The first of the explosives went off as Davor was hurrying through the ocean labs to the hangar where the remaining two X-jets were held captive. The foundations of the building were already unstable from the flooding of the lower levels, and he stumbled and lost his balance as the facility was rocked by the force of the blast. Grabbing for something to hold on to, Davor caught his hand on a jagged metal strut. He gave a gasp of pain as blood was drawn, but it didn't slow down his hurry towards the jets. Climbing into the interior of one of them, he placed the case he was carrying on to one of the seats, and strapped it carefully into place. It contained all of the equipment he would need to implant the constantium into his body. Even if everything else were lost, this was all he needed to realise his dream of living forever.

He flicked the switches that would bring the engines online and ready to leave. Strange. Nothing happened. He tried it again, but the jet's systems weren't responding. Somewhat puzzled, he ran down the embarkation ramp to investigate the jet's exterior. He was no expert on aircraft systems, but he knew enough to tell what the problem was here. The engine was no longer connected to the power source. Someone had detached the connection. But who…

Mystique kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him to the floor. Too shocked to respond, Davor could do nothing as she grabbed him by the shoulders, holding him down, holding him immobile on the floor. Slowly she lifted her knee on top of his throat, and began to push it down on to his windpipe. Davor struggled, but the woman was too strong.

"How does it feel?" she hissed. "How does it feel to be the one who's being held down and helpless? How does it feel to know what's coming and not be able to do anything about it?"

Davor would have replied if her knee hadn't been crushing his throat and preventing him from speaking. Unable to breathe, his struggles became more violent. Mystique only increased her own grip on his shoulders, forcing him downwards. She hoped he remembered all the times he had held down poor little Gemini while he violated her. She hoped that was going through his mind now, in his last few seconds of life. She hoped that Gemini would be able to sleep easier at night in the knowledge that this monster was dead. She hoped that Erik, wherever he was now, would forgive her for not disposing more quickly of the charlatan who had tried to disgrace Erik's name.

With his last ounce of strength, Davor cast an illusion. He had no time to pinpoint Mystique's deepest most painful feelings, and produce an image to terrify her beyond thought. He cast the simplest illusion he could think of: a group of armed men running towards her, ready to fire. Caught by surprise, Mystique didn't realise it was an illusion until she was already halfway across the room and diving for cover. In that time, Davor reacted with lightning speed to reconnect the jet's engines to the power source, and hurry into the aircraft's interior. Even as Mystique got back to her feet to try and stop him, the jet began ascending into the air, and within moments it was gone, disappearing out of the hangar and into the sky outside.

Mystique cursed. How could she have come so close to killing him and yet still seen him escape? Why could the bastard not be brought to justice for what he had done? She knew she couldn't give up. She had to track the jet and find out where he was going. In her explorations she'd discovered a radar and comm. room not far from here. She went there now.

To her dismay, she found that the ocean labs were already swarming with human troops. The sub-creatures must have worked out where the constantium submarine had come from. They must have come here to apprehend whoever was responsible. If they found mutants inside the ocean labs…well, their small brains wouldn't need to do much deduction. Mystique didn't know for sure if the X-Men were still here, but if so she had to warn them. Enemies they might be, but she had no desire to see them in the custody of the humans. She ripped open one of the communications panels and began setting it up to contact the X-Men.

Davor Rosiçky tried to get his breathing under control as the jet soared out from the hangar and into freedom beyond. That had been too close for comfort. The blue woman had almost killed him. He had overlooked her…again. And that was not a good sign. It showed he was panicking, forgetting things, and making poor decisions.

I have to calm down. I have to slow my breathing, rationalise my thoughts, and calm myself completely. Everything is still going according to plan. The blue woman, the metamorph, will be destroyed when the rest of the explosives go off. Then she will be a threat no longer. After that I will see what has become of Xavier's students and their attempts to stop the submarine. I do not particularly care whether they have succeeded. If the people of this world die, what is that to me? I have achieved my goal. I will live forever.

As hard as he tried, he couldn't get his breathing to slow. His heart was now beating uncomfortably fast, and sweat began to break out on his forehead. Davor cursed himself. He was reacting irrationally. Yes, he'd nearly died, but he'd nearly died on previous occasions as well. It wasn't a new experience for him. Or perhaps it was the excitement of finally achieving his goal after so many years. His entire life had been spent in the pursuit of attaining eternal life. And now he was about to do so. Implanting the constantium in his body would cease his ageing, now and forever. He would still be vulnerable to physical harm, but constantium shielding could protect him from that.

Wiping his brow with his sleeve, he found his breathing was still growing ever more rapid. What was wrong with him? His heart was actually beating so fast it was painful. His breath had become ragged gasps, and his limbs were heavy and sluggish. His throat began to constrict, and he could no longer draw breath. His heart pounded so fast and so hard he felt as if it was about to erupt out of his chest. He tried to scream with the pain but nothing would come out of his throat. His vision began to waver, and blur, and then blackness crept in at the sides of his eyes.

