Gemini turned from admiring herself in the mirror, and looked at the other girls in the room, "How do I look?"
"You look great!" said Bibi enthusiastically.
Phoebe nodded her agreement. Accel ran her hand along the tight black leather encasing Gemini's left arm, "Cool. When will they let us get some?"
"When you're much, much older," came Rogue's voice from across the room.
"Hey, Gemini's only seventeen!" Bibi pointed out.
"Yes, and you're only eight."
Bibi sulked, and rather cheekily mimicked Rogue's voice, "Yes, and you're only eight. You're only eight. You're only eight."
Accel and Phoebe both giggled, and Gemini struggled to stop herself from doing the same.
"Kimberly," said Rogue in a warning tone.
Bibi fell silent. She knew she was in trouble when her proper name was used. Rogue turned her attention to Gemini, "Ready to go?"
"Yup, I think so."
"Good luck!" Accel said. "Hey, when can we go on a mission?"
"Shortly after you get your uniforms," the woman informed them dryly. "All right, Gemini, let's go."
Outside the female changing room, they found most of the others waiting for them. Atlas was there, with Vertigo and Chronos standing nearby. Gemini walked over to stand beside her boyfriend.
"Hey," said Atlas. "You look good in it."
"No kidding!" exclaimed Chronos, who couldn't keep his eyes off her.
Gemini turned her back on him and said to Atlas, "Thanks, so do you."
"We had to hold up the mission waiting for you," said Vertigo sarcastically. "Why do women always take a year and a day to get ready?"
"Oh, I was just preparing myself for having to face your razor-sharp wit again," she retorted.
Chronos sniggered appreciatively. Gemini ignored him. She had noticed something strange about the uniform Atlas was wearing. There was an extra sort of pouch on his left hip.
"What's that for?" she asked, pointing towards it.
"Medical bag," he explained. "It's got all my medicinal herbs inside. It's more compact than the First Aid kit they tried to get me to carry – and I reckon it's more effective."
"So who's leading our group now that Crusader isn't gonna be here?"
He pointed behind her. Gemini looked over her shoulder to see Shapeshifter approaching. She smiled. Surprisingly casual and laid-back for a grown-up, and somewhat disinclined to enforce the rules, Chris was popular among the teenagers and the children. If the kids had been asked to designate the school's 'cool teacher', it would have been him.
"Hey, guys," he greeted them.
"Hey, Chris," they responded.
"How are the uniforms? Comfortable?"
"A bit tight," Gemini said.
"That's to stop you from breathing too loudly when you're on a covert mission."
"Can we play with the stuff that's in the pockets?" said Vertigo.
"Sure, that's how I pass the time during stake-outs. If you remind me later, I'll show you something cool you can do with the electro-binoculars. Just don't tell Scott."
Gemini giggled. That was another thing she liked about Shapeshifter. Although he was an adult, he didn't try to talk down to young people. He gave the impression of just wanting to be one of the crowd.
"Chris? Is your team ready?" came Scott's voice.
"Just waiting for you, chief."
"OK, get going."
Shapeshifter looked at the teenagers, "All right, guys, let's go."
- - -
The conference centre was one of those "modern art" buildings that Gemini thought were such a waste of money. It was all shiny glass surfaces and bizarre stone edifices that seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever, other than signify that a lot of money had been spent on constructing this place. The surrounding gardens and fountains were nice, though. At least she thought so. Atlas thought they were horrid and artificial.
Shapeshifter was busy explaining to them their team's responsibility during the mission. He had unfolded a plan of the conference centre, and pointed towards it, "Here's where we'll be stationed. It's the south side of the building, the back door, if you like. All the dignitaries and speakers and important people will be entering and leaving through the front main door, so we don't have to worry about attacks on them. Our main problem is that the back door is used as the deliveries entrance. Obviously the people at the conference will need lots of food and drink and other stuff, and all of it will be brought into the building through the back door."
"You think terrorists might try to get in that way?" Gemini asked.
"That's our primary concern, yep. Regular security staff and police will scan every vehicle that enters the compound, so the chances of terrorists smuggling in any weapons or explosives are pretty small. Still, we have to be ready for the possibility. We're authorised to search any vehicle or person we think looks suspicious. You've all had bomb-disposal training, right?"
The four teens nodded.
"Great. Our uniforms have built-in radiation detectors, so we'll know straight away if anything radioactive is brought on to the compound. Here, you'll need to put these on as well."
He handed each of them a communications device: a small ear-piece with a microphone connected.
"You'll need to keep comm. chatter to a minimum," he said almost apologetically. "We're using the same frequency as the other teams, and if Scott hears you messing about, he'll tell me off, and possibly hit me with a stick."
