"OK, I think I've got it!"

"Right. Be careful. Don't drop it whatever you do. Hold it in front of my eyes."

"It's there. You can open them."

Scott opened his eyes at last, and saw through the ruby lens of the spare visor. Rogue was trapped in front of him, mere inches between the two of them. Behind her he could see a door, presumably locked, but presumably the way out of here. Finding the visor had been the first step towards their escape, and from here he could see how they would proceed.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"OK. You're going to have to angle the visor so I can blast through the ropes that are holding you down. Once you're free, you can untie me and we'll both be free. I can blast the door open and we'll be out."

"Gee, Scott, I dunno. What happens if I hold it at the wrong angle and you blast a hole in me instead?"

"There's no other way. I can't turn my head. I'll help you work out the angle."

"But you can't see!"

Running as fast as she could and trying to keep out of sight, Acceleratus had made it to the prison building, and – as far as she knew – without being seen. Up ahead she could see two or three men with guns. They were dragging Cassie, who appeared to be asleep. Had they hurt her? Accel wanted to run over and help her friend, but she knew attacking the men would be a bad idea. They had guns. It's not that I'm scared, she told herself, I'm not scared of anything. But they might hurt Cassie. I'd better follow them. She increased her speed as the men approached the prison entrance, dragging her friend behind them. The door was closing. Accel went flat out, accelerating at almost an exponential rate, until she was little more than a blur, zipping through the doorway just before it closed behind the men.

One of the guards dragging the limp mutant teenager frowned, "You hear somethin'?"

The other shook his head, "Just the wind, man."

"I guess. Where we takin' this one?"

"Detention West, cell G7. Didn't you read our orders?"

"Course I did. What I don't get is why we have four separate detention areas. Why don't we just have one big area?"

"Because, duh, we have to keep the freaks separated. If they're all together, they're more dangerous."

"But they're locked up!"

"It never hurts to take precautions. You want to tell the boss he's doing it wrong? Go right ahead."

"Ah, forget it."

Detention West, cell G7. Crouching in her hiding place, Accel repeated the words in her mind to make herself memorise them. That had to be where the baddies were taking Cassie. Detention West, cell G7. How do I get there? Is there a map? Should I follow them? She suddenly realised just how much she missed having an adult or a teenager around to make decisions. Accel didn't know what she should do. She knew that if she wanted to follow the men, she'd have to do so immediately before they turned the corner and disappeared. Looking around carefully to make sure there was no-one else about, she got to her feet and hurried after the baddies.

She did not get far, before something grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"What are you doing here, kid! How did you get in!"

Accel twisted round to face the angry and confused guard who held her in a vice-like grip, and she struggled to free herself.

"Let me go!" she demanded.

"Are you Captain Baker's kid? You can't be in here! You know you're supposed to wait in his office until he gets back!"

"Where are my friends? What have you done with them?"

The man was getting suspicious now. This couldn't be Captain Baker's daughter. She wasn't American, for one thing. And he knew of no other officers whose children might be here. But how the hell else had a tiny little girl found her way into this high security facility?

"Kid, what are you talking about? Hey, get back here!"

She had managed to pull free, and was accelerating away even as he reached out to try and grab her once more. Running in the direction she had seen Cassie's captors go, Accel knew she was in trouble. She didn't know what to do. Her only hope was to find Cassie or Pyro or someone else who would know what to do. Accel was scared and once again she realised how badly she wanted someone older who she could rely on to look after her. What would these humans do if they caught her? Would they hurt her? Pyro said that humans hated mutants, so she guessed they probably would hurt her. She couldn't let herself be caught.

Accel glanced over her shoulder, to see the angry human guard in hot pursuit. Frightened, she quickened her pace and the gap between them began to grow. She knew she would tire herself out by going too fast; she had to find somewhere to hide. Maybe if she hid, and they couldn't find her, they'd give up. Then she could try to find Cassie.

"Hey! Grab that kid!" the man yelled.

There were more baddies up ahead, and they reached towards her as she approached. Accel raced past them in a blur, zig-zagging across the corridor to avoid their grasp. They snatched only at thin air, and she ran on.

