Accel could hear voices now, and there was light. Another opening was ahead of her, and through it she could see some feet. Hey, it was Cassie! She recognised Cassie's shoes, because she'd helped Gemini to pick them as a present for Cassie. The other four feet had to belong to the bad guys who were dragging her about. Accel crawled towards the tunnel exit and looked through to see what was happening to her friend.

Cassie still hung unconscious in the arms of the two men. They were standing in front of a door labelled G7. Accel remembered that was the room they'd been taking Cassie to. Perfect. When the bad guys went away, she could crawl out and set Cassie free. She watched as the baddie on the left punched some numbers into a keypad on the side of the door. A red light flashed and the man swore, "Damn it, I got the code wrong!"

"Oh, you're so useless," the other sighed. "Here, I'll do it. We need to wait a few seconds. If we try it again too soon, an alarm will go off. You're always forgetting the code. Here, I'll write it down for you to remember, in nice big numbers…"

He wrote on a piece of paper and held it out, but the other man threw it on the floor angrily, "I can remember the code, damn it! You don't need to patronise me!"

"Fine, whatever."

The man who knew the code punched it in correctly, and the door silently slid open. From inside came a furious roar, "Get me off this thing, you bastards!"

Cassie was thrown into the room, then they hit the keypad again and the door slid shut. Accel waited for the men to walk away. They did so, and she crawled out of the tunnel, ready to try and get Cassie out. In her excitement, she lost her footing and fell over. Accel tensed, expecting a guard to come running to investigate the sound, but several moments passed and there was no reaction of any kind. She rose, and stood in the corridor, directly in front of the door she had seen Cassie taken through. There were no handles and the door didn't open when she pushed it as hard as she could it.

Then the little girl remembered: the keypad! There was some kind of code that opened the door. But what was it? The men had typed it in too fast for her to see what it was. And then she remembered something else. One of the men had written the code down, but the other man had thrown the note away! She dropped to her hands and knees, and grabbed it. Unfolding it excitedly, she read the code and punched it into the keypad.

Accel almost cried out with delight as the door slid open. Dropping the note, she hurried inside to find Cassie. The room inside was small, and she found her friend lying in the corner.

"Cassie! Wake up!" the little girl exclaimed, shaking her friend's shoulders.

Cassie didn't move, and made no response of any kind. Accel panicked. Was she all right? Was she – was she dead?

"Cassie?" she said nervously.

How did you check if someone was alive? They'd been taught it at school not long ago. She thought hard, and then it came to her. Check their pulse. Accel put her fingers on Cassie's wrist, but she couldn't feel anything. Was she doing this right? Cassie was OK, wasn't she? She wasn't dead…no, she couldn't be…

"No…" the child wailed.

From behind her came a voice, "Hey, kid!"

Logan recognised the girl. She was one of the little kids from the school. But what the hell was she doing here? How had she managed to get the door open? Had she come with the foreseer kid – what was her name again – Cassandra? Was this supposed to be some kind of rescue attempt? He struggled against the magnet, but to no avail. The little girl had turned at the sound of his voice.

"Oh, Mr Logan, sir," she sobbed with heartbroken sorrow. "Cassie's dead!"

"No, kid, she's all right. I can see her breathing. Put your hand on her chest and you'll feel it."

Accel did, "But why won't she wake up?"

"She's been knocked out. She won't wake up until – well, I guess until she's ready. Hey, kid," he tried to remember her name, "Accel, come and help me out here."

With an effort, the girl managed to pull herself away from her worries for her unconscious friend, and she walked over to the metal table which Mr Logan was lying on.

"Are you hurt? Can't you get up?" she said.

"No, it's – look, this table's a magnet. Part of my body is made of metal, so I'm stuck. Can you find a way to turn the power off?"

"Yeah, just tell me what to do!"

"Look for something that might turn the power off. Are there any cables running out of this?"

"No…I don't think so."

