Chapter Seven: The Real Enemy

I was being driven by my anger, and it wasn't until I was dropped off at the side of the road that led to the Brotherhood's school, that I realised I was going to have start thinking. I would have to think calmly and logically, and find some way to avoid my enemies while looking for my sister. As I remembered, their school wasn't that big a building; it shouldn't take me too long to search. It certainly wasn't anywhere near the size of our own. But still, I needed a plan that would enable me to stay out of the way of Pyro and his students.

The first thing was obvious. I had to use my camouflage. To do that I had to remain calm enough that I could keep my concentration. I also had to make sure I moved quietly. It was all too easy to forget that my camouflage, while making me virtually invisible, did not make me in any way inaudible. I had to think about the Brotherhood too, and whether or not they had any powers that would help them detect me. None of them were telepathic, as far as I knew. From fourteen years of living with Annie and Dad, I had learned that it was impossible to sneak up on a telepath. Their 'sixth sense' was even better than radar. Thankfully it wasn't an issue here.

My camouflage would keep them from seeing me. If I moved carefully enough, they wouldn't hear me. What about smell? I knew that part of Wolverine's mutation was an incredibly acute sense of smell. Would any of the Brotherhood have a similar gift? I tried to think. Mole, perhaps? Moles had a good sense of smell, didn't they? I reckoned they must have, since they couldn't see a thing. OK, I decided I'd better stay away from Mole. And Recyclo too. I still didn't know what his mutation was. It could well have been something that would enable him to track me down.

By this time I had reached the path that led from the main road to their school. This was probably a good time to start using my camouflage. I concentrated hard, and activated it. I felt the weird sort of rippling sensation as my body went chameleon, every cell of my skin and clothing changing to give the appearance of whatever lay behind it. Taking one or two deep breaths to prepare myself, I focused my mind and began running down the path. Actually I was running along the grass beside the path, as it would make less noise. I was still some distance from their school, so they probably weren't within hearing distance yet, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

A sudden noise overhead made me look up. There was a helicopter flying above me! I paused momentarily, to see which direction it was heading, and whether or not it represented a threat to me. It seemed to be flying in the direction of the Brotherhood's school, and it was descending rapidly. Was it theirs? Did Pyro have his own helicopter at his disposal? I knew nothing about choppers, but it looked like a military vehicle. There were chain-guns mounted on both sides, and what looked like a missile launcher mounted between the landing struts. Had they stolen it? I quickened my pace, determined to find out who was flying the helicopter. It was almost down to tree-level now, and was clearly landing at Pyro's school.

I could see the school now, as the path emerged from between the trees and into the open grassy space that surrounded the building. I wasn't sure what to make of it. It didn't really look like a school. It was like – well, in a way it was like a smaller version of our mansion. That was obviously where Pyro had got the idea. The helicopter was performing a vertical landing on the other side of the school, and a second or two later it was out of sight. I hurried to the front entrance of the school, and put my ear to the door. I couldn't hear anything, so I pushed it open a crack, and peered inside. There was nobody there, so I ducked inside, pulling the door closed behind me.

Now I was inside. I had to find Annie. Where would they be hiding her? It would have to be an exceptionally secure room, if it could hold my sister. Unless she was being kept sedated, or – the unthinkable possibility – that they had killed her. I shook my head. No. They wouldn't do that. Pyro wouldn't kill my sister. It was against his beliefs. She was a mutant. The Brotherhood didn't kill mutants. Or so he had said. Had he told the truth?

There was no way of knowing right now. I put my fears out of mind, and concentrated on finding my sister. It occurred to me that she probably was being kept drugged – if she was awake, she would have sensed my presence, and would be trying to telepath to me. I had no idea where she might be, so I chose a direction at random. I was in some kind of entrance hall, which branched off to the left and right, with a set of double doors straight ahead. I went left. There was still no sign of the Brotherhood. With luck, they were busy. The left passageway took me to a set of stairs, which I climbed, slowly and carefully, lest any of them should creak and give me away. Looking around at the top of the stairs, a frown crossed my face. This looked familiar…but why? Of course. I had been before. This was the escape route I had taken to get away from here last time. At the time I hadn't known I would be so eager to return so soon.

