Chapter 13: Shifting the Shape of the Things

"I still don't know why I'm here..."

-Magneto

Blaze had started a fire. Sees had exhausted her powers for the time being. Jumpstep was pacing, instead of transporting, back and forth. Shiftstir was still, watching Blaze from the other side of the flame.

He frowned. "What?"

"What happens when we find Magneto?"

He raised an eyebrow. "It was your idea. You tell me."

Sees sat up from her prostrate position on the ground and Jumpstep stood still for a moment. Shift looked curiously at him. "Why would the Animalis take Magneto? He would be an Elemental mutant, wouldn't he?"

Sees spoke quietly. "He was a metal worker. Like Magneta."

Blaze shifted uncomfortably. "What's your point?"

"My point is," Shiftstir said, "what happens when Magneto is resurrected? Does he join the Elementals?"

"When Magneto is resurrected, the wars will end," Blaze replied carefully.

"And how does that happen?"

The fire flickered higher for a moment. "I don't know."

"It's easy to end wars when there are no more enemies to fight."

Sees and Jumpstep turned their heads quickly to Blaze. He looked at all three of them in turn. "What are you thinking? That the Elementals will just wipe everybody out and be the only mutants left and that's how we'll get peace?" The three Outsiders were unmoved; they only stared. Blaze sensed the danger of his situation, not for the first time.

If, even for a single moment, the three of them decided to band together, they could leave him here in this forest without a second thought. There would be nothing he could do about it. He would be lost in this wilderness. Had that been the plan all along?

Blaze noticed the fire was now dwindling, its energy so tied to his own. He flicked his lighter. The flame in his hand was small, the size of a candle's. He made it grow and directed it to the fire. He sighed. "Are you guys gonna leave me here? Just tell me if you are. I need to know."

"We don't want to die. We don't want to be treated like humans," Shiftstir said, "Outsiders have been protecting Magneto as long as Elementals have. And now all that's left of the Brotherhood is three Outsiders and one Elemental. You're the Outsider now, Blaze."

Shift's hard face wavered in the orange heat. He had never known her to be outspoken or firm. Yet, even now, her voice was quiet and soft. There was just an edge to it.

"We're not going to leave you," she said, "I just wanted you know that we could."

He had been mistaken. He had not realized that, out of Elemental Territory, the three Outsiders would no longer need or fear him, that in their own Element, the Outside, they might even take charge of their destinies for a change.

For the first time in his life, Blaze understood his position.

And was afraid.

Shadowveil stood still as death against the wall. She moved her eyes only, across the room, examining it and each person within. The walls were a bleak, grey stone. And so was she, for all appearances. The table, where the Elemental Council was convening was a clean, almost reflective metal. There were no windows. This room was underground.

The wall was flat. And the wall had eyes. But the eyes, her eyes, were the same color as the walls, the same material. They remained open, unnoticed. Shadowveil's wall-colored eyes, ears and body remained still, watching, listening taking everything in.

The Animalis mutants, Centaur and Satyr had told her where to go, and she had gone. She had not been detected yet, but even if she were, they would be hard pressed to catch her. And if they did catch her, she would be useless to them, not knowing why the Animalis had hired her, or even why it had been Centaur and Satyr, not Fellswoop, who had done the hiring.

But Shadowveil would not be caught. She had made into the Room. And the Room, with its dull walls and shiny table, was protected by a Sensor Shield.

The Council had not brought a Sensor into the Room with them. She had not been sensed. She would not be sensed. Shadowveil was safe.

"There's no sign of Sky," one of the mutants was saying. Hellfire was his name.

"Himmel was telling the truth," Oceanica added ruefully.

"Or," said another, this one called Thorn, "or Himmel, Sky and that Outsider, Phantom, or Fathom or whatever, are working together to start an inter-class war."

"And what evidence," asked Hellfire languorously, "do you have to support that?"

"We should never have given him so much power," was Thorn's ruffled response. "You saw his face when we took it away from him. Do you think he'll be happy following orders again after having command of the entire army?"

"Himmel has done nothing to warrant suspicion," Volt interrupted their argument. "I ask that we drop this line of debate, as it is nothing but malicious conjecture."

There was silence.

"She must be dead," Oceanica murmured. "She must be."

And so it went. Of the many consistencies Shadowveil had noticed in the Council, for the three days she had been hiding in the Room, observing their meetings, the one they stuck to most fervently, was constant indecision. It was an easily deciphered pattern: Enter. Sit. Look at one another. Talk. Repeat. Talk. Repeat. Talk. Exit.