"OK. Try looking in the corridor outside. There won't be an off switch or anything in here."

"Mr Logan, is Cassie really OK?" the girl asked uncertainly.

"Yes!"

"Isn't there something I should do for her?"

Stop talking, kid, and find some way to turn this thing off! He forced himself to calm down, "Accel, she's fine. She'll wake up in her own time. Get me off this thing so I can find the rest of our friends."

Accel hurried back into the corridor outside, looking around for something that might be controlling the thing Mr Logan was stuck to. She was worried about Cassie. Was she really OK? She hadn't woken when Accel had shaken her. Weren't people supposed to wake up when you shook them?

Hey, there was a box or something attached to the wall. On the side of it was a lightning symbol. Wasn't that what they put on power supplies? Maybe this was the thing that Mr Logan wanted her to turn off. As she got closer, Accel noticed the front cover of the box was hinged, and she swung it open. Inside was a number of switches, but she didn't know what any of them did. There was some writing, but she couldn't read it. Would it work if she just turned them all off? Experimentally she flicked a couple of them.

"Mr Logan?" she called. "I hit some switches; did anything happen?"

"No."

She was halfway through hitting another random selection of switches, when she heard something over her shoulder. Accel turned.

"Hey, it's just a kid," said one of the three men facing her.

"How the hell did she get in here?"

The third one said, "The alert warned of a mutant loose. This could be it. Scan her."

One of them stepped close, holding out a small handheld device and running it up and down in front of Accel. The girl watched, waiting to see what they would do. Her muscles were tensed and she was ready to run if they tried to hurt her. She knew that humans were stupid, so she guessed it would take them quite a while to think. Hopefully she would have enough time to run away before they could decide to do anything nasty to her. But she couldn't run away! Cassie and Mr Logan needed her help!

"Scan's positive. It's a mutant."

Well, duh, she thought.

"Kill it?"

"Better ask the boss first," said one of the humans, who began speaking into a communicator. "Sir, we've discovered the mutant loose in Detention West. No, it's a kid, sir. About six or seven, I guess. Scan was positive. Yes, sir."

The others looked expectantly at him. He listened for a moment, then nodded, "Kill it."

Accel was already moving, running not away from the men but towards them. She had to protect Cassie. If the men were going around killing mutants, that meant they would kill Cassie, who was asleep and couldn't defend herself. She remembered the time Gemini had said: if a man ever tries to hurt you, this is what you do. The little girl drove an accelerated fist into the first man's groin, hearing the howl that came from his throat. She ducked under his flailing gun arm, and turned to do the same to the second man.

But the humans were faster than she'd been led to believe. The remaining two were standing over her, weapons pointed directly at her head. She turned to run, but lost her balance and fell on to her back. They moved in for the kill. Accel began to shake and sob in terror. Blood was dripping to the floor, and she thought: oh no, I'm bleeding! That means they've shot me!

Then she realised it was not her blood that was falling to the floor, but the blood of the two men. Their guns had fallen to the floor, their eyes were closed, and both hung limply from the clutches of a figure behind them. Logan retracted his claws, and the dead men fell to the floor. He checked the third, who was insensible through pain.

"You all right?" he asked the child. "Kid? Accel?"

He kneeled down beside her. Terrified beyond her mind's ability to handle it, the girl grabbed hold of Logan and sobbed into his chest.

"How did you get in here?" he asked in amazement.

She didn't reply; maybe she was too scared to think.

"Hey, come on, we've got to move," he said softly. "Accel? Are you going to be OK?"

Her tears continued to fall, but she nodded. He helped her to her feet and directed her inside the room, "Stay here while I have a look around."

"Don't leave me!"

"I'm coming back, kid. Stay with your friend. Stay with Cassandra."

