Hi! By request of Dragoncat, this chapter is about Caliban and why he is helping Stefan. Or at least the first part is. And that is all I'm going to say.

Chapter 5

It was dark out. It always was when Caliban met with someone.

Caliban was a mutant who could detect other mutants. He currently was in an alley waiting for someone. And as always, when someone wished to talk to Caliban, another Morlock was hiding somewhere, watching to make sure he didn't get hurt. Tonight it was both Evan Daniels, also known as Spyke and Torpid, a young, mute girl that could paralyze people if she touched them with her oversized hands. They were watching from a rooftop nearby. This is what they saw.

A tall, dark man stepped into the alley and after looking around, said:

"So your Caliban? You can detect other mutants?" The man had a German accent

"I can. Who are you looking for?" responded Caliban in his raspy voice. He was standing perfectly still. It was a bit eerie.

"His name is Kurt Wagner." The man almost spit the words.

What does this guy want with Kurt? Wondered Spyke.

Caliban must have been wondering something similar since the next thing he said was:

"Why are you looking for an X man?"

The man gave a mirthless laugh "To kill him."

Spyke turned to Torpid.

"Stay here. If something goes wrong, get Callisto!" He said to the little girl. She nodded furiously to show that she understood.

Spyke jumped down from the low rooftop he and Torpid had been sitting on, landing in between Caliban and the man. He pulled out one of his flaming spikes, but didn't throw it.

"Okay look mister, I don't know who you are, but you are not using Caliban to hurt any of the X men. Get the point?" Said Spyke.

The man smiled "Oh I understand, Evan Daniels, I just don't comply."

Two people were suddenly standing by the man; one ran at Evan and threw something at him. It exploded, not harming Spyke because of the bony plates covering his upper body, but letting off some type of gas that soon left Spyke unconscious. His last thoughts before falling down were:

How'd this guy know my name?

The gas dissipated before it reached Caliban or Torpid. The two men grabbed Caliban, holding him fast.

Torpid was about to go get Callisto and the other Morlocks when she heard the man said

"My name is Stefan Szardos and you will help me find Kurt. Otherwise I will kill your friend personally, and not only that, my dear assistants here will kill the rest of the Morlocks too. Yes we know about you and we have your pathetic little lot surrounded and are stopping any who could escape from using their powers. I know my, proposition, might need some thinking over, so allow me to give you that time."

Stefan hit Caliban in the head knocking him out. He addressed his two workers.

" Load them both into the truck, if either wakes up, knock them back out."

And with that, Stefan Szardos left the alley.

Torpid was terrified. She wanted to go find the other Morlocks but there was no way she could stop more than one or two people, even with her powers. She didn't know what to do but she had to figure out fast before the men spotted her.

Then she got an idea. The person this Stefan was looking for was an X man. The X men could help! Spyke used to be an X man, so if they knew Spyke was in trouble they would help her.

She climbed down the fire escape on the other side of the building. She knew where the X men lived. They lived at The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. But she wasn't quite sure where the institute was.

She would find it! She had too; the lives of the Morlocks depended on it!

The next morning.

So when everyone else was off to school the next day, Kurt was left behind by himself with nothing to do.

Well, not really alone, but everyone else around were adults and were doing something. Even Jimaine was helping Mr. McCoy look for any record of Stefan.

Trying to figure out just what Stefan had been doing lately was no small task, first off, they had no clue where he was so records in both Germany and America had to scanned, if nothing could be found, they would start looking in the public-and not so public- records of other countries.

"So how do you know that Stefan knew about Caliban?" Asked Hank, looking over the computer screen.

"He told me, but it was awhile ago, about six months, what he said was that he had heard about him, and knew sort of where he was, but not exactly." Said Jimaine, also looking at a computer screen.

"Was this in Germany?"

"Ja."

Hank stood up. "Then that helps! If Stefan is in this Country, it could only have been in the last six months, I'll reset the computer to just scan for that time period."

After that it was easy.

Stefan had just come to the states about a month ago. He must have been laying low because the plane ticket he bought was the only trace they found.

It was to New York.

"So he is nearby, I wonder if he already has Caliban." Said the professor who had come to look at what had been found.

"Are you unable to use your- what is it called- Cerebro to find him?" asked Jimaine.

" It only detects mutants. And only when they are using their powers.

"Then detect Caliban!"

"I would, but it is very possible that he already has detected Kurt for Stefan, I will scan for him but the possibility of it turning up with anything is very slim."

Jimaine sighed. "Please just try. I'm going to see what Kurt is doing."

Upstairs Kurt was doing his homework. (More or less.) He was having a hard time concentrating with all that was going on. One thing he still couldn't understand was why Stefan hated him so much. Was it really because he was mad? Was it because he really had thought Kurt was a demon? And if that were true then why was he still looking for Kurt, and what about the little girl?"

The doorbell rang.

