Kid Dynamo Chapter 10 "Double Dare" by Connie Hirsch Our Story So Far: Jessica Pierce is a teenage telekinetic fireproof mutant runaway who has taken shelter at Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, despite her considerable misgivings about the headmaster, Magneto. The leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants in his long-ago days had tampered with her mother's fire powers, which subsequently went berserk and killed her. Last chapter, Jessica and Magneto had a conversation that both of them had been avoiding: talking about the fact that Magneto is actually Jessica's natural father. He insists he never knew of her existence until now; she disbelieves that he had nothing to do with the death of her mother. He vows to find the cause; Jessica indicates she hasn't made up her mind as to whether she'll stay at the school.... * * * "Douglas, I trust you have a good explanation for that... outfit," said Magneto to Doug, who had just clumped into the Danger Room Control Center. I had to turn my head or I might have laughed out loud at the look on the Master of Magnetism's face. That was a bad idea if I wanted to sober up; Doug looked like a one man band, with weapons substituting for the musical instruments. My classmate just smiled. "Oh, no problem," he said. "The New Mutants are allowed to incorporate optional equipment into their uniforms, correct?" "Yes," said Magneto. "You are expected to clear said equipment with the headmaster -- assuming you _are_ wearing a uniform underneath all that." "So, here I am, clearing," Doug said. "And I do have a uniform -- well, parts -- underneath the Kevlar body armor." He slapped his thigh, one of the few surfaces that was unencumbered with equipment. It made an audible "thunk." "I even made up a list," he added, handing over several pages of printout. "My session's next?" I said, taking the opportunity to get out of my seat. I'd been taking my turn helping to monitor Amara's training session, which had left me alone with Magneto. He was as politely friendly as ever and it was getting on my nerves. "Your first group session, next," he said. "You will want to speak with the rest of your teammates first, in the Ready Room. I will use the next fifteen minutes to review Douglas's list of equipment. Please remind the other students we will begin promptly." As I closed the door behind me, I could hear him rustle Doug's list and say, "Night vision _goggles_?" * * * Downstairs in the Ready Room, the kids were gathering. "Did he try to give you a pep talk?" Dani said. She was spraddled on the floor, stretching her muscles to warm up for the session. I sat down next to her and joined in. I'll say this for the killer bee uniforms: they were flexible as anything, even if they did look a little retarded. "No, he acting like this were any other session," I said. "I think Doug distracted him." "Well, it _is_ like any other," Dani said, as she touched her head to her knee. "We do this all the time, so there's nothing to worry about." "I know," I said. "It's just the thought of you guys -- attacking me." "Better us than anyone else," she said. "You have to try using your powers for real sometime. Safer if it's _us_, in the Danger Room." "Don't worry, we'll only hurt you a little," said Illyana. My other "opponents" came into the room, accompanied by Mist dressed in her Valkyrie's armor. She was still training by herself, but she watched the group sessions with avid interest. At least someone was eager to fight. We didn't talk much, just warmed up. It would be a simple game as sessions went: "King of the Mountain" -- with me in the featured role of _Monarque du Jour_. All the New Mutants were going to try to knock me off my perch. Magneto had sat us down and made us review possible defenses, strategies and illegal moves. Illegal moves were actions that could be immediately fatal. Kind of comforting to know that telekinetically tearing someone's head off was right out. Otherwise, we could try anything we wanted. I had to hold my position -- a platform in the middle of the Danger Room for fifteen minutes or until all of my attackers were disabled. If I wanted, I could just keep up a force field against all comers. Not very sporting, but that's what I intended to try. Magneto must have either finished Doug's equipment review or suspended it; we got the request on the intercom to enter the Danger Room precisely at 9:30 am. Mist went upstairs to watch the proceedings from the Control Center with Doug and Big M. "Positions please," said Magneto's amplified voice. The Danger Room was in a standard configuration: a jagged floor with various protrusions and objects handy for throwing. I sprang into the air and somersaulted lightly onto my official perch; Sam blasted his way across the room while the others scrambled for positions. "All ready," Dani called out. "Very good," Magneto said. "You may begin in 5 seconds. 4... 3... 2... 