Chapter Eleven:

"So what do we do?" I asked.

Neither Vertigo or Recyclo said anything. They were the oldest among us, and the rest of us were looking to them to take over while Pyro was not around, but neither of them seemed particularly keen to step forward and take command. Recyclo rarely spoke at the best of times, and Vertigo wasn't known for his commitment to making sure things got done. Eventually he shrugged, "I don't know…I suppose we have two options. Either we go on without Pyro, or we try and get him back somehow. Getting to him wouldn't be easy – and there's no guarantee that the X-Men haven't just killed him – but still, I think we're much weaker without him."

"Yeah, I think we should try to rescue him," I agreed.

Vertigo looked over, "Recyclo?"

Recyclo's expression didn't change as he said, "I think we could manage without him. Going to the X-Men's base would be risky."

"But we owe to him to at least try," I argued. "I mean, after everything he's done for us – "

"You're looking at it from a sentimental point of view," said Recyclo. "I'm only thinking of the practicalities."

I retorted angrily, "Pyro would do the same for any of us if we – "

Sounds from behind interrupted me, and Gemini ran into the cockpit; presumably she had just woken up.

"Where's Pyro?" she demanded.

"He isn't with us. He stayed behind," said Vertigo.

"What?! What are you talking about?!"

"He stayed behind. He was hurt and he didn't have time to get on board."

"You left without him?!" she gasped.

Vertigo sighed, "I didn't have any choice. He – "

"You bastard!" Gemini spat. "If he was hurt we should have helped him! How dare you take us away without going back for him!"

Her anger overflowed and she lashed out at Vertigo. His hand moved impossibly fast to catch hers before she could hit him, and he said, "Gemini, listen to me. There was nothing I could do. Pyro was using his remote control to activate the jet's auto-pilot. He wanted us to get away as quickly as possible, without waiting for him. It wasn't my decision – it was his."

"But they'll kill him!" she sobbed. "The X-Men hate mutants! They'll kill him! We've got to go back!"

"Gemini – we can't."

"Vertigo, please! We can't leave him! Take us back – we'll just have to fight them again!"

Vertigo shook his head, "Gem – you've been asleep for nearly an hour. We're nowhere near Edinburgh any more. In fact, we're almost home. We don't know where Pyro is, so there's no point in going back."

"But we've got to help him!" Gemini cried. "He means everything to me! He's given me everything I have! We've got to help him!"

"Agreed. But there's no point running straight in and trying to break him out. We've got to think it through."

"Why can't we just go to the X-Men's school, fight them, and then get him out?"

Vertigo sighed, "Because Gladiator's sister would destroy us. You saw how fast she can move. With Pyro we'd have a fair to decent chance of standing up to them – without him we haven't got a hope."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"I don't know – I really don't know. We'll have to think of something. For now I just want to get back to base and talk things over, so we know exactly where we stand."

"But we will go and help Pyro? You promise?"

"Of course."

I suspected that Gemini would have gone to try and rescue him regardless of what the rest of us said, even if she had to go alone. It seemed that wasn't going to be the case; I felt sure that the rest of the Brotherhood would be just as anxious to help one of our own. Even the lazy, uncaring Vertigo wanted to go after Pyro. Recyclo didn't seem so keen, but – well, he simply had no notion of loyalty, or gratitude, or friendship. It was as if he was incapable of thinking in anything other than the most cold, mathematical way possible. He was like a machine…on the surface at least. What was he really like inside? Was he just as rigid and emotionless and – well, metallic was the word that came to mind. Strange…it was a bizarre way to describe a person, but that was the word I would have used to describe Recyclo: cold, unbending, lifeless…metallic. Even his hair, which must have once been blond, had begun to grey. It wasn't the grey that a person's hair might turn naturally with age…it was a dull, metallic grey that must have been triggered by his mutation.

"We're coming in to land," said Vertigo, breaking into my thoughts, his hands moving to the controls as he switched off the auto-pilot.

I sat back in the seat at the rear of the cockpit, and closed my eyes, hoping against hope that we could find some way of rescuing our leader without risking things becoming even worse.

Once we had touched down, and were back inside the sanctuary, we prepared to gather together in the briefing room. The little mutant was still asleep, so Cassandra and I took her to our room, and tucked her into Cassie's bed. We stood there together for a few moments, looking down at the child's sleeping form, and Cassie said hesitantly, "You know, I just had the weirdest feeling. Putting her to bed like that, and just standing here…for a second it was almost as if she was our daughter, and we were her mum and dad."

I didn't know what to say to that, "Well – I suppose we are, in a way. I mean, we're probably the closest thing she's got to a mum and dad right now."

"Yeah, but I just felt kind of…I dunno what the right word is…broody, perhaps? I just felt, just for a second, how it might feel to have my own child, to be able to look after her and protect her and tuck her into bed and watch over her when she's asleep."

"You – you want to have children?" I asked.

She looked up at me, "Yeah…I would. Someday, I mean. Like, when I get married."

