Accel woke with a start, and sat up in sudden panic. Where was she? This wasn't the girls' dorm back at the school! And why had she gone to bed in her clothes instead of changing into her nightie? Her heart pounded for a second or two, then her tired mind caught up with reality. She wasn't at the school. She was in the Brotherhood's safe-house. She remembered what had happened the previous day. She remembered why they were here, she and her friends and Vertigo. Everything had gone crazy, people had tried to attack them, and now they were hiding until it was safe again.
She lay down again and tried to go back to sleep. She realised she didn't like this room. It smelled funny, and it was too quiet. She was used to the familiar smells of the younger female dormitory at school, and was used to hearing the sounds of the other girls as they slept. It helped her remember that at the school she was somewhere safe and she was with friends. That hadn't always been the case for Accel, not at the orphanage where she had grown up. She hadn't felt safe there, never at any time.
Don't think about that, she told herself, you're never ever going back there, and you never ever have to see those disgusting sub-creatures ever again.
Her throat felt dry. She was thirsty. She was never normally thirsty in the middle of night, but then, the previous day had been crazy and weird and scary, so maybe her body was confused and out of sync with its normal routine. She decided to go and get a glass of water. The girl pushed her covers aside and stood. In the almost pitch darkness no sound came from Vertigo's bed, so she assumed he was asleep. Padding lightly across the room, so as not to wake him, she found the door to be already slightly ajar, and was able to slip through the gap without opening it any further. Walking to the bathroom, she found to her annoyance that there were no cups or glasses of any kind, so she cupped her hands together under the tap to gather water, and drank as much as she could while the rest spilled into the sink.
Wiping her mouth dry with her sleeve, she headed back to the bedroom. It was then that something struck her as strange. It was cold. She shivered, wondering why it was cold inside the house when it was summer and she was still fully dressed. Then she felt a cold draught of wind hit her face and she guessed someone had left a window open before going to bed. Well, she'd have to close it. Accel walked into the living area to see if she could find which one it was, but then she noticed something else. The hairs on her arms began to rise, and this wasn't from feeling cold. This was from panic. The front door to the safe-house was lying wide open! Vertigo hadn't left it open last night! He'd locked it and everything!
Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. Accel turned in horror to see the sight that terrified every child's night-time imagination: a menacing shape, larger than she was, moving towards her in the darkness!
"Vertigo?" the ten year old gasped in panic. "Vertigo, is that you?"
There was no reply, but the dark shape larger than she was was still advancing. Overcome with fright, Accel couldn't stand it any longer. There was a light-switch just behind her head, and she swiped at it frantically. She got it on the second try, and light suddenly flooded the room.
Accel screamed in terror. Coming towards her was the man who'd tried to kill them yesterday! The guy with the robes and the swords who'd been on the motorbike! He'd found them!
"What are you doing here?" she gasped. "What do you want?"
His only reply was to pull his massive swords from within his robes, and hold them menacingly in front of him. Only his eyes were visible through the folds of cloth that covered his head, and they were both narrowed at the girl. Accel was terrified. Where was Vertigo? He had to still be asleep!
"Vertigo!" she yelled in the direction of the bedroom. "Vertigo? Wake up!"
Without waiting for him to appear, she ran towards the rooms where the other four children were asleep, and rapped noisily on both doors, screaming, "WAKE UP!"
The frightened little girl then turned back round to keep her eyes on the swordsman. He hadn't come any closer since she turned the lights on, and she wasn't sure why. She didn't want to take her eyes off him again. She'd seen yesterday how fast he could move.
"What's your name, little girl?" he suddenly asked.
Scared but determined not to show it, she answered, "Accel. What's yours?"
"My name's Dervish. Accel – that can't be a human name. Is that your mutant name?"
"Yeah."
"That's cute. Having a mutant name at your age. I bet you want to be an X-Man when you grow up."
The girl shrugged, "I dunno. Look, why are you here? What do you want?"
"I want to kill you."
"Why?" she snapped. "What have we done to you?"
"You pushed one of my friends out of a ten-story building. She can't die, but she said it was probably the most painful experience of her life. I'm here to return the favour. And your little friends, well, they'll just be casualties of war."
"Yeah, right," the ten year old scoffed, hoping desperately that she sounded more confident than she felt. "I'll tell you what, if you don't get out of here in the next ten seconds, we'll kick your ass!"
"Boy, I'd better get out," he said sarcastically. "I wouldn't want you to kick my ass. Or alternatively I could just kill you all in the next ten seconds. I'm probably fast enough."
"Fast enough?" said Accel angrily. "I'll show you who's fast enough!"
In a blur she sped across the room and smacked her fist into his face, staggering him backwards. He slashed both swords through the air, forcing her to jump backwards. Breathing hard, she stole a glance at the room where she and Vertigo had been sleeping. Where was he? Was he still asleep?
"Accel?" a sleepy voice came from behind her.
"Bibi!" Accel cried. "Wake up the others! And go and find Vertigo!"
Bibi's eyes widened and she gave a shriek of terror as she saw the sword mutant. Then she ran to Vertigo's room. The swordsman regained his balance and glared angrily at the little girls. Then there were more voices, and Icarus, Turtle and Phoebe appeared beside Accel.
"Adorable," the swordsman mocked. "More little lambs to the slaughter. Time to finish this!"
With that, he extended both arms and began to spin on the spot, whirling and whirling until he was little more than a blur. Then he started moving across the floor towards the children, still spinning, the two swords cutting through the air like helicopter rotors.
"Oh my gosh! Vertigo's not here!" came Bibi's distraught voice from the third bedroom.
"What?" Accel panicked. "He has to be! There's nowhere he could have gone!"
