Chapter Ten
The humans had long since fled, and I was hurrying over towards the main group when I heard Storm shouting something to Pyro, "John! Stop! We don't want to fight! We just want to talk!"
"We don't have anything to talk about," Pyro snapped.
"Just listen to me, just for a few minutes. John – "
"I don't think there's anybody here who goes by that name."
She sighed impatiently, "All right, then – Pyro – listen to me. What you're doing is wrong!"
"You came all the way here to tell me that?" he said sarcastically.
"You know it's true. Why are you doing this? Magneto's gone, Pyro. There's no need to try and prove yourself to him any more."
"Shut up!" said Pyro angrily. "What would you know about it?! Magneto wasn't the monster you always made him out to be! He did more for mutantkind than all of you could possibly do in a hundred years!"
"You're wrong, John, and what you're doing is wrong," Storm gestured towards us. "What's worse, you're leading them down the same path. They're only children, John."
"I told you – don't call me that!" snapped Pyro, losing his cool. "And if you people are so great, why is it that the two best and brightest pupils you ever had went and joined the Brotherhood?"
Storm frowned, "You're talking about Gary…who's the other one?"
He smirked, his confidence returned, "Me, of course."
"John, we don't have time for games! Humans are dying! Thousands of them, down in South America, dying from the virus you created!"
"That was what we intended, but save your thanks until they're dead."
"I'm not thanking you! I'm trying to get some sense into your head! People are dying, John! Don't you understand? It isn't some stupid game or trick that you're playing! It's real – real pain, real suffering, and real death!"
"I know – but there won't be any of that once the humans are dead."
Storm was angry now. I sensed Pyro was deliberately misunderstanding her, just to infuriate her further. I suspected it was something he had always been good at. Storm took a moment to calm herself, then said simply, "You aren't Magneto, John. Stop pretending to be."
Pyro gave her a cold stare but made no reply. Storm looked at me instead, "Gary – don't you see that what Pyro's telling you to do is wrong? Don't you understand the value of human life?"
"Don't try and talk to me, X-Man!" I snapped. "Keep your crazy delusions to yourself!"
Storm was taken aback, and she turned to Pyro once more, speaking angrily, "I see you've successfully poisoned his mind. In my eyes there's nothing worse than a person who poisons the mind of a child."
Before Pyro could respond, Gemini yelled, "What the hell would you know about it, you human-loving scum?! If it was up to you I'd still be living as a research specimen in a genetics laboratory!! How many mutants have to die before you people wake up and smell what you're shovelling!!"
It was all Pyro could do to restrain Gemini from physically launching herself at Storm. Vertigo took hold of Gemini's arms, and as her burst of anger dissipated, her body relaxed and they let her go. Recyclo's grey eyes stared emotionlessly at Storm, and I could only guess at what was passing through his mind. Gemini demanded, "How can you people justify killing mutants to save your precious humans?! How can you kill your own kind?!
"We don't," Storm answered. "Look, I don't know what Pyro has told you about us, but it sounds as if he's lying to you. We don't kill mutants – ever."
"Right," said Pyro sarcastically. "I'll be sure to mention that to Toad next time I see him."
Storm looked away. Cassandra tugged on Pyro's arm, "Pyro, don't fall for it. She's just trying to stall you until the rest of the X-Men get here."
"You're right," he said, glancing at Storm once more. "Well, we're not going to sit around and wait for them. If they want us, they'll have to catch us."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pyro's hand surreptitiously moving inside his coat. His fingers closed on the jet's remote signaller, and he activated it.
"Time to go, kids," he said.
"John – wait," said Storm.
He ignored her, and turned to leave. We followed him, and I saw that Atlas and Mole were back. Once the crowd of humans had vanished, they must have found us.
"John!" Storm called.
Pyro looked round, "Give it up, Storm. We're not going to back down. The humans are going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it. When it's over, you'll thank us for it."
Storm looked disgusted, "Never."
"We'll see. Give my regards to the Professor."
"He's dead, Pyro."
"Oh. Well, in that case…don't."
