Lisa gasped and held her breath. Surely the rat wasn't dead. But if it was, how had it died? She didn't understand.
Magneto closed the door to the cage and forced the box across the room. He stepped closer to her. Closer. Closer. She turned to face him. He opened his mouth to speak, and Lisa held up a hand. His lips moved, but he said nothing. Two can play at this game, she thought. Adam called her name, but she ignored him. Magneto closed his mouth and smirked, apparently amused that she was angry.
"Lisa," Adam said again. "Lisa, don't do this to him."
She held up her other hand and stopped Adam's voice. Jack and Lance stared at the circus, Jack with his jaw hanging open. Then, Lisa suddenly fell to the floor. Mystique slithered to her side. "Bitch," she said and then removed the tranquilizer dart from Lisa's neck.
Lisa's ears were open long before her eyes. She listened as two young men spoke to each other. "She's been here for a day now," Pyro said. "Are we going to die because of it?"
"No," Adam replied. "Magneto says it takes years for her mutation to have a deadly effect on a person."
"Then how did the rat die?"
"Magneto developed some kind of liquid, a potion, I guess, that he can inject into a living being, and they die instantly when exposed to her energy. It increases the effects on them one hundred fold."
"How does she kill them?" Pyro asked.
Adam replied with a reluctant tone. "Messes with their biorhythms. Gives them hypertension or somethin'. I don't know the particulars."
"So she really killed three people?"
"I guess so. But it's not like she did it on purpose."
Pyro chuckled. "God, I bet she hates you. Leading her on like that and then bringing her here."
"I didn't have a choice," Adam responded. "If I hadn't, we'd both be dead. I had to do what Magneto told me to do."
"I don't do anything anyone tells me to do unless I want to," Pyro bragged.
"Whatever," Adam mumbled. "You and Lance answer to Magneto's beck and call. You are just as disposable as the rest of us."
"At least I'm mutant," Pyro almost growled. "You would have died with the rest of the normal humans two days ago. Magneto paid you no mind when he used Cerebro to attack them. Besides…" He signed. "I will prove my worth." He waved his hand in the air. "I am a god among insects."
A period of silence passed between them. Lisa could hear the dripping of the cave water again. She forced it out of her mind with such ferocity that it gave her a headache. She moved the slightest bit just to see if she could, to see if she was in restraints again. She was not secured. She dared not open her eyes. She didn't want them to know she was awake. She had so many things to think over first.
She lay there for the longest time, her head throbbing, contemplating her current situation and recent enlightenment. She wanted to hate Adam but could not. He was right: if he hadn't complied with Magneto's wishes, he and she may very well be dead. But he had lied to her. She saw the look in his eyes when he laughed at her sarcastic remarks. It was the same look she had seen in the eyes of the only man she had ever loved. It had been many years since she had seen it, but she recognized it just the same. She had been certain that Adam loved her. And now she learns that he is her cousin? What a cruel joke. How could he have done this to her?
You are ridiculous, she told herself. Absolutely ridiculous.
She had no idea where she was, but she knew exactly what she needed to do. She needed to escape. She needed to get away and find help, find someone to keep her safe from Magneto. She had once heard of a school in New York that took in mutants. She was eight years out of school, but perhaps the founder of the establishment could direct her in the right direction. What was his name? It had been almost a decade since she had heard it. Charles Xavier, that was it. Charles Xavier? Wasn't that the name of the man Magneto said Caroline chose over him?
Lisa halted her thoughts in order to listen. She heard a faint voice, as if it were over a intercom or CB radio. "Magneto wants us to bring her to the lab," Pyro said. "He's ready for an experiment on a grander scale."
"But she's not even awake yet," Adam snapped.
"I told him that. He said to try to wake her up."
Lisa exhaled and lay completely still. She would refuse to "wake up." She needed more time to prepare her escape plans. Adam shook her shoulders. She made no response. He lightly slapped at her cheek. She didn't move. He leaned close to her and said her name. She remained motionless. He walked away. She wished she could see what he was doing, for the sounds around her gave her no clues.
