Chapter Four

"Pyro wants us to go straight to these co-ordinates and see what we can find," said Vertigo, as he switched off the helicopter's communicator. "I've programmed it into the navigational computer and activated the auto-pilot – it should take us about half an hour to get there. He also said there's an army munitions bunker near that position, which might be where the Horsemen are heading. Did you find anything else on the computers?"

Recyclo glanced at him, "Nothing you didn't learn from Mystique. From what I could tell, however, it seems certain there aren't any mutants being held there in the same way that Gemini and – in the same way that Gemini was."

"That's good," I said. "I'm confused about the Horsemen, guys. Are they on our side or are they our enemies or what?"

"I don't think we can pass judgement until we've actually seen them in action," said Vertigo. "What they did before happened while they were under Van Gaarde's control. Under their own choices, we don't know what their plans are."

"What if they join with the X-Men? That could tip the balance against us."

"I was thinking that too," Vertigo admitted. "They did fight the X-Men before, so that should hopefully cloud the possibility of an alliance."

Recyclo interrupted, "Even if they do form an alliance, it won't make a difference. We've already won. The humans are dying and the vaccine is destroyed. The X-Men and the Horsemen could join together and wipe us out, and it wouldn't make a difference. It wouldn't bring the humans back. The X-Men will realise that."

"Yeah, right," Gemini spat. "As if anything remotely like logic would ever enter their heads. You heard what those kids said when we went to their mansion, what the X-Men brainwashed them into believing. It was 'the Brotherhood are evil' and 'we must destroy the Brotherhood' from everybody in sight."

A slight exaggeration, but I knew what she meant. She went on furiously, "Don't they realise we're just fighting to keep ourselves alive?! All of us in the Brotherhood would be dead if the humans had had their way! What do the X-Men expect us to do, just sit still and allow ourselves to be killed?!"

"Who knows or cares what they think?" said Vertigo. "We know we're doing what's right for our species. And if somebody gets in our way, we push them gently but firmly aside. That's what we've done."

I nodded, "He's right. We've won. There's no reason to hate them any more. I'm prepared to forgive them once they acknowledge that we've saved them and the rest of our race."

Recyclo's hand twitched slightly and he curled it into a fist, "I would not be so compassionate towards them."

"I'll never forgive them," Gemini said angrily. "I was stuck in that laboratory for nearly two years before Pyro saved me! The X-Men must have known I was there, if their super-telepath Xavier was everything he was supposed to be. They knew I was there and they just didn't care! Of course, if I'd been human, they'd have moved heaven and earth to set me free."

Recyclo nodded. I said, "I was going to suggest to Pyro that we do something to rescue the kids from the mansion. They're being brainwashed into hating their own kind, and we can't let the X-Men do that. Admittedly I don't think we have the capabilities to look after the kids ourselves, but we must be able to find somewhere safe they can live."

"I agree," said Vertigo. "I'll mention it to him when we get home."

There was little or no conversation for the remainder of the journey. Gemini seemed moody, Vertigo was thinking hard about something, and Recyclo was…well, Recyclo. This time I didn't mind the silence so much. There was plenty on my mind. I had thought that with our victory over the X-Men, all my worries and fears would fall away. I was wrong. Strangely, it was as if nothing had really changed. Maybe it would take time to set in. Maybe when the human population really started to drop, it would begin to sink in. Of course, we still had worries. The spy. The Horsemen. Van Gaarde. The X-Men. And there was still this nagging uncertainty deep inside me, the feeling that we were doing the wrong thing. I had tried to reason with my doubts, to convince myself that we were doing the right thing, but it hadn't made the doubts go away. It had pushed them down, quietened them a little, but nevertheless they remained, like a stubborn itch at the small of my back which I just couldn't reach. I tried to ignore them, tried to think about something else, but they wouldn't go away. Maybe I should talk to Pyro; he could probably help clear up my confusion. Not that I was particularly comfortable at the prospect of telling him my doubts, especially while he was on the hunt for the spy.

We arrived at the co-ordinates Mystique had given us, and Vertigo flew a tight circle over the area while we looked around for any evidence of the Horsemen.

"Look," said Gemini. "Over there, that must be the military bunker Pyro told you about."

"That must be the Horsemen's target," said Vertigo. "I can see soldiers standing on guard outside, so presumably they haven't attacked yet. I'll touch down and we can keep an eye out to see what happens."

A few minutes later, the helicopter concealed within some trees, we were approaching the military bunker from the east, looking for somewhere we could hide and keep watch. There was a small sort of sunken recess in the ground at the edge of the woods, and Vertigo seemed to be heading that way. We followed him, and the four of us ducked down inside the small crevice.

"I hope something happens soon," Vertigo said. "We're only assuming the Horsemen are here to attack this bunker. They could be sitting around discussing capitalist strategies in a free-market economy for all we know."

"I still don't understand why these guys are attacking army bunkers anyway," said Gemini. "Are they looking for something? Are they trying to weaken the military to stop them from hurting mutants?"

"Did you ever turn up anything on the online storage records?" Vertigo asked.

