"This is the second murder in the space of a week," said Scott. "Both of them speakers at our conference. It's clear that something is afoot."
"Second? When was the first?" asked Iceman.
He'd been on the morning shift at the conference centre, and hadn't yet heard about the discovery Gemini and Amnesia had made. Gemini suddenly realised the X-Men were looking at her, expecting her to report.
"Um," she began. "Well, in case you don't know, Amnesia and I went on a little trip this morning. We were trying to find out her real name and stuff. Anyway, my sister told me there was a speaker missing from the conference, and I thought it had to be Amnesia. I mean, it all added up, right? She arrived on the train with a flyer about the conference, and lost her memory, just as one of the speakers goes missing and nobody knows where she is. Anyway – we went to the address where this missing speaker lived. We thought it'd be Amnesia's house. But it wasn't. There was somebody else there – somebody who was dead."
"Are you sure she was murdered?" Rogue asked.
The teenager nodded, "Yeah. I've seen enough dead bodies in my time to know when – well, you know."
"Thank you, Alexandra," said Scott. "Now you all know the details. We only just received a report of the second murder. Another of the speakers was found dead in his hotel room. There's no doubt that he, too, was murdered."
"Who was he?"
"His name was Henry Russell. He was one of the key speakers of the American anti-mutant lobby. His cousin's a very influential senator."
"What about the first speaker?"
"She was pro-mutant," Gemini said. "She was supposed to be on the same panel as my sister."
"So someone's murdering the speakers," said Logan. "One from each side so far. What do we do about it?"
Scott looked at Chris, "Do we have access to the preliminary police reports?"
"Oh, yes, those found their way on to my computer somehow," Chris said innocently. "The first murder seems the simpler affair. There's evidence the lock on the front door was tampered with recently – "
"Actually, that would have been me," Gemini admitted.
" – but besides that, no hard evidence as yet. They're scanning the scene for prints, fibres, etc."
"What about the second murder?" said Storm.
"Ah, that one's a bit more interesting. This time the killing took place in a hotel room, and they've found no evidence whatsoever of how the killer gained access. There's no indication the door or the window was forced. There are no keys missing, so at the moment it's a mystery as to how the murderer got into the room. The victim was strangled, so there's no doubt the killer was in there with him at some point. But how he got in and how he left, is currently unknown."
"What do the police think happened?" asked Fliss.
"Too early to say."
"Are the press aware of this?" said Logan. "Like I said before, once the tabloids get hold of this, it'll be just more anti-mutant propaganda. Everyone and his dog will be made to believe that a mutant is responsible."
"We don't know that a mutant isn't responsible," Pyro said.
The others looked at him. They were the first words he'd spoken at the meeting table. He hadn't actually been invited to the meeting, but had turned up anyway, and nobody felt like causing a fuss by asking him to leave. Scott and Storm were prepared to accept that perhaps he was only here for his daughter's sake, to make sure she wasn't being mistreated in any way.
"All we do know is that someone is obviously trying to sabotage the conference," said Scott. "Be they human or mutant, we can't allow this to happen. We and a lot of other people have worked long and hard to bring this conference about. We can't allow murderers or terrorists to destroy everything we've worked for."
"So what do we do?" someone asked.
"I've already contacted the UN to recommend extra security for the speakers. If they're being targeted, then they have to be protected 24/7 until the conference is over. Two people have already been murdered. We cannot allow any more."
"I want someone protecting my sister," Gemini said boldly.
"I'll take care of that," Pyro said.
"Dad?" the duplicator asked in surprise.
"Since when do you care about what happens to humans?" Logan asked.
Pyro said nothing. Scott broke the silence, "Very well. I've also offered our services as temporary bodyguards for the speakers, when they're away from the conference centre."
"So we're going 24/7 instead of just 9 to 5?" said Chris.
"Yes. Now this brings me to another problematic issue."
"What's that?" said Iceman.
"There aren't nearly enough of us to go around all the speakers. If even one more speaker is killed, it could ruin the whole conference, and we'll be right back to square one, where we were sixteen years ago. We're going to need some more help."
"What does that mean?" asked Logan suspiciously.
