Chapter Five
Vertigo, preoccupied with flying, hadn't noticed, but Gemini suddenly grabbed my arm and pointed, "Look!"
"I see them."
I noticed something else strange. There were more figures in black than there were X-Men. There should only have been eight of them – and yet, my eyes counted nine…ten…eleven…this was bad. Had they acquired some new acolytes to their bizarre cause? Movement in the corner of my eye told me that Recyclo was on his feet beside us, staring out of the front view-port.
"The X-Men," he stated needlessly.
"What the hell are they doing here?" Gemini demanded. "How the hell did they know where we're based?"
"The spy must have told them," Vertigo said.
"Damn it!" she shouted, then grabbed Vertigo by the shoulder. "Go faster! Get us down there now! We've got to fight them before they can kill Pyro and the others!"
"I'm going as fast I can! I'm going to have to find somewhere else to land! I can't touch down on the heli-pad with them standing there!"
"Well, whatever you're doing, do it faster!" she insisted.
The black-clad figures below had clearly spotted the approaching helicopter, and we could see them hurrying into new positions, moving in groups, obviously aware of who was in the chopper, getting ready to defend themselves.
"Where's Pyro? Why isn't he out fighting them?" Gemini cried. "I'll kill them if any harm comes to him!"
Recyclo suddenly spoke, "Vertigo, pull up over the cliffs then fly low over the grassy field. They'll lose sight of us, and Gladiator and I can jump out. You and Gemini find somewhere to land, then approach them from the other side. We'll take them from both directions and destroy them."
Vertigo nodded, "All right. Get ready!"
I unclipped the straps that held me to my seat, and Recyclo walked over to release the lock that held the door closed.
"Good luck!" Gemini called.
I was thrown off balance as the helicopter rose sharply, aiming for the cliff tops, and I just about managed to regain my footing. As we levelled out, clearing the cliffs, I could see the green shades of the grassy field whizzing past below. Vertigo reduced height as low as he dared, and Recyclo threw open the door. The chopper's speed had dropped considerably, so it wasn't as suicidal an action as it might have seemed. I didn't give it any thought – saving my friends on the island was taking precedence over my own self-preservation – and as Recyclo leaped out on to the grasses below, I did the same.
He landed gracefully, rolling over once or twice to check his horizontal velocity, and I did my best to emulate him. I landed with a bigger jolt than I might have liked, skidding along the ground until I came to a halt. It took a second or two to get my breath back, but I didn't seem to have incurred any injuries, and I got to my feet. Recyclo was already hurrying off in the direction we had last seen our enemies. I ran after him, and grabbed his arm, "Wait a minute!"
He turned, staring at me, "What?"
"We have to stop them getting my sister out! That's what they'll be trying to do! We have to head them off before they can reach the sanctuary!"
"Then do that. I'm going to favour the more direct route."
"No, we have to stick together!"
He pulled his arm free, "I do not stick together with people. I fight alone."
He turned and hurried off, not looking back, a blade appearing in each of his hands. I put him out of my mind. I had to concentrate on what was most important. I had to find Pyro and the rest. I had to make sure that Cassandra and Acceleratus were all right. I headed for the sanctuary as fast as I could. I had no idea where any of them were, but Crusader's prison seemed the best place to aim for until I had further leads. It was just as I was approaching the sanctuary building that I saw the huge jet of flame shooting into the air from the other side of the building. It had to be Pyro! At least he was still alive. I changed my path to head in that direction. As I ran around the side of the sanctuary, I activated my camouflage, ready to face whatever awaited me when I got there.
It wasn't good. Most of the Brotherhood lay on the ground, unconscious or dead. Atlas was down, as were Scarab and Mole. I thanked God when I saw Cassandra still on her feet, sheltering the tiny, terrified Acceleratus in her arms. Pyro stood over them, clearly determined to defend them to the last, blasting columns of fire out towards the invaders. There were at least four X-Men attacking my friends' last stand. Iceman, Wolverine and Nightcrawler were among them; I couldn't see who the fourth one was. As I watched, Nightcrawler teleported behind Pyro, kicking him in the back, knocking him forwards, the lighter falling from his grasp. Even as Pyro desperately grabbed for it, Wolverine was on him, holding him down, his outer claws snapping into place on either side of Pyro's neck, the middle claw remaining sheathed – for now.
