Chapter Six

A little uncertain, we began to back away from the hostile mutants. We didn't want to fight them. They were our own kind. We wouldn't attack them, not unless Pyro told us to. The huge mutant gave a low animal growl, bunching his massive fists, and lumbering towards us. The insectoid, still hanging from the roof, watched him pass by underneath.

"What do we do, chief?" asked Vertigo – even he was starting to sound a bit worried.

Pyro lost his patience and yelled, "Recyclo, get those f**king doors open!"

I turned. The computer screens sat blank and useless in front of Recyclo, and clearly there was nothing he could do. As I watched, however, he moved away from the computers and over to the door. A blade appeared in his hand, and he stabbed into the wall beside the door, pulling to rip aside a panel of some sort. Underneath was an electronic circuit of some kind, presumably the one that was holding the door closed. I couldn't make head nor tail of it, but Recyclo seemed to know what he was doing, and he formed another blade to begin slicing and stabbing at various wires and components. I hoped he would work fast.

A sound made me spin back around to face our enemies. The insectoid had leapt from the ceiling to grab on to one of the walls, his incredibly adherence holding him fast. He bared his teeth and gave a loud hissing sound, before letting go of the wall and springing once more, this time straight towards us.

"Pyro, get down!" Cassandra yelled.

Our leader dropped to the floor without hesitation, seconds before the insectoid's clawed hands scythed at the air where Pyro's head had just been. Pyro rolled over to get to his feet, and launched another sheet of flame towards the enemy. The insectoid reacted just in time to leap clear, adhering himself to the wall once more. The huge mutant had no such luck and gave an angry roar as the fire surrounded him. To our dismay, however, he absorbed the flames and appeared to be completely unharmed.

"Time for a Plan B, I think," said Vertigo.

Gemini tightened her muscles and gave a pained gasp as her twin materialised into existence beside her. I took a step forward, blocking the giant mutant's path towards the girls. The insectoid mutant, still hugging the wall, gave an angry hiss and drew back his head to spit another gob of acid in my direction. Cassandra's hand was already on my arm and pulling me out of the way. Pyro sent another ball of fire at the giant, but again it didn't seem to have any effect.

Another explosion shook the laboratory, throwing everyone except Vertigo and the insectoid to the ground. At the far end of the room, more noises could be heard…it seemed another of the genetically engineered mutants was loose. Pyro took command of the situation, "All right – Gladiator, Cassandra, Gemini – go after the giant. Vertigo, you and I will take the bug. We've got to neutralise them before any more get out. Recyclo, hurry it up."

"Almost ready," came Recyclo's voice.

I ran forward to tackle the huge mutant, ducking easily under his clumsy punch, and twisting to kick him in the ribs. Gemini's twin had run round behind him, but the giant reached down to pluck her off the ground, and hurled her across the laboratory. Gemini herself doubled up in pain as her twin smashed into the opposite all, and the giant returned his attention to me. A swipe from his massive arm would have sent me flying if I hadn't dodged in time. I feinted with my left fist, then drove my right fist into his jaw. He recoiled, and retaliated angrily, picking up a broken piece of machinery from the floor and dashing it into the ground just where I had been standing before Cassandra pushed me to safety. I gave her a quick kiss before ducking another of the mammoth punches, and socking my fist into his face once more. He stumbled, lost his balance, and fell on to his back, stunned and disoriented. I moved forward to finish him.

A hand dropped on to my shoulder, a hand that felt as thin and dry as paper. Caught by surprise I whirled round to find myself staring into an unfamiliar face. It had to be the third escaped mutant, and again it bore no resemblance whatsoever to the others. This one was skeletally thin with eyes that peered out of cavernous sockets, and skin that appeared as old and wasted as a corpse. My initial shock kept me from reacting in any way, and the skeletoid's hand moved to touch the exposed skin of my neck. I made as if to shake him off, when a jolt like an electric shock ran through my body. I gasped with pain, and couldn't move a muscle. The skeletoid's eyes widened with some kind of demonic glee as his power, whatever it was, overcame me. I felt – I couldn't describe it – drained was the only word. It was as if all my strength and power was being stolen away by his touch. He smiled – a terrible, skull-like apparition that revealed sharp, fanged incisors – and moved his mouth towards my neck.

In desperation my survival instincts took over and I went berserk, pushing the vampire mutant away from me, sagging weakly as I felt the loss of the strength he had stolen. I would recover it before long – but would it be quick enough to prevent him from attacking me a second time? I chanced a glance over my shoulder. The giant mutant was still on the floor. Gemini was still curled in pain. Pyro and Vertigo were unsuccessfully chasing the insectoid, who was leaping from floor to wall to ceiling, always keeping just out of their reach. Cassandra was watching me nervously, waiting for her foresight to warn her of any impending danger she should protect us from. I turned back to the skeletoid. He advanced on me, and I prepared to use my flamethrower attack. A body that dry ought to burn like anything. I took a deep breath and felt the tingling sensation in my lungs.

