Her heart pounding, her anxiety growing with every step, Gemini pushed her way through the crowd that was rapidly gathering around the remains of the conference building. She'd successfully disarmed the last explosive, but the small object she had discovered while doing so, now clutched tightly within her palm, had the potential to be even more explosive still, if not in the same way. She hadn't wanted to risk telling the X-Men about it over the communicator – the risk of being overheard was too great.
The aftermath of the disaster was not a pretty sight. All of the injured survivors had been safely transferred to ambulances or police vehicles, and were on their way to receiving medical attention. Those who had not been so lucky – those who had been killed outright in the explosion, plus those who had not been reached in time and who had died from their injures – were now being dug out. The screams of terror that had rung in the air were now replaced by the moaning and crying of the bereaved.
Gemini tried not to look as she squeezed past people cradling their dead loved ones, children who couldn't find their parents, and rows of as yet unidentified or unclaimed bodies. This was something she'd never had to see when she was in the Brotherhood, something she had never allowed herself to care about before. Human lives had meant nothing to her three years ago – she felt so differently now.
Three years ago it would have been she and her friends who would have set off the bombs, and then watched and laughed at the X-Men's failure to save their precious humans. Now – well, she still wasn't entirely sure if she'd made the full transition to their side and their way of thinking – but she knew she didn't want to see people suffer and die any more. She wanted to help them if she could. She wanted to make up for what she had done before.
The crowd in front of her was growing ever larger and denser as men, women and children pressed in all directions, frantic to find some trace of their loved ones, hoping desperately that their friends and family were not among the lines of dead bodies the emergency services were still digging out.
"Excuse me – coming through!" she said, trying to squeeze through.
"Wait your turn," a large, burly man barked at her.
Then he looked round at her, and his eyes narrowed with anger, "You! I saw you earlier! You're one of those freaks! This is happening because of you!"
"Let me through!" Gemini said impatiently.
"I lost my son!" he screamed. "He's dead because of you freaks! "
Enraged, the man threw a punch at the girl's face. Gemini dodged to one side, but another man grabbed her from behind and pushed her forwards. She lost her balance and fell on to her hands and knees. Above her were angry voices; someone aimed a kick at her and missed; a child spat at her.
"Stop!" she yelled angrily, jumping to her feet. "Look, I'm the one who disarmed the last explosive in there! I probably saved all of your lives, you worthless sub-creatures!"
The crowd fell silent. The second those last words had left her mouth, Gemini regretted them. They had slipped out so easily, just as if it had been three years ago and she had been with the Brotherhood, plotting humanity's downfall. She had lost her temper. Being touched by men, in any way at all, was not something she was comfortable with, and besides, this was totally unfair! She had saved their lives!
"Miss Allerdyce?" came a voice from behind her.
She breathed a sigh of relief. It was the senior police officer she'd spoken to before, the one she had persuaded to allow her into the building to search for bombs. The crowd, still staring at with a silent, cold hostility, turned their attention to him. Gently placing his hand on Gemini's shoulder, the cop spoke to the crowd, "This is Miss Allerdyce. I can personally vouch for what she says – most of you probably owe her your lives."
Uncomfortable with his hand on her shoulder, she was still grateful for his words. Disgruntled and angry, but with the fire taken out of their fury, the crowd began to disperse, turning their attention back to where it had been before.
"Thanks," she mumbled to him.
"Alex!" cried Shock, who suddenly appeared at her side. "What's going on?"
The police officer disappeared back to his job of trying to control the crowd, leaving the two women alone.
"Nothing," Gemini said quickly, hoping Shock had not overheard what she had just said.
"Are you sure? Are you all right?"
The teenager snapped impatiently, "I'm fine! Listen, I have to show you something!"
"What?"
"Something I found in there when I was deactivating that last bomb! I don't know what it means, but – look, can we go somewhere more private? We can't let anyone else see it!"
"OK. This way."
The two female mutants hurried away from the crowd to where it was quieter. Gemini looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then she carefully opened her hand."
Shock gasped. She grabbed the small metal disc from the girl's hand and turned it round to see clearly the letters engraved into its surface: MUTANT FREEDOM.
"Impossible..." she breathed.
"I know, that's what I thought!"
"We put an end to Majestic 12 three years ago! They were using these to frame mutants for terrorist attacks!"
The girl nodded quickly, "Yes! And the same thing's happened again today!"
Shock shook her head, "This can't be! We have to tell the others! We can't stay here any longer! If the press see this..."
"I know! We'll be lucky to get out alive!"
Touching her communicator, Shock spoke quickly, "We have a code zero! Everybody drop what they're doing and reconvene at the briefing room in the hotel!"
"Too late!" came a reply.
"Why, what's happened?"
Suddenly there were shouts, at first from one side, then from another, then seeming to come from all directions at once. But these were not cries of mourning or grief at the loss of loved ones. These were shouts of anger, of fury, and of vengeance.
"What's going on?" Gemini asked apprehensively.
"I think they've found another one of these!" cried Shock, holding the disc that read MUTANT FREEDOM. "There must have been more along with the other explosive charges!"
The teenager gasped, "What do we do?"
The crowd had seen them, and someone yelled, "Mutants! They're the ones who did this! Get them! Kill them!"
The humans began running towards them, some with makeshift weapons, some with nothing other than their fists, but all driven by rage and with only one thing on their mind: revenge. The two women braced themselves, and Shock said, "Run!"
"What? No! Let me help you!"
"Alex, run!"