He slumped unconscious at the controls, and the jet began to drop out of its steep vertical climb. Gaining speed as it dropped, the aircraft plummeted towards the ground at terminal velocity. Crashing into the cliffs at the edge of the Atlantic ocean, the jet exploded into a fireball.

"Did it work?" said Chloe anxiously.

"Yes," said Neil. "He's gone."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "So it's over. We're safe."

"From him, yes. I'm not too sure what else is going on right now."

"Mum! Dad!"

They turned to see Annie and Gary hurrying towards them.

"Humans are all over the base!" their son exclaimed. "We have to get out of here before they find us!"

Annie nodded, "We can sense them! Our telepathy seems to be working now. Dad, what about yours?"

"Yes," said Neil. "The pure constantium is gone now. Davor took it with him."

"He got away?" his daughter cried in exasperation.

"He didn't get far. We'll explain in a moment. First thing we need to do is find a way out of here."

"I think I can help you there," came Mystique's voice from behind him. "One of your jets is still here. I can pilot it. Come on!"

Neil, Chloe, Annie and Gary Rosiçky hurried after Mystique, through the ocean labs until they reached the vehicle hangar. As she had stated, one of the X-jets was present.

"We have to leave now!" Annie urged the others. "The humans will be here any minute!"

"All right, get on board," said Neil, directing his children up the ramp into the jet's interior. "Mystique, what are you doing?"

"Just a second," she called. "I had to fix the jets so Davor couldn't make a quick getaway. There. I've reconnected the engine to the power source. It's ready to go."

No sooner had she spoken than they heard the sound of many people running towards the hangar. A large group of armed humans appeared in the hangar doorway, and instantly spotted the mutants.

"Drop 'em!" their sergeant yelled.

Mystique reacted quickest, pushing Neil and Chloe to the floor and ducking behind cover herself. A second later, bullets sprayed the area where they had been standing. Chloe rolled over and hurried up into the aircraft. Annie had a basic knowledge of how to pilot it, and was quickly running through the pre-flight checks to make sure it was safe to take off. Neil got back to his feet and had to use his telekinesis to block a hail of bullets coming his way.

"Go! I'll hold them off!" Mystique yelled to him.

"Don't be a fool! There are more of them coming!"

With a telekinetic blast he managed to knock the soldiers off their feet.

"Dad! Come on!" Annie cried from inside the jet.

Running across the room, Mystique was able to hit the controls that sealed the entrance closed, trapping the soldiers outside. It probably wouldn't take them long to get the door back open, but it was long enough for Neil and Mystique to hurry up the ramp and into the jet. The moment they were on board, Annie hit the controls and they took off. Picking up speed, the jet headed for the exit and swooped out into the sky. Behind them they could see that the soldiers had succeeded in breaching the door, but it hardly mattered now.

"We made it!" Gary enthused. "Come on, we have to get after Davor! Where is he anyway?"

"He's dead," said Chloe.

"What! How?"

"I think I'd like to know that too," said Mystique.

"All right," said Neil. "Chloe discovered that the ocean labs contained a small biochemical weapons research division. It was empty when we got there, and we managed to find a sample of lethal bacteria."

"You mean…"

"When Davor was hurrying on his way here, an explosion threw him off balance and he cut his hand on a metal support strut. Or at least, that was what we wanted him to think. The 'explosion' was me hitting him with a telekinetic surge. The metal strut he cut his hand on was smeared with the bacteria."

"You poisoned him?" said Annie. "How could you be sure it'd work?"

"Because bacteria are living creatures, and as such, your mother can control them. The only difficult thing was making sure Davor cut himself on the right area of the strut."

"Brilliant," Annie smiled.

Even the usually cynical Mystique nodded, "I'm impressed."

Scott swore as, for the second time, the jet's engines burst into life then immediately sputtered and died. He glanced apprehensively at the radar console. The two British fighters were still circling around. They hadn't suffered any further hits since splashing down, so presumably Bobby was managing to hold them off for now. It probably wouldn't be long before the humans summoned reinforcement. Scott wondered if there was any worth in Rogue's suggestion of trying to contact the humans and explaining the situation to them. Pyro was adamant the humans wouldn't listen, but then he would say that, wouldn't he?

One piece of good news had come with the discovery that Marina had managed to divert the submarine away from Britain. Felicity had been fished out of the water not long ago, so she was safe. They had watched the radar display as the submarine, now heading west, moved further and further away from them. There was no sign of Marina, so they guessed she had to still be following it, trying to find a way to destroy it. There was nothing Scott could do but try to get the jet going again. Stranded here in the ocean, they were a sitting duck for attacks from the humans or from Davor.

