

"We can't just run," I told her. "Think about it. Constantine brought Mindstorm back so she could join him. It's either that or he was planning to steal her mutations. Either way, it would make him far too strong. We have to make sure they don't join together."

"How?"

"I don't know. We have to find somewhere to hide and see what happens. I can try to shield our minds from her. My power's grown since I last faced Mindstorm, but I don't know how long I can keep us hidden."

"We'd better get back up to ground level," said Chris.

We hurried up the stairs out of the basement, and looked around, trying to find a hiding place in the unfamiliar layout of the Matthews manor. I didn't want to risk lost, so I pulled my friends into the only other room I knew how to find – Cornelius Matthews' study – and there we stopped.

"What's going on upstairs?" asked Fliss.

I stared at the ceiling and pushed my vision through to the floor above. I looked over to where I could sense our enemies' presence, and after a moment or two I said, "Ocelot's awake. He's sniffing around in his room, trying to sense if there's any danger. Constantine is asleep. Obviously he didn't hear a thing."

"Where's Nightshade?"

"Don't know. She's there somewhere…I can sense her, but I can't see her. She must be invisible."

"She must have heard the explosion and gone to investigate," said Chloe.

"Yeah. Hang on, Mindstorm's on the move. No doubt looking for us."

"Can she sense us?"

"No. I'm shielding our minds, but like I said, I can't keep it up for long. Good – she's heading in the wrong direction."

I kept watching Mindstorm. I couldn't try to read her mind – I couldn't use my telepathy at all – as she would sense my presence immediately, and come straight for us. Even with the four of us, and with my own power, I wasn't confident we could take her on. There was something about Mindstorm – a cruel sort of ruthlessness – that made me afraid to face her, even if we had a good chance on paper.

Right now her first priority seemed to be to find something to wear. I was trying hard not to be distracted by her gorgeous naked figure, and was slightly relieved when she found a set of clothes – probably Nightshade's – in one of the ground floor rooms. She was stretching out with her own telepathic power – I could feel it pushing against the shields I had raised around my mind and those of my friends – as she tried to locate us. I concentrated hard, increasing my power as much as I could, blocking her telepathy.

"What's happening?" asked Felicity.

I couldn't talk. All of my thought had to be devoted to keeping Mindstorm from detecting us. She'd obviously guessed that since she couldn't sense us anywhere, that I was shielding us, and she was pushing more and more telepathic power into trying to locate us, confident that she could batter down my mental shields. Her confidence wasn't misplaced. Her mind power was clearly still in advance of my own, and it was only a matter of time before she overcame me. I gave a small gasp as the last of my power was used up, and sensed the triumph in Mindstorm's thoughts, as she finally located me.

"She's found us," I gasped weakly to the others. "I'm sorry; I tried to shield us, but she was too strong. She's on her way."

I headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Chloe demanded.

"To draw her away from you. Wait a few minutes, then run for it. I can destroy her, but not her and Constantine together. I've got to go and stop them joining forces."

"I'm going with you!"

"Chloe!" I shouted. "Please! I have to go alone! Think of your own safety! Think of – of – oh, you know who I mean!"

I couldn't mention our daughter in front of Chris and Fliss. Chloe opened her mouth to protest, but I shook my head and said, "Chloe…please. I have to."

"What are you going to do?" asked Chris.

"Whatever I can think of. Get ready to run."

Not looking back, I hurried to the door and left the study, on my way to intercept Mindstorm. I couldn't sense her at all – my telepathic power was drained – and I was relying on my eyes and quick wits to keep me out of danger. I glanced behind me. Good, Chloe hadn't followed. Hopefully I had successfully pressed upon her the importance of keeping the baby safe. I had to keep Mindstorm and Constantine away from Chloe. I didn't know what I was going to do exactly…I'd have to think on my feet, and I was pretty good at that.

Mindstorm had the advantage over me: her mind power was still active, and she could sense exactly where I was. She would be closing in on me, and there was no way to hide or escape. There was no question that we would meet…I just had to think of a few surprises to spring on her when that time came. Right now, however, I couldn't think of anything. I resorted to prayer.