"That kid's a mutant! There's a mutant loose!" she heard them yelling.

"Activate security doors!"

From the ceiling above, a thick see-through barrier began to descend right in Accel's path. She knew if she was caught underneath, she'd be crushed, and if she was stuck on this side, the baddies would get her. No! I can't be caught! I have to save Cassie! I have to make it past this! There was only one choice. Accelerating towards the barrier, she knew she wasn't going to make it in time. Wait! She knew what to do! Vertigo had taught her how! Just as the barrier was about to touch the floor, Accel threw herself forward into a diving roll, her body curling into a ball as she zipped underneath the falling barricade. Once safely on the other side, she uncurled and looked back to see what the baddies were doing. They were hurrying towards the barrier too, but they were too slow.

"Too slow, sub-creatures!" she yelled at them.

Cassie had to have been brought this way. There was no other way those other bad guys could have taken her. Accel started running again, hoping to find her friend. As she flew past, she noticed a sign on the wall that bore the words: Detention West. Accel was a good reader and she also saw the arrow pointing to the left. She remembered that was where Cassie had been taken. She went that way. Accel's heart gave a leap when she saw Cassie! The two bad guys dragging her were up ahead. She'd caught up with them! All she had to do was rescue Cassie, and then let her take over the situation.

Up ahead, however, Accel saw another problem. There was some kind of circular room with glass walls. She'd seen it in films and TV programs, and she guessed it was a security thing to keep people from escaping from the prison rooms. It was some sort of – what was that thing called? Oh yeah, an airlock. The men pulling Cassie stepped inside, the door closed behind them, and a few moments later another door opened in front of them.

I can't get through there! They won't let me get through the airlock!

Rushing footsteps told her that there were more baddies behind her. No! This wasn't fair! She had so nearly saved Cassie, but now she was just going to get caught again! She hurried towards the airlock and tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn't move. She had no idea how it was controlled. She looked around for a button or something that might open it, but there was nothing. The chasing humans had turned the corner and were heading straight for her. Overcome with fright, Accel just wanted to curl up and cry.

She forced herself to stay calm. There had to be something else she could do. What would Cassie or Pyro do in this situation? Well, they wouldn't panic. That was the first thing. They'd stand their ground and fight the bad guys. Accel told herself she had to do the same. Cassie was depending on her for rescue. There were three men running towards her, and she turned to face them.

"Get her!"

"Hold it right there, kid!"

She clenched her tiny fists, "Come on, I'm not scared of you!"

The men were taken by surprise as the tiny girl ran towards them, and as such they had no time to react when she suddenly ducked down and squeezed between them, heading for the small opening she'd noticed at the base of the wall. Accel dropped down on to her hands and knees, and crawled inside.

"The vents! She's gone into the vents!" one of the men yelled.

"This is a priority alert! We have a mutant loose in the ventilation system! Guard every vent opening on the outside of the building!"

Accel did not stay to listen to any more. She was already hurrying through the small tunnel as fast as she could. Far too small for an adult to fit into, it was just the right size for a seven year old girl to crawl through. She had to find Cassie. She didn't know where this crawlspace was going, but she hoped it might take her towards Cassie. It was dark inside the tunnel, and she had every child's natural fear of the dark. She didn't let it overwhelm her though. Cassie was depending on her. Maybe they all were. She couldn't afford to be scared.

On hearing the footsteps hurrying down the corridor towards her, Chloe Rosiçky's initial reaction was one of fear. The footsteps were too loud to be any of the children – could it be more attackers? No. Surely the flocks of ravens she had asked to watch the estate from above would have alerted her. She stood, moving across her office towards the window. She'd asked the ravens to form a diamond formation in the sky if any attackers approached the mansion. There was no sign of any such shape. The birds were still flitting around the sky scanning the ground. Presumably there was no danger. Nevertheless, she could not assume anything. She walked over to reach into the baby cobra's box and lift out the snake. Stirred from its sleep, the serpent moved sluggishly along her arm until it reached her shoulder. Chloe pushed open her office door to meet the owner of the footprints.