OK, I knew where I was. I walked along a little bit until I found the room where they had incarcerated me. It was empty now. Where were they keeping my sister? I hoped I could find her soon. I wasn't sure my luck would last for long. Sooner or later I'd run into one of the Brotherhood, and the risk of detection would be that much greater. I couldn't let myself be found until I had rescued Annie. I couldn't fight my enemies alone, but with Annie at my side…I grinned. Together my sister and I would have more than a fighting chance. Even if we couldn't beat the Brotherhood, we'd be able to hold them off comfortably to allow ourselves to escape. Once I had found Annie, everything would be all right. I could bring her back to our school, and let the adults take over. Once Annie was safe I didn't care how long it took the X-Men to move against the Brotherhood. All I needed to do was find Annie, then our problems were over.

It was then that I heard the sound of a gunshot. Another sounded, then another. For a moment there was a silence, then a scream of pain ripped through the air. I stiffened with horror. The shots were coming from outside. Somebody had been shot. My anger and fear began to mushroom inside me. Was it Annie? Had she just been shot? Had the Brotherhood killed her? Had Pyro lied to me? No. It wasn't him. It couldn't be. I'd heard gunshots. Mutants didn't use guns. We didn't need them. Only humans used guns. But what did that mean? Why would humans be here, and who would they be shooting?

Determined to find out what was going on, I hurried back down the stairs, and to the exit. It wasn't until now that I noticed my camouflage had dropped. Somewhere along the line, my fear had disrupted my concentration, and I was no longer invisible. I tried to reactivate it, but I was still too nervous. I took several deep breaths, trying to calm myself, but to no avail. There were more gunshots, and another scream. They were coming from the other side of the building, from where I had seen the helicopter land. My curiosity piqued, I began to run round the side of the school, to find out what was happening. I turned the corner, and the sounds became louder. I heard footsteps running, people breathing heavily, and voices shouting.

"One down! Captain! One down!" came a man's voice.

"Roger, one mutant down! Scan the area! Use caution!" came another.

One mutant down? Had a mutant been shot? Who was it? Was it Annie? Was it Dominic? I hurried around the next corner of the building, and hastily crouched behind some bushes to see what was happening. My eyes widened and I watched in horror at what was unfolding before me. The military helicopter sat on a landing pad behind the school. A group of thirty or more humans, wearing black camouflage gear, and armed with automatic weapons, were patrolling the area around the chopper. I had no idea who they were, or what they were doing here. Two or three men were kneeling down not too far away from me, their attention centred on something that lay before them. I gasped when I saw what it was.

A body. A still, unmoving body. I couldn't see who it was. One of the humans was in the way. Presently one of the others turned and yelled to the rest, "This one's dead! Repeat, this mutant is dead!"

Dead?! Who was it? Was it Annie? Was my sister lying there dead? In desperation I almost ran over to find out. Forcing myself to remain still, I kept under cover and continued to watch the humans. The three nearest me were talking together, and one of them grinned, "Good shooting, Hernandez. I thought you'd lost your opportunity, but you improvised pretty well."

The second man gave a laugh, "Yeah. One less mutant for the world to worry about."

"That ought to be worth something to the President's widow," said the third.

The President's widow? Was that why they were here? Had they found out that the Brotherhood were responsible for the President's death? Who were these people anyway? Were they from the US army? I tried to listen for anything else that might help me work out what was happening. Before the three men could say any more, there came a yell from beside the helicopter:

"Hostiles in the trees! Ten o'clock! One male and one female!"

"Acknowledged!" came another voice. "Engage them! Shoot to kill, repeat, shoot to kill!"

Shoot to kill? My fear, already threatening to overwhelm me, grew even further. Who was it that was in the trees? Who was about to be shot and killed? One male and one female…was it Annie and Dominic? If it was, I had to do something. I watched as the humans began to move away, hurrying over to the cover provided by their chopper, in preparation to begin attacking whoever was in the trees. The dead mutant was still lying on the ground by the school building, forgotten by the humans. I took my opportunity to run over, hoping and praying that it wasn't Annie.

It wasn't. It was Overlord. The hypnotic mutant lay on his back, his eyes open and staring up at the sky, three bullet holes and a pool of spreading blood around his chest area. I almost wept with relief. It wasn't Annie. It wasn't Dominic. It wasn't my sister or my friend. It was…it was…my enemy. Overlord, one of my enemies, was dead. I should have been pleased, or at least relieved that he couldn't threaten me any more. I wasn't. I was angry, furiously angry, my rage bursting throughout my bloodstream, threatening to send me berserk.

A human had killed a mutant. It didn't matter that he was my enemy, or that the Brotherhood were trying to kill humans. None of that mattered. All that mattered was that one of my kind had been killed by a human, and others were in danger of suffering the same fate. I had to do something. If the Brotherhood were killed, I might never know where Annie was. I was going to help them.