Oh God, please help me. Please keep Chloe and the baby safe.

Realistically there was no way to spring a surprise on Mindstorm. She'd read my mind the second I thought it up. I just had to rely on being quicker and luckier than she was. As long as I could fight her at close range, I had a good chance.

It was when I was cautiously peering around a corner to check the corridor beyond, that I first saw her. She was waiting for me, and launched a telekinetic blast in my direction the second she saw me. I ducked back around the corner, avoiding her attack. I knew she couldn't target me unless she could see me, so I had to stay out of her line of sight. I glanced round the corner again, then jumped back just as she threw another wave of psychic energy at me. I looked around for something, anything, that might help me. If I could just find something to throw at her, it would distract her for the second or two I would need to get close in.

My eyes lit on a heavy-looking vase sitting on a table nearby. I hurried over and tested its weight. Perfect. Lifting the vase, I leaned around the corner and flung it towards Mindstorm. She wasn't expecting it, and was knocked over by the weight of the vase as it hit her shoulder. I was running towards her in an instant, my adrenaline pumping, thrusting me into my berserk state, and I took off from the ground to launch a spinning kick at her head. Mindstorm gave a shriek as my foot connected with her face, blood bursting from her nose. She raised both hands to use her telekinesis, but I was ready for it. I chopped down on her right arm, deadening it, and raised my elbow into her throat. Mindstorm choked and stumbled, falling on to her knees. I kicked her in the side, knocking her on to the floor.

Neither my luck nor my berserk state would last forever, and as Mindstorm lifted herself painfully to her feet, the tide of the battle began to swing away from me. Anger and hatred etched into every line of her pretty face, Mindstorm unleashed her telekinesis, flinging me away from her. I hit the wall hard and collapsed on the floor, pain overtaking me for a moment or so. In that moment Mindstorm was standing over me, one hand raised, using her power to hold my body motionless on the ground. She lowered herself on to her knees and brought her head down until we were almost eye to eye.

"Now I've got you just where I want you," she snarled. "It's over for you. All that's left is your extremely slow and painful death"

Try as I might, I couldn't move a muscle. Mindstorm flexed her other hand, and said slowly, "Now which part of your body should I rip out first? An arm or a leg, perhaps? Or how about your tongue, or one of your eyes? No, how about the part every man values the most?"

Mindstorm's eyes travelled further down my body, and a sadistic smile crossed her face. She raised her free hand as she prepared to castrate me.

Please, God, I prayed.

Mindstorm screamed and her body jerked as Nightshade's silvery assassin blade flashed down out of nowhere, stabbing deep into her back, injecting poison into her blood. With her attention centred fully on me, and my own power used up, neither of us had sensed the invisible assassin's approach. Now Mindstorm, clearly aware that she was dying, had released me from her power, and turned on the other girl, clearly intent on killing Nightshade before meeting her own death. Her telekinesis flowed out of her in one huge blast, rocketing Nightshade into the wall, breaking at least a dozen bones and rupturing two or three major organs. Mindstorm tried to stand, to walk over and finish the job, but her body had succumbed to the poison, and she fell forward on to her knees, gasping for breath. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open, then she fell sideways and lay motionless.

I ran over to Nightshade. She was in pain, coughing up blood, tears welling in her eyes, jerking horribly as her body was racked by more and more agony. Her eyes met mine and she begged me, "Please…please do something!"

There was never any doubt in my heart about what I was going to do. I knelt by Nightshade and placed my hands on her shoulders, calling on my healing power. It flowed out from me into the assassin girl's body, restoring her, mending her bones, repairing her organs, easing her pain. She gasped with relief and her hand clutched unconsciously at mine. For a moment we looked into each other's eyes, both pairs shining with gratitude, then we seemed to realise that we were supposed to be enemies, and let go of each other.

"Um – I don't really know how to say this – but…thank you," she said uncertainly.

"Thank you too. You saved my life."

We both stood, and Nightshade backed away a step or two, looking warily at me, bracing herself for any imminent attack.

"Why did you save my life?" I asked curiously.