"No!!" Cassandra screamed.
"Get her!" one of them yelled.
My girlfriend propelled Acceleratus away from her, "Run, Accel, run!"
The little girl didn't need telling twice, and with a blur of speed she fled away. Nightcrawler teleported to grab her, holding her struggling, screaming form.
"Let her go!" Cassandra shrieked.
Pyro fought furiously to escape, but Wolverine held him still.
"Lay a hand on that child and I'll kill you," Pyro spat.
Wolverine growled, "Shut up. I'll be the one making the demands. Where's Crusader?"
"Go to hell!"
Now the middle claw extended, slowly until it began to pierce the skin on the back of Pyro's neck.
"I asked you a question, kid. Where is she?"
Pyro remained defiant, "Ha! Can't you do anything without her?"
"That's rich coming from you. Without Gladiator you're nothing, Pyro. In fact, you're less than nothing, you're – "
He stopped suddenly, raising his head to sniff at the air. I reacted quickly, realising he must have smelled me. Hurrying across the remaining distance, I kicked Iceman to the floor then inhaled deeply and breathed a jet of flame directly towards Wolverine. Pyro's hand raised instantly, the fire obeying his command, and he hurled it at his assailant. Wolverine screamed as the flames burned into his skin, his claws retracting as he rolled on the floor to smother the fire. Pyro jumped to his feet, "Gladiator! Where are you?"
I deactivated my camouflage and materialised into his view. He smirked, "Perfect timing! Again!"
I breathed another fireball into the air, and he took control of it, firing it at Nightcrawler. The blue mutant was forced to teleport to safety, and Pyro stopped the flames before they could hurt Acceleratus. The little girl ran straight to Cassandra. My girlfriend was pointing behind me, "Look out!"
I whirled, just in time to see Cyclops with his hand to his visor, ready to fire. Diving to the ground, avoiding his optic ray by mere inches, I rolled over and breathed fire once more. Pyro launched it at Cyclops, who was forced to dive into cover. The stunned Iceman was beginning to pick himself up, and Cassandra grabbed Pyro to pull him out of the way of a clawed attack from Wolverine.
"Where are the others?" Pyro shouted.
"Uh – they're around somewhere!" I said. "What do you want me to do?"
"Help me fight them off! Cassandra, Acceleratus, get Mole and the rest to safety!"
The girls responded instantly to his command, grabbing hold of Scarab's fallen body and dragging him away from the scene of battle. He was presumably still alive if Pyro was concerned about getting him to safety. That was good, I had other things to worry about right now; the X-Men had re-grouped and were converging upon us. Cyclops was with them, as was another figure. It took me a moment to realise who it was – I had never seen him wearing their uniform before – it was Helios. So they had brainwashed him too. He had been my friend once, but there probably wasn't much left of the boy I had once known as Dominic. All I saw now was just another rabid, frothing mutant-hater. He raised his hand towards the sun, and I knew he was about to reflect its light into our eyes.
"Cover your eyes!" I said to Pyro, raising my hand to shield my sight.
He did likewise. We'd avoided being temporarily blinded by the sun, but with our eyes shut we had given the X-Men just the time they needed to move closer towards us. When I opened my eyes again Wolverine was leading the charge, all six of his claws out in readiness to attack.
"Take him," Pyro ordered.
I didn't hesitate, hurrying forward to tackle the furious X-Man. Just as we came together I activated my camouflage, and took advantage of the sudden confusion to drive my fist into Wolverine's chest. Thrown to the ground stunned, he lay still for a moment and I was ready to face the next attacker. Nightcrawler teleported out of the way before I could strike him, reappearing behind me. I spun, spitting a mouthful of flame in his direction. He teleported away once more, but Pyro took control of the fire and I left him to take care of Nightcrawler. I knew this was going to get harder before it got easier. There were eleven X-Men here – eight plus Helios, I didn't know who the last two were – and I had a feeling that the two-man defence of myself and Pyro would soon be massively outnumbered. Reinforcements presently arrived, but not for our side. Anger rose in me as I saw Shapeshifter and Shock hurrying to join the melee.