"I've contacted Helios and Cassandra, and they'll be arriving shortly. I've attempted to contact Gladiator and Aqua, but with understandable difficulty. No response so far."
"Crusader?" someone said.
"She's already in Jerusalem. Her mission is just as critical as ours. She can't be called back. There's been no word from Kurt either, and I think it's quite clear to all of us that Oculus and Gaia will never fight again."
"Why?" said Chronos.
"For reasons I don't have time to go into, they simply refuse to do so. All of which leaves us very short of numbers. Which is why I'm considering – only considering – bringing the children with us as well."
"Hey, we're not children," Gemini argued. "And I thought we were already part of the mission."
"I wasn't referring to you. I was referring to our younger students."
"What, you mean Accel and her friends? Are you crazy?"
Most of those present looked at Scott in surprise.
"Are you serious?" said Logan.
"Yes, we are," said Storm. "I can't overstate how important it is that the remaining speakers remain unharmed. If we wish to have a chance of ever achieving the Professor's dream, this is the deciding moment. We have to use every resource available to us to keep those speakers alive."
"But these are children we're talking about," Rogue protested. "The youngest is only eight!"
Iceman was shaking his head, "It's your call, Scott, but I think you're making a big mistake."
"I agree," said Fliss.
Scott spread his hands, "Well, if you can think of anybody else to call on, speak up. John, do you know anyone we could contact?"
"Nobody who'd be willing to protect humans, no," said Pyro dryly.
"Are you sure putting eight and nine year old kids in the direct line of danger is a good idea?" asked Chris.
"You tell us," said Storm. "You and Logan have spent more time training them than anybody. Are they ready?"
"No," said Logan. "With the possible exception of our little cheetah cub."
"He means Acceleratus," said Chris. "I'd say she may just about be ready to be taken on a mission, but as for the others…I wouldn't want to risk any of them."
"I can't believe any of you are seriously considering this!" said Gemini. "These are children, for heaven's sake! The whole point of childhood is that you don't have to do any of this stuff until you're ready!"
"They can consider it part of their training," said Scott.
"That's what you said to us yesterday!"
"I know. I'm temporarily upgrading your status to full X-Men. You, Vertigo, Atlas and Chronos. We need you now more than ever to rise to the challenge and prove your worth. If you succeed, the promotion stays permanent."
"Assuming we want it," Vertigo muttered.
Gemini opened her mouth, but couldn't think what to say. She looked round the table, waiting for some support, waiting for someone else to speak up and tell Cyclops that his idea was crazy. Nobody said anything. She could tell that nobody was really happy with the plan, but they seemed to think that the situation warranted such extreme measures. Did it? Was it acceptable to put these young children in harm's way? No! Of course it wasn't! Nothing justified a risk like that!
"Now look," she spoke up. "I realise I'm new at this, and you've seen it all before, but if you're going to make me a full X-Woman then you have to listen to my opinion, right?"
"Of course," said Scott. "If you can give us a better alternative, we'll gladly listen."
"Well, what about Amnesia? Can't she help us?"
"Not as long as she can't remember what her powers are. Has she made any progress?"
"No, but…"
Storm broke in, "Alex, don't worry, it won't be as bad as you think. We're not sending the children into life-or-death struggles on their own. They'll each be paired up with somebody else. They're not going to be thrown into the middle of the action unprotected. It'll be a good learning experience for them."
"Yeah, I know, but…"
"Don't worry," said Scott. "They'll be fine."
- - -
Still deeply troubled by her misgivings, Gemini struggled to keep her concentration fully on the mission that afternoon. As it turned out, everything went off smoothly enough, and there was no further cause for concern. The crowds of anti-mutant protesters were once again out in force, but they were either fewer in number or more subdued in volume, as the violent outbursts of the day before did not seem to arise this time around. The four teenagers were once more assigned to guarding the rear entrance of the conference centre. This time Shock was leader of their group, and while she was busy checking the papers of a delivery van driver, the teenagers found themselves gathered together just outside the rear entrance.
"Am I the only one who feels this is wrong?" Gemini asked eventually.
"What?" said Atlas.
"Bringing the kids into this. I mean, they are just kids."
"Well," her boyfriend shrugged. "How old were we when Pyro first had us out there fighting for our lives?"