Kurt teleported to the front door and opened it. He saw a small girl with extremely large hands looking up at him.

"I remember you. You're one of the Morlocks aren't you?"

The girl nodded

"So what's your name?"

The girl stopped. She appeared to be thinking and then started gesturing with her hands. Kurt stood there for a moment trying to figure out what she was doing then figured it out.

"You can't speak, can you?"

The girl nodded

"Do you know sign language?" Kurt didn't know sign language but Logan and Hank did. The professor might too.

She shook her head no.

"Okay then. I know! Do you want to see the Professor?"

She nodded yes.

"Okay, hold on." He grabbed her hand over the large gloves she wore and teleported with he to the sub-level where the professor was.

"Professor!" Said Kurt after they got down to the computer lab where he was.

"Hello Kurt. Who is this?" asked the Professor looking at Torpid, who was currently looking around in amazement.

"I don't really know. She's one of the Morlocks."

"What is a Morlock?" asked Jimaine.

"They are a group of mutants who live underneath Bayville." Explained Beast.

"So in the sewers?"

"Well, yes. But as far as we can tell it's by their own choice now that everyone knows about mutants."

"Also Professor," said Kurt, jumping back into the conversation. "She can't talk so I was hoping you could communicate with her telepathically. "

"I will try." Said the professor. He placed his fingertips on her temples and sent a telepathic message to the girl.

Hello, I'm Professor Xavier, what is your name?

Torpid jumped, obviously startled by the voice in her head, but then she understood, went over to the Professor and replied to him

I'm Torpid. I can make people stop moving, Callisto calls it paralyzing them. And you've got to help me! The Morlocks are in trouble!

There was a look of earnest on her face.

Can you explain to me what happened? Asked the Professor

Spyke and I were watching Caliban talk to someone. He wanted Caliban to find one of the X men so he could kill him. Spyke go out from where we were hiding and told the man to go away. Then other people knocked Spyke out. Then the man told Caliban he had to find the person for him otherwise he would kill Spyke and the he said they had the other Morlocks too. Spyke told me to get the Morlocks if there was trouble but now I can't get to them I don't think so will you help me?

The professor took it all in, the man who took Caliban and Evan was most likely Stefan.

"Is something wrong Professor?" asked Storm who had just entered the room with Wolverine.

"Stefan has made his first move. According to this young lady, Torpid, who is a Morlock, Stefan has managed to kidnapped both Caliban and Evan, and keep the rest of the Morlocks prisoner. He has also threatened to kill Spyke and the others if Caliban doesn't comply."

Storm's fists clenched. Spyke was Storm's nephew so hearing that he had been kidnapped was very, very bad news. It was taking all the control she had to not create a freak thunderstorm right then and there.

"We will be getting them both back. Right Charles?" Said Storm through clenched teeth. It was more of a statement of fact then a question.

"Of course we will, but first, me have to figure out where they are."

But how? Wondered Xavier.

Maybe this little girl knew more than she thought she did. He started talking telepathically again

What did they do with Caliban and Spyke? He asked

They put them into the back of a truck. Responded Torpid, who had somehow ended up sitting on Hank's lap, although the ex-schoolteacher didn't seem to mind.

May I look at your memories to see the truck?

Okay.

It was a medium sized truck. It was white, spotless, generic. One that you would never think twice about if you saw it while driving around town. But the back underneath the doors though was one unique thing about it.

It's license plate.

546-XVT

The professor withdrew from Torpid's mind.

"I have the license plate number of the truck Stefan had." He announced.

"Whoa, really? So you can find him?" asked Kurt, obviously wanting the whole mess to end.

"And Spyke?" asked Storm.

And Caliban? Asked Torpid telepathically and eagerly.

"Most likely yes. Hank, find out who a truck with the license plate 546-XVT belongs to and check any traffic cameras you can access for the entire area for it too.

"Yes Professor." Said Hank before turning back to his computer.

"What about Torpid?" Asked Kurt.

"She will have to stay here for now. Take her to one of the guestrooms, she must have been up all night trying to figure out where the mansion was which would mean she would be exhausted by this point." And sure enough, Torpid was rubbing her eyes with her oversized hands, barely managing to stay awake.

"Kurt took her hand and teleported to one of the Mansion's many unoccupied bedrooms, and upon seeing the nice bed, the little girl ran over to it and threw herself on it, obviously overjoyed at having a real bed to sleep in. Moments later, before Kurt had even left the room, she was asleep.

She lives in a sewer, she probably has never slept in a real bed or been in a place like the mansion, and to top it all off, she can't talk. But despite all that she's so happy and wants so much to help her friends, the closest thing she has to family. And it's the weirdest thing, I see her as luck too because she has those friends who care about her and will do whatever they can too keep her out of harm's way. I know what's it's like not to have that and so I guess I can't help but see her as being lucky.

Kurt smiled down on the blissfully sleeping child and after closing the curtains, left the room.