"You want to get married?"

Cassie frowned, "You mean married to you? Or just married to someone?"

"To me."

A small, slightly embarrassed smile crossed her face, "Gladiator – is that a proposal?"

"Well…yeah…I guess."

Her eyes widened, and she licked her lips nervously, "Well, I love you, so……I suppose the answer is yes. But we can't get married until we're sixteen."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's the law, isn't it?"

I shrugged, "It's the humans' law. When they're gone we can follow our own rules. I think as long as you love somebody, you should be able to get married at any age."

"Then let's get married."

I took her in my arms and kissed her, holding her close to me, feeling the warmth and vitality of the girl who was my love. I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with her. Even though there was a huge gap in my heart where Marina had been, a gap that would never be filled or healed, I still loved Cassandra with heart and soul, and would love, honour and protect her for the rest of our days. I kissed her again.

We were interrupted as the door was pushed open, and Gemini's voice came, impatient and sarcastic, "Oh, why I am not surprised? Can't you two keep your hands off each other for five seconds? We're in the briefing room waiting for you."

She left the room, and with a last glance at the sleeping child in Cassie's bed, we went after her. When we got to the briefing room, the others were already there and, as Gemini had said, were clearly waiting for us. Vertigo was standing – well, leaning against the wall – at the front of the room, and as we sat down he said, "OK. We all know what the situation is. We've lost Pyro and we don't know his condition. All we know is that the X-Men must have captured him. What they did with him, we can only guess. The plan seems to be that we go to the X-Men's school and try to get him out. We haven't worked out the details of how we're going to do it, but hopefully somebody will think of something. First of all though – look, I'm not our leader and I'm not trying to be. I can't order any of you to do anything. If anyone doesn't want to be part of a rescue attempt, I can't force you to be."

Gemini looked around the room angrily as if she was daring anybody not to want to rescue Pyro. Cassandra said, "I think somebody should be made leader while – I mean, until Pyro's back. I don't think this kind of thing really works in a democratic way. Someone needs to take charge, temporarily."

"Well, don't look at me," said Vertigo.

"Who's the oldest?" asked Scarab.

"I am," said Recyclo.

Gemini shook her head, "No thanks. I'd rather have a leader who actually cares whether I live or die."

"You think I don't care?"

"Well, you don't, do you?"

He said nothing. Vertigo sighed heavily, "All right, shut up, both of you. If nobody else wants to do it, then I guess I'll take command for now, if I really, really, have to."

"Too much like hard work, is it?" I said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up," he said. "All right, as new leader, my first decision is – "

Mole's head jerked up, "Wait a minute! Did you hear something?"

"What?"

"Sshh! I heard something!"

We fell silent. For a few moments there was no noise, and I was about to tell Mole to get his ears cleaned out – then we all heard the sound.

"It's somebody moving about," whispered Gemini.

"Maybe it's that little girl," said Scarab.

Cassandra shook her head, "No – she was fast asleep when we left her a minute ago."

"Well, who else could it be?" Atlas said nervously. "I mean, nobody else is on the island, right?"

Nobody replied. He pressed, "Right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Cassie. "It must be the girl. She must be looking for us. I'll put her back to bed."

I still wasn't convinced that it was the little mutant making the noise. It had definitely been the sound of a person, but it hadn't been the light footsteps of a small girl. Or had it? Was my mind playing tricks on me? Could I have imagined the sound? No, of course not – we'd all heard it. It was probably completely harmless. But still…

"I'll go with you," I said.

No-one objected, and the two of us got up to leave the room.

"It sounded as if she was in the kitchen," said Cassie.

We turned left and headed down the corridor that led to the kitchen/living room area. As we went, we heard the sound again – it was definitely somebody moving around, and again it sounded far too loud to be the little girl. But as Atlas had said, who else could it be? Nobody else could be on the island. Or could they? Could some human have got lost and wandered in here? Nah – the island was miles from the mainland.

"Hi!" Cassandra called as we entered the kitchen, then whispered to me. "Gosh, we don't even know her name."

"Where are you, sweetie?" I asked.

There was no response, but in the darkness we could see a figure moving across the living room towards us. It looked a lot taller than a child – or was that my imagination again?

"It's not her," I whispered.

Cassie nodded, and instinctively we drew slightly closer together. Who was this person? How had they found their way here? Were they about to attack?

"Who are you?" I asked.

The figure stepped forward, into the light from the corridor outside.

"Pyro!" I gasped. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Pyro said nothing as he approached us, his usual confident smirk in place. Cassandra asked, "Are you all right? How did you escape from the X-Men?"

He stopped, and looked at me curiously.

"Pyro?"