1... begin." I snapped my field up. I'd had heavy practice the week before; now I extended it to encompass a ten foot radius sphere that protected me, the platform, its pylon and the area around it. I don't know why I expected everybody to freeze and consider what to do; the kids had had plenty of time to plan how to defeat me. Sam led off the festivities by blasting himself straight at me; on the other side Amara started throwing lava blasts at me. Both attacks bounced off my shield. Sam did a flip and bore in for another pass. Meanwhile the others were creeping up on me. It seemed the attacks I'd received so far were more on the order of diversions while other attacks were readied. I tried to locate all my teammates and count heads. With the uneven flooring there was plenty of cover. Rahne, Dani, Warlock, Roberto, I'd nearly found them all when there was a slight sound behind me on the platform. Even as Illyana started to push me in the small of my back, I used a karate elbow thrust to her diaphragm, driving all the air from her lungs and her person off the platform. Her push would have knocked me off too, if it were not for my TK. I caught myself, grabbed her before she hit the floor and tossed her gently towards the big net on other side of the room. I saw her disappear in a circle of light just before she hit. Right then Sam came whizzing in on an interception course. I'd let my force field drop while I took care of Illyana. I ducked, and deflected him upward, bringing my shield up just in time -- Amara's lava blasts splattering harmlessly against it. Time to try something besides purely defensive moves. Amara's was by far the most annoying attack. True, the heat wouldn't have hurt me, but there was more than enough force in those blasts to knock me down. I slammed the hill of lava she stood upon, knocking it out from under her. She went flying. Amara wasn't susceptible to many attacks in her lava form; I didn't have to worry that the landing would hurt much. My next target was going to be Sam. I waited until he came blasting at me again. He was hard to hold in this blast mode; the biological field he generated made him "slippery," but I could get around it by grabbing him from the inside out, my usual mode, no "mental fists" for this little psi. When I had him it was child's play to locate his beating heart and trace the great artery that leads upward and splits off into the carotids. Once there I very gently compressed them so that the blood supply to his brain was shut off. It took less time to do than to say; but I took care to double-check my work as the health of my friend was in my figurative hands. Gently I clamped down on those arteries; and gently Sam fainted, his blast going out as he abruptly lost consciousness. I caught him and put him down out of the way. He had only fainted, after all; just as in a natural faint the blood supply to his brain had temporarily shut down, and he would make a completely normal recovery from it. Roberto was bouncing large rocks off my shield during all this, for all the good it did him. Suddenly it felt like steel cables were wrapping around my body. "Get her, Warlock!" I heard Illyana cry behind me. She must have 'ported Warlock in. I might as well have been wrestling a giant Chinese finger puzzle. I was getting more stuck every moment. _Think_! I told myself, though it was increasingly hard to get a breath as he wrapped me tighter. I could have torn him to pieces, of course. And unlike my other classmates, he might even survive treatment like that, but it would hurt and the harmlessness was by no means certain. I was fast running out of breath when I figured out my next move. I generated a second force shield, starting less than a millimeter from my skin, just underneath Warlock's grip. If there's anything I'm good at with my TK, it's knowing where my skin begins! Then, very slowly, I began expanding the force shield. First, just around my chest, and neck, letting me breathe again. Then I began a steady, irresistible expansion, about an inch every second. Warlock found himself stretching to accommodate the growing volume of the bubble. "Give it up, 'Lock!" I said as the bubble reached more than a yard in diameter. I kept expanding my inner force shield, squeezing Illyana off the platform. She yelped as she fell and 'ported before she hit the floor. Warlock reformed into a more normal body shape and as he did so I tossed him in Bobby's direction. "Is that the best you can do?" I said. "Nothin' up my sleeve," Illyana said, bouncing atop one of the nearby ledges left by Amara's power. "Presto!" She gestured. I looked down and noticed one of her stepping disks forming beneath my feet. "Oh no, you don't!" I cried as I lifted away from it. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Illyana frowning with effort -- the disk lifted off the pedestal and followed me up. I dodged and it dodged -- Illyana did her best to follow me, but I could stop, reverse thrust, and make 90 degree turns far better than she could. It kept me moving and away from my pedestal. I could see Rahne and Dani making a dash towards the goal. I knocked them off their feet with a TK swipe, though Illyana nearly caught me with her stepping disk while I did it. Better do something about the source of my troubles, I decided. I "grabbed" the junior sorceress, making her spin wildly in the air. My pursuing disk halted, vanished, as Illyana could not maintain her concentration. I knocked her out the same way I'd done Sam, diverting only enough of my attention to get me back on the pedestal, force field up again. I checked the clock above the control room window, where the time was ticking away. Only 9 minutes had elapsed though it felt like many more. Six minutes to go; what else could they pull on me? I