"I think we've got trouble," said Pyro suddenly. "There's a ship approaching."

"What kind of ship?"

"Naval. Looks like a cruiser. I think it's French."

"They must be trying to stop the submarine as well," said Rogue. "They must know it'll go on and destroy them after it hits Britain."

"Wonderful," said Logan. "So what are we going to do, apart from sit here and wait for them to blow us out of the water?"

"Why don't you sacrifice your life to save us, Wolverine?" said Vertigo sarcastically. "Do us all a favour. I'm sure we'll remember you fondly."

"That's real funny, kid. Remind me to throw you to any sharks who come nosing around."

"Sharks wouldn't eat me. I'm all wiry muscle and no fat."

"All muscle and no brain, more like," said Gemini. "Dad, what are we gonna do? Can we destroy the cruiser?"

"We can't do that!" Rogue protested. "We have to reach a peaceful settlement with the humans! If we attack them, they'll blow us to pieces!"

"They're gonna do that anyway!"

The French cruiser continued to bear down on the stranded jet. The British fighters had pulled away and headed back towards land, perhaps to refuel or to call for reinforcements. For the moment it didn't really matter. The cruiser was the real problem now.

"All right, Rogue, try to open communication channels," said Scott finally. "If I can't get the engines back online, talking it over with them may be our only option."

"It won't work," Pyro insisted.

The cruiser fired its first shell towards the stricken aircraft. It landed in the water some yards to the side, but the resulting shockwave buffeted the jet and knocked them to the floor. They knew that had been just a trial shot by the French gunners, to test the wind velocity. The next shot would definitely be much closer.

"Attention! Attention, French warship!" Rogue was yelling into the communicator. "Cease fire, we are not hostile!"

There was no response.

"Shit, I can't speak a word of French," she panicked.

"Oh, give it here," said Pyro impatiently.

Before he could take hold of the communicator, the cruiser fired another shell, which whistled inches overhead and landed in the water a few feet away from the jet's nose. Minutes later a third one was launched, this one smacking down into the ocean just inches to one side, another shockwave flinging them to the floor. The humans were getting closer.

"To hell with this!" Pyro snapped. "Gemini, stay here."

He climbed out of the emergency hatch and on to the top of the jet.The French cruiser was still oncoming, and the distance between the ship and the aircraft was steadily decreasing. Pyro peered across the distance until he could clearly make out the shape of the huge gun at the bow of the cruiser. As he watched, it fired again. He dropped to the floor and the shell hissed past inches above his head. As it did so, he began counting. He knew the military precision with which these firing drills were carried out. He knew the time taken to load and fire each shell would be exactly the same every time. When the next shell was launched – again landing too close for comfort – he had calculated the amount of time it would be before the next one was fired.

He stood. He had to time this just right. Flicking on his lighter, he summoned a fireball into his hand. Counting down until the next shell was due to be fired, he carefully glided the fireball through the air towards the cruiser's main gun. Timing its journey to perfection, he thrust the ball of flame down the gun's barrel just as the next shell was fired. The gun exploded, hurling men through the air, and further explosions ensued as the gun's ammunition store was also ignited. One explosion tore a huge hole in the side of the vessel, and the French cruiser began taking on water. Pyro smirked, and climbed back down into the jet.

"Way to go, Dad!" Gemini squealed, hugging him with relief.

"I've almost got the engines ready," said Scott. "Pyro, that was not smart. It may have been our only chance of survival, but all it's done is get the humans mad. We have no chance of a peaceful settlement now."

"He saved our lives!" Gemini retorted. "Who cares if the humans get pissed off? They attacked us to start with!"

"Yes, but if they find out we're mutants, this could spark off a major campaign us. It would put every mutant in danger."

"In that case, now would be a good time to disappear before they find out who we are," said Logan. "Are we ready to go?"

"I think so. If I just – oh, shit! No!"

"What?"

"The engines just gave out again! I thought I'd got them back!"

"Cyclops, we're sitting ducks here!"

"I know! I'll have to try again. Be patient!"

"There are more ships approaching," said Chris, back at the radar console. "We're in shit, Scott, if we can't get in the air within the next few minutes."

"Just bear with me…"

Logan muttered, "If we need to lose some weight, I can suggest a few people I wouldn't mind throwing overboard…"

"No, no, you should sacrifice yourself, Logan," said Vertigo mockingly. "You are the great hero, after all."

"Cyclops, can I throw him overboard? Please? Nobody will miss him."

"Damn it!" Scott yelled in frustration. "I've lost the engines! We'll never get in the air!"

His mind was taken back to a time before when this had happened, stuck in the unresponsive jet, right in the path of certain destruction. Only Jean's sacrifice had saved all of their lives on that occasion…but she was not here to do the same thing a second time. There had to be something he could do. There had to be some way to get the jet in the air. The engines were a write-off; his desperate attempts to get them started had burned them out.