Cassandra stirred and murmured something, then lapsed back into unconsciousness. The little girl hurried over towards her, and Logan sniffed the air. Good. Nobody was approaching. Somebody would show up before long, though, to see what had become of these three guards. He crouched down to quickly search the bodies, to see if there was anything that might give a hint as to what the hell was going on here. Where was he? Who were his ex-captors? Were they military? Was this linked with the terrorists? He glanced up at the circuit box on the wall. The kid must have hit the switch to turn off the magnet just before these bastards found her.

Cyclops had to be around here somewhere. They'd both been taken, so presumably they'd been taken to the same place, i.e. here. Not that Logan particularly wanted the guy around, but he did have his uses. Long range attack, that sort of thing. He glanced back into the room. The teenager was beginning to wake up, and the kid was kneeling beside her. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew it was his duty to protect them. They were Pyro's students, and probably brainwashed for life, but still, they were mutants, they were kids, and they were girls. Three different reasons why his instincts told him to keep them safe.

There were seven other closed doors on either side of the corridor, and he moved to the next one. He had no way of knowing which one Scott was inside, so he guessed there was no real option but to try them at random. He extended his claws and slashed through the first door. His eyes adjusting to the darkness inside, he saw the room was empty. Great. Only six more left to try. Hopefully no more guards would show up in that time. Then at some point he'd have to come up with some way of getting out of here. How had the kid gotten in? How the hell did a seven year old kid find her way in here? Had she been captured and escaped? Probably.

He checked the second, third and fourth doors, but there was nobody in any of them. The fifth door, when he got to it, was already lying open. Well, lying open probably wasn't descriptive enough. Torn open, with deep slashes all over its surface and left hanging on its hinges, was more accurate. Logan frowned. The slash marks in the door looked as if they came from his own claws, but he had no memory of doing this. Could he have been held in this room previously, slashed it open and escaped, then been recaptured and attached to the magnet? If so, why didn't he remember it? Had he been hit on the head or something?

The girls were coming up behind him. The foreseer had woken up, and she was walking quickly in his direction, the little kid holding her hand and hurrying to keep up.

"What happened? Did you get us loose?" the teenager asked him.

Logan shook his head, "No. She did."

"What? Accel? Is he being serious?"

Accel nodded, "Yeah! I saw the bad guys taking you inside, so I followed them and I stole their code and I got the door open!"

"Accel! Have you any idea how stupid that was! You could have been killed!"

"But I wanted to help you!"

"Honey, you should have thought of your own safety first! Are you all right? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No! I'm fine!"

Nevertheless Cassandra quickly ran her hands over the little girl, checking for injuries, making sure she really was OK, making sure she wasn't lying out of bravado. She watched as Wolverine slashed open two more doors, but apparently found nobody inside. Accel's eyes kept straying to the two dead, mauled men lying on the floor not far away. Cassandra quickly directed the child's attention elsewhere. She couldn't believe the tiny girl had been so careless as to actually come inside the prison and try to find her friends. But then, Accel was afraid of little, and clearly did not see threats for what they really were. She should never have been here. She should never have come with them. But then, what if she hadn't? Would they be free now?

Something in Accel's eyes told Cassandra that the child was now beginning to see the reality of what was going on here. The danger, the violence, the horror of the dead men, it was all quickly becoming too much for a young innocent mind to take. Accel looked up at her, and stretched out her little arms towards Cassandra. She wanted to be picked up and comforted. Cassandra settled for kneeling down and hugging the tiny mutant. More humans could arrive at any moment, and she wanted to be in a position where she could easily seek cover.

"Hey, kid!" she heard Wolverine calling to her. "Get on your feet and keep an eye out for guards!"

"I have a name, you know! You don't have to call me 'kid'!"

He ignored her and slashed open the door to the last of the prison cells. This time he could both see and smell the presence of somebody inside.

"Cyclops?" he said.

Two figures stepped out of the dark interior.

"Oh. It's you," Pyro and Logan said to each other.