As I spoke, a very strange thing happened. Pyro's entire body began to change, his appearance warping, as his face and his clothes morphed into those of another. I stared with shock as the transformation was completed, and where Pyro had stood a minute ago, there was now a tall, slender, blue-skinned, red-haired woman who…didn't appear to have any clothes on. I had never seen her before – I could only assume she was a mutant – but who was she, and what was she doing here? I assumed a defensive posture, uncertain whether or not she was an enemy. Cassandra, however, clearly recognised this person, as she relaxed and her body sagged with relief.

"Mystique!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were dead!"

"No, I'm not dead," the blue woman replied. "The humans haven't killed me yet."

"I don't understand. Where have you been? Pyro said you were dead!"

"Yes. He's the reason I'm here."

Cassie frowned, "I don't understand."

"You will. Take me to the others and I'll explain."

"OK. This way."

But the woman named Mystique did not move right away. She looked at me, suspicion crossing her face, "You remind me of somebody…your face…your voice…"

"He's a Rosiçky," said Cassie.

"I was," I corrected.

Mystique's eyes narrowed, and she said to Cassandra, "Don't you know the Rosiçky family are with the X-Men?"

"This one isn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. He had a…friend – a girl – and she was shot by the humans."

I knew Cassandra wasn't comfortable with talking about Marina. I'd only ever described Marina as 'a friend', but Cassandra wasn't stupid and she had obviously worked out, or at least guessed, that Marina had been special to me in some way. I'd never told her that Marina and I had been in love. There was no need…Marina was dead and I would never see her again…it wasn't as if I was ever going to have to choose between her and Cassandra.

I followed Cassandra and the blue woman, Mystique, as we went back to the briefing room. The others looked round as we entered, and – apart from Recyclo – their expressions changed to either recognition or confusion. Clearly some of them knew who Mystique was, but some didn't. Gemini was obviously one of the ones who did, as she echoed Cassandra's words from earlier, "Mystique! I thought you were dead!"

I could see a look of suspicion crossing Atlas' face; he caught my eye and mouthed, Who's she? I shrugged. I didn't know either.

"All right, everyone, listen up," said Gemini. "For those of you who've never met her, this is Mystique, one of the original members of the Brotherhood. She – uh – I guess she disappeared a few years ago after Magneto died. I don't get it, Mystique – Pyro told us you were dead."

"I know. That's what I wanted you to think."

"But why?"

Mystique sighed, "It's – hard to explain. Actually, no, it's easy to explain, but it's hard for me to say. It's a very personal matter and I don't want to tell it to – well, sorry, but you are children."

"Give us the abridged version, then," said Vertigo.

"OK. As you know, Magneto was the original founder of the Brotherhood. You didn't all know him, but I'm sure you do know that it was his vision which drove us to fight for what we believed in. He wasn't just our leader, he was more than that, he was…I can't put it into words. It was almost as if he was the Brotherhood. I mean there was Toad and Sabretooth and me, and then Pyro, and then some of you came along, but really Magneto was everything. He was the heart and soul of everything we did and everything we believed. When he died, the Brotherhood died with him."

"No it didn't," said Mole. "We're here right now."

"As far as I'm concerned, it did," Mystique replied. "This isn't the Brotherhood. This is Pyro trying to be what Magneto was. When Magneto died I didn't just lose a friend and a leader – I lost my will to keep on fighting. I don't know if I can explain it in words. Magneto was – he had a strength. Sometimes things would get so bad that there didn't seem to be any point in going on, but as long as Magneto believed in what we were doing, and we believed in him, then it was worth going on. When he died, I lost that. I knew I could never hope to become what he was. I knew I could never lead the Brotherhood the way he had – so I left, and Pyro took over."

"So what have you been doing since he – since then?" asked Gemini.

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that I never entirely severed my links to Pyro. I've been watching him over the years, and you too, watching and waiting, just in case – well, just in case I was wrong and he could become as great as Magneto was."

"I think he is," Gemini said.

"Yes, well – you were only a little girl when you knew Magneto. I had told myself that I wasn't going to have any further part in the struggle against the humans, that my fight was gone, but still I kept watching. I followed you to Edinburgh earlier today, and I saw what happened. I decided that I had to do something. I know in my heart that Pyro isn't going to fulfil my dreams – but I want him to at least have the chance."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to help you rescue him."

"You can help us defeat the X-Men?" asked Recyclo.

"No. What I will do is stage a distraction, give the X-Men a disaster, a crisis they can't ignore. While they rush to stop the disaster, you will go to their base and rescue Pyro."

I shook my head, "What if they don't all take the bait? What if some of them stay behind? They must know that we'll try to rescue Pyro – they'll leave somebody behind to guard against us."

Mystique gave the first smile I had seen on her face, "Not if they think you're somewhere else. You forget about my mutation."

Gemini's eyes widened, "Of course."

"What if they see through the trick?" asked Mole.

"They won't," said Mystique. "As far as they know, I'm dead, remember? They'll think you're launching an attack on the humans because you're angry at losing Pyro. I'll be long gone by the time they reach the scene, and by the time they get back to their school, you and Pyro should be long gone too."

I nodded. Vertigo grinned, "Let's do it."