Chapter Twelve
In the end, everything came down to love. Love – or a lack of it – was what made people do what they did. It was the single most powerful driving force in a person's mind. Love could inspire people to do things they never thought themselves capable of. Love could lead a person to give their own life in order for another to survive. Love was beautiful; love was perfect and pure. In some ways it was so simple, yet in other ways it was the most complicated force that existed on the planet. Was it simply a chemical attraction or a biological process between two people? Could it be quantified in scientific terms? Was there something higher involved?
It was love that had shaped my life up to this point. Love for Marina had sent me to join the Brotherhood to prevent the same thing happening to anybody else. Love for Cassandra had kept me fighting daily to protect our kind. Love for Annie had made me stop thinking of the X-Men as enemies. I knew I loved all three of them and would be willing to die to save any of them. Obviously I hoped it would never come to that, but if circumstances demanded, I was prepared to sacrifice myself for my three angels.
If love had shaped my life, was it a lack of love that had made our enemies into what they were? Was Recyclo, who had never known it during his ten years of torment, now utterly incapable of experiencing it? Was that why he wanted to kill so badly? And the Horsemen? It seemed clear that they loved nobody but themselves, if they were indeed ready to annihilate everything in the world for their own benefit. Was life simply a struggle between good and evil, between those who knew love and those who didn't? Was evil simply a lack of caring about anyone other than yourself? I knew that when love was stolen or ripped away then there could be no replacing its loss. I remembered how I had felt when I thought Marina was dead. Love couldn't ever be destroyed, but in the same way it could never really be consciously created either. Nobody knew exactly where it came from.
As I stood now in the infirmary, watching over the seemingly lifeless forms of those I had once called enemies, I was witnessing love of another kind. Since arriving at the mansion, Gemini had not left Pyro's side for an instant. Initially shocked and horrified at seeing his radiation-sickened form, she was now distraught at not being able to touch him, to hold him, to be close to him and whisper her private feelings to him. I knew it was love that was making her do this, love for the father figure who had rescued her and protected her over the last few years. I knew she wanted him back on his feet more than anything else, and I knew she would have given her life if it were necessary to save his.
I sighed. I felt so restless. With the situation as desperate as it was, I wanted to do something – anything – to set it right again. Unfortunately, until Dad and Chris had finished working out the exact location of the Horsemen's base, there was nothing I could do. Nothing, except push down the ever-growing fears of a nuclear missile being launched at any minute because we hadn't been quick enough to stop it. I knew they were working as fast as they could. I knew there was no point in hanging around and making them any more tense than they already were, so I had left them in peace. I had set out with no particular goal in mind, and my feet had taken me down here, to the infirmary. Gemini had, for about the eighteenth time, asked for reassurance that Pyro would be all right.
I decided to leave her with him. She probably wanted to be alone. As close as the two of us had become, we weren't quite close enough for me to intrude on her private feelings for the father she wanted to have. Heading upstairs, I stopped at one of the windows and peered out into what was now the early morning light. A group of children, some of the youngest in the school, were playing together on the grass. Acceleratus was among them. It was amazing how quickly she had been accepted by her peers here, and how readily she had accepted it herself. Friendship with those her own age was the one thing we hadn't been able to give her on the island, and was probably one of the things she needed the most.
Seeing the children playing together: happy; innocent; carefree…it made me sad for a moment. What if we weren't successful? What if the Horsemen couldn't be stopped? What if there was no tomorrow? What if these children were spending their last hours of life together? What if they never had the chance to grow up and live their lives? How could so much pure, innocent life be snuffed out by the madness of two demonic monstrosities? I felt a little uneasy for a moment as I considered how my own attitude appeared in that respect. Was I really willing to kill all of humanity so that mutants could live on? Wasn't that exactly the same thing that Famine and Death were doing? We had used a virus, they were using nuclear winter – what was the difference? I sighed. There wasn't one. Was I every bit as bad as the Horsemen? What right did I have to decide what they could and couldn't be allowed to do?
No. There was a difference. The difference was that I had learned from my mistake, and I was going to correct it. My determination renewed, I looked out of the window once more, watching the children with a lighter heart and a smile on my face. These little ones were going to survive. They were going to have the chance to grow up and live their lives the way they saw fit. Maybe they would love humans, maybe they would hate them – there was no way of knowing which. We simply had to let them grow up and hope that they turned out for the best. Human children were the same. Perhaps they would never like us, but they had to be given the chance.
When I heard my father's telepathic voice in my mind, I knew it was time.
Everybody come to the briefing room, Oculus sent.
I turned away from the window and the obliviously carefree youngsters, and headed for the briefing room. I was one of the first to arrive, and we waited for the others to get there. The rest of the Brotherhood arrived in a group; it was obvious they were not comfortable with being here. Only Cassandra was beginning to warm to Annie and her friends. I smiled at Marina when I saw her enter the room, and she gave me a little nervous smile in response. She made as if to walk across the room towards me, but Shock put a gentle hand on her arm and guided her to the other side of the room. Annie and Cassandra arrived together, and they joined me. Once we were all assembled, Dad began.