"Can we choose the stick?" said Vertigo.
"No. Now listen up, this bit's important. If something does happen, and we get separated, you have to let me know where you are, and whether you're all right, or if you need help. If you think you've seen a terrorist, by all means investigate – but let me know what you're doing, OK? If you do go off alone, try to stay with at least one other person. Best if you stick in pairs. Atlas, keep an eye on Gemini, and vice versa. Vertigo, Chronos, you two are pretty much joined at the hip anyway."
From the jet's cockpit they heard Scott's voice, "We're coming in to land in a few moments. Get ready to disembark."
Chris rolled up the map, "Right, this is when I'm supposed to give you some big speech about the importance of the mission and what it'll do for human-mutant relations. But I can't remember how it goes, so we'll skip that, and just say we did it, OK? You all know what's at stake."
"OK," they said.
The jet began to descend vertically towards the landing pad in the conference centre compound.
"Right, let's move," said Chris, standing up to hit the ramp release switch.
- - -
The crowds were lining both sides of the main promenade that led to the front entrance of the conference centre. At first, Gemini had hoped that these were just interested spectators hoping to catch sight of a famous politician or a celebrity. It wasn't long before she realised that this was not the case.
"Mutant scum!" a voice screamed the second they emerged from the jet.
A host of other voices joined in, and soon the crowd were attempting to surge forward, being restrained by makeshift barriers and by police.
"Oh boy," said Chris.
Chronos glanced at him a little nervously. Atlas and Gemini looked at each other uncertainly.
"Wow, what a welcome," Vertigo sneered. "I'd almost forgotten how much the humans love us."
"Relax, it'll die down," Chris said. "We have to walk that way to get to our position. Just look straight ahead and ignore anything they say. Don't respond to anything – that's the key."
"You sure it'll die down?" asked Chronos dubiously, eyeing the hostile crowd.
"Oh yeah. I've seen this happen before. In a few minutes they'll realise we don't have pitchforks and goat hooves, and that we're not going to huff and puff and blow their house down. The initial rush will calm down, and it'll just be verbal from then on."
"Why do they hate us? We're just standing here. We haven't even done anything."
"It's not hatred, it's fear," Chris assured him. "They're afraid of what we might do, all the stuff that's in the tabloids and on TV. You know, 'Mutants Ate My Baby', stuff like that."
"You're kidding yourself," said Vertigo. "It is hate. And it'll never change. It'll never go away."
Shapeshifter either didn't hear, or chose not to respond. Once he was fairly certain the police had got the crowd under control, he began walking, and signalled the teenagers to follow him. As he had said, the route to their position took them straight down the main promenade, between the crowds of hostile humans on either side.
"Scum!" a voice yelled. "Die and burn in hell!"
That was the cue for another round of insults thrown, and a few of the more courageous protesters to throw themselves against the police barriers, in an attempt to get at the mutants. Gemini was nervous, and walked close to Atlas to try and feel safer. She had to admire Chris' restraint. He was ahead of them, walking as calmly and easily as if he was on the beach. Maybe it was easier to take when you'd seen it all before. Inside, part of Gemini couldn't believe she was in this situation. In her younger years, walking past the insults of humans without reacting would have been unthinkable. Back in the old days, she would have responded instantly and angrily, and some of the humans would have gone home without a parent, or a brother or sister. Dad had raised her and trained her that way, to fight back against any threat, to destroy anyone hostile before they could destroy her.
Somewhere along the line, her attitude had changed. Was it simply down to growing older, gaining extra maturity, wisdom, and patience? Was it the teachings of the X-Men that were beginning to have an influence on her? Or was it the Bible that Oculus had lent her, that she was still reading her way through? Whatever the reason – perhaps it was a combination – she knew something had changed. The anger inside was no longer there, or at least, it took a lot more to kindle it. She was prepared to think things through first. She was prepared to listen. She was ready to give peace with the humans a chance, or was at least leaning towards it. She knew that Atlas felt the same way.
"Freaks!" an onlooker spat. "You should all have been drowned at birth!"
Vertigo's head snapped round. The young man in a red anorak who'd pushed his way to the front of the crowd suddenly found himself the target of the ninja's murderous glare.
"Come on, freak!" the man taunted. "What are you gonna do, use your powers on me?"
Vertigo tensed his muscles. In his mind's eye, he saw himself moving, running across the ground towards the human, flipping through the air over the police barrier, his foot snapping out and crushing the sub-creature's windpipe. It would take less than five seconds. There was nothing the human could to do stop him.
But then the rest of the crowd would riot, and the police would start shooting. And Shapeshifter would get pissed off, and Vertigo would be kicked out of the school and told to get a job. And that was the whole point of why he had agreed to come along on this stupid mission, so he didn't have to go get a job. He couldn't just give into emotion. He had to think long-term.