could see the remnants of the team -- Dani, Rahne, Amara, Warlock and Bobby, crouching together at the far end of the room. The medbots had cleared Sam and Illyana out of the running when they fell unconscious. Amara began her lava barrage again. Something was different about the blasts this time; they went through my force field as if it weren't there at all. The blasts weren't too painful -- like getting hit with a bucket of warm mud -- but the stuff clung. And sizzled. Abruptly I could smell cooked meat. It's an unforgettable smell, burned human flesh, not unlike scorched bacon, only sweeter and more obscene. I looked down: the stuff was clinging to me like napalm, and burning. It occurred to me that Illyana must have swiped at me with her magic spell-destroying sword and removed my ability to absorb heat. I held up my hands. My fingers had burned down to charred stubs. I could see white bones in the blackened, sizzling flesh that was left of my palms. Curiously, there was no pain, no feeling. I screamed, felt warm, prickly vomit rising in the back of my throat and tried to fly away. I must have hit the ceiling or fainted. * * * The next thing I remember is the smell of ammonia making my nose buzz unpleasantly. I choked and tried to sit up, but somebody turned me over on my side. "Yeah, keep her on her side, I don't want her aspirating vomit," Doug said. "Stay calm, Jessica, everything is hunky-dory." I swear I didn't feel queasy until he said the "v" word, but abruptly I was sick. Roberto was helpfully holding a garbage pail under my head. There wasn't much to bring up; I hadn't eaten any breakfast before our big workout. Magneto came over. I could see Dani lying on a gurney on the Danger Room floor a few feet away. "You gave us a scare," he said to me. "Can you tell us what happened?" I held out my hands -- my perfectly fine unburned hands. I was completely unharmed. I stared in utter amazement. "I was burning," I said. "Amara's lava was burning me alive." Magneto raised an eyebrow, turned and looked at Dani. "The instruments say you were using your power but we saw nothing," he said. "The spirit-forms are usually visible to all present, but none of us saw anything. Yet here you are both affected by the experience." "I -- I don't know," I said. I felt pretty shaky. "It was so damn real." Dani seemed to be having the dry heaves. Sam got the thankless job of holding the bucket for her. The look of concern on his face was almost comical. "It should have hurt, I suppose," I said. "My hands were all burned but there was no pain -- it's supposed to hurt when you're burned, right?" Sharon came in carrying a carafe of water and some cups. "Just rinse, at first," she said, handing one to me. I was grateful to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. To tell the truth, I no longer felt ill at all -- it had passed as quickly as it had come on. Magneto packed Dani and me off to the infirmary, where we were deposited, uniforms and all, onto adjoining beds. "What happened?" Magneto said. Dani looked over at me, troubled. "I never had that happen before," she said. "I got -- stuck. Couldn't stop it -- and I was experiencing it right along with Jess." "We know Jessica has a natural mind-shield," he said. "It would seem your power could bypass it, at least in the initial phase. Some sort of synergistic resonance between your power and her mind may have been set in motion." He sighed. "I do wish you had tried for her deepest desire, for Jessica's first taste of your power." "I did," Dani said. "I wasn't _trying_ to trigger her fears. Sometimes, when emotions are running high, I just don't have any control over what comes out. Shit," she said, burying her face in her hands, "I'm going to have nightmares for a week." I looked at my hands again, remembering what my mother's had looked like as her power had attacked her own flesh. "I wish Elisabeth were here," Magneto said. "I greatly desire to hear her evaluation of the interaction of Jessica's shield and Danielle's power." He got up. "We shall postpone the team evaluation for an hour, to ensure you are fully recovered. In the meantime, we will press on with our normal schedule," he said. "No need to treat this unlike any other training mishap." He turned and saw the rest of the team clustered in the doorway. "If you would, young ladies and gentlemen," he said. "I believe next on our schedule is Douglas's solo run?" He turned and nodded to us from the doorway. I could hear the kids cutting up in relief as they went down the hall. They were kidding Doug about his impending run. "I didn't expect it to be so real," I said to Dani. "I never doubted what was happening to me for a second." Dani crossed her legs on the bed, cradled her chin on her palms. "That's why it works so well," she said. "Some people have strong enough wills that they can disbelieve it, but most can't." "It was perfect... dream logic," I said. "You know -- like being able to fly in your dreams." Dani giggled. "I'm sorry -- but you _can_ fly, so it _would_ make sense to you." "Not when everyone else can fly, too," I said. "And nobody else thinks its funny if you can. That's what I mean, dream logic -- everything made perfect sense." "Yeah, Illyana _must_ have hit you with her sword when you weren't looking so your bodyfield wasn't working," Dani said. I looked at her. "How did