"Accel, what do we do?" Icarus yelled. "What do we do?"
But none of them had any chance to agree on what to do, as the whirling Dervish was already upon them, angling his blades downwards at the children's throats. Instinct kicked in and the terrified children reacted as one. Turtle grabbed Phoebe, turned his back on the attacker, and his shell exploded outwards to cover both of them from harm. Icarus leaped into the air and soared towards the ceiling, avoiding the blades by inches. Accel dropped to the floor, kicked out both of her feet with super-accelerated speed, and was rewarded with a cry of pain from the swordsman, who lost his coordination and also lost one of his blades, which went spinning through the air and embedded itself in the wall.
"Clever little lambs," he hissed furiously, as he retrieved his sword. "Clever, clever little children. Now I'm not going to just kill you, I'm going to make it hurt first."
"You're the one who's going to feel pain, pal, if you don't get out of here soon," Wolverine's voice suddenly snarled from behind him.
Relief flooded through Accel's terrified mind. Mr Logan was here! Mr Logan would sort out this guy in two seconds flat! She relaxed and waited to hear the familiar sound of Mr Logan's claws emerging from his knuckles. But it didn't come. Something was wrong. The invader had whirled round in surprise at hearing Wolverine's voice, and was now scanning the room, looking in all directions to see where it had come from. With a sinking heart, Accel suddenly realised what had happened. Mr Logan wasn't here at all! It was only Bibi copying his voice! The bad guy must have figured this out as well, as he went straight for the little Australian girl. Accel watched in horror as Bibi backed away from him, losing her balance and falling on to her back. Turtle suddenly appeared on the scene, swooping down on top of Bibi, his shell bursting out from the back of his neck to protect the two of them. The swords smacked uselessly against it, and Accel breathed easy once more.
Realising his blades had no effect on the shell, the swordsman tried to turn it over. Accel tried to stay focussed. At least Bibi's distraction had bought her a few seconds, and taken the bad guy's attention away from her. She had to take advantage of his momentary confusion. Rushing at him from behind, she leaped into the air and kicked him in the back of the head. Again he cried out in pain, and she felt a rush of satisfaction. But it only served to make him even more angry, and he immediately turned to face her, both swords slashing through the air as she rolled to the side to avoid them.
"Accel!" a sobbing Phoebe screamed, as she saw one of the blades avoid her friend's head by inches.
Accel chanced a glance at her friends, to check they were all right. Turtle was standing in front of Phoebe and Bibi, his arms held out protectively before them. She couldn't see Icarus! Where was he? Was he OK?
The swordsman suddenly gave an angry bellow, and looked above his head. Accel looked too. There was Icarus! He was hovering in mid-air, just above the man's head, throwing stuff at him. The man drew back his arm, and Accel knew he was about to throw a sword straight at the boy. She sprinted towards the swordsman and kicked at his feet with both of hers. His legs were thrown out from under him, and he landed heavily on the floor. His swords were trapped beneath his body, but that didn't stop him swinging his empty hand in a punch at Accel's face. She tried to dodge, couldn't, and was hit in the mouth. Screaming in agony, this time she couldn't stop the tears. Her vision blurred, her body overwhelmed with pain, she fell on to her back helplessly. His arm smacked into her chest, holding her down, and she could make out the vague shape of his other arm pointing a sword directly at her throat.
But then the pressure on her chest was suddenly lifted, the blurred shape in front of her disappeared, and she could hear Bibi cheering. Accel wiped the tears out of her eyes so she could see clearly, and was just able to catch a glimpse of the man as he ran frantically out of the front door, slamming it behind him.
"What happened?" Accel gasped.
Then she saw Phoebe slumped half-conscious, supported by Turtle.
"She went dizzy!" Bibi squealed in delight.
Of course! Phobia had used her power – somehow, whether accidentally or deliberately, it didn't matter – and produced some terrifying image in the attacker's mind that had sent the guy running for his life!
"So long, sucker!" Icarus was yelling, making a rude gesture at the door.
Bibi had rushed to kneel beside Accel, "Are you OK? He hit you really hard!"
"I'm fine! Help me up!"
Accel wasn't fine, but she struggled to her feet, ignoring the massive pain from her face and her chest. She grabbed Icarus, who was still making faces at the door, and yelled at him, "What are you doing?"
"We won! We beat him!"
"What, and you think he's just gonna go away?" she snapped. "As soon as he figures out what happened, he'll be back! We've gotta move!"
"Where?"
"We've gotta get to the car! Can Phoebe walk?"
"The car?" Bibi cried. "But we can't drive!"
"Pyro taught me how to drive!" Accel said quickly. "Help Phoebe! Come on!"
But it was already too late. The door was slammed open once more, and the swordsman stood in the doorway. His robes were dishevelled and his hands holding the swords were shaking, but there was no mistaking the anger in his eyes as he glared at the five children.
"Time to die," he rasped. "Stupid, stupid little lambs."
"Leave us alone!" Bibi shrieked.
Icarus and Turtle were struggling to support the barely-conscious Phoebe. Bibi was beyond terrified, completely losing control and screaming words that didn't make sense, her eyes flooding with tears and her body shaking violently. Accel panicked. There was nothing they could do! They'd used up all their tricks! The guy was going to kill them!
"Get in the bathroom!" she yelled in desperation. "We'll lock the door!"
The five of them ran to the bathroom, the bad guy right behind them, and Accel slammed the door in his face. With trembling hands she slid the lock into place, and ran to join the others in a terrified huddle against the far wall. They heard the thud of metal on wood, and then a sword blade smashed clean through the bathroom door. Another slash, and the door fell to pieces entirely. Through the doorway strode the swordsman. Accel closed her eyes, and clutched her friends one last time.