He turned his back on her, and we walked on. In the distance I heard the sound of an aircraft approaching, and within seconds we could see the jet overhead, as it slowly dropped down and began to perform a vertical landing.
"Hmm – quicker than I thought," said Pyro.
Cassandra's eyes suddenly widened with horror. For a moment I couldn't think why, then I worked it out. A frown crossed Pyro's face as the jet touched down a few yards away from us, then Recyclo said, "That's not our jet."
"We're in trouble," said Vertigo.
I looked round once more. Nightcrawler had reappeared beside Storm, and the two of them blocked any retreat we might have made. There was no other way off the street – the only way to go was forward, and the jet lay in that direction. As the landing ramp began to descend, I realised we had been tricked, and were trapped, with nowhere to escape. There was no possibility of leaving this battle early. The X-Men clearly intended to finish us off once and for all – it was no better than I would have expected from them. After all, what were a few mutant lives to the human-lovers?
"There's no way out of here," Pyro said. "I guess we fight."
"Wait a minute!" Cassandra exclaimed. "What about – ?"
We looked over, and she gestured to the little girl mutant who was still beside her, holding her hand tightly, confused and terrified by what was going on. She drew closer to Cassandra for protection, trusting that we would be able to keep her safe. Quickly I knelt down to face the small girl, "Listen, things are going to get pretty nasty in a moment. You just stay with Cassandra, OK? She'll keep you out of harm's way. And I – I'm sorry you had to get dragged into this."
"She's a mutant. The X-Men will kill her if they can," said Gemini.
"I'll kill them first," I snapped.
"No you won't," said Pyro. "No mutant will die today."
"Oh yeah?" Vertigo retorted. "Tell that to them."
He pointed to where the other seven X-Men had appeared at the bottom of the landing ramp. Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Iceman, Shock, Shapeshifter – and Crusader. My eyes lingered on my sister as she stood to face us, her gold-pupilled eyes running over each one of us, her telepathic mind no doubt probing our thoughts one at a time.
"Pyro…she'll be trying to read our minds," I said.
"Yeah, Pyro, what do we do?" someone else asked.
Pyro flicked on his cigarette lighter, "I would have thought that was obvious. We fight."
We spread out a bit, until we were standing a few feet apart from each other. For a moment nobody was willing to make the first move. We looked at our enemies, and they looked back at us. Nine of the X-Men. Nine of the Brotherhood. Two Rosiçkys: one Gladiator and one Crusader. Perhaps it was time to see who really was the greatest.
"Pyro!" Cyclops was the one to break the silence. "We've tried to deal with you peacefully! We've tried to talk things over with you! You've left us no choice but to resort to action! This ends here!"
"Well, at least you got that bit right!" Pyro shot back.
Storm was the first one to use her power, and each of us felt the force of a steadily increasing wind on our backs. Overhead came another rumble of thunder, and I knew a lightning fork could strike us at any second. Pyro thrust out his hand, and a massive wall of flame scorched through the air towards the group of X-Men by the jet. Iceman reacted instantly, a jet of ice shooting from his fingertips to form a shield that protected him and his friends. It was just the distraction we needed to start moving. Vertigo was first, hurrying across the open ground, ducking a ruby optic ray, and sending a spinning kick into Iceman's face. Gemini had duplicated herself, and both of her were moving towards Cyclops. Scarab was jolted as a lightning strike from Shock hit his chest, but his hardy form shrugged it off and he kept going. Recyclo's hands formed two blades, and he sent them skimming through the air. Shapeshifter's body liquefied just before the blades could enter his chest, and the knives hit the ground harmlessly. Wolverine seemed to be heading for Cassandra; I hurried over to intercept him. A lightning bolt from the heavens struck the ground where I had just been standing, and I threw a furious look at Storm. Atlas and Mole were heading in her direction. I paid her no more heed. Wolverine extended his claws as he approached my girlfriend, and Cassandra hurriedly backed away, with the tiny mutant in tow.
"Leave her alone, she's just a child!" Cassie cried.
"Oh yeah? And how many human children are dead because of you?" Wolverine spat, advancing on her.
I tackled him from the side, my superior strength knocking him to the ground. I held him down, keeping his claws away from me, and snapped, "Try me for size before picking on a little girl, you coward!"