With an effort, he turned his head away, and kept on walking. Not this time, he told himself. Behind him he could hear the man in the red anorak still yelling insults, but he managed to screen them out.
"You all right?" murmured Chronos from his side.
"I should have killed him."
"What? For insulting us?"
"He didn't just insult us. What he said – "
He didn't finish. Chronos prompted, "What?"
"No. It doesn't matter. You wouldn't understand."
"I wouldn't?"
"No, you wouldn't. Forget it."
- - -
The opening ceremonies of the conference had begun over an hour ago. Gemini wondered how Melody was getting on. Her older sister hadn't come with them on the jet; she'd made her own way to the conference earlier to get a few things set up. She'd left little Athena at the school; apparently Pyro had agreed to look after her, though Gemini suspected he had probably delegated this task to Accel and Bibi and the other youngsters. They would be over the moon at having a little girl to play with.
Melody was due to be one of the first speakers this afternoon, and Gemini wondered how she was feeling. Nervous? Confident? Maybe even a bit of both at the same time? Confident of the message she wanted to put across, but nervous about actually standing up and delivering it? It was hard to tell. Although they were sisters, they hadn't done much growing up together. Even now they were still catching up on the childhood years they hadn't been able to share. While Melody had been safely at home, Gemini had been – well, she was trying not to think about that any more.
"Delivery approaching your position," she heard Shock's voice coming through the communicator in her ear.
"Understood," said Shapeshifter. "All right, guys, let's check it out. Gemini, Atlas, you're with me. Vertigo, Chronos, keep guard on the door."
They could see the van now as it approached the rear door of the conference building. Shapeshifter moved towards it, and Gemini and Atlas followed him.
"I'll talk to the driver and ask to see his ID," he said. "You two check the back of the van. Don't worry about any large crates; they'll have been electronically scanned at the entrance. Concentrate on any smaller packages, and check for hidden compartments."
The van slowed and came to a stop.
"The drivers have been informed there's a second layer of security," added Shapeshifter. "If anyone refuses to stop, then we can start to get suspicious."
Gemini walked round to the rear of the vehicle and pulled open the doors. Atlas gave her a boost to climb inside, then joined her. As Shapeshifter had said, the van's contents were mostly large crates – apparently containing soft drinks. They ignored these, as he'd said, and looked around the interior for anything that might be suspicious. There were a couple of smaller boxes which Gemini flipped open to look inside. Nothing out of the ordinary. She looked at Atlas, who shrugged. The two teenagers dropped back down to the ground, and closed the van up.
"Seems clean," she said to Chris.
He nodded, then turned to the driver, "OK, go ahead."
That proved to be the pattern for the next two hours and a half. Vehicles arrived, stopped, and were checked. The only moment of interest had come when one of the vans had turned out to contain a secret compartment under the floor. However, this had only contained a selection of hardcore Russian pornographic films. Vertigo appeared to be considering stealing some, while Shapeshifter sent the suitably embarrassed driver on his way.
"Are missions always this boring?" Gemini asked eventually.
Chris nodded, "Pretty much, I'm afraid. We don't see action as often as you might think. That's one reason why we want to give you a taste of it before you commit yourself. It isn't all danger and excitement. A lot of the time it's tedious and boring, like now. But hey – if nothing exciting happens on this mission, then it's a complete success. Look at it that way. And just because it's boring doesn't mean it's not important."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Another vehicle's coming," came Rogue's voice over the comm.
"10-4. Gemini, Atlas, let's go."
This time it was a larger van that approached, and Shapeshifter went out to meet it just as he had done with the others. The two teenagers followed him. In an instant it became clear that something was not right. Instead of slowing down, the van was picking up speed, accelerating faster and faster as it drove towards them. Shapeshifter was directly in its path. Whoever was driving must clearly have seen him, but made no attempts to slow down. At the last second as the van was bearing down on him, Chris used his power, his entire body liquefying and splashing to the ground beneath the wheels of the oncoming vehicle. The van screeched to a halt, and the rear doors were thrown open. From inside a group of ten or fifteen people suddenly emerged, wielding baseball bats and other weapons.
"Death to mutant scum!" one of them yelled. "Kill them all!"
"Get ready!" Vertigo shouted to his friends.
The baseball-bat-wielding mob descended on the four teenagers, who had barely seconds to prepare themselves. Gemini ducked easily beneath a swinging bat, and twisted to kick at the head of the man holding it. The attacker was knocked to the ground. Vertigo flipped over in mid-air, kicking out with both feet to send two others sprawling. Chronos stopped time just long enough to slip round his assailant, and punch the woman in the side of the head. When time restarted, she was thrown backwards and knocked senseless. Atlas pushed an earth tremor towards the two men running at him. They lost their balance and landed heavily on the ground.