Nightshade hesitated, "I heard the way she was talking…she was completely insane. She was just going to torture you for the fun of it…I couldn't stand by and watch her do that. I don't really know what I was thinking – it just seemed the right thing to do. Somehow I knew I just had to do it."

"Well, thank you," I said, then gave her an ironic grin. "Don't worry, I won't tell Constantine you saved my life."

She tensed, "What am I going to tell him?"

"Tell him that she went crazy and you had to defend yourself," I said. "Why was he trying to bring her back?"

"He wanted her to join us. Oculus – that explosion – what was it? Was that you?"

"Yes. We destroyed the laboratory."

Nightshade's eyes went wide, "No…"

"I'm afraid so."

"You might as well kill me now! Have you any idea how furious Invincibilus is going to be?"

"Who?"

"Invincibilus," she repeated. "That's the new name Constantine's going under. He – "

From elsewhere in the manor, below us somewhere, came a shout, "NIGHTSHADE!!!"

"That's him," she trembled. "He must have just found out. He'll kill me. And Ocelot. And anyone else he can get his hands on."

An idea struck me. I looked at her and said, "It doesn't have to be that way. Come with us. Help us fight against him."

I knew her friendliness towards me wasn't going to last long – she was simply experiencing good feelings towards me during the aftermath of my healing power – but I wondered if I could convince her to join us. I could tell she was tempted by my offer, and the chance of freedom from Constantine, but the last remnants of my healing were dissipating in her bloodstream, and she began to return to her normal self.

"I'm not joining you," Nightshade glared at me. "I don't owe you a thing."

"NIGHTSHADE!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" came another yell.

"You'd better go," I said.

"Next time we meet, I won't be saving your life," she snapped.

She went invisible and I could hear her footsteps lightly padding down the corridor as she ran towards Constantine. I turned round to look at the body of Mindstorm, her eyes and mouth still open wide in a frozen scream of pain. This was the third time we had had to defeat her, and I hoped it would be the last. I considered taking her dead body with me and dumping it in an incinerator, but no…I had to leave it here to back up the story Nightshade would give Constantine. If he found out that she had helped me, I knew she would not suffer lightly. Even though she was my enemy, I did not wish unnecessary pain on her. Without the machines in the laboratory, Constantine couldn't resurrect Mindstorm again anyway, so there was no reason why I couldn't leave her here. Instead I hurried to the exit to find my friends.

Later that day – the slightly later hours of the morning – I lay awake on my bed and thought hard about everything that had happened. We were back in my house now – we didn't wish to endanger Chloe's parents any longer – and our latest attempt to contact the Professor had again met with failure. In the absence of his help and advice, I was trying to decide what we should do next. The laboratory was destroyed, which was a huge weight off my shoulders. Mindstorm was dead – again – which was another. Now all we had to do was kill Constantine, and our fight would be over.

But what should we do? I wasn't yet certain if we could confront him outright, so I had decided to wait and let him make the next move. Time was on our side, after all, now that he was no longer able to implant himself with new mutations. If Constantine didn't make a move soon, I was sure we would eventually be able to get in touch with the X-Men, and if necessary they could help us wipe him out. Having said that, though, we couldn't just sit around and wait for him to come to us. There was still the police and my murder charge to contend with. Thus far they didn't seem to have found out where I lived, but sooner or later we, or at least I, would have to leave this house. Maybe confronting Constantine now and destroying him would be the best course of action…but it was risky. Once he was gone, it would be a simple matter to find a witness who could testify I had been in America at the time of the killing.

I wondered if the Professor knew what was happening to us. Were he and the other X-Men too concerned by their own problems that they were unaware of what was going on over here? It was funny in a way – the struggle between myself and Constantine was effectively a battle for control of the world – and yet virtually nobody knew it was even going on. Constantine wanted control of the world and I didn't want him to have it. I didn't want it for myself…the people of the world could be left to freely govern their own affairs, as far as I was concerned. I just wanted to be left alone to live my own life and raise my family.

It was just as I was thinking about my family that I heard a female voice calling from the doorway, "Neil?"

"Chloe?"

It was Felicity. I moved into a sitting position, as she nervously crossed the room and sat on the bed beside me.

"What's on your mind?" I said.