you know that?" I said, feeling violated. "I swear, it's the funniest thing," she said. "I could feel everything you were feeling, as you were feeling it. Like the way I can sense Rahne's thoughts when she's in wolf-form, only more intense." "I'm not real sure I'm happy about this," I said. "I've never had anyone in my head, before --" "It was _all_ surface, really. Only the top of our consciousness, not the real personal stuff," Dani said, blushing. "It's a _hell_ of a power sometimes," she added, looking away. "Pulling up all kinds of personal things. It can be so -- humiliating. I mean, like one time I hit a guard with his greatest desire -- turned out he wanted to be dressed up in a big diaper with this huge fat woman who--" "I get the picture," I said quickly. My turn to blush. "It's embarrassing to be defeated. But to add insult to injury--" "Yeah," she said. "For the most part, now, I can work it to be the greatest desire -- but sometimes it still backfires. When I first got my power, that happened all the time." "It must have driven you almost crazy," I said. "And everyone around me," she said ruefully. "It's okay," I said. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me." "Just to defeat you," she said. "Jess, learning to fight like this doesn't always help us, personally. Makes us better able to survive, yes, but I sometimes wonder about the end product, y'know?" Something crystallized for me as she spoke. "But if we don't survive, we'll never get a chance to live, right?" I said. "I'm closer to agreeing with Professor X than ever, just now." "If this is what it takes to make you see the worth of learning your power enough to really protect yourself, I'll be content with what I did today," said Dani. "I'm not sure," I said, "that it's really that great a thing -- but --" She held out a hand and I took it. "Sorry," she said, and I smiled. We clasped hands for a only a minute; it was kind of hokey and embarrassing. I found myself looking away. Dani took a deep breath. "Well," she said, "Doug's having his first real solo run and we're missing all the fun. I feel like checking out of the infirmary and checking out the action, how about you?" In answer, I lifted myself off the bed, somersaulting lazily and slowly in the air until I came down in an artistic one point landing in front of her bed, finishing with deep curtsy. "_Apres vous, Mademoiselle_," I said. * * * "It's Maggie's own fault," said Illyana. "He _always_ underestimates Doug." Doug was in the last stages of a Danger Room blowout. It hadn't come close to really testing him; Magneto hadn't truly believed that Doug could do what he said he could. I found Doug's comprehensive know-it-all ability pretty unbelievable myself. I'd thought Doug would have tripped himself up with too much equipment, but he'd stowed it in surprisingly strange ways where he could get at it without it getting in the way. One second he was tossing throwing stars, the next he was using some rope to trip up one of the "enemy" robots Magneto had sent after him. We were watching in the Ready Room. I was almost regretting I wasn't up in the Control Center with Magneto so I could see the expression on his face. A cheer went up as Doug reached the Kill Button, finishing his run. The response startled me, though the kids had been making enthusiastic comments all along. There must be something to this team spirit business, I thought. The debriefing was sheer anticlimax, both for my run and for Doug's. Illyana was singled out as the most valuable player; she had kept me hopping. Magneto commented that if I had been less hesitant about knocking out my teammates I'd have finished successfully. With Doug he was less critical; Magneto was obviously still not convinced of Doug's capabilities. Big M made noises about upping the difficulty level; Doug offered to help with the programming. Magneto raised an eyebrow. We had time for showers before lunch. Magneto was due for a Hellfire club meeting at 1:00 PM, so we had a "free" afternoon where we would take turns tutoring each other. A week after our return from Asgard, we were still making up for the absence. Mr. Headmasterman had only set his schedule back a little. I was feeling unaccountably cheerful all through the noon meal. I'd just experienced my greatest fear; what it had done was make me feel liberated. I was not altogether surprised my personal _bete noir_ had related to my mother's death. But I had _survived_ and now, I felt I could get on with other things. While I was lost in my reverie, the kids started talking about the morning's runs. Doug's solo run earned a lot of enthusiastic comment. "No way it touches Jessica's first run," said Doug, laughing. "At least I didn't destroy the room!" Hard to believe it was barely three weeks ago. "I didn't mean to --" I started to say. "Didn't know her mind was loaded," Doug said, and there was general merriment. Determined not to be the only butt of jokes, I cast about for something to deflect the laughter back towards Doug. I remembered the joshing that had followed my first excursion. "You know, with your change in powers, have you considered changing your codename?" I asked sweetly. "I don't think 'Cypher' quite fits anymore. How about," I paused for effect, "'Data'?" "Oh, I'm not that wooden," Doug said. "Yeah," said Sam. "Cain't hardly imagine Brent Spiner with