Both hands out, Shock struck the ground in front of the onrushing humans with lightning blasts. Amazed, the front row came to a sudden halt, but the growing mob behind them was still pushing forward. Gemini took a deep breath, clenched her muscles, and summoned a twin.
"Stay back!" Shock snapped at the humans. "We're not your enemy!"
"Tell that to my wife!" a voice screamed. "She's lying dead because of you scum!"
"Listen, we didn't do this!"
"Kill them!"
Talking was not doing any good. They were driven into a frenzy, incapable of listening to any reasoned argument.
"Run!" Shock yelled at Gemini once more. "Try to find the others!"
"Forget it! I'm with you!"
The crowd of humans descended on them with howls of anger and vengeance. Shock unleashed an enormous fan of electric bolts in front of her, flinging a dozen or so men backwards, but serving only to increase the mob's anger. Gemini moved fast, using her small size to her advantage, ducking and twisting between attackers, aiming to knock as many of them unconscious as possible. She suddenly realised this was a lot harder than just outright killing people.
Within moments they knew they'd be surrounded, and would have no choice but to either start killing or allow themselves to be killed. At that moment, however, reinforcements arrived, in the form of Atlas and Vertigo. Atlas dropped to his knees and slammed both fists into the ground, sending a seismic shockwave towards the humans surrounding Gemini, throwing them to the floor. Vertigo smashed his fist into the throat of one man, who dropped lifeless to the floor. Gemini could not see if the man was dead or still alive, and a moment later she lost sight of both of them.
"Atlas!" Shock yelled. "Make a trench!"
Atlas stomped one foot into the ground, creating a jagged tear in the earth which quickly widened until a chasm several feet deep separated the four mutants from the humans they'd temporarily managed to drive back.
"Now run!" Shock cried. "There are too many of them! And we don't gain anything by killing them!"
"Guys!" yelled a panicked Chronos, who had suddenly appeared on the scene. "We're under attack! What do we do?"
"We know!" Gemini snapped. "What do you think we've been doing?"
The boy shook his head, "I didn't mean the humans! I meant them!"
Shock, Gemini and the guys whirled round to face the way he was pointing.
"It's her!" Gemini shrieked.
Approaching them from the other direction, running across the open ground with dead humans in their wake, were three figures. The first was extremely tall, with long hair, and an extraordinary weapon of some kind on his right arm. The second was entirely clad in black robes, with a turban around his face, and an enormous razor-sharp sword in each hand.
But it was the third who caught Gemini's attention. Tall, slender and with her face hidden behind the mask of her black cat-suit, she was nevertheless unmistakeable as the woman who had tried to assassinate the speaker last night, whom Logan and Gemini together had been unable to fight off.
Shock spoke rapidly into her communicator, "I need everyone at my position, immediately! Enemy mutants incoming!"
"On our way!" Iceman's voice responded. "Get the kids to safety!"
Shock turned to Gemini, "You heard him! Get out of here!"
"For the last time, we are not kids!" the duplicator shouted furiously. "If you're fighting these people, I'm with you!"
"I don't mean you!" Shock yelled impatiently. "I mean Accel and Phoebe and the others! Find them, get them away from here! All of you! Leave this to us!"
Gemini sighed with frustration, but followed orders. She turned to the three guys, "Quick, let's find the kids!"
The humans were still struggling to make their way across Atlas' trench, so the four teenagers were able to hurry away from the scene unmolested. Out of the corner of her eye, Gemini could see Iceman, Shapeshifter and Rogue running headlong towards Shock's position, with Helios and Cassandra not far behind.
Where were the kids? Were they OK? X-Men uniforms apparently didn't come in children's sizes, so the five kids had worn their normal outdoor-training outfits, the benefit of which was that they weren't recognisable as mutants in the way that Gemini and her friends were. It was therefore extremely unlikely that any humans would have gone after them. Still, in the chaos and the confusion, and with enemy mutants now on the scene, anything could happen.
Wait! The kids had communicators! They'd been given them in case they got lost or in danger, but with strict instructions only to use them in emergencies. She touched the communicator in her ear, "Accel? Phoebe, Bibi? Icarus? Turtle? Are you guys there?"
For a moment there was no response, and her heart sank. Then Phoebe's shaky voice came into her ear, "We're OK! What's happening?"
"Where are you, honey? We're coming to you!"
"We're at the parking lot! Gemini, is that you? What's going on?"
"They're at the parking lot!" Gemini cried to her friends. "Come on!"
Chronos wasn't paying attention, "Oh, damn – look!"
He pointed back the way they had just come. Gemini looked but could see nothing through the chaos.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"That guy with the weapon on his arm – I think he just killed someone! He fired something out of his arm and it went straight into – "
"Who was it?" Vertigo demanded. "Who got killed? A human?"
"I don't know! Someone wearing black! It could have been one of our teachers!"
"We've got trouble!" Atlas cried. "Look over there!"
One of the three enemy mutants, the guy with the robes and the swords, had somehow gotten away from the X-Men, and was heading straight for the teenagers.
"Keep him away from the children!" Gemini shouted at the others. "I'll handle him! All of you, go!"
"Are you crazy?" Atlas yelled. "I'm staying with you!"
"So am I!" Chronos declared.
Gemini looked at Vertigo, "You go! Keep the children safe! Please, Vertigo, I know you hate the X-Men, but please keep the children safe!"
"Relax!" he said, giving her a rare smile. "Even I care about the kids! Give me as much time as you can!"