Then he had a brainwave.

"Bobby – freeze the water around about us. That'll stop the ships from getting close."

"You got it!"

Iceman had just climbed up through the emergency hatch, when Chris suddenly shouted, "No, wait – there's an aircraft coming!"

"Shit, those fighters are back!" said Logan.

"Hurry, Bobby, before the fighters get here!"

But Iceman's voice came back down through the hatch, calm and relieved, "There's no need…come up and see for yourselves."

Intrigued, Scott and the rest climbed out to join him on top of the ruined jet. And then they saw the reason for his sudden relief. The aircraft Chris had picked up on radar hadn't been the fighters returning. With the flotilla of human vessels still in the distance, another of the black X-jets was performing a water landing mere feet away from its stranded sister. The hatch on top was thrown open, and Annie Rosiçky's head and shoulders emerged, beckoning them across.

"Crusader!" Gemini squealed excitedly as she climbed down into the interior of the second jet. "Gladiator! Mystique!"

Running across to the cockpit area, she hugged the metamorph tightly. Mystique smiled a little uncertainly and patted the teenager on the back. She was still somewhat bemused by her apparent adoption as Gemini's mother.

"What happened with Davor?" Scott asked. "Is he still holed up in his laboratory?"

"No, he's dead," said Neil.

The others stopped and looked at him.

"Really? What happened?"

So Oculus told them. But Pyro wasn't convinced, "Hang on a minute – how do you know he's really gone? That it wasn't another illusion?"

"Because we attacked him in such a way that he didn't even realise he was being attacked. By the time the bacteria got inside him, it was already too late. No amount of illusions could have saved him. He thought he was unkillable. He thought he could avoid death simply by deceiving us time and again. In the end it was we who fatally deceived him."

"You're smarter than I thought," said Gemini innocently.

"What about the submarine?" said Scott. "Is it still headed for America?"

Another voice spoke from the rear, "No, it – it's been stopped."

"Marina!" said Chris in relief. "How did you stop it?"

"I – I didn't. The humans did."

"How?"

"They – they intercepted the signal Davor o – originally sent to start the sub moving. They used a similar s – signal to tell it to stop."

Chris and Fliss moved over to where their daughter sat huddled in the corner.

"Are you OK now?" Fliss asked her softly.

Marina averted her eyes, "I – I don't know. Spending time in the water did me good, but…I don't know if I can hold together any more…"

The others had gathered up front.

"What about the ocean labs?" Logan was saying. "All Davor's stuff must still be there. We've gotta destroy it in case some other bright spark tries to carry on his work."

"The labs have been destroyed," Annie said. "We don't know what caused it, possibly explosives Davor left there himself. There were humans attacking the base just as we left. They must have been caught in the blast."

"There's no way they could have survived," Gary agreed.

Dominic suddenly looked over, "What about my brother?"

"Eh?"

Cassie stood with her arm around Dominic's waist, and she frowned, "Are you talking about Recyclo?"

"He was there! I saw him! He was in the ocean labs!"

"Helios," she said gently. "It would have been an illusion."

"No, no, it wasn't an illusion! It was real! He was there; I saw him!"

"No, Dominic…he's dead. I know you want him to be alive so you can try and turn him back, but he's gone."

"No! I saw him!"

Scott shook his head, "I'm sorry, Dominic. We all saw or heard things we desperately wanted to be real. Davor was playing with our deepest feelings and emotions. Maybe you thought you saw your brother, but you know he's gone."

Dominic stopped for a moment? Had Recyclo been real? Could he have been an illusion?

"But…" he began. "He helped me find stuff on the computers. The information about the submarine, it was Recyclo who found that. I mean, I couldn't have done it. And Marina was out of it by then."

Scott sighed, "Don't forget, Davor wanted us to go after the sub. He was using it as a distraction to get us away from the ocean labs. He would have wanted you to find that information. He used an illusion of your brother to…"

But Dominic wasn't listening any more. He was still haunted by the image of his brother in his mind. He'd left Recyclo behind in the computer lab while the rest of them went after the submarine. Recyclo had promised to find what more information he could on Davor and the constantium. That was the last Dominic had seen of him. Had he died in the explosions that destroyed the ocean labs? Or had he never been real at all? Had he died the way they'd thought, buried underneath a ton of falling machinery as Gary and Annie ended the Apocalypse?

Cassandra gently put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed him. Dominic looked at her, and gave her a sad smile. She said nothing, just wanted to let him know she was there for him. Dominic thought furiously. Had Recyclo been real? Would Dominic ever know for sure? If he had been real, could Dominic have saved him from the explosion? Was it his fault his brother was dead? He didn't know. And now, how could he ever know?