that big a smile. Maybe something a little more accurate -- how's about 'The Living Encyclopedia?'" Illyana giggled. "'Stand back, Evil-doers'!" she declaimed. "'For I, the Living Encyclopedia shall answer all your questions'!" "That'll sure strike fear in all their hearts," I said. "Or -- 'the Ultimate Librarian'," said Illyana. "Give it all away, why don't you?" said Doug. "Quiz Master?" said Dani. "Or, how about 'The Answer Man'?" "I -- ah, I thought of that one already," said Doug, slightly flushed. "But I thought 'the Mutant Answer Man' sounded better." Illyana mimed sticking her finger down her throat, with appropriate sound effects. "Well, you come up with something better," Doug said. "How about 'Elephant Man'?" said Sam, "-- because you never forget?" Doug rolled his eyes. "You're all daft," said Rahne. "If you great ninnies were left to think of your own names you'd make all your enemies die laughing." "That's the idea," said Sam. "First strike, y'know." Amara was trying to keep a straight face and not succeeding. "It is preferable to defeat one's enemies as expeditiously as possible," she said. "However, when it is at the expense of one's dignity is it truly ideal?" "Good question," said Doug. "No, Ah don't think 'Good Question' is good a'tall," said Sam with a straight face. Doug made a quick recovery. "Sure it is," he said. "The villains say, 'Who is it?' and I say 'Good Question'!" Rahne snorted. Bobby said, "How about 'Mystery Man,' because it is a mystery where you learned all your abilities?" "How about 'Jack-of-All-Trades'?" said Doug. "Not bad, but too long," said Dani. "S'pose we could shorten it to 'Jack' when we were in a hurry." "I got it," said Illyana, snapping her fingers. "'Smarty Pants'." Doug mimed sticking his finger down his throat with even more dramatic sound effects. "Needs a little refinement," I said, feeling a grin spreading across my face. "How about 'Mr. Know-It-All'?" "'Nothing up my sleeve,'" said Doug. "'Presto!'" He did something complicated with his hand and produced a bunch of silk flowers. We dissolved into general laughter, even Mist and Warlock, who hadn't particularly followed our suggestions. When we had quieted down, Doug said, "Well -- thanks for the suggestions. I know you all meant well. Actually, I like 'Cypher' -- it's short and it isn't particularly revealing. No need to advertise what my abilities really are. I'm apt to get more respect if I stay mysterious." He trailed off with a smile. "On the other hand, I'll keep a couple of those names in mind -- I'm particularly fond of 'The Living Encyclopedia.' That would certainly give bad guys, uh, pause." "You _nuts_," Tom said from the lunchroom doorway, grin on his face. He shook his head and looked back into the corridor. "You ready for dessert?" There was a chorus of assent and he nodded to Sharon, who came in bearing a sheet cake that said "Congrats Jessica & Doug." "For your Danger Room baptisms," said Sharon. Tom had a bunch of dessert plates and quickly helped distribute slices. I realized there was a big grin on my face. "Now you can say you're a part of the team," Sam said softly next to me, "if'n you want to." "You know I haven't decided," I whispered back to him. Doug was making a mock pompous speech thanking all the little people, so nobody was paying attention to us. "That's okay," Sam said. "Cain't hurt to say that you're welcome." "You arranged the cake, didn't you?" I said. "Figured we all could use a little congratulations," he said. "Just ain't life when you go from one crisis to another. Got to take time out to live." "Whatever I decide," I said to him, "I'm not sorry that I came here, okay?" "Good to hear," he said. After lunch we scattered to our various tasks: tutoring, studying, and doing lab work. It was my turn to help Mist with her studies. Magneto had put her on an ambitious, intensive course of learning English and we all took turns drilling her. She'd come amazingly far in just a week. I remembered when I was little and Noemi had taught me French and German; she'd used flash cards which we'd made by cutting out pictures from magazines and printing the words in crayon. I'd gone hi-tech, using Doug's library of clip art images and the laser printer to choose some new words to cover. If a week in Asgard hadn't taught me how much we take for granted in 20th Century society, watching Mist cope with our ways certainly would have. She wasn't fazed by electric lights; she thought stoves and refrigerators and washing machines were neat; but what she really took the most joy in were tape players and recordings. She found TV dull after the first rush of amazement; there were so many cultural references and she didn't understand the language well enough to get the few she did know. What Mist loved to do was listen to music; especially classical. Bobby, it turned out, had a vast collection of CD's, and Sam had offered his somewhat more modest collection of jazz and rock. Even Magneto had lent some of his classical tapes. Not that she only listened to the classics, but once again, her lacks in English and the culture were a barrier. I guess they're right when they say classical music is universal. Mist was as eager as ever when we sat down. "You must now explain to me some about you -- your history," she said. Her accent was Scandinavian enough so that we could safely pass her