"Marina!"

"Ch – Chloe!" the girl panted, breathing hard, as if she been running a long way.

"Are you OK? Where're Annie and Gary?"

"They've been c – captured!"

"What? Marina, calm down. Tell me slowly what happened. Start at the beginning."

Marina stopped, panting and getting her breath back. Once she had recovered, she began, "It – it was Annie's idea. We found out the name of the man who – who had my family killed. We went to his house to – to try and confront him, or at least f – find out something about his motives."

"Go on."

"Well, we found our way in, o – only Annie and Gary were being affected by something. It was – it was something to do with their telepathy. They were getting headaches and – and they couldn't concentrate. There was something in the house that was – that was causing it. The – the closer they got, the worse it became. Eventually they – they passed out and were captured."

"You escaped?"

"Yeah. I – I desperately wanted to bring them with me, but I – I had to swim my way to safety, and – and – well, they wouldn't have made it. I – I'm real sorry, Chloe…"

Chloe was torn between worrying about her children, and her confusion about the situation in general. She didn't know what to think, or what to do. She had no idea what their priority should be.

"Did you manage to find out anything?" she asked Marina.

The water girl nodded, and reached into an invisible pocket on her uniform, "This computer disk h – holds the contents of his computer's hard drive. It's encrypted; I thought Chris would be able to – to hack into it."

Chloe took it. She was about to tell Marina what had happened to Chris, when the girl held up something else, "There's pictures on the camera that Annie took of some documents. I – I'm not sure what was on them. And then some that I took of – of the people who captured us."

"All right, let's take a look. We can connect the camera to one of the computers and view the images directly," said Chloe.

The woman and the girl hurried into Chloe's office, and sat down in front of the computer. Marina noticed for the first time the tiny snake that was sitting on Chloe's shoulder. Its tongue protruded as it curiously extended its head towards Marina. Its hood flared slightly, perhaps as it evaluated whether or not she represented a threat.

"Is – is that a c – cobra?"

"Yes. It won't hurt you. Try not to startle it."

Marina tried to ignore the snake, and focused her attention on Chloe connecting the digital camera's output into one of the computer's ports. Within a minute or two, the first of the photographs was up on screen.

"What – what is it?" said Marina. "It must be one of the ones Annie took."

Chloe frowned as she peered closely at the diagram on the piece of paper Annie had snapped.

"It looks like blueprints…for a ship, perhaps," she guessed.

She switched to the next picture. This was similar to the first, presumably from the next page in the document.

"The Survival," Chloe said. "That's the name of the ship."

"I – I don't think it's a ship…"

"No?"

"No. It – it's a submarine."

"How can you tell from this?"

"I know a bit about ships. My family, uh, did a lot of sailing."

"Hmm. OK, what does this tell us?"

Marina looked at the screen once more, "Maybe it's a Naval research project McKenzie is involved in."

They looked at more images of the sub's blueprints, and then they came to the other pictures, the ones Marina had taken, of the three men she had evaded. The first man was Admiral McKenzie, and she pointed him out to Chloe. The second man was unknown to Marina, but Chloe said, "I know him! I recognise him! He was the leader of the troops who attacked the school!"

"Attacked the school? What are – what are you talking about?"

"The school came under attack earlier today, after you left. Elite commandos or something, we're not quite sure. This man was the leader. I don't understand; I thought they were all killed…"

While a shocked Marina digested this information, Chloe looked at the photograph again. There was a third man, but his face was hidden in shadow.

"So that means – " Marina began. " – that means there's a connection between – between the people who killed my family and – and the people who attacked the school…"

Chloe switched to the next photograph in the camera's memory, another image of the three men. This time the third man's face was not in shadow, and she could see his features clearly. Her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"This can't be…" she whispered.

Marina said, "He – he was telling the other two what to do. He must have – he must have been in charge. I don't know who he is."

"I do."

"What? Y – you've seen him before?"

"More times than I'd like to remember…"

"So – so who is it?

"It's Magneto."