"Hostile!"

That was the only warning I had, before a bullet smacked into the wall just above my head. Damn it! They'd spotted me. Standing beside Overlord's dead body, I wasn't exactly inconspicuous. I had to get under cover. There had to be somewhere to hide. Time seemed to move in slow motion, as I flung myself to one side to avoid the next hail of incoming bullets. Rolling over and getting to my feet, I sprinted away as fast as I could, looking for cover. There! A door, leading back inside the building! Pushing it open, I dived inside, and more bullets thudded into the wall where I had just been standing. I kicked the door shut behind me, and looked for something to wedge it shut. There wasn't anything. I got to my feet and hurried into the school's interior, looking for somewhere to hide. Shoving open the first door I came to, I hurried through, and to my horror, came face to face with another.

It wasn't a human. It was Cassandra.

"What are you doing here?" she gasped.

She was backing away, her hands in front of her in a defensive position, looking for a way to escape. There was only the one door, and I was standing in front of it.

"Where's my sister?" I demanded.

"What? I don't know!"

I heard the sound of gunfire from outside, and Cassandra gave another gasp.

"Let me out!" she cried. "The school's under attack! I've got to help my friends!"

There was a crashing sound as the humans broke through the door that led into the building. Within seconds they'd find us. My survival instinct took over, and without knowing what I was doing, I grabbed Cassandra and we hurried through the door into the corridor outside. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the humans, three or four of them, reacting in surprise, bringing their weapons up to bear on us. I inhaled deeply and a huge jet of flame burst from my throat, scorching through the air towards the men. I didn't wait to see what happened. Still gripping Cassandra by the arm, I pulled her through the next doorway I saw, leading into another corridor. From behind me came screams, and I guessed at least one of the men had been set on fire.

"Let me go!" Cassandra screamed. "I've got to help my friends! Please!"

"Where are they?"

She struggled to get away from me, "They'll be in the woods, heading for the escape helicopter! Please let me go!"

"Tell me where my sister is."

"I told you, I don't know! Will you let me go?!" she shrieked.

"On one condition. I'm coming with you!"

"What, you?"

"Do you think I want to stay around here and get killed for being a mutant? If you've got an escape chopper, I'm on it."

"I can't promise anything. You'll have to ask Pyro."

"Fine. Let's find him."

"This way!"

I released her arm, and we hurried along the corridor, through the next doorway, and Cassandra put out a hand to stop me, "Wait here a second. There's a secret exit from the school!"

Set in the wall by our heads was a light fitting. Cassandra smashed its glass covering, and inside I could see a tiny microphone. She spoke into it, "Cassandra."

There must have been some kind of voice recognition system, as a section of the wall in front of us began to move to one side, revealing a passageway beyond. Cassandra ducked inside, and beckoned me to follow. A little hesitantly, I stepped into the darkness, and she pulled the opening shut behind us. The two of us stopped for a moment to get our breath back.

"We're safe in here," she said. "It won't open without a valid voice signature."

We moved off once more, heading down a low, dark corridor. I could hardly see a thing, but Cassandra seemed to know where she was going.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"I'll ask the questions," Cassandra snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for my sister, of course."

"Well, look someplace else. We haven't got her!"

I looked at her, "You're lying. I saved your life back there, you know that? The least you could do is be honest with me."

She opened her mouth to make a biting retort, then stopped. Cassandra looked away and said hesitantly, "You did save my life, I guess. I – I – uh – listen, whatever your name is, I am grateful. I don't know why you saved my life, but I'm grateful. Thank you."

"I did what I would do for any mutant in danger of being killed by a human."

"Yeah, well maybe now you see that we're right. Humans are killing mutants all the time, for no reason other than they hate us."

"I don't have time to debate that. Where is my sister?"

"I don't know. I swear, I don't know. Ask Pyro. He might know."

"OK. Where is he?"

"He'll be heading for the chopper. It's not far now."

We were running down the passageway for a minute or so longer, then it abruptly stopped in front of us. I looked up; there was a trapdoor over our heads. Cassandra pushed it open, and gripped its rim to pull herself up and out. I followed, and she instinctively stretched out her hand to help me out.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"In the forest. The chopper's that way!"

"I can hear gunfire!"

"My friends must be in trouble. I'm going to help them!"

She set off at a run, in the direction of the sounds of battle. I hurried after her, still uncertain whether or not she was telling the truth about Annie. If my sister was being held inside the school somewhere, there was no question that I was going back to find her. It didn't matter that there were two dozen heavily armed men between me and her. I'd get through somehow.