"All right," he said. "We've found them. There's an abandoned military complex in the hills not far from the coast. It was once a test launching platform for space rockets, so presumably the Horsemen have simply scavenged the existing launching mechanisms for their own ends."
Shapeshifter hit a few keys on the computer in front of him, and a 3D model of the complex was projected on to the table in front of my father.
"The first problem is getting inside," said Oculus. "There's only one entrance, and given the terrain it's unlikely we'll find any others. The old security systems should still work, and we can only assume the Horsemen are using them. If, as we suspect, Recyclo has joined them, then his electronic expertise will no doubt have been used to enhance the security grid."
"Have you worked out a way in?" asked Helios.
"As I see it, there are two options," Dad answered. "Either we take what force we have in this room – which is considerable – and launch an all-out attack on the complex. That isn't a good idea. Even if we interrupt their construction of the missile, the Horsemen can always set off the nuclear reaction manually, as it were. In other words, we can't let them know we're there, or they'll detonate the plutonium right inside the facility."
"What's the second option?" asked Vertigo, standing his arms folded and acting as the leader for the small group around him.
Shapeshifter answered this time, "I don't know just how good Recyclo is, but I think – no, I'm certain – I've discovered a hole in their security network. I can take down their intrusion mechanisms without them being aware of it, but not for long."
"How long?"
"A matter of seconds, I'm afraid. It would get us in undetected, but we'd only have enough time for two at the most to get inside."
Oculus added, "I don't know whether two people would be able to deactivate the missile and destroy the Horsemen, but it's our only option."
"In that case, I would be one of the two people," I said quickly, before anybody else could get in.
"I would be the other," said Annie.
Cassandra looked horrified, and Gaia protested instantly, "No! I won't let my children – "
She tailed off and looked pleadingly at Dad. He said nothing. For a few moments nobody spoke. It seemed, to me at least, that Annie and I were the clear and obvious choice. I knew that none of the others lacked the courage or the will, but in terms of power we had no equals, except of course each other.
"If you are willing to do this," said Dad, fighting to keep his natural misgivings out of his voice. "You must leave immediately."
"I'm ready," I said, standing.
"What are the rest of us going to do?" asked Shock.
"We have to do whatever we can to prepare the world for a nuclear holocaust," said Oculus. "While I have every confidence that Annie and Gary will succeed – we must still take every precaution against, uh, against the alternative."
A small tear rolled down my mother's cheek as she whispered softly, "May God be with us."
There was not enough time to speak to all of them, to say goodbye, to say all the things I would have wanted to say if I might never see them again. I wanted to tell Cassandra I loved her; I wanted to tell Marina I would come back to her; I wanted to tell my parents that I would never forget all things they had told me; I wanted to tell Gemini and Acceleratus that I loved them too; I wanted to share one last joke with the guys – particularly Helios and Vertigo; I wanted to say much more than I had time for. We had no time. We left immediately.
"It should take us about fifteen minutes to get there," said Annie, as she programmed the course into the jet's flight computer.
I was still fiddling with the sleeves of the uniform Annie had given me. My initial reaction had been disgust and instant refusal to even touch an X-Man uniform, but Annie had insisted it would provide at least basic protection against Death's radiation attack. I'd pointed out it hadn't done Cyclops and the others much good, but she'd countered that maybe it was the only thing that had kept them alive. So I had given into her reasoning and worn it anyway. I was just glad Cassandra and Gemini hadn't seen me wearing it.
"Annie…" I began hesitantly. "Can we do it? I volunteered because I know I'm the strongest we have – except maybe you – but are we strong enough? After what Dad said about the Horsemen…how are we going to stop them?"
"Our first priority has to be to destroy their missile," she said. "Killing them can come second. The last thing we want is to get caught up in a fight with Pestilence or War while Death and Famine launch the missile."
"Good start," I agreed. "But we do have to kill them, don't we? If we don't, they'll just start all this again."
"It would be best, but it won't be easy."
"I know. OK, here's my plan. I'll distract them while you disarm the missile."
"You want to keep me out of the fight. You want to protect me."
"Of course I do. You're – you're my angel."
Annie smiled, "Gary, I'm not an angel. I was going to suggest the opposite: I'll keep them busy while you try to extract the nuclear device. I can use my telekinesis to hold them still – at least, I hope I can."
"I dunno…I'd rather you didn't – "
"Gary, you know you're only saying that because I'm a girl. If I was Helios or Vertigo you wouldn't be telling me to keep out of danger, would you?
"No, but – well, like I said, you're my angel."
"I don't need protecting, Gary. You know that."
I sighed, and looked out of the side view-port, watching the landscape passing by underneath. Eventually I looked over at Annie once more and said, "It feels strange, doesn't it, to be fighting on the same side? I remember when I thought you and the X-Men were the single biggest threat to mutant survival. Looking back, our previous fight just seems – I don't know – kind of insignificant compared to what we're facing now."