He was addressing Recyclo, who answered, "The first bunker they attacked was mainly used for storage of explosives – bombs and missiles, that kind of thing."

"They're going to blow up something?" Gemini guessed.

I shrugged, "I dunno. If only we could find out exactly what it is they want, what the main goal is that's driving them. Are they going to attack somebody or something? Are they just trying to protect themselves? Is it something else entirely? We really need to know what they're planning, in case it threatens us or any other mutants."

Recyclo interrupted. "Something's happening."

Vertigo looked over, "Oh, perfect timing. Trust my expert piloting skills to get us here just at the right time. Haven't I always – "

"Vertigo?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

We watched as the scene unfolded before us. A truck had just pulled up to the front of the bunker, and three or four soldiers were going over to investigate. From the back of the truck two figures had just jumped on to the ground. I recognised them as two of the Apocalypse mutants: the giant War and the insectoid Pestilence. I could make out two shapes in the front seats; those had to be the other two Horsemen, Famine and Death. The soldiers had now got close enough to see the Horsemen, and had clearly realised that all was not well. The humans tensed, I could hear shouts, weapons were raised – then Pestilence struck. Spitting a mouthful of acid at one of the soldiers, he leapt through the air to land on top of a second, his claws ripping into the man's chest. Before the other two grunts could react, the insectoid spat acid at one of them and leapt to kill the fourth with his claws. The two soldiers who had been spat upon writhed on the ground for a few seconds, clutching at their faces, then they fell still. I assumed they were dead.

The truck doors were thrown open, and the ghost-like Death glided elegantly out of the vehicle. From the other side came Famine, and the four of them began heading towards the bunker's entrance. I heard another shout, and another group of soldiers, six or more, were hurrying round the side of the building towards the Horsemen. Death raised a hand to give some kind of signal, and the other three Horsemen began to move. Pestilence spat acid at one soldier while War lifted one of the dead grunts, launching the corpse at the approaching humans. It knocked two of them to the ground, but the others recovered quickly and ducked into defensive positions, opening fire on the Horsemen. I watched as bullets hit Death in the head, chest, arms and legs, and I expected him to fall to the ground dead.

"What the hell…" Vertigo breathed.

Death was still standing. He did not appear to be hurt in any way, and as one the soldiers checked their weapons, making sure they were indeed firing live ammunition. Presumably this was the case, as they opened fire once more. Death's body was riddled with bullets a second time, yet he did not even flinch. Pestilence and War had run behind the truck for cover, while Famine and Death moved forward. Some of the humans had begun firing at Famine, but he did not appear to be suffering any ill effects either. The soldiers began falling back; one of them pulled the pin out of a grenade and flung it at the two Horsemen. Instinct made me duck slightly, even though I was too far away to be in any danger, and I could feel Gemini moving closer to me, her breath hot on my neck, as the explosive went off.

From amidst the clouds of swirling sands and dust, Famine and Death walked on unharmed. The grenade had not harmed them in the slightest. The humans clearly began to panic, some of them fleeing, some of them firing blindly at the approaching mutants, some of them throwing down their weapons and pleading for mercy. The Horsemen were not impressed. War grabbed two soldiers and snapped them in half; Pestilence sliced another one open; Famine put his hand around the neck of another, draining the man's life force. Then Death struck. From within the folds of his black coat came a hand as white as chalk, shooting out to seize the throat of the last remaining soldier. The man clawed at the hand, trying to pull free, his movements frenzied and desperate. Suddenly he stopped, his body jerking to a rigid halt. Was Death choking him to – well, death? No. He couldn't be. His grip on the man's neck was still loose, his muscles were not taut. Yet the man was dying, I could see that. What was happening? Was this Death's unknown mutation? I watched as the man's body slowly changed, seeming to almost decay, then Death threw the body aside and shouted something to the other Horsemen. The four of them began moving towards the bunker entrance once more.

"What the hell was that?" Gemini demanded. "What happened?"

"Sshh!!" Vertigo hissed. "Keep your voice down!"

"Don't be stupid; they can't hear us over this distance!"

"We don't know powers they have or what they're capable of, so keep quiet, OK?"

Gemini fell silent and we went back to spying on the Horsemen. Whatever resistance they had encountered inside the bunker had obviously not kept them long, as they emerged from within only a few minutes later. War was carrying a pair of heavy containers marked with military emblems; we could only guess at what was inside. Pestilence ran on ahead to fully open the back doors of the army truck, and War stowed his burdens inside. Famine and Death were close behind, and they climbed into the front seats once more. As we watched, the other two Horsemen got into the back with the containers, the truck was thrown into gear and it began to pull away. When it had disappeared out of sight, Vertigo looked at the rest of us and said, "OK. So they're stealing supplies from the army. From the way they killed those soldiers, it's obvious they're no longer affiliated with the government or the military in any way. They're clearly working under their own volition now."

"I wonder what's in those crates…" Recyclo thoughtfully.

"Dunno," said Gemini. "Probably guns and stuff. Maybe they're trying to start up some kind of terrorist movement. Do you think they're going to try and wipe out the humans too, for what the scum did to them?"