He had a point. Gemini did not like considering the idea that her father had made a mistake, that he had put them into battle earlier than he should have, without due care and consideration for their safety. She couldn't really remember how old she'd been when Pyro took her on her first "mission" with him. She had certainly been no older than ten or eleven. But – but this was different…here the X-Men weren't fighting for their lives. They were in a position of beginning to actually see their dreams come true. It wasn't a desperate life-or-death, backs-to-the-wall last stand. Or was it? Scott and Storm hadn't sounded too positive. They'd spoken of everything falling apart if any more of the speakers were murdered. Was the situation really that delicate? Could everything they'd built up over the last few years really fall away that quickly? What was the point of putting such enormous effort into building something up if it could collapse within a matter of days? Wasn't it ever possible to get to a stage where certain disaster wasn't lurking around the corner?
She began to see the enormity of what she'd be letting herself in for if she did decide to accept Scott's offer and join the X-Men. It wasn't just a case of sitting around and fighting the occasional battle against bad guys. It was more about being eternally vigilant for anything that might be a threat, and setting out to deal with it. It was about seeing the opportunities for progress and taking them. It was about acting instead of just reacting. It was about following a vision, following a dream, and sticking with it through whatever might come to pass.
Am I ready for that? she thought, is that really the way I want my life to go? Well, what's the alternative? Leaving the school and going out and getting a job? No, I can't do that. I have no interest in going into the outside world and just living an ordinary life. I want to do something more. I have to do something more. I've got these powers and I have to use them for a reason. If there's a chance that I can make a difference in the world, I have to take it. There's got to be more to life than just working one day so I can eat the next.
Vertigo's smirking face distracted her thoughts.
"Did you see them?" he sneered.
"What are you talking about?" she said.
"Back in the meeting room," he said. "The X-Men. You saw it, didn't you? They were bricking themselves at the thought of not having Oculus or Crusader to win the fight for them."
"What are you saying?"
"They're cowards is what I'm saying. They're too used to having their favourite family of Czechs around to fix every problem that comes along."
"Don't be ridiculous," she snorted. "If you think Cyclops or Wolverine is a coward, go say it to their face."
He ignored her, "They're not even real mutants anyway."
"What are you talking about?" said Chronos.
"The Czechs. The Rosiçkys. Their powers aren't natural. They're manufactured mutants."
"Your point being?" Gemini demanded.
"My point being, it's no big surprise they aren't out here fighting for our kind. It's obvious where their real loyalties lie."
"Whatever. Vertigo, go dip your head in a lake sometime. The cold water might just jolt some sense into you. Don't forget we owe them our lives at least twice over."
"They're human filth," the ninja muttered under his breath.
She must have heard it, as she retorted, "Like I said, why don't you try saying these things to people's faces?"
The two of them glared at each other with barely disguised resentment, with neither Atlas or Chronos seeming willing to intrude. Fortunately the arrival of Fliss a few moments later brought the confrontation to a halt.
"Something the matter?" the blonde X-Woman asked.
"No," said the teenagers.
- - -
Later in the day, when they had moved on to the second phase of the day's mission, Gemini still found herself unable to decide where her feelings lay. She just couldn't see where she wanted her life to go at the moment. Once she had never had any difficulty in making that decision. As a child and a young teenager, she'd been completely dedicated to Dad's idea of removing the humans from the world, so the mutants could live in peace. Gemini had suffered terribly at the hands of humans, and a world without them seemed like the only safe bet for her future.
But now she had moved on from there, from that very monochromatic view of the world. She was wise enough now to know that the simple equation "mutant = good, human = bad" wasn't true in every case. However, although she'd moved on, she wasn't quite sure where'd she moved on to, or where she was going from there. From the sounds of things it seemed Vertigo still hadn't even moved on from the first stage, and she pitied him for that. She knew that if she was to accept the X-Men's offer, it had to be something she was 100% sure about before she made the commitment. It wasn't that she was afraid of commitment – she was used to putting her whole heart and soul into everything she cared about – she just couldn't see the destination she wanted her life to reach, and she didn't know whether joining the X-Men was on or off the road she wanted to take.
"Hey! Gemini! Isn't this cool?"
The duplicator looked across the hotel room to where the little girl had just poked her head through the doorway.