"Yes. The Horsemen were lucky to strike at a time when our people and yours were too busy worrying about what each other were doing. If we'd been allied, if we'd been working together from the start, it might never have come to this."
"Do you think the alliance will last?"
"I hope so. It depends what Pyro wants. I think the rest of your people will follow his decision, whatever it might be."
I frowned, "I don't see him changing his mind over the humans."
"Pyro's fighting out of a sense of anger, out of the agony of his loss."
"He had a friend once – "
"Yes. Mum and Dad told me about her. He's never recovered from losing her. He's never forgiven the humans."
"I was the same when I thought Marina was dead."
"Yes. You're like Pyro in a lot of ways."
"But will he change his mind?"
Annie frowned, "It seems unlikely. There is one person who could change his mind, but I don't know if it will happen."
Before I could say more, the flight computer began beeping, and Annie turned her attention to it. Hitting a switch or two, she said, "OK, we're coming up on the site. I'm activating the cloak."
She hit another switch.
"Where are we going to land?" I said.
"As close as I can get. Hold on, I'm taking us down."
God, be with us, I prayed, watch over us and protect us. Protect Annie. Please keep her safe.
I could see the Horsemen's complex as nothing more than a dark shape among the hills; it wasn't until we got closer that I could make out more detail. It nestled in the cleft between two hills, protected on three sides by the natural rock formation. On its fourth side was only one entrance – this would be the way by which we would enter. I wondered what had made them choose this particular site. Was it the remoteness? Was it the convenience of an existing launching mechanism? Had it been a completely arbitrary choice? I didn't know.
Annie touched down, and we hurried down the ramp, leaving the jet and approaching the complex on foot. We weren't far away, and we kept as close to the rocks as we could, to avoid being seen. As we got closer, we moved more cautiously, Annie projecting out with her mind to sense anybody who might be on guard. When we were standing less than ten yards away from the entrance, hidden behind a large rocky outcropping, she telepathed to me, the entrance seems clear. I was afraid somebody would be waiting inside, but there's nobody. I'll call Chris and tell him to open the door. She reached for the communicator at her belt, programmed in the frequency and spoke into it, "We're ready. Count down from ten on my mark and open the door at zero. Mark. Gary, let's go."
We hurried towards the entrance, counting down from ten in our heads, and the door opened precisely as I counted zero. Slipping inside as quickly as we could, the door snapped shut behind us not a moment later. There was no way of opening it without the Horsemen finding out now. There was no going back. We would either succeed here or die here.
I looked at Annie, "Which way?"
She pointed left, "This way. Move quietly; we can't afford to be detected."
I pulled off one my gloves, "Here, hold my hand."
"Why?"
"Annie, just do it."
They were the same words she herself had used, and my sister looked at me a little confused as she took off one of her gloves and put her hand inside mine, her fingers curling around my palm. Concentrating hard, I called upon my camouflage to hide us. It spread across my body, changing each of my cells into the appearance of whatever lay behind, until I had entirely blended into my environment. Once my body was in a chameleonic state, my power passed into Annie's body and proceeded to hide her too.
"Good idea," she said appreciatively, when she realised what I had done. "How long can you maintain this?"
"As long as I can keep my concentration. If I get too angry or too scared it might drop."
"This will help us avoid the Horsemen and go straight for their missile. Let's go."
Still holding hands, we hurried along the narrow darkened corridor, heading further into the complex. I knew Annie had to be pushing out with her mind, trying to sense anybody we might be getting too close to. For the first few minutes of our mission, we didn't encounter anybody. So far so good, it seemed. Once the missile was taken out of commission, we'd have to find the Horsemen and kill them, otherwise they would just start again with another missile. We knew there was no hope of convincing them to abandon their plans. They had to be destroyed.
Annie brought us to a halt suddenly, and I waited as she scanned the building ahead with her X-ray eyesight.
Stay quiet, she telepathed.
I nodded my understanding, then realised Annie couldn't see me. It didn't matter; she would read my acknowledgement from my thoughts. Obviously somebody was coming. We moved into the shadows by the wall, and I prepared myself for whoever might be approaching. They shouldn't be able to see us, so we should be able to avoid conflict if necessary.
It was Pestilence who appeared from the doorway ahead of us. He looked both ways, hissed to himself, then scuttled down the corridor past us.
He must be on guard, came Annie's mind, he's following a patrol route.
Where are the rest of them? I thought into my own mind.
Annie read my thoughts and responded, I don't know. I can't sense them, and the interior of the complex is too dark for me to see anything. I'm guessing Death and Famine don't need light to see.
Annie, how are we going to kill them?
I don't know. We can think about it later. Come on.
Together we hurried forward and through the door Pestilence had just appeared from. After a minute or two we came across a lift on our right. Annie put out her other hand to stop me, and I heard her mind, we have to use the lift. The nuclear device will be in the nosecone of the rocket. We're going to have to take the lift up, then climb to the very top of the launching platform.