I shook my head slowly, "No, it can't be weapons. Mutants don't use weapons; we don't need them. We've got our powers. You saw them fight just now; they have no need of guns. Unless it was explosives or something…"

"What do they want all this stuff for? Maybe they've betrayed the government and they're working for a foreign country. Maybe they're working for the Russians and stealing US army equipment to start a war."

"Nah. The Russians are in the middle of trying to land a cosmonaut on Mars. They can't afford to go to war with America now. More likely the Horsemen are working for a terrorist group, or like you said, trying to start their own."

"We can only guess," Vertigo decided. "I'll contact Pyro and see what he says. In the meantime I think we'd better get back to the helicopter. When the humans find out about this, they'll send more soldiers to discover what happened. We don't need to be here when that happens."

"Aren't we going to follow the Horsemen?" she asked.

"What, and make them suspicious? There's no need. If we want to find them again, we can just ask Mystique. She can use the machines in the lab to pinpoint their location, remember."

Gemini picked herself up from the ground, brushing dust and dirt from the seat of her dress, "All right, let's go."

We headed back to the chopper and Vertigo picked up the communicator straight away, entering the island's frequency, idly tapping his fingers on the chopper's control panel as he waited for a response. I strapped myself into the seat behind him, and smiled at Gemini as she sat down next to me. Recyclo walked to the rear of the helicopter to sit as far as possible from the rest of us.

"Weird," said Vertigo, frowning slightly. "I'm not getting any response. Pyro's not answering."

"Maybe the communicator's broken," Gemini said.

"Could be. Recyclo, you wanna take a look?"

Our electronics expert silently rose from his position at the back, and walked forward to open up the control panel, exposing a clump of wiring and circuitry, the complexity of which scared me just to look at. Recyclo poked at a few of them, his grey eyes travelling emotionlessly over the comm. system's innards, then he replaced the cover and said, "It's in perfect working order."

"Pyro must not be answering," I said.

Gemini shrugged, "Well…maybe he's taking a shower or something."

Vertigo shook his head, "In that case the communicator should have automatically switched to the speaker in his private bathroom. If he isn't answering it's because he isn't there."

"Then the rest of them must have gone off somewhere else," she said. "Pyro said they would stand ready if necessary, didn't he?"

"Yes, to fight against the Horsemen if they did something to threaten mutants. We've just seen them and they weren't doing anything of the kind."

She snapped, "All right, what's your explanation?"

"I dunno. We'd better get back to the island as fast as we can."

"You think something's wrong?"

"Let's just say I don't want to take any chances."

He quickly performed his pre-flight checks, then hit the controls and the helicopter began to lift into the air. Turning to face north east, we began on our way back home.

"Pyro, come in. Pyro, do you read me? This is Vertigo. Pyro? Anybody down there?"

We were within visual range of the island now, and as we got closer it gradually changed from a faint speck on the horizon into a recognisable shape. The communicator, however, remained silent. There was no response from Pyro, wherever he was and whatever he was doing.

"I don't like this," Gemini said nervously. "Do you think something's happened to him? Oh, I hope he's OK…"

To my mind the obvious explanation was that Pyro and the others were away somewhere, but I couldn't think where that might be. We knew the Horsemen hadn't done anything to provoke a response, and there was no other reason for the rest of them to leave – was there? Even if there was, they would surely have sent a message to let us know they were leaving. Had something gone wrong on the island? Suddenly it came to me. The traitor. The spy, the X-Man in disguise, must have done something. My brain began imagining all sorts of horrendous possibilities: Pyro and the others could have been attacked, even murdered. My fear rose and I tried to block out the sudden images of what Cassandra and Acceleratus would look like lying dead in pools of their own blood.

Another thought occurred to me. What if it was Crusader? What if she had broken loose somehow – what if the traitor had freed her? As much as I respected Pyro and my friends, I knew they wouldn't have stood a chance against her. If she had got out of her cell, she would have been able to take over the island in seconds without me to stop her. What would she have done? Would Crusader have killed Pyro and Cassandra and the rest? No. She wasn't that kind of person, but still…she was an X-Man, and nobody could fathom what made them do what they did. Was she on the island now, in control, setting plans in motion to save the human race? I didn't know. We wouldn't know until we touched down on the island. I knew Vertigo was flying as fast as possible, but still it felt as slow as treacle. The island was growing bigger and bigger in our forward view-port, and I knew it was only going to take minutes to get there, but in my worried and anxious state it felt like years.

Before too long, however, we were close enough to make out the features of the island: the sanctuary building; Atlas' gardens; the cliff-tops; the beach; the aircraft pad where our jet sat motionless. So that meant they were still on the island. Suddenly I felt another terrible fear growing inside of me. Something was wrong – badly, terribly wrong. At first I couldn't see what it was, then it struck me with a deadening dread and a confounding simplicity: there were two jets sitting on the pad, not just one. Outside the second one stood a cluster of figures dressed in black.

The X-Men had arrived on the island.