He reacted quickly, kicking me aside, and springing to his feet instantly.
"I'm still not finished with you from earlier," he snarled. "You might be Oculus' kid but you and I have got a score to settle."
"I'm shaking."
"You should be."
Wolverine struck first, slashing his claws towards my throat. I dodged to the side, grabbed his arm, and used his momentum to throw him to the ground. Angrily he rose, and raised both sets of claws, keeping his distance this time, circling round me, waiting for an opportunity to strike. My own anger began to flow in my veins. Time to show this X-Man just how much of a 'kid' I really was. Time to show him how a real warrior, a Gladiator, fought. I camouflaged myself, and he swore under his breath as my body disappeared from his sight.
"Now you see me, now you don't," I taunted him. "I'll accept your surrender any time you like."
"Don't push your luck, kid," he snapped.
I had said it just to annoy him. I knew there was no possibility of him yielding, regardless of how badly the odds might be stacked against him. He wasn't the surrendering type. His keen animal senses took over and he sniffed the air while listening intently for anything that might tell him where I was. I came in from his right, a devastating punch hitting him in the side of the head. Wolverine was thrown to the ground, his claws automatically retracting as his body wavered on the brink of unconsciousness. He managed to keep it together, and tried to rally, jumping to his feet and swiping his talons viciously in the direction the punch had come from. I had already moved over to the other side, and I hit him again. He growled with rage, and slashed the air once more; I had to duck back swiftly to avoid being sliced apart. Opening my mouth, I exhaled a huge burst of fire at him. Wolverine had to react in a flash to dive out of the way.
I looked over to check on Cassandra and the child! Damn it! Nightcrawler was on them, no doubt intent on killing the little girl, and I ran over towards them. Cassandra was desperately fending off the blue mutant's attacks, her foresight just about allowing her to deflect his fists and feet, while the child, terrified and upset, was a few feet away, sobbing and trembling, just as she had been when the humans had tried to kill her. Why did the whole world seem so intent on ending this little girl's life? The humans, and now the X-Men. What had she ever done to either of them? It gave birth to a rage that flowed freely in my blood, pushing me into a berserk passion. I grabbed Nightcrawler from behind and hurled him away from Cassandra. He twisted in mid-air, and landed perfectly on both feet.
"Gladiator!"
Cassandra reacted instantly to push me to the ground, as Wolverine's claws swiped from behind. I cursed. My berserk rage had made me lose control of my camouflage. Now my invisibility was gone, and things weren't looking quite so good. I kicked out at Wolverine, but he moved out of the way, and now he and Nightcrawler were both converging on me. I screamed, giving vent to my fury, and the demon inside me took control. Swinging one massive punch followed by another, I knocked both of them away from me. My amplified strength flung Wolverine to the ground, where he lay still. Nightcrawler instinctively tried to land on his feet, but the force of the punch had knocked off his co-ordination, and he landed awkwardly on his ankle, screaming in pain as it twisted.
Too easy, the demon exulted.
I looked up to see what else was going on. Scarab had Rogue in his grasp, and was grappling with her, trying to knock her out. Snapping her neck would have been a simple matter, but we didn't kill our own kind. Rogue's hand was reaching for his face, trying to drain him, to weaken him, and he fought to hold her off. Gemini's twin had just been struck by an optic ray, but she herself twisted out of the way and kicked Cyclops in the side of the head, trying to knock off his visor. This one seemed more securely attached, and stayed in place. Off balance, he fired another ray in her direction, but she avoided it and pushed him to the ground. Recyclo had just stabbed a knife into Shock's arm, preventing her from lifting it to use her power. She gave a scream of pain, and clutched at her wounded limb, trying to stem the flow of blood. Recyclo formed another blade and went for her other arm.