Nothing had been decided and the Council had spent the last three days talking about everything they had already discussed the day before. Shadowveil sometimes wondered it she was not, in fact, reliving the same day over and over again. The only thing that told her she was not going mad was the changing of clothes. The Council members had no difficulty deciding their wardrobes.

That was about all they could decide, except, of course, deciding to meet again the next day.

The other consistency Shadowveil had noticed was that one of the mutants, whose name she thought might be Tremble, or Tremor, rarely spoke, if ever. So when she heard that unfamiliar voice speak up suddenly, Shadowveil listened intently.

"Godspeed was working on something before she died, before she betrayed us."

All the mutants looked at him and listened as intently as she, as if they had all been waiting for him to speak, and when at last he did, they seemed both relieved and frightened.

"I think," the mutant went on, "that it had something to do with that hidden chamber. She was discreet about it. But I did notice her particular attention to Tymah for some time before Godspeed disappeared. Also, one time, I remember, Godspeed had had Tymah bring her a mutant, I do not know who, to her personal chamber. I ran into Tymah in the tunnels, with this mutant in tow. She told me that Godspeed had asked to speak with him. I never saw that mutant again."

"But…you had never seen him before," Thorn interjected.

"Perhaps I had, but did not know him well enough to be aware of him. Once I was aware of him, of course, I would have recognized him in a crowd of mutants I was not acquainted with. And if he was important enough to merit Godspeed's personal attention, should we not all have seen this mutant at some point?"

"What are you saying, Tremor? What do you think all this means?" Volt asked.

The mutant Tremor looked up with fear in his eyes. "Perhaps she was building a weapon."

"A weapon?"

"Yes. A weapon of great power. She joined with the Animalis. They distracted us with the battle in order to smuggle the weapon out. We have all agreed that the battle was just a diversion."

Hellfire shifted in his seat. "If that were the case, why haven't the Animalis used it? Why have they waited?"

"Perhaps it is not yet finished. Perhaps it was necessary to complete the weapon outside of Elemental territory."

No one spoke. Shadowveil tried to breathe as quietly as possible in the total silence. The tension was real and contagious. It quickened her heart beat.

Oceanica curled her fingers together. Her voice was like a blunt knife, sawing into the silence. "Godspeed had spoken of a peace treaty. Do you remember? At the last Council meeting of her life. She spoke of peace. We argued. She was alone in her sentiments."

"Yes. I remember," Hellfire assented.

Oceanica went on as if she hadn't heard him. "It was not long after that that Godspeed disappeared. She must have gone to Fellswoop. Perhaps she had a plan to end to the stalemate. To end the wars."

Shadowveil's breath had become more rapid than was conducive to staying hidden. She tried to calm herself, but her heartbeat thudded in her ears. She was sure they would hear it and discover her.

Thorn leaned away from Oceanica, to whom he was seated next. "How could ending the stalemate end the wars? That's not a sound plan. It makes no sense."

Oceanica looked at him. "A war can only end when someone is victorious. For someone to be victorious, battles must be fought and won. Stalemates do not win battles. They merely delay them."

Bands of blue electricity traveled along Volt's head and jaw line as he looked at each member of the Council in disbelief. "Could Godspeed have been so tired of war that she no longer cared who the victor was, as long it all ended?"

"She was never the same after her daughter died," Tremor said quietly.

The information was sorted through, digested. Each member seemed to test the theory in his own brain, chew on it, taste it, hate it—knowing that it was all too possible, all too real.

"What do we do?"

Oceanica's question was directed at Tremor. Each mutant looked from her to him in turn.

"There is only one thing we can do," Tremor said. "There is one mutant that is connected to all of this and is, to our knowledge, still alive." He shrugged, shaking his head.

"We have to find Tymah."

"What's wrong with her?" Daytripper asked. He was furious. Tymah had been ill for nearly four days, alive, but comatose, and no one had told him. "Didn't you think I'd want to know?"

"I didn't think she'd want you to know," Spitfire said. "She doesn't exactly like you. And if she can hear you right now, she's probably pissed off."

Magneto ignored the bickering. "Tymah suffered from the same symptoms that killed Patrick and the little girl."

"Nina," Daytripper said automatically. Magneto nodded. "Why…why is she still alive?" he asked cautiously, as if the Fates would hear him, realize their mistake, and take her from the world like the others.

"She's a fighter," Spit said.

"It's more than that," Logan said quietly. "Something else is going on here. No one's been sick since Tymah."