"Isn't this cool?" Byblos repeated.
"Sure, Bibi," Gemini said. "But it's not a vacation, remember. We've got a job to do."
"Yeah, I know. Do you wanna see the view from our window?"
"OK."
The seventeen year old stood and followed the child through the doorway into the room across the corridor. Inside, Acceleratus and Phobia were both kneeling on one of the beds beside the window. Accel heard the door open, and turned round, "Hey! Stay out of here!"
"It's only me!" Bibi said.
"Sorry, I thought it was the boys! Hi, Gemini!"
"Hey, Accel."
"Look, we can see the conference centre from here," said Phoebe, pointing to the window.
Gemini moved across the room to take a look. The view from the window was indeed spectacular. They were several floors up, and without a cloud in the sky they were able to see for miles. Across the river lay the enormous futuristic edifice of the conference centre, where she'd been that afternoon. The vehicles on the roads looked like ants, and the people on the sidewalk even smaller.
"You guys know what you're meant to do if anything bad happens, right?" she asked them uncertainly.
Accel rolled her eyes, "Yeah, we know. Mr Summers only told us about ten times."
"More like twenty," said Phoebe.
"More like a hundred," said Bibi, who then began imitating Scott's voice. "Now it's imperative – absolutely imperative! – that you let us know the second anything dangerous happens. I cannot stress how important that is. I mean, I just can't find the words – there aren't words in the English language to describe how important – "
"He didn't say it like that," Accel giggled.
"OK, but he used the word 'imperative' a lot. We got the message."
Phoebe nodded, "Anything bad happens, we hit one of the emergency communicators, and someone will come help us."
"Ha!" said Accel. "I'll beat up the bad guys long before Mr Summers or anyone else can get here!"
"Yeah, well, don't do anything stupid, OK?" Gemini said.
The ten year old gave her a withering stare that any teenager would have been proud of, "You're starting to sound like Mr Summers."
"Sorry, but – well, if he said that, then he's right. This could be pretty dangerous. We don't really know what bad guys we might be up against."
"Are we really in danger?" Phoebe asked, sounding worried.
"Nah, of course not," said Bibi. "They wouldn't have let us come if there was real danger. Right, Gemini?"
Gemini hesitated, only for a second, but even that was long enough for a child of Byblos' wordmastery to detect. The little girl's confident smile faded and her eyes widened slightly.
"I'm sure the grown-ups won't let you get into any danger," Gemini said quickly.
"Well, I'm not scared," Accel declared. "I say bring it on!"
"That's what I said," came a voice from the doorway.
It was Icarus. He and Turtle had casually entered the room, and Bibi suddenly regained her confidence, "Hey! We told you to stay out of here!"
Accel added her voice, "This is a girls' room! Only intelligent people are allowed in here!"
"Why are you here, then?" Icarus retorted instantly.
"Shut up, Icky," said Bibi.
"Don't call me that!"
"Icky!"
"Shut up!"
Icarus stretched out his arms, leapt from the floor, and swooped across the room towards her. There was a blur and Accel got in his way, grabbing his shoulders and tackling him to the floor. Bibi giggled in delight. Phoebe and Turtle looked at each other; he raised his eyebrows and she shook her head despairingly.
Gemini looked on in dismay. The kids' childish arguments and fights were certainly nothing new, but at this moment they only emphasised one thing: these were children. They weren't ready to be put into the line of danger, to defend themselves from harm, and to try and protect the lives of others. They were only children, doing what children did, messing about and having fun…and learning how to become adults. She'd already been feeling uncertain about their inclusion in the mission, and now she was feeling even worse. Accel and Icarus' play-fight was starting to get rough, and soon somebody would be crying. She was about to step in and pull them apart, when another voice from the door forestalled her:
"Hey, everyone!"
"Cassie!" Phoebe cried.
She ran across the room towards the teenager standing in the doorway, but a flash overtook her and Accel got there first, engulfing Cassandra in a tight hug, almost knocking her over. Cassandra put one arm round Accel, and the other round Phoebe.
"Wow, I can't believe how much you guys have grown!" she exclaimed.
"That's 'cos you've been away too long!" Accel said accusingly.