"Gary!" she cried. "You don't have to do this!"
They were persistent, I had to give them that. Some of them still seemed convinced that they could turn me back to their side. As my fury continued to escalate, I felt my camouflage drop.
"Pyro!" Cassandra screamed, pushing him to the ground just as Shock's electric bolt sizzled through the air exactly where he had been standing.
Storm and Rogue were now in attendance as well. They surrounded us, X-Men in all directions, the four of us being forced together into an ever-tightening circle.
"It's over, Pyro," said Cyclops. "Give up and we won't hurt any of your children."
"Surrender?" Pyro spat. "I'll die first."
"That can be arranged," said Wolverine.
The boiling rage inside me that had been threatening to overflow, finally did so. With an angry roar I felt myself ascending into my berserk state, my powers and my speed amplifying to their highest levels. My camouflage slipped easily back into place, and I headed for the enemies. Taken by surprise, they had no time to react, and I had punched three of them to the ground before the others responded to the new threat. They began to back away, drawing together into a group, but I was unstoppable, my invisible form flitting between them, devastating punches sending them flying through the air before they even knew I was there. We were near the edge of one of the smaller cliffs now, with nothing but a hundred foot drop to the ocean below.
Storm was the first to calm herself and make any response of note, her eyes whitening as she raised her arms and summoned the forces of nature which protected her. I felt the first gusts of a gale force wind whipping around me, and I made straight for her. The rest of the X-Men had gathered behind Storm, and as the wind increased in speed and power I was thrown off balance. I struggled to get back to my feet as the wind, now near hurricane force, swept me to the ground once more. With an angry burst of strength I jerked upright, but I had only served to throw myself further off balance and the next squall of wind lifted my entire body from the ground, hurling me over the cliff edge.
A hundred feet of air was all that was under me now as I plummeted from the cliff top to the water below. I twisted in mid-air, throwing out my arms to try and grab some part of the vertical cliff wall, but I only succeeded in scraping my arm on a jagged rock. I couldn't find any purchase and I continued to drop. Instinct kicked in and I brought my arms in towards my side, trying to make myself as hydrodynamic as possible, to lessen the impact when I hit the water. Would I survive? I had no idea. I was about to find out.
The shock of impact rendered me senseless, and the next thing I knew I was beneath the water. It hadn't occurred to me to breathe in before I hit the water, and my lungs were already straining for another mouthful of air. I had survived the drop, but I wouldn't live long if I didn't get to the surface. Struggling to get my shocked body under control, I tried to propel myself upwards. Something was wrong. I couldn't move. I was stuck. Looking down I saw that my right foot was trapped between some rocks. Pulling angrily at it, I tried to force myself free. The rocks wouldn't budge, and pulling any harder would only pull my leg apart. That was better than drowning, but still…I tried to reach down and probe with my hands, edging my foot out carefully, but I had no co-ordination underwater and my lungs were still screaming for air. In a moment or two I would begin to pass out, and then I would drown. I still couldn't work my foot free. Worse still, my arm was bleeding where I had scraped it on the rock wall, and in the murky depths of the ocean I could make out shapes flicking their way through the water towards me. Sharks.
The first of them was on me in seconds as I made another desperate attempt to pull myself clear. I knew the weakest point on a shark's body was its nose, and my instinct took over as the deadly predator approached, my fist snaking out to punch the creature's snout. The shark hurriedly turned and backed away, but I knew it would be back within seconds. At least I had bought myself that much time. It was useless, however, as I just couldn't find the way to free my trapped limb. More sharks were on me now, and I swung my fist through the water, hoping the sudden movement would scare them. It didn't appear to. The biggest shark lunged for me, its huge jaws opening wide.
From behind the shark I saw another shape, moving at incredible speed, hurtling through the water like a torpedo. A tremendous blow caught the shark on the nose, and it turned tail to flee away. The rest of the sharks, startled by this intruder, had followed suit and I was beginning to black out, my vision swimming in front of my eyes. I was only vaguely aware of this person's hands being placed on either side of my mouth and a pair of lips pressing against mine. My dizzy, half-conscious brain concluded that somebody was trying to kiss me. How strange. Not a bad way to die, really.