The duplicator kid – Gemini – let go of her father's arm to hurry past, crying, "Cassie! Accel! Are you OK?"

The two men were left facing each other.

"What are you doing here?" Logan demanded.

"We came here looking for you, of course. Before you get excited, that was a collective 'you'. We certainly weren't seeking you out specifically."

"So where is Cyclops?"

"How should I know? I don't suppose you know half of what's going on, do you? All of your friends have been captured. We have a lead concerning those adamantium discs, too. And mutants are being arrested all over the world as a panic reaction to another terrorist strike."

"And you're not out there randomly killing people? You amaze me, Pyro."

"Doesn't sound hard. Anyway, we don't have time for this shit. We thought maybe the rest of your friends had been brought here. I take it you haven't found any of them."

"No. I've checked every room. They must be someplace else."

"We need to have a look around this place. Come on."

Logan stopped him, "Pyro, wait a moment. Macho bullshit aside, can you tell me, seriously and with 100 honesty, that your old boss isn't involved in this in any way?"

"Magneto? How many times do I have to tell you? He. Is. Dead."

"You're sure?"

"Yes! And I can prove it."

"How?"

"I'll tell you later. Let's go."

"Sir, there's no response from the team in Detention West."

The ageless man known as One said nothing.

"Sir, do you think the mutants have escaped?"

"Impossible! I designed their cells perfectly! It must be an equipment failure. But send a security team to check it out, just in case."

"They're on their way. Oh, another report just came in, sir. The rest of the mutants are being sedated and will soon be ready to be transported. They're being taken to the main hangar, sir."

"Excellent. I shall accompany them. You have your command once more, Lieutenant."

The sight and smell of blood and death had finally become too much for little Accel, who was being sick inside one of the cells. Upset and ashamed, she didn't want anyone to see her. Gemini was attending to a small injury on Cassandra's shoulder. Logan and Pyro were debating what to do next.

"I don't get it," said Logan. "There's a scent here – in this corridor – that I recognise, but I can't pin it down. It's somebody I know – or once knew – who's been here very recently."

"Any of your friends?"

"No. I'd recognise their scent straight away. It can't be anybody I know well. It must be somebody I've only met a few times."

Accel emerged from the cell, looking pale and unhappy. Gemini looked at her, "Are you OK, honey? We heard you throwing up."

"No I wasn't!" the child insisted.

"What are we going to do?" said Cassandra to Pyro.

"I guess we should search this place to see if we can find the rest of the X-Men. Maybe there are other prison sections."

"There are," said little Accel. "I heard the bad guys talking about it. This bit is called Detention West. They said there were four. Do you think there's a North, South and East as well?"

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? Sounds like our next move."

"For once I agree with you," said Logan, then he stopped. "Uh-oh. Wait a minute…"

He sniffed the air. Cassandra's eyes widened, "There's a group of men coming! I just foresaw it! They have guns and everything!"

"Damn it," Pyro muttered. "All right, Accel, get inside that room."

"Not that one! I've been sick in there!"

"All right, the next one! Cassie, get behind me. Gemini – "

Gemini was exploring the end of the corridor, trying to see what lay around the corner, the corner around which the humans were about to arrive. Logan grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back to safety. She struggled against him and yelled, "Let go of me! Let go of me, you bastard!"

"Keep your hair on, kid," he said, letting go of her once she was back with Pyro. "What's your problem?"

She glared at him, "I don't like being touched, OK? By men. I know you're all the same and you're only after one thing!"

"Oh, for crying out loud, kid, get a grip. I'm older than your father…"

"So was he."

"So was who?"

"Van Gaarde."

"They're going to be here any minute!" Cassandra exclaimed.

"I'll take them," the X-Man said confidently.

Pyro slipped his hand inside his jacket, round to the small of his back where he kept his backup lighter. Obviously the scum had missed it when they had captured and imprisoned him. He ignited it, and waited for the humans to approach. Logan extended his claws and was about to hurry forward to meet the guards.