Crusader lifted one hand. Recyclo and Gemini froze. Held in place by her telekinetic power, neither of them could move a muscle. Scarab had succeeded in subduing Rogue, and as he threw her unconscious figure to the ground, Crusader's power extended to hold him motionless also. I hurried over at once. She had her back to me, and as I approached I pulled back my fist to knock her senseless. It occurred to me a second too late that Crusader would sense my presence. Even as I realised, I was already committed to my attack, and I threw the punch anyway. She spun, her hand moving up to deflect my attack, her other hand spread to push me away with a telekinetic blast. I hit the ground hard. My attack had done nothing to her – but at least she had been forced to release my friends from her power.
"Gary!" she cried.
Before she had time to say anything more, a blade from Recyclo came skimming through the air towards the back of her neck. Without turning, Crusader casually lifted her fingers, and the blade stopped in mid-air, falling to the ground. It wasn't much of a distraction, but it was all I needed. I launched myself at Crusader, hoping to overwhelm her with sheer physical strength. She didn't have enough time to concentrate on using her power to push me away; instead she jumped in the air, using her mind to lift herself up and away from the ground, avoiding me completely. She dropped to the ground, and faced me. I clenched my fists furiously, my berserk rage still thundering in my veins, and I threw a savage right-fisted punch that even Vertigo would have struggled to avoid. Crusader spun, bringing her foot up to block my fist, then kicked me in the chest, knocking me on to my back.
"Gary, stop! I don't want to fight you!"
The demon of my fury was in control now, and I rose to attack her once more. This time I took a deep breath and a searing white-hot flame leapt from my mouth towards her face. She raised both of her hands, and used her power to protect herself, the flames burning up in the air before they could reach her. I didn't give her a moment's respite, following it up with another huge punch. Crusader dodged to the side, and hit me in the side of the head with a spinning kick. I felt no pain, but I was knocked off balance and I fell on to the ground, my breath knocked out of me.
Crusader stood over me, and she was about to open her mouth and say something when a shape moved in the corner of my eye, and Gemini was on her. Both twins attacked my sister with a speed and agility I would never have been capable of, and with the perfect synchronisation that came from sharing the one mind. But it wasn't enough. Crusader was so fast it was frightening, as she ducked, turned, spun and jumped, neither twin able to land a single blow on her body. As I struggled to my feet, I saw Crusader twisting her body in a seemingly impossible mid-air manoeuvre that knocked both Gemini twins away in opposite directions.
A shadow passed overhead and I looked up. Another black jet was flying above the scene, preparing to lower itself to street level. What was this? The X-Men were all here already – who was this arriving? Then I realised – it was our jet. Pyro had signalled it, and in the heat of the battle I had clean forgotten about it.
"Pyro!" I exclaimed, looking around for our leader.
He was further down the street, doing battle with Storm. Was there some history between the two of them? I didn't know. Presumably they had known each other when Pyro had been a teenager. Atlas was there too, his power shaking the earth around Storm to keep her off balance, while Pyro barraged her with balls of fire.
"Pyro!" I yelled. "The jet!"
Whether he heard me or whether it was just coincidence that he happened to look round at that moment, I didn't know, but Pyro saw the descending aircraft and he called to the rest of us, "Everyone converge on the jet! We're getting out of here!"
It was heading straight for him, straight for the homing device in his coat pocket to be precise. I quickly looked around to see how the others were doing. Gemini was still lying on the ground from Crusader's attack. Mole was hurrying towards the jet, as were Cassandra and the little girl. Wolverine was still unconscious where I had left him, and Nightcrawler was moving about painfully on his injured leg. Shapeshifter and Shock were off to one side, where he had improvised a bandage and was tying it around her wounded arm. Rogue was still out cold, and Scarab lay unmoving beside her. I wasn't sure what had happened to him, but Iceman was nearby, checking that Rogue was OK, and I assumed he was responsible. Cyclops was hurrying to help Storm, while Vertigo and Recyclo were heading for Crusader.
"Guys! Over here!" I yelled, pointing to the jet.
It touched down on the road surface next to Pyro; Cassandra and the tiny mutant were the first on board. Mole hurried after them, and I ran over to the unconscious Gemini.
"Get Scarab!" I called to Vertigo.
Slipping one hand around Gemini's shoulders, the other under her legs, I lifted her off the ground, and began hurrying towards the jet.
"Get on board!" Pyro was saying to Atlas. "I'll hold them off until you're all in!"