Daytripper looked down at the red haired, gentle, self-assured mutant who seemed, in that state, so much younger than she actually was. He felt his breath catch and his eyes grew hot. A hand slipped into his, then, and grounded him. "Trip?" Janet said.

He turned to her, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

"They told me you'd come in here. Is that her?" she asked.

"Yeah. That's Tymah."

"Such a pretty name." Janet left his side and knelt by Tymah. She rested the back of her hand on Tymah's forehead. "She has a fever."

The men watched Janet as she felt Tymah's glands and checked her pulse, as she studied her presumed enemy with nothing other than interest, even concern. "One of you get me some cold water and a cloth. And more blankets." She turned to Tymah. "We'll sweat it out of you."

"You don't have to do this, Janet," Tripper said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I know that. Get me the blankets and then you all have to leave. I'll undress her and wrap her up. She'll sweat out the fever…I hope."

They did all that Janet asked and then left the tent, tying the entry flap closed behind them. Magneto walked with the Daytripper in a directionless path. "How long have you known Logan?" he asked.

Daytripper thought about it. "A few years. I was living farther up north. I came upon this group of humans. They were being pursued by a group of Outsiders who had banded together and were terrorizing the local human camps. They'd been running for a week or more. When I met Janet, she was starving and stick thin, with nothing but a light jacket and a pair of pants. No shoes even. I knew of this camp. That, for whatever reason, it was safer than the others. I fell in love with Janet and I wanted to help her. But…I still had this…prejudice. I still hated humans…all humans, except Janet. Then the Outsiders caught up with them finally and there was a fight. I grabbed Janet and teleported her to this camp. And then I went back for the rest of them." He sighed. "They didn't all make it."

Magneto seemed neither disappointed nor impressed by this story. "And you've lived here ever since."

Daytripper nodded. "I teleport food to the camp when I can, other supplies, whatever I can find. I'm useful, I think." They walked on. "There's a lot of fertile land in Animalis territory, good food, fruits, vegetables, wine. That's why I responded to Fellswoop's call for a teleporter. All I wanted was access to a few acres of Animalis land to grow food on, so I could teleport it back here." He smiled. "I didn't ask what the job was, obviously."

Magneto smiled too. "Fellswoop told me that you had the chance to leave. Why didn't you?"

Daytripper stopped walking and faced Magneto. "Are you serious?" he asked, eyebrows raised. "You're Ma—," he stopped short, almost forgetting about the name ban. "You're Eric!" he laughed. "The Eric! I wasn't going to pass that up. Not for anything."

The merriment died quickly, as Daytripper's thoughts returned to Tymah. "I wish I knew what was going on."

Magneto looked at Daytripper, and then straight ahead. "So do I."

"You want me to go where?"

Velocity took enough steps backward to bump right into the wall.

Fellswoop nodded calmly. "The human colony, yes. The one that's guarded by the half-mutant, Wolverine."

"Look, I'm up to my neck in this. I risked everything just going back to Elemental territory...twice! You remember, I was one of the last people to see Godspeed alive over there. And the descriptions you gave me did not match any of the people in the holding cells that I'm aware of. The people you're looking for are probably dead."

Fellswoop dug his talons into the palms of his hands. "It cannot be as pointless as all that! I will not believe it!"

Creature spoke. "The path is dark. That does not mean it is not there."

"Okay," Velocity said, decorum lost, "that made more sense to me than you telling me to go for a run in a human colony!"

"If you want to keep your land in this territory, you will do as I say," Fellswoop said. "If you do not and you try to return home, everything you have will be destroyed before you can get there and you will have no home."

Velocity paled. "My family."

"Is no concern of mine."

The speed demon went from pale to red in seconds. "I've done everything you've asked of me. Everything! What could you possibly want in a human colony?"

"That is not your business!" Fellswoop's deep voice rumbled under all of their feet.

Creature put a clawed hand on his arm. He spoke quietly, insistently. "Yes, Fellswoop. It is. He, too, is a son."

Fellswoop looked at Velocity as if seeing him for the first time. The man was young, trim, lithe. He was much slighter than Fellswoop or Creature, but that suited his powers. He stared at him. So accustomed was Fellswoop to using Outsider's like hired servants, that he had forgotten, somehow, that they, too, were brother mutants. Had not Magneto's own son been a speed demon?

Fellswoop's anger disappeared in an instant. He rested a taloned hand on the young man's shoulder. He felt it twitch beneath his touch, and could smell the mutant's anger and his fear. But Velocity did not pull away. Fellswoop nodded down at him and said, "I will tell you, all, brother. All."