She was nervous, incredibly nervous, I could sense it. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. She looked at me, then quickly looked at the floor when I returned her gaze.

"Fliss, what is it?"

"Neil," she said at last. "Do you remember at Chloe's house…when I kissed you?"

"Yes."

"You weren't mad at me, were you?"

"No. A bit confused."

"That's good. I…I mean that's good that you're not mad. You see, Neil, I…I love you."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded quickly, "Yes. Oh, I know I started off by acting like a kid, playing around with you, trying to wind up Chris. But at some point during that time, I came to realise…I really do love you, way more than I love Chris."

"Fliss…"

"Please, hear me out," she said. "I thought I loved Chris, but he…he just doesn't treat me with any respect. He asked me to go to bed with him, did you know that? He got so angry when I said no, almost as if…almost as if I had no right to say no, as if my body was his own private property that he could do whatever he liked with!"

Her anger had risen and she was nearly shouting. I put a hand on her arm to calm her, and she stopped, then looked at me, "But you…you're different. You've always respected me. You treat me as a friend first and a cute girl second. Chris isn't like that. Maybe he thinks he loves me, but when I'm upset or in a bad mood…he just doesn't want to know me. He's never there to comfort me or talk things over me when I need him."

"I'm not sure that's true…"

"Neil, I need you!" she cried, not listening to me. "Please! I need you more than anything!"

"Fliss…"

She grabbed me around the neck and pulled me towards her, pressing her lips against me, kissing me with that wild, uncontrollable passion once more. Fliss' emotions poured out of her, enveloping me in her feelings. Her kiss felt so incredible, so exciting, so different – and then I understood why. It was to do with her mutation. Whenever Fliss got this excited or emotional, her body started to release millions of tiny electric pulses, the minute electric charges which normally flowed safely in her bloodstream, but which were ejected when her heart rate reached a certain level. I felt them now, passing from her body into mine, stimulating my own heart, acting as an aphrodisiac, raising my own excitement and desire, giving me the almost uncontrollable urge to kiss her in return, and let my own emotions flow with hers. My body began to respond, and for the merest of moments I was reciprocating, kissing Felicity with the unbelievably high level of sexual desire she was arousing in me, then my mind took control, and I stopped. Gently I pushed her away from me, and put a finger on her lips.

"Fliss…you can't have me."

"I can't?" she said, sagging with dismay

"I'm in love with Chloe."

"Forget her. You don't need her. Leave her. I need you!"

"Fliss…I can't leave Chloe, for two very good reasons. First, we're engaged to be married."

Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but I had already pressed on, "Second…Fliss, promise you will never reveal this to a living soul…second, Chloe is pregnant with my baby."

Fliss gasped, "Pregnant?"

"Yes."

For a few moments she said nothing, just staring at me as if it couldn't possibly be true. Then she came back to her senses. Fliss ranted at me for a few minutes, accusing me of destroying Chloe's childhood, saying how dare I force her to be a mother before she had had a chance to live her life, calling me a typical male chauvinist pig…then she stopped. She sighed heavily and looked at me, "I don't know what to say. I feel like such an idiot. I had no right to demand that you leave Chloe."

"Fliss…forget about it. I'm not angry. Don't feel bad about this. I still love you, and I will always love you, as my friend. No matter what happens, I'll always have time for you."

"I know you will. Neil…don't tell Chloe…about what just happened."

"I won't."

"I don't want her to hate me."

"Oh, Fliss. Come here…"

I hugged her, and she held me tightly, two friends locked together in a fond embrace, nothing romantic or sexual about it, just two people who cared for each other and wanted to comfort one another. I knew it was a sign Fliss was beginning to let go of her desire of me, realising it was never going to happen between us. I knew that if I hadn't remained faithful to Chloe, there would have been nothing stopping me from returning Felicity's kiss, and we would probably now be making love on this very bed. I knew that Fliss could have made her place in my heart if Chloe hadn't already been there. I knew we could have come together and been happy together. I knew it was never going to happen. Chloe was my love, and Chloe was my life.

A/N: once again, please review! It will make me update faster. Comments on the characters are especially welcomed.