Chapter 19

Brennan zapped the inner and outer hangar doors and Mutant X stepped into the huge space from which all of the aircraft had been removed. They walked into the center of the hangar and were encircled by Charles Marlowe and his Links. Emma kept walking straight up to Marlowe, who was unnerved a little by this and took a few steps backwards. Four Links charged at her to halt her advance. They all fell instantly to the ground, gasping for air. Emma stopped a yard short of Marlowe and reached into his mind. His people wanted to make a move, but had been instructed to caution and had heard reports of what Emma did to the first group sent to intercept the escaping prisoners.

"Do they know?" Emma asked Marlowe. He did not respond, but only grinned with one side of his mouth. She released the chokehold she had on the four Links and they slowly recovered and got to their feet.

Adam stepped forward a few paces and came to stand half way between Emma and the rest of Mutant X. "What did you see, Emma?" he asked her.

Emma turned from Marlowe and looked around the circle of his people. "Some know. Some suspect. Most do not realize what a monster you are." She turned back to him. Maria Raven and Julia Lechner bracketed Marlowe. Emma looked at both of them and said to each in turn, "You know and you do too."

Adam walked up to stand at Emma's side. "What is he planning?"

"Why don't you tell all of your people?" Emma said, but it was not a question. She reached into his mind again to compel him.

Marlowe smiled at her. "You did that once already, Ms. DeLauro. My DNA has adapted to that kind of attack. You'll no more be able to bend my mind now than you can bend my body." He stepped close to Emma. "Still, I'll tell everyone my plans. It won't make a difference." Marlowe stepped around the young woman and walked into the center of the hanger. Shalimar hissed at him as he approached her, where she stood with Brennan and Jesse. "But these words," Marlowe said, raising his voice to be heard by all, "are for New Mutants only." Before anyone could react, he drew and automatic pistol, aimed it at Adam, and emptied the clip.

Shalimar had seen the movement and began to close the distance between herself and Marlowe. Brennan raised his electrically charged hands. Jesse began running toward Adam. All were much too late. At a speed of over a thousand feet per second, ten tiny pieces of metal raced toward Adam Kane's chest and head, the slight recoil of the gun causing the trajectories to drift up from his torso to his face.

Inches short of their target, the bullets came to a dead stop and reversed direction. Marlowe staggered back as ten lead slugs caught him in the chest. The blue of Emma's eyes had been replaced by a glowing white light. The corners of her mouth lifted in a macabre smile as the bullets stopped and reversed direction again, striking him in the back. The cluster of bullets split up and danced around the Fasergen leader, weaving in and out of his body from all directions, passing through his arms and legs, his head and body. His gun fell to the ground as a bullet pierced his hand and two impacts in the kneecaps knocked him from his feet. Only seconds passed while Marlowe was shredded by ten pieces of telekinetically charged metal, but to everyone who watched, it seemed to be happening in slow motion.

They were all shocked by the carnage they saw and Adam was the first to recover. "Stop it, Emma!" he shouted. The bullets ripped through Marlowe again, hovered for a second, and then fell to the ground with tiny clinks as they bounced on the cement floor. Emma's eyes turned back to blue. Charles Marlowe was a bloodied mess, but in moments, his wounds healed and he regained his feet.

"Don't do that again," Emma said, inflecting her voice so that Marlowe could hear her. The gun leapt into the air and disappeared in the distance, landing by the outer wall of the hangar. Shalimar, Jesse and Brennan joined Adam and Emma at the edge of the circle of Links, leaving Charles Marlowe alone at the center. They looked at Emma as if seeing her for the first time and were not so sure they liked what they saw. Emma reached into the mind of Maria Raven, Marlowe's closest aide.

The African American woman stepped forward. "Charles hasn't told all of you his plans yet, but I feel it is time everyone should know," she said.

"Stop, Maria. I'll tell them." Marlowe looked at Emma as he said this. He then raised his arms as he addressed his people. "Our ultimate goal has always been to create a world where our powers are not only accepted, but also respected. We seek to take our rightful place as leaders of our genetic inferiors. This is the world Gabriel Ashlocke wanted for us." All of the Links knew this to be the goal of their movement. They nodded their heads in agreement with the stated purpose.

"There are two incontrovertible facts, two major obstacles, that we must overcome in order to obtain our objective." As he spoke he turned to address different groups of his people, meeting the eyes of his most adamant supporters. "First, there are more than six billion so-called 'normal' people on this planet. Some estimates put the number of New Mutants at near a thousand. We are few and our oppressors are many. Second, the general population will never accept our powers. They will stop at nothing to destroy us if they are made aware of our existence. The problem is not us, the problem is them, the Normals." The Links had nearly forgotten about the presence of strangers in their midst. Many had wondered for a long time how they would fulfill Gabriel Ashlocke's dreams. Now, they would know.

"The solution is simple," Marlowe told them. "We need to even the odds. Fasergen scientists have created a virus that should prove fatal to nearly one hundred percent of all normal human beings. It will not, however, affect New Mutants." He let them absorb this information. Few seemed taken aback or disturbed by the idea of such wholesale slaughter. "And there is something else. You may or may not know that our Mutant abilities will not be carried more than a few generations. Many of us will have children and grandchildren who are not New Mutants." Again Marlowe paused to let the ramifications of his statement sink in.

"Now, you may be asking yourselves, what point there is in seizing this world for our kind, if it will simply return to the control of Normals in a few generations. Perhaps, we could go into the lab and create more New Mutants and renew the work of people like Adam Kane, Mason Eckhart and Paul Breedlove." This idea was clearly distasteful to the Links. Most blamed Genomex and its scientists for all of the troubles in their lives. They embraced what they were, but rejected the irresponsible science that had created them.

"There is another option. Ms. De Lauro has given you a little taste of it here today." He gestured toward Emma as he said this. "Immortality." Marlowe turned in a circle where he stood so that he could see all of the reactions of his people. He addressed Adam Kane, facing him. "Adam, you once called me the 'key to the cure', well I still am. I am the key to the cure for death. We have found a way to cause my body to create surpluses of the enzymes that power my rapid healing. I can produce enough doses to keep all New Mutants alive indefinitely." The Links looked at his shredded clothes and unmarked flesh. They believed. "The few humans without mutant abilities who survive the plague will grow up in a world where we are gods. They and their children will live to serve us. It is everything Ashlocke promised us and more. I offer dominion over the Earth and immortality."