The sounds of guns were closer now, and suddenly we were there, at the periphery of the forest. I ducked down behind a tree, and looked around to get an idea of the situation. I could see Pyro, kneeling behind a rock, keeping his head to avoid the incoming bullets, igniting his cigarette lighter and sending a jet of fire in the direction of the humans. There was a momentary lapse in gunfire, and Pyro took the opportunity to have a quick glance round, checking on the status of his students. I had a look around too. Vertigo and Scarab were crouched behind a tree; being short-range attackers, they were hopelessly vulnerable. Near them was a face I didn't recognise – that had to be the earth mutant. Gemini, Mole and Recyclo were standing at the edge of the trees, trying to create a defensive shield of sorts. Mole was using his fists to protect himself from the gunfire, and Recyclo had some kind of metallic plate he was holding in front of himself, deflecting the bullets away from him. As I watched, a bullet hit Gemini in the chest, and her body vanished. For a moment I was confused, then I realised. That wasn't the real Gemini. She had summoned her twin, and had been using it as a decoy. Cassandra hurried over towards Pyro, and knelt down beside him. I couldn't hear much over the gunfire, but she was saying something. She gestured with her hand towards me, and Pyro looked round, his eyes widening in confusion and surprise when he saw me. I held up my hands to indicate I wasn't going to try and attack him, and he nodded, beckoning me over. Keeping low, I ran over towards him.

"Are you all right?" was his first question.

I looked at him strangely. Why did he care? He wasn't my dad. I shrugged, "Fine. You?"

"We're unhurt so far, but we've lost contact with Overlord. You haven't seen him, have you?"

Cassandra shook her head. I hesitated, then said, "Overlord's dead. They shot him."

"No."

"I'm afraid so."

Pyro's eyes narrowed, and I didn't have to be a telepath to sense the anger rising in his soul. I tensed, thinking for a moment that he was going to lash out at me, but his anger was directed elsewhere.

"Overlord was sixteen years old!" Pyro yelled. "He was a child! They murdered a child! My child!"

I blinked, "Overlord was your son?"

"No. Well, in a way. I'll explain later."

"What are we going to do?" Cassandra asked.

Pyro was still looking angry, but he sighed, "It's too dangerous to keep fighting. As much as I want to kill them, I'm not going to risk losing anyone else. We'll begin moving back towards the helicopter."

"I'll tell the others," she said.

"Right. Get Vertigo and Scarab to go first. They'll need our protection. Then you, Gemini and Mole make a run for it. Tell Recyclo and Atlas to join up with me. We'll hit the humans hard, once, to keep them off balance, then we'll run. You," he faced me. "Go with Cassandra and the rest."

I nodded. I instinctively trusted Pyro to know what he was doing, and to have my best interests at heart. He was an adult. I was a child. It was only natural for me to believe him. Besides, if he wanted to kill me at this moment, he could do it easily enough. Cassandra was hurrying over to the rest of the Brotherhood, passing on Pyro's instructions. For a moment I panicked at the thought that she might get hit by a bullet, but I knew she could foresee all of the bullets and dodge them accordingly. Then I frowned. Why was I so worried for Cassandra's safety? She was my enemy, wasn't she? All right, we were on the same side at the moment, but we didn't particularly care for each other. Or did we? Why had Pyro's first instinct been to check that I hadn't been hurt? He was my enemy, and I his. Why did he care whether or not I was hurt? I didn't know. I'd seen how angry he was when I'd told him about Overlord's death, and I saw the way he was constantly looking around to make sure the others were OK. He cared about them. He was like a father figure to them. He wasn't a psychotic killer. He cared about his students, and he cared about me. He was an adult, and I was a child. It was only natural for him to worry about my safety.

Vertigo and Scarab were on the move, ducking as low as they could, hurrying down the path back in the direction Cassandra and I had just come. I saw the earth mutant – Atlas – moving forward towards Pyro, as Mole and Gemini began to pull back. Cassandra tapped me on the arm, and indicated that I should follow her. For a moment I hesitated, reluctant to run from the scene of the fight, but Pyro gave me a gentle nudge in Cassandra's direction, and I listened to my common sense, as the two of us began to hurry after Gemini.

"Look out!" Cassandra yelled, suddenly grabbing me around the waist and pushing me to the ground.

A moment later, a hail of bullets whistled overhead, just where we'd been standing, and I gasped, "Thanks!"