Lead the way.
We took the elevator up as far as it would go, and stepped on to what I guessed was the fourth or fifth floor. We found ourselves in a huge circular room, which was almost entirely taken up a mass of complex machinery and, right at the centre, a long silver shape that pointed skyward and was all too easily recognisable. The machinery around the missile had to be the launching apparatus. My gaze travelled upwards, to the very tip of the missile. Above was what looked like a retractable roof, which was presumably designed to open whenever a launch took place. The fact that it was currently closed was a small relief. Hopefully they weren't planning on launching it any time in the immediate future.
"How do we get up there?" I whispered.
I can levitate up there, she said.
Right. In that case I stay down here and cover you.
Annie didn't reply immediately, then she squeezed my hand slightly and said, all right. You'll have to stop camouflaging me. I just hope they don't spot me right away.
Go for it. Good luck!
I released her hand, and I felt apprehension sinking over me as Annie became visible once more. She looked up at the tip of the rocket, and lifted her hand to begin levitating herself upwards. I watched her go, then I decided I would be best to scan the room for any signs of danger. I couldn't see any signs of movement. If we hadn't seen Pestilence earlier, I might have begun to doubt the Horsemen were even here. Whereabouts in the facility were they? What were they doing? Were they so confident in themselves that they hadn't considered the possibility of an intrusion? I didn't know. I could only hope that –
Annie's telepathy interrupted my thoughts, Gary, stay alert! I think they've spotted me –
It was when the painfully bright light snapped into life that I realised we had walked into a trap. Annie screamed in agony as the light burned into her eyes; she lost control of her telekinetic power and began falling towards the floor. My camouflage dropping in my panic, I ran across the room to catch her before she hit the ground. My sister landed in my arms, knocking me to the floor, but at least she was still alive.
I heard a noise like a swick, and a knife embedded itself in my shoulder. It might have hit my heart if I hadn't been thrown off balance by grabbing Annie. My eyes screwed up against the light, I squinted around the room in desperation, trying to gauge where the next attack might come from. Annie still had her hands over her eyes, sobbing in pain, howling, "Turn off the lights!"
Scrambling to my feet, I half-carried, half-dragged my sister behind the partial cover of one of the pieces of launching machinery. Pulling the knife from my arm, I threw it to the floor, and tried to camouflage myself again. It wasn't working. I could hear footsteps hurrying in our direction. The only piece of good news was that my eyes were beginning to adjust to the strong light. It was coming from a large reflector dish positioned on the wall. Its function was obvious: to put Annie out of the fight. With that light in place she couldn't open her eyes, not even for a second.
The footsteps came to a halt as Pestilence appeared in the corner of my vision. Drawing back his head, I knew the insectoid was about to spit acid at me. I was already moving to avoid him, and the corrosive wad splattered into the side of the missile behind me. Pestilence brought up his claws as I neared him, but he wasn't fast enough. My fist smacked into his hideous demonic face, flinging him through the air away from me. I barely had time to draw breath before an angry grunt behind me and a fist closing around my neck announced the arrival of War. I twisted, kicked, and knocked him away from me.
"Finish him…" came the icy cold voice of Death. "Hades, begin the launch. Begin the Apocalypse…"
Pestilence was back on his feet and slashing angrily with his claws, forcing me backwards. Glancing behind me, I saw War reaching for Annie's helpless form. Anger coursed through my veins as I ran to my sister's side, aiming at a punch at the giant. War was faster than he looked, and he reacted to grab me around the waist and slam my entire body into the side of the rocket. I smacked a punch into his face but he didn't appear to notice. Pestilence spat, and a gob of acid hit me in the back. I gasped at the unusual sensation of pain. Unfortunately for them it only served to make me more angry. Thoughts of Marina, of Cassandra, of Gemini, of everybody I was fighting to protect, passed through my mind, raising my fury even further, and pushing me into a berserk rage.
I grabbed War around the throat and my muscles tightened as I squeezed. His eyes bulged and his own grip around me increased as he fought desperately to pull me away from him. Pestilence's claws stabbed into my back, ripping into my skin and drawing blood. I felt the pain once more, and I reacted in anger again, whipping my foot round in a vicious kick towards the insectoid. It hit him in the throat, snapping his neck cleanly and hurling him across the length of the room. His body smashed into the giant reflector dish and fell lifeless to the floor. War's movements became more and more wild as he struggled to breathe. He frantically began to pull at my arms, trying to yank them from his throat. It was a test of strength now, and one he had just lost. His arms slumped to his sides and his gigantic body fell limp as I finally crushed his windpipe.
Two Horsemen down, two to go. I hurried to Annie's side. She was on her feet, eyes tight shut, but she turned towards me as I approached, "Gary! Put the light out! Quickly, or I can't help you!"
"Right!"
