Chapter Twenty-Five: Pawns

A/N: A huge thanks to the lovely readers who are reviewing! You guys are awesome!

Max's screams resonated throughout the mansion as he clutched at his stomach, watching the blood that trickled through his fingers. His face paled and he stared in horror at Tobi, who slowly lowered the revolver and stowed it back in her belt, her face an emotionless mask.

Lucie snarled and jumped to her feet, knocking over the chessboard so that black and white figurines scattered all over the floor. She lunged at Tobi, her face quickly becoming contorted with hatred.

"What the fuck have you done?" she bellowed, cracking her hand across Tobi's face. The older girl made no attempt to stop her, nor did the expression on her face change. It disturbed Lucie. "Why did you shoot Max? Are you insane?"

All colour drained from Sean's face. He had raced across to Max and attempted to help the boy staunch the flow of blood. His crimson life-force spattered across the carpet as he continued to scream in agony. Perry rushed over and attempted to aid Sean.

"Here, hold him down. We need to get the bullet out of him…"

"No." It was Tobi who had spoken, her voice monotonous and flat. "If you take the bullet out, he'll die."

Lucie rounded on her. "Why do you care if he dies? You're the one who shot him!"

Tobi's green eyes were glimmering with something unreadable as footsteps hurried down the corridor outside. She pressed her lips together and didn't answer Lucie as the door burst open, and Ghost invaded the room, followed closely by several other Rogues.

"What the hell happened in here?" Ghost demanded as he glanced over at Max. By now, the boy's screams had subsided into groans of pain. His face remained chalk-white and Lucie bared her teeth and jabbed an accusing finger at Tobi.

"She shot him! That bitch is crazy. You need to restrain her, or something. Max didn't even do anything…"

"Shot him?" Ghost glanced back at Snatch, who was staring down at Max with wide, terrified eyes. "So you weren't lying when you told us she had a gun."

"You knew?" Lucie exploded, storming towards Ghost. She might be powerless and she might still be a prisoner of the Rogues, yet in her rage, she suddenly didn't care. "You knew she had a weapon and you didn't take it off her?"

"Snatch only told us about an hour ago," Ghost grumbled, shoving Lucie aside and stalking across towards her brother. He inspected the boy with a tight-lipped expression. Ghost didn't actually care for the boy's survival, but rather what Bishop's reaction would be. No matter what they told the other young mutants when they returned, Alex would definitely believe that the Rogues had harmed Max – and then all hell would break loose.

"What are you going to do?" Zelda demanded, staring across at Max and looking as though she might cry, "You can't just let him die!"

"She's right, you know."

Everyone in the room turned to see Bishop leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest. His gaze was fixed on the badly injured boy on the ground. He knew as well as Ghost did that the others would think he did this.

"Ghost, take him down to the infirmary and have Meth heal him."

Ghost's eyes widened with disbelief. He knew what that meant, and what the consequences might be. To allow Meth to heal the kid, he'd have to take down the negations of other mutants' power.

"But…"

"Just do it!" Bishop snapped, growing agitated. "I'm not having him die on me. We need the hostages alive. Lock the kids in their rooms, make sure they're being guarded, and then bring the boy to Meth. Do you understand?"

Ghost's frown was terse and he looked reluctant, but he nodded and indicated to Raze, who hurried across and helped him lift Max up. Lucie placed her hands over her mouth as she watched the two transport her brother from the room. She could still hear his cries of pain as they took him down the corridor.

Tobi glanced across at Bishop, who was seething. She could tell just by looking at him that he was incredibly pissed off, and the beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. A nerve twitched in Bishop's cheek.

"Get them to their rooms," he hissed at the other Rogues, "And make sure they don't come out."

Tobi knew that she had a lot of explaining to do. So far, it seemed that everyone was mad at her for shooting Max – and for good reason. She'd had to make the shot painful enough so that it would need some healing, but not in a place where it could kill Max in a short amount of time. Her insides were twisted with guilt about what she'd done…but it had been her last, desperate chance.

So far, her scheme was working perfectly – Max was being healed by Meth, and her powers were back. Four bullets left, and counting. They should have known that a room couldn't contain her. Tobi smirked as she opened the door, to see Raze standing outside glowering at her. He stormed over to her, fists clenched. Tobi was almost refreshed by the wave of apprehension and suspicion that washed off Raze. It was so good to feel other people's emotions again. It meant that things were working. For the first time, Tobi started to think she could get this right.

"I think you've caused enough trouble. What are you doing?"

Tobi simply shrugged. "Isn't it obvious?"

She moved with superhuman speed, her fist colliding heavily with Raze's head. The force of the blow was enough to knock him out. Raze's form slithered to the ground and Tobi continued through the corridors, knocking out the Rogues who stood guard outside her friends' rooms.

"I don't get you," Lucie snapped accusingly at her, folding her arms to show that she still didn't trust Tobi. "You shoot my brother, show remorse for it, then knock out five Rogues to get us out. So what it is, Tobi? What's the game plan, huh?"

"Look." Tobi bit her lip and her shoulders sagged as she exhaled deeply. "I suppose I should have explained things to you before, but there was no way you would have let me shoot Max. Think it out, Lucie. What does shooting Max accomplish?"