We jumped to our feet and kept on running. I glanced behind me to see what was happening. Recyclo had a throwing knife in each hand, and as I watched he flung them, skewering the throats of two humans. Pyro was launching a blast of fire at another group of men, setting several of them alight; frantically they rolled around on the grass to try and put out the flames. Atlas had both arms raised and was using his power to shake the very ground the men stood upon. Several lost their balance, and Atlas spread his fingers, pushing the earth apart, gouging cracks in its surface, which the men struggled desperately to avoid falling into.

For a moment I wondered why the three of them didn't simply kill all of the humans this way. Then I saw that the remainder of the men were running towards their helicopter. That explained it. Atlas could do nothing against an airborne enemy, and Recyclo's knives could not harm a military class chopper. They were merely buying time to get away. We had to get to our own helicopter before the humans could get theirs in the air.

"Let's go!" Pyro yelled, and the three of them turned to hurry after us.

Wait a minute. What had I just been thinking? 'Our' own helicopter? I wasn't one of the Brotherhood. I was only fighting alongside them because I had no other choice. Cassandra had her hand on my arm, telling me I was going too slowly, and I increased my pace to keep up with Gemini and Mole ahead.

We broke through into a clearing, where the helicopter sat on a small pad, its rotors already turning, Vertigo sitting at the controls, watching our approach through the windows. Scarab threw open the door, and Mole and Gemini climbed up into the aircraft. Without thinking, I did the same, and Cassandra jumped up after me. Atlas, Recyclo and Pyro were right behind us, and Pyro, the last one on board, pulled the door shut, "Right, we're all in! Take off!"

"Wait a minute, Overlord's not here!" somebody said.

"He won't be coming," said Pyro. "Take off! Now!"

Vertigo hit the controls, and the helicopter ascended from the ground. I found myself sitting in a seat, and I sank back into it, letting myself relax for the first time in what seemed like days. We had escaped. In my attempt to find my sister, I'd walked into the middle of a raging battle, and had only just got away alive. However, I was still no nearer to my objective. I still had to find Annie. I was about to ask Pyro if he knew where she was, when I noticed that several, if not all, of the Brotherhood members were looking directly at me.

"Wait a minute, what's he doing here?" Gemini demanded. "When the hell did he get on board?"

"When I did," said Cassandra.

"I thought that was Overlord!"

Pyro shook his head, "Overlord's dead."

"What?" came several voices.

Gemini gave a cry of fury and pointed a finger at me, "He killed him! I know he did! Murderer!"

She launched herself across the chopper's interior at me, her rage blinding her, putting her hands around my neck as if she was trying to choke the very life out of me.

"Gemini! Stop it!" Pyro snapped.

"He killed him! He killed Overlord!" she cried.

"I didn't!" I snapped. "The humans shot him!"

Gemini refused to listen, and her grip tightened, as she continued to try and choke me. I pushed her away from me, and she fell backwards into an empty seat. I stood, my fists clenched, my anger flowing, and all of them tensed, ready to do battle. Gemini had her muscles taut, and was ready to summon her twin. Scarab and Mole both had their fists raised. Cassandra had backed away from me a little, in case I tried to attack her. A throwing knife appeared in Recyclo's hand as if by magic – just how many did he have? Atlas, more or less deprived of his power while airborne, was looking uncomfortable. The only ones who did not react were Vertigo, who was piloting the helicopter, and Pyro, who deliberately flicked off his lighter, and said, "I think you should explain what you're doing here."

I snapped, "I came here looking for my sister. I know you've got her somewhere! Where is she?"

"We don't have her," said Cassandra. "I told you."

"Pyro?" I asked.

He shook his head, "She's telling the truth. We don't have your sister."

"You're lying!" I spat, then pointed at Atlas. "He attacked her!"

Pyro looked at Atlas. The earth mutant shrugged, then said, "I already told you what happened, Pyro. I was waiting at the tunnel exit, when she – this guy's sister – and two others came out. The girl was unconscious, so I reckoned it'd be an easy take. I went in to grab her, when humans showed up."

"Humans?" I said suspiciously.

"Yeah. Soldiers of some kind. Probably the same guys we were fighting just now. They saw me first, and tried to gun me down. So, I had to use my power to defend myself. They started firing at me and I had to take cover. I saw them take the girl, and of the others. They left the other one behind. They took them alive, though."

Alive.

"My sister's alive?" I gasped.

He shrugged, "Dunno. She was when I last saw her."