I looked around for some way I might switch off or destroy the huge dish. It appeared to be held in place by a set of large screws, but Pestilence colliding with it seemed to have knocked it slightly off centre. It had obviously been set up quite hurriedly, and looked to be rather precariously balanced. Could I knock it loose? At that moment a computerised voice spoke from a loudspeaker somewhere above me, "Attention, all personnel evacuate the launching room. Launching commences in ten minutes."
"Shit!" I swore. "Annie, hold on!"
The computer voice had to be a leftover from when this had been a NASA installation. I had no time to think about where the remaining Horsemen might be. I had to get the light out of commission before the five minutes were up. Then Annie could disarm the missile while I fought off the last of our enemies. I hurried across to the reflector dish, and tried to think of a plan to dislodge it. It had to be at least six feet above my head and there was no way I could reach it. Was there something I could stand on? I looked round, spotting an anonymous piece of machinery that I should be able to lug over. I dragged it towards the dish, and climbed on top. Now I could reach it. Grabbing the huge silver disc, I ripped it free of its holdings, and flung it aside. It crashed on to the floor and broke into several pieces. I heard Annie giving a relieved gasp.
"Launching commences in nine minutes," came the computerised voice.
I jumped down and ran over to where Annie was looking up at the tip of the missile.
"Can you get up there and disarm it?" I asked.
She shook her head, "Not now that the launch sequence has been started. We have to find whatever control mechanism they're using, and abort the launch."
"I killed Pestilence and War."
"Yes, I know. Where are the others?"
"I don't know. I heard Death's voice a couple of minutes ago. And I think Recyclo is here too."
"We have to find the controls for the missile. The plan Shapeshifter showed us didn't go into that much detail, but I think…yes…I think we should go this way."
There was a doorway at the other end of the missile silo, and we hurried over towards it. Seconds before we got there, a thick metal plate slid out of a recess in the wall to block the doorway.
"Damn it!" Annie cried. "The doors must be wired into the security system! Recyclo must be trying to block our way!"
"If he wants to block us, at least it means we're going the right way," I said, running my hands over the surface of the door. "Do you know how to get it open?"
Annie shook her head, "It must have been designed as a shield to protect the rest of the facility against the heat and flame that would be generated when a rocket was launched. I don't see any way of opening it from here."
"We have to get it open! We have to get through!"
Annie looked through the walls in front of us, scanning what was beyond, and she said suddenly, "I see Recyclo! He's in a room with banks of computers and other machinery! I think the missile controls must be there!"
I slammed my shoulder into the heavily reinforced door with all the strength I could muster. It buckled slightly but did not give. Annie lifted her hand to hurl a piece of machinery into the door at high speed. The metal surface again bowed, but remained intact. I threw myself at the door again, and this time it bent considerably out of shape. This time Annie managed to get a grip on it with her telekinesis, and she tore it free.
"Launching commences in eight minutes."
Determined to stop the missile at all costs, I hurried through the open doorway with Annie right behind me.
"Turn right!" I heard her saying, and I went that way.
Famine stood in our way, blocking the narrow corridor that led to the control room. The skeletoid's face twisted into a demonic smile as he walked forward, ready to do battle.
"Don't let him touch your skin!" I warned my sister.
"I know, I know! I'll try and distract him – you try and get past!"
"No, I'll fight him and you – "
Our argument was forestalled as Famine approached, his arm raising, his bony, pointed fingers reaching towards us, ready to absorb our powers. Trying to stay light on my feet, I stepped to the side and slammed my gloved fist into his jaw. Famine rocked slightly on his heels but didn't stop walking, his hand brushing against my arm as he clawed towards my exposed face. Annie took hold of him with a telekinetic lock and threw him into the wall. He collided with it and fell to the floor, but rose instantly, without showing even the slightest sign of pain. This was not good. I had hoped that what Dad had told us about him was not true, but in my heart I had never doubted it.
"What are we going to do?" I asked Annie.
"I told you, I'll keep him busy and you run past."
"No, other way round!"
"All right, fine!" she snapped. "Distract him!"
Famine was on us once more, and I made straight for him, hoping to give Annie the chance to slip past. Grabbing the skeletoid around the mid-section, I spun and prepared to hurl him back the way we had just come. With impossible strength, he twisted out of my grip and kicked me aside. I fell backwards against the wall, my breath knocked out of me. Famine reached out with both skeletal arms and grabbed Annie around the neck. My sister screamed, but her scream turned into a soundless gasp as he began to suck her powers. She sagged weakly in his grip, and Famine threw back his head in rejoice as Annie's powers flooded into his body.
With a roar of anger I grabbed him from behind with rage-enhanced strength, pulling him away from my sister. A huge jolt, something like an electric shock, hit me and I was thrown on to my back. My head spun and my vision swam, and for the merest moment I felt as if I was in another place – almost as if I was in another body. I felt small and weak, horribly weak, in a body full of sensations that were completely unknown to me. I looked up to see Famine with his back to me, reaching down towards an unmoving figure on the floor. Then, as if it had never happened, the strange sensation was gone and I was myself again. Famine's hands were almost on my neck as I forced my weakened body to twist aside and away from him. From the ground I kicked out at the skeleton, knocking him off balance.