"Take Gemini," I said to Atlas. "I'll help the others."
His eyes widened slightly, perhaps with excitement at the thought of carrying the body of the girl he desired, but I didn't pay him any more attention, turning back to see if anybody else needed help. It seemed not. Vertigo, Scarab over his shoulder, was running our way, with Recyclo close behind, covering them from any attack. I stepped aside and they hurried into the jet's interior. The rest of the X-Men were closing in on our position, and they would be upon us in seconds.
"All right, Gladiator, get in!" Pyro ordered. "I'll be right behind you! Tell Vertigo to take off!"
I was running up the landing ramp when it happened. From the heavens came a bolt of lightning, arcing down through the sky to hit Pyro. He screamed as the gigantic electric shock coursed through his body, hurling him to the ground.
"Pyro!" I yelled.
Storm lowered her hands and her eyes returned to normal. Our leader's body lay on the ground in front of her, unmoving. I turned and began to run back down the ramp towards him, but the ramp was already rising, the jet lifting into the air and away from him.
"What are you doing?" I yelled up to the cockpit. "Pyro's still down there!"
"I'm not doing anything; it's the auto-pilot!" Vertigo yelled back.
What? That didn't make any sense! Or did it? As the ramp retracted into its upward position, cutting off my last view of Pyro on the ground, I could have sworn I saw his hand moving from the pocket inside his coat. His remote control. Had he used it to control the auto-pilot and make the jet take off? Why would he do that? Why would he allow himself to be left behind? Obviously he wanted us to get away, but why wasn't he coming too? Was he so badly injured that he felt he couldn't make it? I didn't know.
I hurried up to the cockpit to see what was going on. Vertigo had his hands on the controls as the auto-pilot relinquished the jet to him, and Recyclo was busy ripping a section of wiring out of a panel in the wall.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Destroying the receiver for Pyro's remote signal. Otherwise the X-Men will be able to use it."
"Where are we going? We can't leave Pyro behind!"
Vertigo shook his head, "If that's what he wants, then that's what we do. He must have been overriding the auto-pilot with his remote box. If he wants us to get to safety and leave him behind, then we have to obey his orders."
"But we can't let the X-Men take him! They'll kill him!"
"You think we don't know that?" snapped Vertigo. "He did what he had to do to. If he felt he had to sacrifice himself for us – then that's what he's done."
Recyclo looked over and seemed about to speak, when Cassandra and Atlas joined us in the cockpit.
"Are we going back to the island?" said Atlas.
"Where's Pyro?" Cassie demanded.
I was about to reply, when something shook the jet, throwing each of us to the floor. Only Recyclo and Vertigo managed to stay in position.
"What the hell was that?!"
Vertigo's hands moved over the controls, "Shit. This is bad."
He glanced down out of one of the side view-ports, and swore again. The jet bucked once more, but we were ready this time and managed to stay upright. Our ascent was halted, and the aircraft began to sink from the sky, moving slowly but surely down towards the ground, as if it was being pulled down by some enormous hand. What the hell was causing this? I looked out of the view-port. Crusader stood on the ground below us, with both hands outstretched – she was using her power to pull the jet back down!
"Damn it!" I snapped.
"What do we do?" Cassandra asked.
Nobody said anything. Pyro was the one who always knew what to do, who always had the solution to the problem, who always made the right decisions to keep us safe, but he wasn't here right now. We had to do something, we had to think of something to combat my sister's power, before she had us back down on the ground, where there would be no escape, and Pyro's sacrifice would have been for nothing.
"Atlas!" said Vertigo suddenly. "Use your power to distract her! If we can break out of her power, we should be able to get far enough away before she can do it again."
Atlas nodded nervously, and put out his hand towards the ground below. For a moment nothing happened, and the jet continued to descend, then a huge section of the road surface was ripped up, and he flung it through the air towards Crusader. She turned, and reacted just in time to deflect it away from her. Her telepathic lock on the jet was broken, and we rose once more into the sky. Vertigo hit the controls for full power, and we accelerated away from the scene, leaving Crusader, the rest of the X-Men, and Pyro, behind.
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