My body sagged with relief, and I felt a huge weight lifting from my shoulders. Annie was alive. She wasn't dead. I could still save her. It wasn't too late. Humans had taken her, her and Dominic. Humans with guns. So Marina's vision hadn't been a dream. She had really seen it. Providing Atlas and Pyro weren't lying, of course. I wasn't a telepath and I was no real judge of character, but in some way I sensed they were telling the truth. They didn't have Annie. These soldier types had abducted her. But why had they taken her and Dominic alive, and let Marina and Atlas live, then come to the Brotherhood's school intent on wiping out all mutant life? It didn't make sense.

"So who are these people?" I asked. "Where will they have taken her?"

"Why should we tell you anything?" Gemini retorted. "Pyro, why can't we just kill this guy? Just open the door and throw him out!"

"He saved my life!" snapped Cassandra unexpectedly.

Gemini laughed at her, "Don't tell me you're going soft on him! I say we kill him! Who's with me?"

"This isn't a democracy," Pyro interrupted. "I'm your leader and I'll decide who we kill and when. We don't kill other mutants, remember?"

"Even when they're our enemies?"

"Yes. As it happens, he may have saved all of our lives. If he hadn't told us about Overlord, we might have stayed down there waiting for Overlord, and all of us might have gotten killed."

"No way!"

I said to Pyro, "So what happens now? If you're not going to kill me, what are you going to do?"

"I'll answer that question if you answer one of mine: where are the X-Men?"

I hesitated. If I said that they were still back at the school, then he'd know I was completely on my own, without anyone to stop him doing whatever he liked to me.

"They're on the case," I answered evasively. "They're looking out for me."

He frowned, "Hmm. Well, I'll tell you what I plan to do with you. You saved Cassandra's life. That means a lot to me, and I'm sure it means even more to her. It means we owe you a debt. It doesn't mean, however, that we're willing to let you go out of our sight. You're too valuable to us."

"So you're taking me prisoner again?" I snapped. "Then you should know that I – "

"Wait," he said. "I'm not finished. I have a proposition for you."

A proposition? This ought to be good.

"I'm listening," I told him.

"First of all, in answer to your earlier question: these humans who attacked us are part of a special government security unit. They were sent out to find and destroy the President's attacker. How they do it is left completely up to them."

"In other words, they're killing every mutant they see," Gemini spat.

"Yes. We believe we know where they are based. Our plan at this time is to launch a counter attack against them, to let them know that they can't go around killing as many mutants as they please. We'll destroy them and their base, and we'll make it clear that murdering mutants is not permitted."

"And my part in this would be…?" I asked.

"Join us," he said. "Temporarily. If these people have captured your sister, then most likely she's been held in their base somewhere. You can get her out before we destroy it, then we're all happy."

I looked at him suspiciously, "And then what? When I've rescued her, are you going to let us go?"

He smirked slightly, "With you and your sister together, flaunting your father's combined powers, who am I to dictate anything to you?"

It was an evasive answer. But so was the one I had given him, so I couldn't really complain. Nevertheless I shook my head, "Sorry. That's not good enough. I need to be certain that you'll let us go afterwards."

Pyro folded his arms, and returned my stare, "Do you now? Well, I need to know what part the X-Men are likely to play in this. If they're intending to get in our way and save the humans, we'll have to alter our plans."

I sighed. I would just have to tell him.

"All right," I said. "The X-Men don't know where I am. They know I'm looking for my sister, and they know I was coming to your school, but that's all. I've no idea what they're doing right now, or what their plans are."

"They let you come after us on your own?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"Not exactly," I responded, and left it at that.

Pyro seemed satisfied, "Well, that's good. Interference from the human-lovers is something we can gladly do without. Now that you've answered my question, I'll answer yours. Providing you and your sister do nothing to get in the way of our killing the humans, we will let you go free."

"I've no intention of helping out the humans," I replied. "All right, I'll go along with it. I'll take part in your attack, so I can rescue my sister. That's my priority, though – don't ask me to do anything that stops me from finding her."

"Of course."

"And if there's even a hint that you're about to stab me in the back, the whole thing's off!"

He nodded, "Likewise."

I knew I shouldn't be doing this. I knew I should go back to the school, tell the X-Men everything I knew, and turn the problem over to them. They were strong enough and old enough to move against these soldiers, and rescue Annie. But would they do it? Would they fight the humans in order to rescue my sister? I doubted it. The X-Men wouldn't attack humans. They'd try to talk to them, to reason with them, to negotiate with them, to understand them. That wouldn't help Annie.

