A/N: Time for another update in the Mutant Pox outbreak! Regan's gone bonkers, which means bad news for everyone else. The x's mean a shift in location or POV.

Learning to Breathe

Chapter seventeen: Friend or Foe?

"Vampira! Thunderbird! Come in you two!" Atlantis shouted. "What the hell won't they answer!"

"Sounds like they ran into trouble." Zartan frowned. "Where were they going?"

"I don't know." The blond shrugged.

"Then we'll ask the techs to find that com link." Zartan replied. "We can help them corral Lady Mastermind after we've found them."

XXXXXXX

"So, you thought you could stop my plans?" Lady Mastermind sneered at her unconscious captives. "Thought you could take me out? Well, let me enlighten you: you can't and won't stop me from seizing what should be mine!"

"What will we do next, Mistress." One soldier asked.

"We carry on with our plans." The blond grinned. "Now that the vampire is out of the way, no one can stop us!"

XXXXXXX

"What is going on in there?" One of the technicians asked.

"What happened?" Andi asked. "Did you find Reg?"

"Her and about thirty others." The tech replied. "I don't know what's happening in there. All the cameras are shut off, which is strange because we're required to keep them on in the hangar bay."

"We're on our way." Zartan said. "Looks like our telepath is planning an invasion."

XXXXXXX

The young blond's lips widened into a visible smile when she sensed two more people headed her way. Hitting a button on her communicator, she gave the order.

"Why don't you two greet our friends?" She sneered.

"As you wish, my Mistress." A male voice droned on the other end. "Good. That is all."

"Understood." He said as he hung up.

XXXXXXX

"I can't believe she'd brainwash everyone like this." Andi gasped as she and Zartan dashed closer to the hangar. "It's just not like her!"

"She's sick, Atlantis." Zartan replied. "She may not even realize what she's doing."

"But why go to all the trouble?" The two-toned Canadian asked. "And trust me, she went to all that trouble."

"It's hard to say why a person does something when they're hallucinating." The master of disguise answered. "She probably feels ignored or something."

The pair ran a little farther before running into a fiery blockade. "What is this?" Zartan shouted as he squinted to see through the flames.

"It's Neal!" Atlantis exclaimed. "Regan must have him and Vampira under her control."

"We must stop them." Zartan said. "Even if we have to knock them out to do it!"

"We're the ones who will be knocking you out!" Vampira laughed. She transformed into a cloud of smoke and flew through the fiery inferno to the pair of mutants.

"Since when can she do that?" Atlantis growled.

"Must be one of those vampiric enhancements." Zartan hissed as the smoke cloud morphed into a swarm of bats. Swiftly, the bat troup descended upon the two mutants and began to bite.

"Kristen!" Andi exclaimed, using her arms to ward off the bats. "Knock it off! Why the hell are you letting Regan do this to you?"

"I'm afraid she can't hear you." Neal laughed. "Can't have her breaking free, now, can I?"

"Let them go, Wyngarde!" Zartan boomed.

"Forget it." Neal said. "You'll never stop me now!"

"Forgive me for trying!" Andi shouted. The brazen blond bolted through the gang of bats, reverted to her true scaly form, and shot straight into the blaze.

"Creed!!" The onyx haired spy shouted. "Get back here! You can't…" But she never heard him. She simply dove through the flames and into the plasma-wielder.

"Time to put you out, Neal." The young blond snarled.

"Forget it." Neal said. "There's no water around for blocks." Focusing his energy, he fired a stream of plasma at the younger girl.

"I hate it when you have a point." She hissed.

"Atlantis! Get out of there!" Zartan shouted from across the firewall.

"No!" Atlantis hissed. "We're going to finish this here and now!"

"Fine by me." The older boy sneered. "This ends now!" As he threw a ball of pure plasma, the two-toned teen closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.