I struggled to stand. I was weak, tired, slow, and sluggish, and I knew why. Famine's absorption had robbed me of my strength. It would recover in time, but in the meantime things were not looking good.
"Launching commences in seven minutes," came the voice from a speaker on the wall.
"You can't stop the Apocalypse," Famine wheezed triumphantly. "It cannot be stopped. It is inevitable."
"You're wrong!" I yelled, charging straight towards him.
Even as I did, I knew how stupid it was. Using the powers he had stolen from me, Famine vanished from my sight and a jet of flame was hurled through the air towards me. I ducked as best I could, but the flames singed my shoulder and I stumbled for a moment. Even as I tried to rally, some invisible force gripped my body and I felt myself rising into the air. For a moment I didn't know what was happening, then I knew what it was: Famine, using the telekinetic power he had stolen from Annie.
God, help us, I prayed.
At this moment it seemed a heavenly miracle was our only hope. With Famine, who was already seemingly immortal, in possession of all eight of our powers, this fight seemed unwinnable. Not since the death of Christ had any being with so much power walked the Earth. My body was flipped over in mid-air and I heard the skeletoid laughing. He was toying with me.
"Let him go."
I heard Annie speaking but I could hear the weakness and fatigue plain in her voice. Famine didn't even respond, and casually sent me flying into the wall. I cried out as I hit; the pain was getting intense now, and I tried to regain control, but my body wasn't having any of it. Annie was on her feet and moving towards the skeleton. I fought once more to escape from his telekinetic lock, and I felt his control slipping as my own strength began to return. With another twist of my body, I managed to break free, falling to the ground and inducing yet more pain. I ignored it, rising to my feet and running straight towards Famine. My only hope was to catch him off balance. I had enough experience with the camouflage mutation that I could make out his shape. I inhaled as I ran, and breathed a jet of flame directly at him.
His body caught fire but he didn't appear to be harmed by it. Was there nothing that could hurt this man? Was there nothing we could do? Were we destined to die here, defeated by a foe who was simply too powerful, even for the two of us? Was this the end, the end of humanity and the end of mutantkind?
Perhaps he was bothered by the sensation of the fire, but for whatever reason Famine was not immediately retaliating to my attack. Annie was still hurrying towards him, and she took advantage of his momentary distraction to grab him around the throat.
"Annie, what are you – "
If there was a better recipe for suicide, I didn't know what it was. Had my sister gone mad? Was she so dismayed by the hopelessness of the situation that she simply wanted to take the quickest and easiest way out? No. I knew Annie would never do that, but what did she hope to accomplish? What was she –
My ears were suddenly assaulted by the last sound I had expected to hear. From Famine's mouth came a terrible high-pitched gasp of pain, followed by another, long and drawn out. What was happening? Famine's invisibility had dropped and I could see him clearly now, his face twisted in agony, his skeletal figures reaching helplessly to pull himself free, as Annie closed her eyes and increased whatever power she was using. Famine struggled, tried to pull away, but Annie held on with a strength I didn't know she possessed. With a final terrible shriek Famine gave way, and his already-flaming body burst into a shower of fire and ash. A second passed, and Annie was slumping to the ground, and a few flaming piles of soot were all that remained of the third Horseman.
"Annie!" I cried, kneeling by my sister and cradling her body. "What happened? What did you do?"
She looked up at me weakly, and gasped in pain, "Oh – my healing power – it killed him – "
"It did what? But how did you know? How did you know it would – ?"
"Oh – a guess – a prayer – and some reading of Recyclo's mind – "
"Launching commences in five minutes," said the computer.
"Are you all right?" I asked her. "Can you stand? We have to keep going!"
"I'll – I'll be OK," she said, though she didn't sound like it. "He took a lot out of me. Help me up."
I helped her stand, and we hurried along the corridor as fast as she could go.
"Something weird happened back there," I said. "Just as he was sucking your powers. I grabbed him, and – and something weird happened."
"I know. I felt it too. I don't know what it was exactly, but – we don't have any time to worry about it now. Turn left here."
She stumbled slightly and I supported her as we hurried around the corner.
"The control room – at the end of the corridor. I – Gary, look out!"
Annie pushed me to safety as a shape appeared in my peripheral vision, and Death's ghostly form stalked out of the shadows, a terrible chalk-white radioactive hand appearing from within the folds of his cloak.
"I'll handle him!" Annie cried. "Go, Gary! Don't hang about, go!"
This time I didn't argue. I went. Looking back one last time at my sister, tired and weak-looking, facing the black-garbed leader of the Horsemen, I hurried inside the control room. I looked around its interior in desperation. Recyclo sat with his back to me, typing away at one of the computers. Where were the missile controls? There were banks of switches, control panels and computer terminals, none of which I knew the function of. Was the launching system computer-controlled? Did I have to try each of the terminals one by one until I found the right one?