"I know, honey, I'm sorry, but I've had a lot of things to do getting ready for the wedding."
"I can't believe you're getting married!" Phoebe smiled.
"Who's getting married?" said Cassandra's fiancé, appearing at her side.
"You are, silly!" Bibi shouted, giving the gloves on his hands a playful tug.
"Hi, Skippy," the Londoner greeted the little Australian girl.
"Hey, Pommy!" she retorted.
"Hey, Cassie. Hey, Helios," Gemini greeted them. "I've missed you too, you know!"
Cassandra managed to disentangle herself from the children so she could hug Gemini.
"Yeah, I have been away a long time," she admitted. "And like I said, I am really sorry, but I simply have so much to do. Like tidying up the pig-sty that our flat was like before I moved in!"
"Hey, it wasn't that bad," Helios said.
"'Wasn't that bad'?" she repeated. "Would anybody like to know what I found in Helios' freezer-box the first night I stayed over? A shoe. Yes, a shoe."
"I don't know how that got there!" he protested.
"I'm sure you don't," she retorted. "Like I'm sure you don't know how my favourite romantic comedy DVD ended up in the laundry basket! I suppose I should be grateful that you're actually using the laundry basket now…"
Gemini smiled, "You two are arguing like a married couple already. Wow, I keep forgetting it's not long till the wedding!"
"I know," said Helios. "Is Vertigo around? He and I need to organise some things for the stag party…"
He disappeared back through the doorway. Bibi had grabbed hold of Cassie's hand, and asked her, "Hey, can I be a bridesmaid?"
"Sure, honey," Cassie smiled. "In fact, I was gonna ask all four of you if you'd be my bridesmaids. As long as you don't mind wearing pink."
Accel, Phoebe and Byblos squealed in delight and began clustering around Cassandra, all asking questions at once, begging every last detail of what they were going to get to wear.
"You'll be the chief bridesmaid," Cassandra said to Gemini.
"Cool," the duplicator smiled.
Gemini's spirits had lifted again. Cassandra had always been her closest friend, and having her back with them was already making her feel better. She allowed herself to relax a little, and started to feel as if maybe things were going to be OK after all.
- - -
The chess piece moved slowly across the board, its underside sliding gracefully over the smooth plastic, crossing black and white squares alternately, until arriving at its destination.
"Check."
The white bishop moved to block the attack on its sovereign.
"You've heard the latest report?"
"Yep."
The black queen landed on the square occupied by the white rook. The rook joined the growing number of white pieces beside the board.
"What do you think their next move will be?" asked the kid playing as white.
His opponent looked at the chess board for a few seconds, then back up, "Are you trying to distract me from the game?"
The young man in the white bodysuit raised his hands in a gesture of innocence, "Me?"
Adjusting his glasses, the boy playing as black returned his gaze to the game. A black rook moved to capture the white queen, who was deposited with the rest of her army at the side of the board.
"Humans can play this game, you know," he said.
"Really?" said the white-clad boy.
"Yeah. Quite surprising, isn't it? You wouldn't think their brains could handle it."
"You didn't answer my question."
"I'm still thinking. It's your move."
Glancing half-heartedly at the board, the kid in the white body suit moved one of his white pieces more or less at random. His opponent responded, and the black queen knocked aside the second-last pawn defending the white king.
"They know someone is murdering their speakers," the kid playing as black said. "They don't know who, but they do know it's only a matter of time until another one is targeted. They can't allow it to happen. They've invested too much into their precious conference to allow it to fail. They'll focus everything they have on protecting their speakers."
"Leaving their school undefended?"
"Exactly. We kill another speaker, and simultaneously move against their school. They won't be able to deal with two threats at once. And while they're still reeling from that, we'll hit them with a third."
"The explosives?" the kid in white asked.
"Right. It's taken them years to try and build up trust between themselves and the humans. We'll drive in a wedge and rip it apart within the space of a day. While they rush around trying to fix the unfixable, we'll advance the next stage of our plans at the reactor. If they ever find out what's going on – which I doubt – they'll be in no position to do anything about it. The world they'll be trying to save will have changed forever."
"I like the sound of that."
The black queen smacked into the last white pawn, sending the chess piece skittering off the edge of the table and on to the floor.