Should I then stay with the Brotherhood? They wouldn't waste time with words. They'd just go in and do it. I had to admit, in a strange sort of way, I was beginning to like the way the Brotherhood did things. Pyro knew what his objective was, and he was simply going to carry it out. It was the fastest and the surest way that I would find Annie. I realised that I didn't care whose side I was on. All that mattered was finding my sister and getting her to safety. If I had to team up with the 'enemy' to do it, then it was a necessary evil.

Were they even evil? Were they the enemy? That was what I had been taught, but having met them first-hand, I was beginning to doubt what I'd been told. The truth seemed clear: humans hated mutants. We were merely fighting to protect ourselves. That was what had happened today. An unprovoked attack on the Brotherhood's school, and what could we – they – do, except fight back? It was one thing to promote a peaceful co-existence with humanity – it was another thing to stand by and let them try and wipe out our species.

But isn't that what we're doing to them? I remembered about the Plague. That was the Brotherhood's doing, and it was meant to eradicate humans. Why was that different from them trying to kill us? We were the superior, more advanced species, but did that give us the right to decide that they weren't fit to share the planet with us? I was so confused; I didn't know what to think. Peace between humans and mutants would be ideal – it just didn't seem as if it was ever going to happen. There was too much hatred and prejudice on both sides. Another thought occurred to me.

"Pyro?" I asked. "Which one of you was it who killed the President?"

Pyro and the others glanced over at the other side of the helicopter – at Recyclo. The knife-thrower was idly looking out of the window, but on hearing my question, he turned his attention to me.

"I did," he said, in a flat, emotionless tone. "It was quite simple, really."

"How did you do it?"

"What's with all these questions?" Gemini demanded. "I'll tell you what it is; he's just probing for information so he can pass it on to the X-Men!"

"Leave him alone!" Cassandra snapped.

Recyclo interrupted them, speaking to Pyro, "Shall I tell him my mutation?"

Pyro nodded, "It's only sensible that he knows what each of us is capable of, if he's going to be working with us."

"All right," said Recyclo, looking at me once more. "Watch this."

He held out his hand between us, palm upwards, and suddenly something very strange happened. As I watched, one of his ubiquitous throwing knives appeared in his hand, seemingly from nowhere. He couldn't possibly have moved fast enough to pull it out of his sleeve or anything – what had happened?

"You can teleport objects?" I guessed.

"No. It's hard to explain. The skin cells on the palms of my hands have mutated to enable me to – well, recycle – whatever they come into contact with. It can change things on an atomic level. My power changed the atomic structure of the air around my hand – it took the component elements and moved around electrons and protons to make different elements – and recycled it into this knife."

I thought I knew what he was talking about. It was just high school chemistry. But changing one substance into another like that was something I had never seen or heard of before. My eyes had widened. This was incredible. Suddenly, just as quickly as it had appeared, the knife vanished. Recyclo sighed, "As you see, my power can't change a substance indefinitely. It lasts for only a matter of minutes before returning to its original state."

"That's amazing…" I said. "That's how you killed the humans' President? With a – a recycled knife like that one?"

"Yes. The best thing about it was that the knife returning to being air meant that there was no evidence left behind."

I frowned, "Wouldn't it have been easier to recycle a gun or a bomb or something?"

"Yes, but I can't use my power to create anything as complex as that. A knife is simple to make because it's just a metal shape, and it only requires one or two different chemical elements. Guns and explosives are much more complicated."

I said nothing. So Recyclo was the assassin that the whole American nation was looking for, the one who had killed their President in front of their eyes. He didn't appear to be showing any remorse or guilt about the killing. Well, why should he? The President had only been human. I wouldn't have felt any remorse either……or would I?

How strange it was. Not so long ago, the Brotherhood had been my sworn enemies. Now I was working with them, fighting alongside them so I could rescue Annie. I still wasn't sure exactly what to make of them, and it was clear that the Brotherhood were having a variety of reactions towards me. Gemini was still glaring at me with hatred and mistrust; Scarab and Mole still looked wary and were ready to defend themselves at any moment if necessary; as I glanced at Cassandra she gave me a little smile, then looked away shyly; Recyclo's face was still an expressionless mask, and it was impossible to tell what he might be thinking; Atlas clearly didn't know what to think of me, since we'd yet to have a run-in with each other; and Vertigo was giving me no thought, concentrating as he was on flying the helicopter. They were all about my own age, some of them a little older – Recyclo was probably the oldest – and in different circumstances, who knew what might have happened? We might even have been friends.