A jet of fire burst from the vampire's throat, and I was only just able to react in time to leap backwards and avoid it. Cassandra hurried over to help me to my feet. As we watched, the skeletoid gave another demonic grin and vanished from view. For a moment both of us were too shocked for any logical thought, then it made sense.

"He stole my powers!" I cried. "Where the hell is he?"

The now-invisible skeletoid could have been anywhere, preparing to breathe fire at any one of my friends. In panic I looked around in all directions, desperately trying to get a glimpse of a camouflaged body – he wouldn't be completely invisible. Now I knew what it was like to fight me – I didn't like it one bit. Nor did I understand what had happened. How could the skeletoid have stolen my powers? That was Rogue's mutation! Two mutants couldn't be born with the same power – could they?

Cassandra suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards, seconds before another jet of flame came searing through the air out of nowhere. I looked for any sign of the invisible power-stealer, but there was none. Fine. Two can play at that game. I called upon my own camouflage mutation, and my body disappeared from view.

"I've done it," came Recyclo's voice, calm and emotionless as ever.

I looked over. The electronics in the door panel had been suitably butchered and rewired, and the door was now sitting invitingly open.

"I can't guarantee it'll stay open long," he said.

"Go!" I urged Cassandra. "I'll cover you!"

She began hurrying towards the door, and I followed close behind her, ready to protect her from any attacks. Gemini was on her feet, hobbling painfully and slowly to the exit, and I ran over to scoop her up in my arms. Vertigo and Pyro were approaching at a run, keeping a wary eye behind them for any mouthfuls of acid that might suddenly come flying at them. As we went, I heard another explosion from the back of the room – a fourth mutant had escaped. Recyclo was first through the door, and the rest of us followed as quickly as we could. Not a moment too soon either, as the moment the last of us – Pyro – had hurried through the door, it slid across once more to block the way. Each of us – except Recyclo – breathed a visible sigh of relief.

"Thank you," said Gemini softly, as I put her back on her feet.

She pecked me on the cheek, either unaware or uncaring that Cassandra was right beside me.

"So what just happened?" I asked in confusion. "Who were those guys?"

Pyro got his breathing back under control, "I told you. They must be part of the government project that's going on here. It must be the humans' answer to what they call the 'mutant problem': build an army of their own mutated soldiers to wipe us out."

"And are we surprised?" said Vertigo sarcastically. "Human scum aren't terribly unpredictable, are they?"

"I still don't get it," I said. "One of those guys stole my powers – his mutation worked the same way as Rogue's. That's impossible, isn't it? I mean, for two mutants to have the same power?"

"Maybe he's Rogue's son or something," suggested Gemini.

Pyro shook his head, "Rogue can't have children."

"Why not?"

"Well, think about it."

"Oh yeah."

"I think the most likely explanation is that they're implanting ordinary humans with mutant powers," said Pyro. "It's not unheard of. It happened to Gladiator's father. Presumably they've got hold of a sample of Rogue's DNA, and used it to implant her power in another."

"What about those other two?" asked Cassandra.

Pyro frowned, "I can't be sure. The insectoid reminded me of Toad. Obviously not exactly the same, but a mutation will affect different people's bodies in different ways. This mutant shares some characteristics with Toad, but not all. The jumping ability, the spitting, the sticking to walls – they've got that in common."

"And the big guy?"

"I don't know. Sabretooth, perhaps. I can't be certain – I never actually met either Toad or Sabretooth. They were part of the original Brotherhood, as you know. They were killed by the X-Men before I joined. Anyway, we can discuss this later. We can't stop now. We've got to keep going. The others should still be at the entrance. We'll go back to the helicopter, detonate the explosives, and then head for home."

"What about the three stooges in there?" Vertigo demanded, waving his hand at the closed door we'd just come through.

"Four," I corrected. "Another one escaped just before we left."

"We leave them," said Pyro. "They're mutants, so we've no right to kill them except if it's unavoidable self defence. Once they find out what's happened to them, and what the humans were trying to do to them, they'll probably seek revenge. They are not necessarily our enemies. They may even become our allies."

I raised my eyebrows. Try as I might, I couldn't quite picture that happening. But then again – maybe Pyro was right. He usually was. He seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to the mutant-human conflict.

"Let's go," he said.

We followed him to the elevators, and as we ascended to the ground floor, Pyro tapped his communicator, "Mole? Mole, do you copy? Scarab? Atlas? Dammit, where are you guys?"

"They're probably having a nap," said Vertigo.

"They'd better not be. If I leave them on guard, I expect them to do the job!"

We went past the computer room and found ourselves heading for the front door. When we got there, there was nobody in sight. Our friends who should have been guarding the entrance, were nowhere to be seen.

"Where the hell are they?" Pyro said impatiently. "We haven't got time to mess around!"

He tapped his comm. again, "Mole! Atlas! Scarab!"

They didn't respond. Pyro sighed angrily, "All right, we'll have to start looking for them. If they're in the computer lab looking at porn, they'll be sorry. OK, there's six of us, so we'll split up into pairs and start searching. Begin on the ground floor and – "

A noise from behind us interrupted him. In surprise we turned.

"Hello, John," said Cyclops.