"How can you be here?"
He had spotted me. Recyclo was rising from his chair, both hands opening to reveal throwing knives. With a flick of both wrists he sent them skimming through the air towards me. I did my best to duck, avoiding one of the blades, but the second one caught me in the left arm. Unfamiliar pain shot through my system once more, and I struggled to remain in control. The psychopath was keeping his distance, and his recycling power created two new blades in his hands.
"Why are you working with the Horsemen?" I cried. "Don't you understand what they're trying to do?"
"I am one of the Horsemen. I am Hades. I am the Fifth. I ride with Death."
"Don't you realise what you're doing?!" I yelled. "When that nuclear missile hits, it's going to destroy every living thing on the planet! Including you!"
"Of course I realise that," he snarled. "I don't care! Do you think I enjoy my life? At least I can die safe in the knowledge that all those who made me suffer will go with me!"
"You don't have to destroy the whole world just to kill a few people!"
He made no reply. His feelings of anger and memories of suffering were so intense that I could almost feel them myself, the haunting imprint of ten years at the mercy of barbarous human scientists.
"Launching commences in four minutes," came the warning.
Recyclo hurled his next two blades, but I dived to the side and managed to avoid them. I'd bought myself a few seconds before his next attack, and I looked around hurriedly for some clue as to where the missile launching controls might be found. There! That had to be them! A control panel, twice as large as any of the others, was positioned just in front of a thick Plexiglas window that looked down into the missile silo. I ran over towards them, but Recyclo saw my intention and moved to cut me off, another two blades forcing me to duck behind one of the computer terminals.
"Isn't there anybody you care about?" I cried. "Isn't there even one person you don't want to see killed? Pyro? Gemini? Vertigo?"
Recyclo didn't respond. I tried again, "How about Helios?"
"My brother…"
"Do you really want to kill him?"
I sensed I had finally got through to him. An internal struggle was raging in his mind, and I took advantage of his confusion to steal a few yards closer to the missile controls.
"Launching commences in three minutes. Warning. Warning. Clear missile silo. Clear missile silo. Ensure shielding is in place."
Recyclo still didn't seem to be making any moves, so I took a chance and began running at full speed towards the controls. Hopefully I could find the right switch to abort the launch before he could hit me with any blades.
"Wait!" Recyclo shouted as my hand neared the switch I had identified as the most likely candidate.
Something in his voice made me pause, and I turned. There was something in his right hand, and I braced myself to avoid a knife throw. Then I stopped. It wasn't a blade. It was a glass tube – a laboratory test tube – filled with a clear, pale blue liquid. I knew what I had to be. The antidote. The cure to the Plague that had been developed by my father.
For a moment I thought I had convinced him. I thought I had got through to his tortured mind and convinced him to stop the nuclear missile for Helios' sake. I thought he was about to hand me the antidote and let me abort the launch. But it seemed I was wrong. In a strange sort of way I could sense the way his mind was working; the anger and the hate had won out over the sadness and the suffering. He smiled – a cruel, demonic smile – as he tossed the glass test tube across the length of the room.
Even as I was desperately diving towards it, knowing I had no chance of getting there in time, Recyclo was already hurrying towards the launch controls, to guard them and prevent me from using them. It was as if time slowed down around me: I could see a blade appearing in his left hand as he prepared to flick it towards me; I could see the tube of blue life-saving fluid, arcing through the air and dropping towards the floor; I could see that it was going to hit the floor and smash into a thousand pieces before I could reach it. There was nothing I could do.
Inside me I felt a power erupting, a power that I had never known before. It was as if some sort of will spoke from my thoughts and latched on to the falling shape of the test tube. My mind overwhelmed by this strange sensation, I struggled to focus. For a moment it felt like my mind was reaching out like some physical force and grabbing the antidote.
Here, spoke my mind.
The test tube flew through the air and into the palm of my left hand. Even as the impossibility of it registered in my brain, I heard Recyclo screaming, "What?!"
I turned, struggled to my feet and faced him. Standing not ten feet away from me, his face lined with confusion, suspicion and hate, he flicked two knives at my throat. I knew I had no hope of dodging them. Before I knew what I was doing, my empty right hand was raising.
Stop, my mind commanded.
The knives stopped in mid-air and fell on to the floor.
"Launching commences in one minute."
I was already running towards the launch controls and Recyclo was backing away, fear taking over his mind and forcing a retreat. Out of the corner of my eye I could see through the window into the missile silo. The rockets were beginning to fire, the fuel burning and a slow steady fire seeping out of the butt of the missile. The heat in the room had to be rising incredibly high. Even as this thought registered in my mind, one of the pieces of machinery in the missile silo exploded, presumably from overheating, shaking the control room in which we stood and hurling pieces of equipment and computers across the room. Recyclo screamed as he was buried underneath a pile of falling machinery. I took my opportunity, smashing my fist down on what I sincerely hoped was the missile abort switch.
"Launching commences in thirty sec – "
For a moment or so there was silence, then the words I wanted to hear, "Launch aborted."