"Checkmate."
"Well, I never saw that coming," said the kid in white sarcastically. "What's that, eight hundred games undefeated?"
"Eight hundred and twelve."
"I can't believe you still actually keep score. Nerd," the white-clad boy said disparagingly, leaning back in his chair and sighing with boredom.
The communicator at his ear buzzed. He hit it and said, "Yeah?"
"Masquerade?"
"Yeah, Boss?"
"Where's Mastermind?"
"Here, with me."
"I want you both in the meeting room."
"On our way."
Masquerade looked up and spoke to the other, "That was the Boss. We've to – "
"I heard."
Leaving the chess set as it was, the two young men stood, and headed for the door. On the way, the kid in white frowned for a second, "What happens when they rush to defend their school against our attack? Have you thought about that?"
"Of course," said Mastermind, sounding mildly offended. "We have someone in their midst, remember? They'll take care of everything."
- - -
The door to Scott Summers' office glided open easily and silently. Pyro allowed himself a faint glimmer of satisfaction. It had been two decades since he'd learned the finer aspects of picking a lock, and he'd had little practice in the last few years, but the skill hadn't entirely deserted him. Instinctively he checked that the coast was clear before slipping inside the room and closing the door behind him. He needn't have worried. None of the X-Men were here. In fact the only other people in the school at this moment were Gemini's sister and little niece, and the new kid, the blonde girl.
Actually, he couldn't believe his luck, that an opportunity like this had come along. He'd known for a long time that what he needed would be found in Cyclops' private files, and nowhere else. The only question had been how to get at them without incurring any suspicion. With the X-Men gone, this was the perfect time. He knew he might never get another opportunity as good as this, and he hadn't hesitated.
He tried not to touch anything inside the room. Scott was probably anal-minded and meticulous enough that he would notice if even a speck of dust was out of place. Pyro glanced around the office. Boy. Scott really was anal. Back when John had been a student here, he'd been called to this office dozens of times to get yelled at for one reason or another. Almost nothing had changed in this room since then. He'd have been willing to bet that the furniture and the ornaments were kept at exactly the right position and angle. Pyro wasn't complaining, though. It only made his job easier. He didn't even have to search for what he was looking for. He knew exactly where it would be.
Five minutes later he had it in his hand, and was ready to leave. Cynical as he was, Pyro still couldn't believe just how smoothly this had all gone off. Fate wasn't usually this kind to him. He'd been half-expecting an alarm to go off, or one of the X-Men to suddenly pop out of the woodwork, or to be unable to find what he'd come for. Life had kicked him in the teeth enough times in the past, and he wouldn't have been at all surprised if things had suddenly gone wrong for no reason at all.
He wasn't at all surprised when he opened the door to find the blonde girl standing right outside.
"Hi," she said. "I'm looking for Mr Summers. Is this his office?"
Although he technically wasn't surprised, Pyro still had to make an effort to keep his face bland and expressionless.
"Scott's not here right now," he said. "Can I help?"
"Well, he asked me to let him know if I remembered anything else important," said Amnesia. "And I think I have."
"You can tell him when he gets back; I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"OK."
She was about to turn and walk away, when her eyes narrowed slightly and she gave Pyro a strange look, "Have – have we met before?"
"I don't think so."
"Oh. It's strange, I – I just felt something. Like I remembered something."
"About me?"
"Yeah. Your voice seems familiar. Like I've heard it before, a long, long time ago."
"I think you're probably mistaking me for somebody else."
"I'm not so sure. Can I, um, can I talk to you again later? I want to see if I remember anything else."
Pyro didn't really want to spend time talking to the girl, but if he kept her happy then hopefully she wouldn't mention to the X-Men that he had been in Scott's office.
"Sure," he said.
She smiled, and turned to head back to the girls' dormitory. Pyro watched her go, and when she was out of sight, he finally let go of the breath he hadn't realised he was holding. In his hands he was still holding what he'd taken from Scott's room. The girl hadn't looked at it or shown any interest in it, and presumably had no idea that Pyro had no right to be taking things from Scott's office. Heck, she probably thought he was just another of the teachers. Still, there was always the possibility that Scott might find out, which meant Pyro had to act fast. He hurried to his own room.