From beneath the van a puddle of liquid suddenly solidified into Shapeshifter. The teenagers had gotten themselves a moment's respite, which Gemini used to summon her twin. Materialising into existence by her side, her duplicate was just in time to intercept a man trying to outflank them. Chris tackled the gang from behind, a karate chop to the lower arm forcing one to drop his weapon. The man who was apparently the leader of the anti-mutant protesters had produced a gun, and was aiming at Chris. Shapeshifter liquefied once more, and the bullets passed harmlessly through his fluid form. The man turned, and aimed instead at Atlas. Gemini's twin hurried forward, throwing herself in his path, and three bullets smacked into her spine. The twin died instantly, dematerialising back into nothing, and Gemini screamed as she felt the shared pain of her doppelganger. She stumbled and collapsed to the ground. Two more attackers descended on her, but another earth tremor from Atlas sent them reeling backwards. Chronos rushed to Gemini's side, but she was already back on her feet.
By this time somebody must have summoned the police, as armed officers suddenly appeared on the scene from all directions. As quickly as they had appeared, the attackers were gone, cuffed and taken away into police custody. Shapeshifter approached the teenagers, "Oh well, just as we were complaining about things getting too boring."
They laughed, and felt some of their tenseness and nervousness dissipate.
"Are you guys all right?"
"Yeah," the teens answered.
"What happened?" Gemini demanded. "How did they get through the security cordon?"
"That's what I'd like to know," said Chris. "Wait here while I talk to the police."
He headed off towards a group of cops. Gemini looked round at the three guys. Chronos had suffered a minor injury, and Atlas had smeared a herbal remedy on to a bandage and given it to him.
"Nice to know the humans share our desire for peace," Vertigo said sarcastically.
"Those were just a few idiots," said Gemini. "They don't represent the whole human population."
"Well, I don't see anybody out here waving placards saying We Love Mutants, do you?"
"No – but that doesn't mean they don't exist."
"Well, I've never seen a purple elephant, but I guess that doesn't mean they don't exist, huh?"
She rolled her eyes, "Shut up, you moron."
"Huh. I see you're picking it up already."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The X-Men. That's what they do. Anyone who disagrees with them, they just tell them to shut up."
"No, Vertigo, most people tell you to shut up because you talk a lot of bull."
"So that's it? End of discussion? You're right and I'm wrong because you think I 'talk a lot of bull?'"
"We weren't having a discussion. You were just mouthing off for the sake of being an asshole."
"And who decides that? You? What if I said you were just mouthing off for the sake of being a pretentious little slut?"
"Hey!" Atlas said angrily.
Gemini shook her head, looking at Vertigo contemptuously, "I can't believe I ever seriously considered dating you."
"Yeah, well, as I recall, it didn't take much to get your legs open in those days."
Atlas moved towards Vertigo threateningly, but Gemini held her hand out to stop him, "I can handle this."
He stopped. Gemini turned back to the ninja, her face holding even more contempt, if that were possible, "Actually, as I recall, at that time I was suffering from a serious mental trauma, and you took advantage of me."
"Hey guys, what's going on?" came Chris' voice from behind her.
"Nothing," all four of them said.
Chris raised his eyebrow slightly suspiciously, but didn't press the matter, "All right, I spoke to the police. They don't know what happened. Their electronic scanner turned up nothing on the van."
"What?" said Gemini in disbelief. "How could it miss twenty guys sitting in the back?"
"I don't think it did," said Chris awkwardly. "This…well, I don't have any proof, but…"
"You think they let them through on purpose?" asked Vertigo.
"Why would they do that?" Chronos asked.
"Why do you think?" the ninja spat.
Atlas and Gemini looked at each other a little uncomfortably, then at Chris, who shrugged, "I dunno, guys. Your guess is as good as mine right now. They said they would 'look into it'. In other words, 'do nothing'. I guess it's possible they let them through to see if we were as good as we said we were."
"How good did we say we were?" asked Atlas.
"Pretty darn. Anyway, I've informed Scott, so he'll do any shouting and hitting with sticks that needs to be done."
"Any of the others run into trouble?" said Gemini.
"Not so far. You all did great, by the way. You kept yourselves safe and managed to stop any of those nutters from getting inside the conference centre. I couldn't have asked for anything more."
She smiled. Chris continued, "Well, the mission must go on. We stopped those guys, but anything could still happen. Hopefully anybody planning a similar attack will now know better than to mess with us. And any of the police who did try to help them won't dare pull a stunt like that again."