Suddenly an alarm sounded. She jumped slightly but did not open her eyes. The siren grew louder. She held her breath and did not move. She mentally reduced the blare of the noise a little, but it ripped at her nerves. Louder. Louder.
"Damn it, Lisa! Wake up!" Adam shouted. The alarm was now a shrill piercing clamor.
She could not take it any longer. "Holy crap! Okay, I'm awake. Turn that damned thing off!" She sat up. "That is getting to be just about annoying. What is with you people and alarms? Not to mention tranquilizers!" She rubbed at her neck.
"I'm really not in the mood," Adam said.
"Like I'm in the mood for a splitting headache!?"
Adam turned around. "Pyro, I'll take care of her. "You go cook lunch or somethin'."
When the teen was gone, Adam reached to help Lisa from the bed. She yanked her arm away. "I can make it myself," she said and stood up.
"Look, Lisa, I'm sorry. I know all of this is probably a bit overwhelming, but I did what I had to do."
"Oh, yeah? Well, screw you!"
He took her arm again and pulled her toward the door. "C'mon, let's go."
He led her down the corridor once more, through the large room where they had eaten breakfast, and into yet another corridor. Finally they entered a cavernous opening even larger than the previous one. It was filled with metal equipment, computers, holographic projections on the wall, beakers and test tubes, and things Lisa had never seen before. Mystique sat at a desk punching on a keyboard. Magneto poured a yellow liquid from a bottle into a beaker. He filled a syringe as Adam led Lisa across the room.
"Sleep well?" Magneto asked. "I do apologize for Mystique's impatience. Tolerance has never been one of her strong
suits. Shall we begin?"
"Begin what?" Lisa wondered aloud.
"Lance has volunteered to help us," Magneto said. He carried the needle to where Lance was sitting. "Close your eyes," the older man commanded. The younger man complied. Magneto slowly pushed the needle into Lance's neck and emptied its contents into his blood stream. He pulled out the syringe. "A few moments."
They waited. Lisa looked around. What was going on? Mystique turned a few knobs on one of the computers.
"Now," Magneto began. He nodded to Lisa. "I want you to listen. Listen intently. Mystique is playing some music. Listen to see if you can hear it." Lisa heard nothing. "Try harder," he told her.
She didn't want to try harder. She didn't want to hear the damned music. She rolled her eyes.
Mystique walked toward them. She grabbed Lisa's arm and twisted it. "Listen carefully. Try harder. Hear the music."
Lisa shook her head, which resulted in pain shooting up her arm. "Listen carefully. Try harder. Hear the music." The blue woman's voice vibrated in Lisa's head.
Lisa concentrated. "I don't hear anything!" But as she spoke, she heard it: almost silent chords of Canon in D. She strained. "Hear the music."
A few moments later she was engulfed in the flowing melody. It filled her head. Line after line, note after note, Pachabel's masterpiece soothed her. She closed her eyes and listened.
Lance moaned, and Lisa came back to her senses. She jerked her head up. She no longer heard the music. She turned. Lance clasped his chest and then his head. His breathing was sporadic at best. She stared wide-eyed at him. She could hear his heart beat. It was uneven, unsteady, rapid. She could feel each pulse in her head. He grabbed at his chest again, and then he went limp.
Magneto approached him. He placed his fingertips on Lance's neck. "Well done. Well done indeed."
Mystique let go of Lisa's arm.
"What's wrong with him," the cowgirl asked quietly.
"Why, he's dead," Magneto replied. "You killed him."
"Killed him?" So this was what Adam and Pyro had been talking about earlier. She killed him. She killed the rat. She killed Caroline, Charlie, and her mother. She killed them. Tears threatened to sting her eyes. "How could you do that to him? How could you let him die? He's dead! He's not a rat! He's a person!"
"He'll be fine," Mystique cackled. "He can't die. He's regenerative—immortal."