off as being from some suitably unidentified country in that area. "History?" I said. "You mean, the history of America?" I happened to have a flash card with a map on it ("A for America"), so I held it up. "No -- no, the history of you," she said. "My life story?" I said. "The story of you -- your life," she said. "Dani has told me your mother was a -- much known villain, no?" "Not very famous in America," I said. "She only operated in Europe." After I explained what "operated" meant -- and then what banks were -- Mist found the concept of paper money intriguing though the Valkyries occasionally used letters of credit -- we went down to the mission complex's computers and I called up some of the news tapes. Professor X had collected all the newsreel footage of mutants he could gather. And then digitized all of it, a truly staggering amount. Noemi had never been exactly shy around cameras. There was footage of her in the Paris student riots in 1968, burning a pile of banknotes and stocks before a crowd of stunned onlookers in Manchester, England, and some shaky footage of part of a running battle with some of the Baader-Meinhof gang in West Berlin in 1978. I'd been nearby during the fighting, although none of the bad guys had known I was there. I was amazed to see myself caught in one of the shots of bystanders running away -- the amateur cameraman had nearly dropped his camera as he too had scrambled out of the way. I pointed myself out to Mist. "You did -- color? -- your hair, then?" she said. "Why do you not color your hair now?" "Good question!" I said. "I just haven't had a chance to do it." I didn't really know why I hadn't -- I had all the dye I needed, and I'd had enough free time in the week since we'd come back from Asgard. "I like," said Mist. "You look as your father." "That's what I'm afraid of," I said. "You are afraid to look as your father?" Mist said. Another case of tripping over colloquial English, so I explained what that little phrase meant. Even as I was talking, I was wondering just _what_ I was saying by letting my hair stay its natural white color. Magneto and I looked altogether too much alike; the resemblance frankly horrified me. "Do you have more pictures of Magneto?" Mist said. That gave me something to do, so I called up all of Professor X's collection. Magneto had habitually destroyed every camera that he came across, so there wasn't much footage for such an extensive career. Still, some had survived for various reasons, footage of him attacking New York with the forces of Atlantis behind him, security cameras catching him destroying an Australian aerospace base; the broadcast he had made when he attempted to take over the world using his earthquake machine; Mutant Alpha on the White House lawn. Explaining the situations took longer than showing the clips; less than ten minutes of footage for a thirty year career. I stopped and backed up whenever an unfamiliar word or idea came up; even though I tried to keep my vocabulary simple there was plenty that had to be explained. We finished up with footage from Danger Room workouts that Magneto had participated in since he'd joined Xavier's community. I wondered how some of the X-Men felt, attacking in pretend one whom they had fought in deadly earnest before. To make up with an enemy -- I bet they slept with their doors locked. For all the good it would do them. For lack of anything better to do, I got out my flash cards and ran Mist through them. She'd been so proud of her ability to read Asgardian -- it turned out that she could sound out Asgardian runes: literacy, Asgardian style. English, with its helter-skelter spelling, was proving a great burden to her. There was a knock on the doorway. "There she is," said Sam to someone out in the hall. "We've been looking all over for you," he said to me. Sharon came in bearing a vase of red roses. "This came addressed to you," she said, putting it down on the study table. "You're kidding, right?" I said. I'd never had anyone send me flowers before. A sudden suspicion struck me -- what if it was Magneto, trying to suck up by "congratulating" on my Danger Room run. Flowers weren't his style, but maybe the old guy had finally flipped his wig. "There's a card," Sharon said. It was tied to the cut crystal vase with a red ribbon. The vellum envelope was sealed with a drop of green wax. "Okay," I said, breaking it open, "so who is this from--?" My voice trailed off. There were no words on the plain white card, just a fancy letter or symbol of some sort, though I didn't recognize it. "Anybody know what to make of this?" I said. We passed it hand to hand. Mist looked over Sam's shoulder. "It is Asgardian letter," she said. "In English you say ..." She searched through the flash cards, picked up the one with a lion on it. "For your letter 'El,'" she said. "'El'?" said Sharon. Sam and I thought of it at the same time, looking at each other. "Loki," I said at last. "Goddamnit -- oh, damn him to Hell!" I lifted the roses out of the vase and tore them into tiny shreds of petals, leaves and stems, which I liberally flung across the room. "That for the flowers!" I said. Mist brushed some of the debris out of her hair, her expression carefully unchanged. Sharon was open-mouthed. Sam frowned. "Was that really necessary?" he said. "If I just took them," I said. "He might think I had forgiven