I sagged with relief, clutching tightly the antidote in my left hand. Tired and in pain as I was, I knew I had no time to sit and rest. There was still Death. I hurried to the exit, looking for my sister. Even as I saw her, I knew it was too late. Death had his hand around her neck and she hung limply in his grasp, his radioactive power destroying her body.
"Annie, no!" I screamed in horror.
The cloaked figure turned to face me, twin blue eyes staring out of the hood in my direction. Annie stirred, perhaps raised into action by hearing my voice, and I felt her anger rising as she forced herself to make one last fight. My sister screamed, rage flowing through her, and she did something she had never done before, something she wasn't supposed to be able to do. She went berserk. Her hands grabbed hold of Death's with a sudden strength, and she closed her eyes and called upon the power that had killed Famine. To her, to me, and to the rest of our friends, it was a healing power. To the radiation-enhanced mutants, it was lethal. An icy gasp came from the cloaked Horseman and I knew it had to be killing him. At the same time, of course, his power was killing Annie. It was just a question of who could hold on the longest. For a moment I couldn't tell who was winning. Then it became clear. Annie's berserk power had amplified the force of her attack far beyond anything Death could conjure in response. The ghostly shape emitted one last icy, ear-splitting shriek, then he vanished, exploding into a cloud of ash in the same way Famine had done. Annie fell and did not move.
"No!" I cried. "Annie!"
I ran to her side.
Don't touch me, she telepathed weakly, I'm irradiated. I'm dead…
"Annie…"I sobbed.
Goodbye, Gary. The world is yours now…
"No, you can't die…"
I love you…
I didn't care about the irradiation. I didn't care if it would kill me. There was only one thing in the world I wanted to do at that moment. I took my sister's dying body in my arms and hugged her for the last time.
No…her mind begged, you'll kill yourself…
On some level I could feel the radiation poisoning passing into my body, destroying my cells as it went. Annie was too weak to heal. I knew there was nothing I could do.
Or was there? Perhaps…perhaps we were not dead…
I didn't know how it was supposed to work, so I let instinct take control and I did what felt naturally. It started at the heart, she had always told me. Yes…that felt good. It was working. I was doing it. From my heart spread the healing power that I had seen Annie use so many times, passing through my body and stopping the radiation in its path, repairing the damaged cells almost as quickly as they had been attacked. Then it passed into Annie. She was as near to death as I had ever seen a living person, and I wasn't sure at first whether there was enough of her to bring back.
There was. Her body tightly pressed against me, I could feel her heartbeat increasing and warmth returning to her skin. Annie gasped and clutched hold of me as she regained consciousness, and the last of the radiation was overcome.
"Gary…" she gasped, her breath coming quickly. "I – I don't understand…what did you do?"
"I healed us. I don't understand how. I've been using your powers and I don't know how…"
"I've been using yours too…"
"But how – ?"
She breathed deeply and rested in my arms, "Wait, I – I think I know what happened. Do you remember when Famine was stealing my powers?"
"Yes."
"You grabbed hold of him and pulled us apart…but for the smallest time he was acting as a conduit between the two of us."
"You mean – "
"I think he inadvertently pulled your powers into me, and mine into you."
I frowned, "Would that work?"
"I don't know. We can ask Rogue. But it makes sense, and there's no other explanation for what happened. I felt a jolt, and for a moment I wasn't in my own body any more…"
"I felt that too. I left my body and went into another."
"Yes. Mine. You were in me and I was in you."
"What?" I asked.
"When Rogue touches someone she doesn't just absorb their powers; there's a tiny bit of their consciousness left inside her as well. If Famine had the same power, the same thing would have happened. Only in this case, it happened to us."
"So there's a tiny part of you inside me?" I asked.
"Yes. And a tiny part of you inside me. Gary, what happened with Recyclo? Did you stop the launch?"
I nodded, and opened my hand to reveal the antidote. Annie sighed with relief, and the two of us held each other close. In a way it felt different from all the times I had hugged my sister before. Now there was something else, a feeling unknown to me, to both of us. Part of her was inside me now…I could feel it…I could feel it when we came together and touched…we were not just two people any more…we were more like two minds, sharing two bodies.
I held my sister tightly, my relief and my joy pouring out of me. She was alive. For a horrible few seconds that felt more like a few years, I had thought she was dead. I could barely begin to comprehend the pain and anguish that would have come with her death, in a life without Annie. I couldn't even bring myself to think how it would have felt if it had become permanent, to know that she was gone, that nothing could ever bring her back, and that I would never see her again. I'd had my very first inkling of the terrible sorrow that had to be eating at Marina's heart every waking second of her life. I could only imagine the agony that was her life. She didn't have to. She was living it. I knew there was only one choice I could make now. I felt a single tear dropping out of my eye and into Annie's hair as she nestled her head against my chest.
Thank you, God. Thank you for Annie. My sister. My angel.
A/N: as always, there will be an epilogue