As fresh air was breathed into my mouth and gratefully sucked down into my lungs, I began to think more clearly. I wasn't dead yet. I had at least a minute or so more. I tugged at my leg once again, trying to force it free, but a hand on my ankle told me to stop and I relaxed. The black-clad figure was now down at the ocean floor by my trapped foot; small, gentle hands worked their way between the rocks, carefully prising my foot free. As it came loose, I felt tremendous relief spreading throughout my system, and I struck out for the surface at last. I had honestly thought I was facing my last moments alive until this mysterious figure had appeared from nowhere to pull me to safety. As I rose to the surface I looked around for my rescuer, but whoever it was had already reached the surface ahead of me, and I could see a hand reaching down to help me. I took it, and my head and shoulders sprang free of the ocean's embrace. I gasped for air and got it, four or five huge breaths bringing my body back to normal functioning, my mind recovering from the panic of nearly being drowned. I got myself under control, instinctively keeping myself afloat by treading water, and I turned to face my mysterious rescuer.
"Marina!!"
It couldn't be! It couldn't be her! I had seen her die! My entire fight was based on avenging her death!
"It's me, Gary, it – it's me."
"Marina…" I sobbed in relief, my hand reaching out to caress her face, feeling her skin: soft, perfect and untainted by death.
My hand moved down to her throat, where she had been shot by the humans, but the skin there was without blemish or scar. How was this possible? Her hand touched mine and she said, "We – we'd better get out of the w – water."
The sharks were on their way back, still following the blood that was leaking from my arm. I could see at least three dreaded dorsal fins moving along the surface of the water towards us. Marina pointed me towards the shore and we began swimming that way as fast as we could. With my larger frame and vastly superior musculature I might have expected to outstrip her easily, but to my surprise Marina was tearing out in front, already yards ahead of me. She turned round when she saw how far back I was, and swam back to my side, "Come on!"
We were moving towards the shore as fast as we could – correction, as fast as I could – but a glance backwards told me the worst. The sharks were still gaining, and there were a lot more of them now. On the beach up ahead I could see another figure in black, hurrying down to the water's edge to help us climb out.
"Stop! Go back!" I heard the figure yelling.
What? Why do that? I had no intentions of stopping and letting the sharks tear me to pieces. Then I realised. It was the sharks who were being addressed, and who were now responding to the shouted command. On the beach stood Gaia – my mother – using her unique power over animals. The sharks were gone, vanished down to the depths from which they had come, and Marina and I reached the shore unharmed. Gaia helped us out of the water and I collapsed on to the sand, breathing hard, letting my exhausted body rest for the first time in what felt like years, wanting nothing more than to lie down and sleep for a week or more. My mind wouldn't let me. I had to discover the truth. Marina was alive, and I had to find out how. She was kneeling over me now, smiling down at me with her usual nervous expression, her hand tentatively reaching to push a strand of hair out of my eyes.
"I don't understand…" I panted weakly. "You're dead…"
"No. A – Annie saved me. She – she healed me."
I closed my eyes, despair washing over me. So Crusader hadn't been lying. She hadn't been lying when she had told me that Marina was still alive, that she had saved my love, that I was acting under an illusion.
"You saved my life…" I gasped.
Marina's tiny, uncertain smile began to widen, "I – I – I love you."
Before I knew what was happening my arms were around her neck and hers around mine, the two of us drawing together to share a passionate kiss. Relief flowed out from both of us, my relief at the impossible delight of finding out she had never died, and her relief at pulling me alive from the shark-infested waters. We broke apart and rested in each other's arms, simply relieved and elated to be together once more when we'd thought that we would never lay eyes on each other again. Marina was alive…how I had wished, imagined, hoped, dreamed and prayed over the last weeks, just to see her, to hold her, to kiss her once more, just once more, just to have five more minutes with my love. And now she was here, holding me, kissing me, loving me – everything I had longed for had just come true. I sobbed tears of relief into her shoulder – then I saw the small silver X embedded into her collar.
"You joined the X-Men…" I said in surprise.