"Wait!" Cassandra suddenly cried. "They're going to use a grenade!"

That was all the warning they had of the explosive suddenly being tossed around the corner, bouncing from one wall to land a few yards in front them. Pyro threw himself on top of Gemini as Logan grabbed Cassandra, the two men using their own bodies to shield the girls from the explosion. Accel screamed as the grenade went off, the sound deafening in the enclosed space but the relatively small explosive causing no real harm to the four grounded figures. Before the smoke had even cleared, the humans were running around the corner, their weapons at the ready. Logan jumped to his feet, ready to take them on at once, but Cassandra screamed, "No!" and pulled him back down on top of her. Bullets zipped through the air where he had just been standing.

Pyro raised his arm and a white-hot ball of flame shot out to engulf the three foremost guards, consuming them before they even had a chance to react. Logan was now running forward to deal with the rest. A bullet hit him in the shoulder but he didn't even slow down, stabbing his claws into the two men nearest him. Gemini was running forward to tackle the remaining guards, and Pyro yelled frantically, "No, Gemini, get back here!"

"Relax, Dad, that's my twin," she spoke softly from his side.

The last few guards were shocked and off balance, and the twin tackled one of them to the ground. Before the others could react, she had snatched one of the grenades from his belt and pulled out the pin.

"Wolverine, get back!" Cassandra screamed, grabbing his arm and pulling him away.

The grenade exploded, destroying Gemini's twin and the last remaining guards. The original Gemini, who always felt the summoned twins' pain, had shrieked in agony at the explosion and slumped in Pyro's arms. While he waited for her to come round, Cassandra ran into the cell to retrieve the frightened Acceleratus. Logan was already scouting ahead, checking the way out.

"Seems clear," he called back. "Let's go!"

Gemini had regained consciousness and they hurried after Wolverine. After a few moments they came to a corner, around which was a checkpoint of some kind with an airlock, and a guard post shielded with heavily reinforced bullet-proof glass. Inside was a single guard, intently watching the security monitors in front of him. It was the work of a few seconds for Logan to slash through the bullet-proof glass, and knock the man unconscious with a blow to the head. He hadn't been armed or aware of their presence, so there was no reason to kill him. Hurrying on past the checkpoint, they came to a crossroads.

"Which way?" Pyro said.

Accel pointed right, "That's the way I came in. It goes to the front door."

"Let's go this way," said Logan, heading left. "They'll be expecting us to try to head for the exit and escape. That's where their security will be tightest."

"What if we don't find your friends?" asked Cassandra. "What if they aren't here?"

"Then we find something that tells us where they are. Or something that tells us what the hell is going on here."

It seemed Logan had been correct, as they encountered no further security personnel while they made their way to what they assumed would be Detention North. If all the guards were at the entrance, anticipating an immediate escape attempt, how long would it be before they realised the mutants had gone the other way? None of the five knew. They just had to move as quickly as they could and try to find their friends.

At the entrance to Detention North, they found another checkpoint manned by a single guard. This guy did better than the last one; he got halfway towards sounding the alarm before Logan's metallic knuckles smacked into his jaw, knocking him senseless.

"I'll check the cells," Logan said to Pyro. "You and the girls stay here and keep watch."

There was no reason to argue, "Right. Accel, you go with him. I don't want you out here where it might be dangerous."

A few minutes later, Logan returned, shaking his head, "Nothing. They're all empty."

"Smell anything?"

A sigh, "No. There're too many different scents mixed together. Our friends might have been here, but I really can't tell."

Accel appeared beside them, "Hey, I found this in one of the cells!"

She held out something to Pyro, who took it.

"Hey – Cyclops' visor," said Logan in surprise. "Where'd you find this?"

"I told you, in one of the cells!" the child said impatiently.

"So he must have been here."

"You think he escaped?" Pyro said.

"Without this? Not likely."