him or something." "Ah know you're upset," said Sam, "but that's no cause to -- well, litter up the room. There's always the wastebasket for things like this." "Oh, I'll clean it up," I said. I swept my TK through the study and gathered what was left of the roses in a loose cloud. "If he put a spell on any of this --" I said. "It's too dangerous to leave around, even the vase." I separated the water from the container and crumbled the lead crystal vase into silicon dust. It made a pleasant tinkly noise. I got up and went down the hall to the little guest lavatory, where I enthusiastically flushed the remnants. "That's the last of it," I said. "And good riddance." "Feel better now?" said Sam. "There's nothing like a good shred," I said. * * * After that, I didn't much feel like continuing Mist's lesson, and I don't think she was too enthusiastic about it either. I was on my way to my room, crossing the big foyer, when Tom opened the front door, carrying a tartan suitcase. "It's good to have you visit us again," he said to the person beyond the threshold. "It doesna' seem the same without Charles," said a woman's crisp Scottish-accented voice. She stepped into the room and I recognized her immediately, even though I had only seen her in pictures: Moira MacTaggert. In person she was both imposing and petite, a small boned brunette who gave the impression of being _honed_ without having any visible edges. She had the same air of command that Noemi used to project. She was turning to say something to Tom when her gaze fell on me. She stopped gracefully, her left eyebrow arching. "You'll be Jessica Pierce," she said. _Is that a command_? I wondered. "You are Dr. MacTaggert," I said. "I've heard of you too." "Good, then," she said. "We won't have to waste time introducing ourselves." She had a truly rough Scottish burr that drawled out of all of her words. "You're one of the reasons I find mysel' here," she added. "Me?" I said. "'Tis the lesser of two evils," she said cryptically. "Tom, am I in my usual guest bedroom?" "Yes, of course," Tom said, shooting me a glance and a shrug. "Then Jessica can help me up to my room with my suitcase," she said. "I must speak to her private-like." I followed her up the stairs. If it had been someone else, I might have objected; but Dr. MacTaggert had helped Xavier's and the X-Men often enough that I'd have to extend her the benefit of the doubt. I put the suitcase on top of the bureau in the guest room. It was wall-papered in a pretty speckled rose color, with lacy curtains and plain Shaker-type furniture. The student rooms tended toward battered utilitarian, but considering the proclivities of the students, anything else would have been a waste of resources. "Shut the door, if you will," the doctor said. She put her briefcase on the table and took out some papers. "You've more of your father's looks to you than I thought," she said, surveying me as I came to sit opposite her. "It's the hair," I said. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" "No," she said. "Magneto asked me to gather your mother's medical records. He knew I would be interested in her case." "I don't know why he thought so," I said blandly. "You are only a world-famous mutant genetics researcher." She made a noise like a rusty chuckle. "I do not want to raise your hopes, lassie," she said. "But it was either ask you or ask your mother's relations some particular questions, an' I thought it more discreet if I asked you." "Raise my hopes?" I said, sitting up. "What -- about my mother's death and its cause?" "Call it a hunch," she said to me. "I have nothing but a suspicion; I'll ask Cincinnati Memorial to do the test if your answers gi' me a reason to." "What test?" I said. I still wasn't buying this, but I had to say it. "Go ahead and ask me." "Might you not slant your answers if you knew where I was headed?" "I don't think your questions will have any effect on the outcome," I said. "Noemi died because of Magneto's genetic tampering. Period, paragraph." "Lassie, a good diagnostician doesn't decide what the cause is before she starts her research. You don't let your preexisting knowledge and preexisting prejudices start to flavor your opinion of the cause before you've got all the facts." She spread out photocopied pages of medical history charts from the thick file in her briefcase. "What I've got here may not be of any use in determining what went wrong, but I don't make that decision before I've seen it all. Your answers on some trivial matters might provide vital information. Do you think you can be objective in recalling certain memories of your mother?" I looked down at my hands. "I understand," I said. "I'll answer as truthfully as I can -- all the more so because I don't believe it will make the slightest bit of difference." I could feel her eyes on me, measuring. "Verra well, then," she said. "Did your mother often talk about her childhood?" "Yes," I said. "All sorts of stories." "Did she ever talk about her younger brother Karel?" "He died young," I said. "Noemi said she never forgot him." "Did she ever talk about how he died?" "Oh -- polio," I said. "That was back in the 50's -- just before they distributed the vaccine. She talked about his hospitalization -- it was a terrible time. For a while it looked like Noemi and her sister were coming down with polio, too." "Hmmm," Dr. MacTaggert