"You – you joined the Brotherhood…"
At that moment it didn't matter. Nothing did. The X-Men, the Brotherhood, the conflict between us, the invasion of the island, in that one perfect moment it didn't matter. Marina was alive – the huge wound in my heart was healed – my life was complete once more – that was all I could think of.
"You're Aqua," I guessed – I had heard the name before, but I had never realised until now who had chosen it.
"Yes, I – I am."
"What are you guys doing here?"
She looked away nervously, "We – we came to find Annie. We need her to cure the Plague."
"I destroyed the cure."
"N – not all of it. And – and there's something we need to tell you, as well."
"What?"
"It – it's – um, I – I – I don't really know to s – say it. I – I'm not very good at t – talking…as you know. I – I'll let Cyclops tell you."
"I thought you'd come here to attack us."
"N – no. We didn't come here to fight. But Pyro was – was ready for us and he started attacking the moment we g – got here. One of the Br…I mean, one of – one of your people can see into the future, r – right?"
"Yeah. Cassandra. She must have foreseen it."
Cassandra. Marina. For the first time since finding her alive, it occurred to me. I had already proclaimed my love to Cassandra and promised to spend the rest of my life with her. It had been an easy decision to make, since Marina was dead. Or at least, so I had thought. But now that I knew she was alive…and I still loved her, there was no doubt about that…what was I to do? I couldn't have both of them. Yet I loved both of them. I didn't want to have to choose. I didn't want to upset either of them, and I didn't want to be apart from either of them.
"Marina, I – " I said hesitantly. "There – there's something I've got to tell you…"
"What is it?"
"I – it's like this. You see, I – uh, I mean…no, it's – it's nothing. It doesn't matter. Never mind."
She blinked ingenuously, "OK."
How could I say it to her? How could mere words explain the depths of what I was feeling? How could I tell Marina that I loved Cassandra, when I loved both of them? How could I tell her that I loved her but I was going to spend my life with somebody else? In what way could I tell her without breaking her heart and shattering her fragile emotional state? An ordinary girl without any of Marina's trauma or mental problems would have found it hard enough. For Marina, it would be even worse. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it might do to her. I couldn't do it to her. But at the same time, I couldn't do it to Cassandra either. I loved her. I loved both of them. I wanted to be with both of them forever. But I knew I couldn't.
"Gary?"
It was Gaia. She had been standing by the shore, concentrating on calming the blood-frenzied sharks, and now she hurried towards us.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," I said.
She reached towards me and for a moment I feared attack – she was an X-Man, after all – but her intentions were otherwise. Her maternal instincts took over as she gently ran her hands over my arms, my neck, my back and my face, making sure that I wasn't lying, making sure that I had no injuries. I made no attempts to stop her. Despite everything else, she was still my mother. There was a bond there that nothing could ever break. Gaia was about to say something else, when a buzzing sound came from the communicator on her belt. She grabbed it, "Gaia here."
I recognised Cyclops' voice on the other end, "We've neutralised all of them. We're searching for Annie now; you'd better come and join us."
"On my way."
I looked at her, "Marina said you were here to find Crusader. You're still trying to cure the Plague."
"Of course we are. Gary, I don't know what happened to you, but – somewhere along the line you forgot the most important lesson we ever tried to teach you."
"What?"
"Humans and mutants aren't that different. It isn't a person's genes and physical makeup that defines who they are. It's their personality, their experiences and their feelings that make them unique. You can't just label all humans as being the same."
"That's exactly what they do to us!"
"I know it is. And it's wrong. And that's exactly the reason why we can't do the same. We have to try and teach them about us, to let them know that their prejudices are wrong."
"Our first priority should be to keep ourselves and our children from being hurt," I said. "Humans hate us so much they will try to kill us. Destroying them is the only way to preserve our species."
She sighed, "This is going to be a long argument, and we haven't got time for it now. Let's go and meet the others. We'll talk again later."
"Wait a minute," I said. "If you're here to release Crusader and make another cure, I'm not going to stand by and let it happen. I'll stand in your way and fight you if necessary. You can't deny me what I believe in."