"Maybe he left it for us to find," Accel suggested.

"How would he know we'd find it?"

She shrugged, "I dunno," and wandered away towards the teenagers, who were inside the guard post, presumably examining the security monitors.

"Dad! Dad! Come here quick! Dad!"

Gemini was frantically beckoning towards him, and Pyro hurried over to see what was wrong. She was in front of a bank of security screens, and she grabbed his arm to pull him over, "Look! That screen!"

Accel was jumping up to try and see what was so important. Cassandra picked her up and the three of them looked closely at the screen Gemini was so excited about. It showed a huge open space – an aircraft hangar – with what looked like a large cargo plane at the centre. Its landing ramp was down, and the figure at the bottom –

"It can't be…" he breathed.

"I know, I couldn't believe it either!" Gemini exclaimed.

Logan was behind them now, "What's gotten you so worked up, kids?"

"See for yourself, old man," she retorted.

He looked, and felt his initial shock quickly replace with a burst of anger.

"I knew it!" he yelled. "I knew that bastard was involved in this!"

"Hey! Bad word!" Accel shouted.

But nobody was listening to the little girl. They watched, spellbound, as Magneto took one last look around the hangar in which he stood, then strode up the ramp into the aircraft.

"He's alive…" Pyro whispered. "I can't believe it…"

"Yeah, just keep on acting surprised, man," Logan said angrily.

"But what about what Mystique told us?" said Gemini in bewilderment. "She told us…she gave me…"

Her hand moved towards the pendant around her neck. Accel squirmed and Cassandra set her down on the floor. Logan was looking at Pyro with even more suspicion, "Whoa, whoa, whoa – what's this about Mystique? I thought you said you had no idea where she was! Now I find out she's been meeting you? Any more little secrets you'd like to tell us?"

Pyro wasn't listening, "If this…if this is all Magneto's work – all of this, the terrorist attacks and everything else – how can I stand against him? He fights for what I do. How can I stand against whatever he's trying to do?"

"Oh, I don't believe this! The terrorist attacks are killing people indiscriminately, for all we know mutants as well as humans! Even you can't say that's acceptable!"

"He's right, Dad," Gemini said hesitantly. "Like, if Magneto was back, why wouldn't he contact us? Why didn't he show up to help us out last time?"

Pyro said nothing.

"Hey, who's that?" they heard Accel ask.

She was standing on tip-toes to look into one of the lower down security screens, and as they looked to see what had caught her attention, a figure was just moving off the edge of the screen. A small frown crossed the little girl's face, "I thought I saw…nah, forget it."

Before anyone could say anything else, all of them jumped at the sound of an ear-splitting alarm bursting into life from loudspeakers overhead, and bright red lights in the guard post suddenly flashing with painful brightness. A voice began to blare out of the speakers along with the alarm siren, "SECURITY ALERT – SECURITY ALERT – THIS IS NOT A DRILL, REPEAT NOT A DRILL – ALL SECURITY STAFF REPORT TO SOUTH ENTRANCE IMMEDIATELY!"

"Oh no, they've found us!" Accel cried.

"Is it any wonder, with the time you've all been wasting?" Logan snapped. "All right, if these bastards want a fight, they'll get one!"

"They could be here any moment," Pyro urged. "We'd better get ready. Cassie, what do you see?"

"Nothing."

"Look harder," said Logan impatiently.

"It doesn't work that way! I can't look direct into the future! All I get are flashes sometimes, when something's about to happen."

"Hold on a minute," Pyro said slowly. "The alert told the guards to go to the south entrance, right? That isn't where we are."

"Yeah, that's right," agreed Gemini. "We're north, aren't we?"

"The south entrance must be where Accel got in. Honey, what's down that way?"

The child shrugged, "I dunno. Just…stuff. I didn't really see. Are we gonna be OK? Are we gonna be attacked?"

