Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me

Scene 10

Finding Shrew didn't take half the time discovering the laboratory had done. The X-Men in disguise followed their noses to a rat's nest of a room, down a shady, woe-begotten corridor that smelt of sweaty socks. Shrew's name was stuck to a door in uncertain letters, and though the door was locked it only took a kick from Blaze to open it. Inside the room was little more than a dingy cupboard, barely tall enough for Gambit to stand upright. Shrew himself, a little, rodent-like, pot-bellied man who could literally smell mutations on others, was curled up in bed under a shrivelled green blanket. Magneto's lackey and informant, Shrew had met both Gambit and Blaze before.

"Eek," squeaked Shrew. The image inducers didn't fool the little shrimp for a second, as he lurched upright and dived out of bed. Correspondingly Blaze and Gambit switched off the devices. "G-g-gambit! I thought Magneto said you didn't work for him no more?"

"I don't," agreed Remy proudly, folding his arms.

"And you, you," Shrew pointed wildly at Blaze, sniffing deeply. Blaze concentrated, fire flashing in the depths of her deep brown eyes. "Fire witch, you stink of it! You're one of the X-Men, you were with the she-wolf when you stole the kid Stifle from me."

"Blaze," she introduced herself, striving not to laugh at the minion. Comic figure he may be, scared of his own shadow, but he would sell them out without hesitation if they gave him the chance or inclination. "Nice to see you again Shrew."

"What are you doing here?" Shrew backed up against the wall, but the X-Men cut him off from the only exit.

"Funny," responded Gambit. "We were gonna ask you the same thing. What's Magneto up to this time?"

"I don't have to tell you anything," argued Shrew.

"That's where you're wrong," replied Blaze, taking a step across the floor towards the rodent. Fire ran over her hands and up her sleeves as she reached out and placed her palms on the wall to either side of Shrew's balding skull. The rodent gulped, nostrils flaring as the smell of fire and ash became almost too much for his sensitive sinuses. "You're going to tell us everything, starting with why Magneto is collecting tissue samples from sleeping mutants."

"Nuh-uh," Shrew shook his head. "Sinister's the brains behind it. Magneto's just helping out with manpower and a couple of gems of Ciccorak…"

"Wow, back up," Gambit ordered. "Gems of what?"

"He used them on Asteroid M to try and advance Scott and Alex," Blaze remembered, having read the mission report on the Institute's computer. "Now he's letting this Sinister use them? For what?" she demanded of Shrew.

"Well Sinister reckons he can use them to fuse mutant DNA to other mutants, or even humans, giving them extra powers," explained Shrew, who was by now sweating. "That's all I know, I swear."

"Oh no Shrew, you know much more than that," Blaze insisted, transfiguring into her other form, the one where she was crafted of burning flame. That made Shrew yelp, but not half as much as Gambit's well-timed cry of, "Blaze no! We need him alive!" Blaze knew that Gambit was more entertained than worried, as she had no intention of killing Shrew. Still, at Gambit's word she backed off and changed back into her human form. Shrew crumpled like a house of cards to the floor, until Gambit switched places with Blaze and lifted Shrew up by his sweaty shirtfront.

"So they engineerin' mutants to order," Remy insisted. "How? Who else is involved?"

"Simple…" stuttered Shrew. "Me and Magneto's other recruits, like the Brotherhood, sniff out powerful mutants and give their locations to Blink. She opens the portals to wherever we tell her. Then either Magneto's team of Pyro 'n' Sabretooth or Sinister's team of Vertigo 'n' Ruckus go through at night and inject a formula of Sinister's into the sleeping mutant. He says the DNA has to be configured before removing it, because mutant DNA is so unstable. Sometimes it takes a few days for the DNA to be ready. When it is, the teams go back and take hair, blood and soft tissue samples. They're given to Splice for cataloguin' and grinding down into the bit relatin' to the powers. Sinister takes over then for the fun bit, transplanting the genes into new hosts and sealing the job with the help of the gems. They're radioactive or something I think. But I swear that really is everything!"

"Not quite," Gambit took a cue from Blaze and started charging Shrew's shirt like once he'd charged up Toad with his powers. Blaze chortled with laughter as Shrew squirmed pointlessly and Gambit's power surged about the pair of them. "You tell 'em what mutants to go after. Who's DNA have you harvested? Have you sent them to the Xavier Institute?"

"No! No! Sinister says if you come across a sleeping lion you don't poke it in the eye. Besides, we've really only just started so…"

"Who have you had them visit Shrew?" Gambit insisted, hoisting the weed even higher so his feet dangled above the floor.

"Just nobodies really, honest! The Morlocks Callisto and Spyke, Omega Red, X-23, Colossus, some creature called Behemoth," Gambit went pale; it had been Behemoth who had near enough gutted him not long ago. Shrew didn't notice, "The kid Stifle, Angel, Cyclops and Jean Grey…" Shrew gulped, "Sinister was particularly pleased with those two. They're at college, out of Xavier's protection. Sinister is really keyed up about them. He's not let Splice touch their samples, he's done all the prep work himself."

"Guardians," Blaze hypothesised. "Scott and Jean are both Guardians of Destiny, like me. Their mutation is amplified."

"I t'ought that was mystical energy?" asked Gambit.

"I hope it is, I don't want Sinister getting his hands on anything to do with it. Although," here Blaze became blatantly scheming, "It might work to our advantage. If Sinister is that keen to get his grubby mitts on the DNA of a Guardian, we can get back to Warren's tonight."

"What did you have in mind?" Gambit pried.

"Me, obviously. I've been at Warren's two nights running. Surely Shrew can arrange cover evidence enough for us to go back there to collect samples from me, can't you?" Both X-Men looked acutely at the minion. Shrew bit his lip, shivering. "Don't hold out on me Shrew. The sooner we are gone back through the portal, the better it will be for you."

"Alright," Shrew realised he had no choice. "I'll do it, but you two had better go lie low until you're called for. Vertigo and Ruckus' rooms are down the hall to the left."

"Thanks Shrew," Blaze chirruped encouragingly. "But what we really need to know is where are the gems kept?"

"The…the vault," stuttered Shrew. "Take a left at the room before the lab and then a right at the T-junction. Its pointless though, only Magneto and Sinister have access to the vault!"

"Let us worry 'bout dat," smiled Gambit. Both X-Men pressed the 'on' buttons on their inducers and simultaneously disappeared, replaced by Sinister's lackeys, "Merci beaucoup Shrew, its bin nice chattin' to you again."

"Just don't get caught!" Shrew blurted out, just as the X-Men left the room.