"First listen to what it is we came to tell you. Cyclops will explain, to you and to the rest. I believe that you will come round to our way of thinking once you have heard it."
"I doubt it," I said.
Marina gently, hesitantly took hold of my hand, "Gary, please – please just listen to us. It – it's important."
"All right. For you, I'll listen to whatever it is they want to say."
"Let's go," said Gaia.
The three of us climbed the path from the beach to the sanctuary building, where I found the battle had come to an end. Vertigo was lying unconscious near the sanctuary, while an enraged Gemini struggled furiously to escape from Storm's grasp. Pyro was cornered, defenceless with no means of creating fire, while Wolverine and Nightcrawler watched him closely. Cassandra, still holding on to Acceleratus, crouched nervously close by.
"You see, we did not come here to kill you," Cyclops was saying. "We came here to talk, not to fight."
"Bullshit!" Gemini screamed.
"Where's Gladiator?" Pyro demanded. "You killed him!"
"I'm here!" I called.
Cassandra looked up at the sound of my voice, and her expression of desperation and fear turned into a smile of relief and joy. She rose to her feet, forgetting she was supposed to be a prisoner, and hurried across the ground in my direction. The X-Men reacted as one when they saw me, moving into defensive positions; Wolverine extended his claws and began making his way towards me. Cassandra ignored him, threw her arms around me and kissed me passionately. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Marina, her expression changing to one of shock and horror, and I heard Pyro shouting, "Gladiator! Finish them!"
Cassandra let go of me. I saw Gemini, renewing her struggles to escape. I saw Wolverine, approaching at a run, his claws extended towards me. I saw on either side of me the two girls I loved more than anything else in the world. I did not want to fight any more. All I wanted just now was to love them and have their love in return. I raised my hands as a gesture of peace. Wolverine slowed, and then stopped, confusion and suspicion lining his face.
"What the hell are you doing?" Pyro yelled. "I told you to destroy them! Do it!"
"No. I'm not going to fight under an illusion any longer."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"She isn't dead," I replied, indicating Marina with my right hand. "Her death was everything my fight was based on, and I was wrong about it."
Cassandra and Marina looked at each other for the very first time, their gazes locking, then Marina's eyes dropped nervously to the ground. I gestured towards the X-Men with my other hand, "There's something they want to tell us. I don't know what it is, but I'm willing to listen."
"Are you crazy?" Gemini shrieked.
"Maybe. I don't know. I don't know what to think. Everything I've based my life around for the last month or so has just changed. It's going to take me a while to get used to it, so…I'm not going to pass judgement on them just now. Let them talk. If we don't like what they have to say, I'm sure I can persuade them to leave."
This last brought a smirk to Pyro's face, and he shrugged, "All right, Cyclops, I'm prepared to hear you out. I won't promise any more than that, though."
"What about Crusader?" asked the leader of the X-Men.
"What about her?"
"We need her."
Pyro smirked, "You can have her. Providing you can convince me of a good reason why I should let you."
Cyclops frowned, but said, "I guess we'll talk about that soon, but there's something else of greater importance."
"What? You've realised we were right all along?"
"No. Of course not. Pyro, you have to help us stop the Plague."
Pyro laughed, "And why would I want to do that?"
"Because if you don't, the Plague will kill you too."
"It can't do that. It only kills humans."
"You're wrong," Cyclops responded. "The virus itself has mutated, John. It's targeting mutants as well as humans now. If you don't stop it, everybody on this island, everybody in the world, will be dead."
"Rubbish!"
"It's not rubbish! I was infected myself until we realised what was going on. If Oculus hadn't healed me I wouldn't be standing here!"
"Are you serious?" Cassandra asked him.
"He doesn't have a sense of humour," Wolverine muttered.
Cassandra looked at me, then at Cyclops again, "Um, what does it feel like? When you first get the virus, I mean?"
"It starts off with acute stomach pains, normally only at a certain time of day. After that it progress to vomiting, joint pain, stiffness, blindness, paralysis, and finally death."
"I've been having stomach pains for the last few days…in the mornings…" Cassandra said fearfully. "I knew it had to be something out of the ordinary. Do you think it's – ?"