"No, honey, we'll be OK," Cassandra said softly, squeezing the little girl's hand to reassure her.

"Maybe someone else escaped," Logan suggested. "If so, we should go give them a hand. If not, we can take advantage of the distraction to make our own escape."

"Sounds good," Pyro agreed. "All right, let's try to get some idea of what's going on down there. Which security screens will show us the south entrance?"

Gemini and Cassandra looked, "Uh…these ones."

The screens in question were dead.

"Hey, that's weird. Like, I'm sure they were showing something a minute ago. Cassie?"

"Yeah, I thought so too."

"Someone must have cut the feed," Pyro said.

Logan nodded, "Yeah – a good sign that maybe it is one of our friends. Let's go find them."

They headed east, to search the Detention East block. That too proved to be empty. The only option now seemed to be south. That was where the last prison block would be found, and where the alert had been signalled. It was also where the only exit they knew of lay. Before they even got there, Logan could tell something was wrong. He sniffed the air, inhaling deeply, and signalled the others to stop.

"What is it?" Cassandra asked cautiously.

"It doesn't smell right. I smell…blood. And death. Something terrible has happened."

"You mean our friends got hurt?" Accel cried anxiously.

"You kids stay here. Pyro, you're with me."

The two men went forward slowly, carefully, heading for the turning that would take them down the main corridor to the southern section of the prison. With every step they took, the scent of blood and death became stronger and stronger until Logan could barely smell anything else.

"Do you hear anything?" Pyro hissed.

"Nothing. Whatever happened is over and done. There's nothing we can do."

"What does death smell like?"

"Don't you know?"

"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, I don't have a genetically enhanced olfactory system."

"Huh, I just thought that with the number of people you've killed, you might have picked up the scent by now."

"Real clever, Logan. How long did that take you?"

"Longer than you might think. You see, unlike you, I think before I act."

"You mean you try to work out what something is before sticking your claws into it? My, Xavier did teach you a lot."

"You do talk a lot of crap, don't you?"

"Sorry, I'll try and speak slower next time."

"Listen kid, I may not read a lot of books, but don't try to make out I'm dumb, all right?"

"'Kid'? Are you even aware that I'm over the age of thirty now?"

"You sure don't act like – " Logan began, then abruptly held up his hand for silence.

Pyro listened, but could make out nothing.

"I thought I heard something. Come on. Stay quiet."

They edged around the corner, but neither man was prepared for the scene that awaited them. Bodies of men were scattered around the main corridor, and blood covered the floor and walls like some kind of macabre movie scene. The bodies had been butchered, slashed apart and cut open. The nearest corpse's face was frozen in a silent scream of horror and agony. Logan knelt down and dipped his finger in a small pool of blood.

"Warm," he said. "This happened very recently."

"Dad, what's going on?" they heard Gemini calling.

Pyro turned to see the girls approaching them.

"Don't come up here!" he warned. "Stay where you are!"

"Why? What is it?"

"I don't want you to see this."

Logan was sniffing the air once more.

"What happened?" Pyro asked.

"These guys were slaughtered is what happened. They never stood a chance. Look, there are no bullet holes in the wall, or any spent shells lying around. Most of them never even got a shot off."

"But who did this?"

"Well – it doesn't make sense to say this, but it looks as if…I did."

"I'm sorry?"

"Look at these wounds. They look exactly like my claw marks. And the detention area where I found you? There was a door that looked as if I had ripped it apart, though I knew I hadn't."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know. Supposing I did all this…but I don't have any memory of it…"

"What? Are you talking about mind control?"

"Magneto has psychic powers, doesn't he," said Logan – a statement, not a question.

"Yeah, just a basic telepathic ability. Nothing like Xavier's."

"Suppose he controlled my mind."

"You think that's what happened?"

"I'm asking you if it's possible."

Pyro thought about it, "I guess it's possible. The question is why. If this is his place, why would he have you kill his own men?"