What about Pyro? He was the only adult present, and as such his opinion of me was bound to be slightly different to those of his students. It was just like Shapeshifter and Shock had told me: when you were a child, everything was one-dimensional. Either you liked a person or you didn't. When you were an adult, it was more complicated. Thus it was between Pyro and myself. He cared about me because I was a mutant child in danger. At the same time we were enemies, because he wanted to kill humans, and I had been taught that I should protect them. I didn't know what to think about the Brotherhood, or any of this whole mess. I didn't want to think; I just wanted to get on with finding my sister. Annie was my one and only priority. Once she was safe, I could start to think again. I could try and decide what I believed, and who my friends were.

Something in my peripheral vision caught my eye, and I looked out of the window. We were now flying over ocean. Why were we flying over ocean?

"Wait a minute!" I said, looking over at Pyro. "Where are we going?"

He answered, "We have a sanctuary on an island not far from the coast. We'll have to move there now that our school is compromised. We'll pick up some supplies, wait until dark, then fly to the humans' base and destroy them."

"Sounds good to me."

By this time the air of tension inside the confined space had virtually subsided. Only Gemini was still giving me hostile looks. The others seemed content that I was not going to imminently attack them, and were paying me no more attention, returning to their own personal thoughts. Except for Cassandra. She was looking at me again; I could see her out of the corner of my eye. As I glanced over in her direction, her gaze immediately dropped to the floor, and the tiniest flush crept into her cheeks. That was a little strange. I frowned. I wasn't sure what she was thinking, or what feelings existed between us. More than once she had spoken out on my behalf against Gemini, something which had surprised me, and I suspected she had surprised herself too.

I thought about Cassandra. What were my feelings for her? I didn't know. We were enemies – weren't we? Yet I had saved her life, by pulling her away from those soldiers inside the school. And she had saved mine, by pushing me out of the path of those bullets in the forest. Why had we done that for each other? Why would two enemies save each other's lives? Would I have done the same for Gemini? No. What about Pyro? I wasn't sure. Yet I had done it for Cassandra, and I knew, if necessary, I would do it again. I knew I cared about her; I valued her life, and I didn't want anything to happen to her. I knew I'd be upset if she was hurt or killed. Why? It didn't make any sense. Something, somewhere deep inside of me, was stirring, messing with my emotions, making my enemies into friends and my friends into enemies. What was it? What was happening to me? What was this strange feeling that turned everything back to front and upside down, and made me feel things I had never felt before, and think things I had never thought before? I couldn't be falling in love – could I? No. It was impossible. I mean, we didn't even know each other. We'd spent less than an hour in each other's company. We'd hardly spoken, we'd even fought each other, and hurt each other. I couldn't possibly be falling in love with Cassandra.

But I knew I was. I had saved her life, and she had saved mine. Inside both of us, some animal instinct had taken control, overriding our logical thoughts, making us act on our emotions and protect each other. It didn't make any sense at all. What was love? Why would it make me save the life of a person I didn't know, had never spoken to, and who was my enemy? Was it some kind of chemical reaction? Could our bodies somehow – sense – that we might like each other, and force us to act accordingly? One thing was for sure: it was confusing the hell out of me. I knew that it was love, love for my sister, that had led me to ally with the Brotherhood and join in with their attack. But this was a different kind of love. Love for my family was unconditional, unchanging, and simple to understand and handle. Love for a girl – for Cassandra – was wildly different. I didn't understand it at all, and I had no idea what to do about it. How could I be in love with my enemy? I didn't know.

I glanced up at her. She was watching me once more, and she smiled at me. I found myself smiling nervously in return. Cassandra's smile widened a little, bringing out dimples in her cheeks. My mind was assailed by a whirlwind of emotions. I was elated, scared, excited and confused at the same time. Such was the maelstrom of love. Whatever it was, I knew it was more puzzling and more powerful than any mutation or gift that anybody might possess. It was a power inside all of us. Cassandra and I were still looking at each other, still smiling, still sharing our secret, forbidden love, and in that instant a bond was sealed between us. We were no longer enemies. We were friends, friends who were caught on different sides of a divide. At last I understood what Shock and Shapeshifter had been trying to tell me. A person could be both a friend and an enemy.

Annie and Cassandra. My sister and my secret love. The two girls I loved more than anybody else in the world. I vowed to myself that I would do anything and everything to protect them both, to fight on their behalf. Nothing else mattered any more. I no longer cared about the Brotherhood, or the X-Men, or humans, or mutants – they could all worry about themselves. There was no room in my heart for anybody else. Just Annie and Cassandra.

I'm coming for you, Annie, I thought to myself, I have to ally with our enemies to do it, but I'm coming. Just keep yourself alive.