Lucie just stared at Tobi in bewilderment, but a look of amazement started to come across young Zelda's face as she began to comprehend.

"Injuring Max meant that Meth had to heal him…and for Meth to heal him…Ghost had to relinquish his negation of mutant powers."

"I am so sorry," Tobi remarked, her eyes boring into Lucie's, "I really didn't want to have to hurt anyone. But it was the only way Ghost would ever stopped negating powers. While Meth's healing Max, we're at our strongest."

Sean nodded fervently, understanding Tobi's train of thought now.

"So we take out Ghost before he negates our power again. Then we've got a clear shot at the others."

Tobi smiled, pleased that they were on the right track.

"Exactly."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lucie cocked her hip and raised her eyebrows challengingly. "Let's get to it."

"Are you sure about this?" Zelda was gnawing at her lip and looking incredibly nervous. Tobi placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and nodded her head vigorously. It wouldn't do any good for Zelda to freak out now.

"I trust you, Zelda. For this to work, we need you. This is your big chance, okay? All you need to do is sing something, anything that will hypnotize the rest of the Rogues so that they can't stop us. Just keep singing until someone comes back and gets you, okay? You'll be fine. Besides, Perry will be right here with you."

Perry was busy handing out earplugs. Once Zelda started signing, they'd have to block out sound so that they wouldn't be affected by her power as well. The youngest mutant still looked afraid, but she waited until her friends had plugged their ears – and then she started to sing.

"Sing me to sleep…sing me to sleep…"

Tobi grinned and gave Zelda the thumbs-up, before she hurried down the corridor with the others in tow. Perry remained vigilant beside the young girl. Tobi's heart was hammering in her chest, a mixture of terror and hope burning within her. This was her final chance. If she didn't get this right, then they would all suffer for it.

"I want you both out of the way when this happens, alright? See if you can find Charles, make sure he's okay. I need to do this myself."

Tobi turned to face Sean and Lucie, her expression becoming solemn as she reached into the waistband of her pants and pulled out the revolver. However, Tobi was troubled as she watched Sean and Lucie turn and head up another set of stairs towards Charles's room. The silence was penetrating and it really unnerved Tobi…

Wait, silence? Tobi hesitantly wiggled one of the earplugs out of her ear, before confidently yanking out the other. A shiver ran down her spine as she realized that she could no longer hear Zelda singing. Something was definitely wrong.

Tobi swallowed hard, before lifting her leg and kicking open the infirmary door. Max was lying on a bed, swathed in bandages. The dark-skinned man standing over him, Meth, looked up at the intrusion. Ghost was leaning against the far wall and he unfolded his arms and stared in alarm as Tobi raised the gun, levelled it with his head.

It sounded like a car backfiring as the bullet sped towards Ghost – but then Bishop was stepping out from behind a curtain screen, a horrible smile on his face as he calmly stood in front of Ghost. Tobi watched with growing terror as he seemed to absorb the bullet into his hand.

"You could have knocked," Bishop stated casually.

Tobi felt her head start to spin. Her hands were shaking and the gun clattered to the linoleum floor. Spots started to dance in front of her eyes and she stared across at Bishop, whose smile was widening.

"What…what are you doing?"

"I'm drawing on your energy," he replied with a shrug. "With that and the bullet, I should be able to cause some damage."

Bishop's eyes lit up as they landed on Max, whose breath rattled in and out through his lips and whose face was still pale. Tobi felt the sick horror building up inside her, the urge to scream clawing its way up her throat as she realized that Bishop was not going to turn her own bullet back onto her.

"No…don't do it…"

"Then stop me." Bishop offered Tobi a smug smile, knowing that while he drew upon her energy, while she couldn't focus, she could do no such thing. "You're going to have to kill me to bring me down, Tobi. Go on. Why don't you pick up your gun and try again?"

"Stop…" The words were barely audible and Tobi could feel the tears tracking down her cheeks, the warm wet liquid pools of failure. "Just stop…"

"Do it." Bishop glanced down towards the fallen revolver, and then back up at Tobi. "DO IT!"

She wanted to, and he knew it very well. Tobi's knees felt like they'd turned to jelly, and she collapsed to the ground, her fingers closing around the cold metal of the gun. She could pull the trigger…but who would she be shooting? Tobi watched Bishop grin, watched him rotate the bullet above his hand with a considering expression.

"I remember when I made Digit break your arm," Bishop noted with an amused smile. "You didn't seem to feel the pain, did you? It scared the shit out of him…but I think I was starting to guess then. I didn't quite know what you were, but I suspected. It's not pain that fazes you, is it? At least…not physical pain. Not pain of your own."

Tobi was shaking her head vehemently, but it was only serving to make her vision swim. She had to keep her eyes focused, keep them on Max. As Bishop drew at her energy, she resisted. He tilted his head to the side.

"I knew what it was as soon as I saw your reaction to Alex. It was the ultimate test – and you passed with flying colours. I could direct this bullet into your arm, but I doubt that would make a difference. What hurts you the most is…this."

With that, Bishop relinquished his control over the bullet, allowing it to speed towards Max at the same speed with which Tobi had fired it. She could only watch with sheer shock as the bullet pierced him through the heart, and his form stiffened and his eyes became fixed.

Then, Tobi's world slipped into a bleak darkness, her last thought being that Max's death had ensured her defeat.