"Well, nothing else he does makes any sense. Maybe that's why he wanted us captured and brought here. Maybe he wants to practice using telepathic mind control on us. With Xavier gone there'd be nobody to stop him."

"You think that's what this whole thing is about? Magneto wants to mind control you and your people?"

"You're his pupil. What do you think?"

"Well – as much as I hate agreeing with you – I think it sounds exactly the type of thing he'd do. He'd want your people out of his way so you couldn't try and oppose him. But at the same time, he wouldn't want to hurt you if it could be avoided. Obviously he's never tried it before because Xavier would have stopped him."

Logan sighed, and closed his eyes, "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I can't stand the thought of that bastard being inside my head and controlling my actions!"

"I can teach you how to block it, if you ask me nicely."

"And where'd you learn to block telepathy?"

"Magneto taught me."

"Right. Forgive me if that doesn't fill me with confidence."

"I'll think about it. Hey, looks like the last detention wing is down that way. At the risk of sounding as if I'm ordering the mighty Wolverine around, perhaps you should go check it out."

"Fine. If you want to do something useful, work on planning our route out."

"Whatever. Hurry it up, will you?"

They glared at each other as they parted. As Logan hurried towards the final prison wing, Pyro moved back to where the girls were looking at him expectantly.

"Dad, what happened? What is it?" Gemini asked him.

"It's pretty horrific, honey, you don't want to see it."

Instantly she became defiant, "I do! I can handle whatever it is!"

"All right, fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."

The girls passed him to satisfy their curiosity and see what had caused such consternation. Gemini's eyes widened with a combination of shock and horror, and she instinctively clutched at Cassandra. The foreseer had her hands on her stomach and was fighting the impulse to throw up. As little Acceleratus followed the other two past him, Pyro gently put out a hand to stop her, "Not you, Accel."

"Aw, but I wanna see!"

"No you don't. Besides, I've got a job for you."

"What?"

"I want you to stay here and keep watch in case anybody's been following us."

He knew that nobody had been following them, and suspected there were no more humans left alive in the prison. They didn't really need anybody to keep watch, but he wanted to give Accel something to do, to make her feel as if she was contributing. If he'd stopped to think about it, he might have realised that she already had contributed. Cassandra hadn't yet told him that it was the child who had kick-started their escape. Nevertheless Accel beamed with pride and set about her guard duty with her usual determination. If any bad guys showed up, she knew she'd spot them. She was thoroughly distracted from her desire to see the horrific scene.

Amazing, really, Pyro thought, since I adopted Gemini, I can actually handle kids. Previously I would just have told Accel to sit down and shut up. Now I can actually use child psychology and all that crap.

"Hey!" came Wolverine's voice. "I found Dominic and some of your kids!"

Pyro turned to see Logan approaching, with Vertigo, Atlas and Helios. The three teenagers were moving somewhat unsteadily and looked as if they had been drugged.

"Who're you – who're you calling a 'kid'?" Vertigo demanded of the wall in front of him.

"I think they've been sedated," Logan said. "Their minds are safely on another planet."

Helios stumbled, and found his way into Cassandra's arms. She held him a little uncertainly, while Gemini ran to support the unsteady Atlas. Vertigo swayed and fell over.

"You guys OK?" asked Pyro.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Vertigo assured him, face down on the floor.

Logan grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him unceremoniously to his feet. Vertigo casually surveyed the blood-strewn corridor and the slashed-up corpses, "Hungry, were you?"

"You're a scream, kid. You must have got it from Pyro. Come on, we can't hang around here."

"But where are the others?" Cassandra asked.

"Dunno. He must be holding them somewhere else."

"But we found the visor. Cyclops was here."

"Then he's moved them. Probably started doing so as soon as we began stirring up trouble."

"What are we gonna do?" asked Gemini.

"We can't waste any more time. We've got to get back to the school, find whoever's left, and then decide how we're going to stop Magneto."