Cyclops nodded, "Yes. The virus spreads incredibly fast and over great distances. You probably picked up a mutant-killing strain last time you were on the mainland."
"Can you cure her?" I asked.
Wolverine snapped, "Why the hell should we? It's your own damn fault if it's backfired on you! It's your own creation!"
"Actually, it's not," said Pyro. "It's that psychopath Van Gaarde. The one who created the Horsemen. He created this poison but only intended it to kill mutants. I discovered it when I rescued Gemini from his laboratory. I played around with it for a few years, altering it so it would target humans instead."
"I guess you weren't as careful as you might have been," said Iceman sarcastically.
It was a horrible irony in a way. To think that the mutant race was facing extinction from a virus that we had spread ourselves, a virus that had mutated just like we had. I said to Pyro, "They're right. We have to stop it."
"If they're telling the truth," he countered.
"They are," said Cassandra. "I'm not making this up, Pyro. I don't want to die."
Pyro shrugged, "All right, so what do you want us to do? You're the ones who developed the cure last time – can't you do it again?"
Cyclops shook his head, "It would take too long. There would be nobody left by the time it was ready."
"So, what, we're doomed?"
"No. You thought you destroyed all of the first batch of cure we made, but we think some of it might have survived."
"So where is it? Why don't you go get it instead of hanging around here?"
"Because we don't know where it is. Only Crusader knows."
"Oh, I get it. This is just a convenient way to get me to release your champion. Nice try, but it won't work."
Cassandra lost her patience and screamed, "Pyro, they're not lying! I'm dying! Let them have Crusader back! Please!"
It all came down to what Pyro cared about more: Cassandra or his own sense of victory over the X-Men. With a growing sense of dread I recalled the words Mystique had spoken: Pyro doesn't care about anyone other than himself. We were about to see whether or not that was true. Cassandra said pleadingly, "Don't let me die. You'll get the Plague too if you don't do anything. I've probably passed it on to most of you already. We're all going to die if we don't help them stop the virus."
"I guess you're right," Pyro said finally. "OK. Crusader's yours. This w – "
He was cut off as a knife embedded itself in his throat.
"Pyro!!" Gemini shrieked.
She pulled free from Storm and ran to his side. Pyro was on his knees, clutching at his neck, gasping and coughing up blood. Cyclops, myself and most of the rest were looking round to see where the knife had come from. It made no sense. Unless…
Less than a hundred yards away, standing at the edge of the heli-pad, was Recyclo. His grey eyes stared at Pyro's fallen body with a haunting sort of intensity, his hands twitching to form two new blades. He threw them, but two optic blasts from Cyclops melted them in the air. Recyclo turned and hurried into the interior of our jet.
"What the hell is he doing?" Cassandra cried.
The jet rose from the pad, turned, and disappeared at top speed into the horizon.
"He doesn't even know how to fly that thing!"
"He must have programmed the auto pilot!" I said. "How's Pyro?"
We turned to look. I couldn't even tell if Pyro was alive. He lay motionless on the floor, blood still leaking from the wound in his neck, Gemini screaming, her eyes flooding with tears. I grabbed Cyclops, "Crusader can heal him! She's in the sanctuary – go in that entrance, second left! You'll have to blast the door open to get her out! Hurry!"
He nodded, and I turned round to see Iceman and a couple of other X-Men running towards their own jet, to pursue Recyclo. Where was he headed for, anyway? Why had he knifed Pyro? Why had he run off? It didn't make any sense. None of it made any sense. I heard an explosion from inside the sanctuary and a moment later Cyclops emerged, supporting a thin, pale, weak-looking Crusader. He directed her towards Pyro, and she knelt by his side, putting her hand on his skin, letting her healing power pass into his body. I just hoped there was enough of Pyro left to revive. A shape appeared in the corner of my eye, and Iceman hurried past to grab Cyclops.
"We have another problem," he said quickly.
"What?"
"He's left a bomb on the other jet."
"Can you disarm it?"
"I don't even want to touch it. I've never seen something so complex. The only thing I can recognise is the LED timer display."
Cyclops sagged, "How long?"
"We've got about five minutes before it explodes, taking out everyone and everything on the island."