said, one of those "doctor" noises. She smiled, but it wasn't a terribly happy one. "They had symptoms of polio?" "I guess the doctors thought so; weakness, a stiff neck and a sore back," I said. "But my grandmother prayed all night in the cathedral and in the morning they got better -- although I doubt that had anything to do with it." "As I expected," Dr. MacTaggert said. "So?" I said, reminding myself to stay polite. "What does this have to do with what killed my mother? How could her brother's polio have anything to do with it?" "Och, no, of course you wouldna' know," said the doctor. "After the vaccines were developed, even a doctor will only see a case or two a year, unless they're treating backward people. Back then, the doctors didna' know what we know now about the disease." "What?" I said. "Back then, we called it 'infantile paralysis', thinking it only struck small children, and always caused paralysis. The epidemics were mysterious, because no one could say how polio spread. For every case of paralysis, it turns out there may be a hundred asymptomatic cases -- merely a touch of 'flu'." "You're saying she had polio?" I said. "A mild case?" "A blood test for antibodies would prove whether she had it at some point. Your report of her symptoms when there was a confirmed case so near to her is enough to convince me to order the test," she said. "But what does a case of polio have to do with what killed her?" I said, my voice rising slightly. "You can't get polio twice, can you? And she wasn't paralyzed, not at all!" "Calm yersel', Lassie," Dr. MacTaggert said not unkindly. "Take a deep breath -- there -- now I'll answer some of your questions. Yes, it is possible to get polio twice, though 'tis rare -- there are three known strains and having had one doesna' confer immunity to the others." "So you mean she had polio?" I said, outraged. "That's the craziest thing I ever heard!" "What did I tell you about jumping to conclusions in diagnosis?" Dr. MacTaggert said sharply. "The illness that may have claimed your mother was not polio itself -- or so I believe." I looked at her. "Then what was it?" I said evenly. "To tell the truth, it was not something I would ha' though on mysel'," she said. "One of my older tenants had developed a weakness in his legs and arms. I feared it was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- Lou Gehrig's Disease -- and I sent him off to hospital in Glasgow for testing. 'Twas na' sclerosis. The doctor took one look at his medical history and diagnosed Post-Polio Syndrome." "Post-Polio?" I said. I felt like I could hardly dare to breathe. "Do you know that the polio virus attacks the nerve cells?" Dr. MacTaggert said. "And nerve cells do na' recover from such insult well. Those who recover from mild paralysis have stressed nervous systems that years of living wear down far faster and harder than normal." She must have guessed from the look on my face that I was confused. "'Tis only in the past few years that the syndrome has been recognized," she said. "The big epidemics of the 40's and 50's -- the children are getting old now, and we're seeing more cases because of the statistical hump." "So Noemi had nerve damage from her polio," I said. "I do not declare it to be fact," Dr. MacTaggert said, putting her hand over mine. "In an unsolved case such as your mother's, tissue and blood samples were taken in the autopsy and can be checked for polio antibodies and the presence of polio patterned damage." "But why would it affect her in such a way?" I said. "A mutant such as your mother uses her nervous system in unusual ways," she said. "Whereas Post-Polio Syndrome affects fine motor control for most victims, it would seem to have affected fine, and later, gross control of your mother's fire powers. From reading her medical history, I would theorize a kind of negative feedback loop was created, similar to cerebral palsy, causing further damage to her nerve cells...." "Oh, God," I said, squeezing my eyes shut. "Why did no one ever think of polio?" "They didna' have her complete medical history," said Dr. MacTaggert. "Post-Polio Syndrome was na' recognized at the time, and the doctors had all too handy an explanation of the cause of her trouble." "Magneto's gene therapy." "His supposed gene therapy," she said. "You believe that -- that lying megalomaniac," I said. "And why not?" Dr. MacTaggert countered. "The man has his faults, and pride among them -- pride and too much honor to lie." "But couldn't the gene therapy have produced damage similar to that caused by polio?" I said. "'Tis always possible, lassie," she said. "And 'tis always possible pigs will fly, but it doesna mean they will." Her hand was still on top of mine. "As I said, 'tis no more than a theory and a hunch. As a doctor, I've learned to put no more credence into hunches than they deserve, until they are proved or not. I'll wait until I hear the results of the tests and the examination of the tissues before I'll say what killed your mother." "Was there anything the doctors could have done?" I said. "They could have stopped searching for a cause and worked on the symptoms," she said. "They could have called in experts on mutant physiology -- but they didna'." "Mother explained to the doctors about her legal status -- and they agreed to keep her case as anonymous as possible," I said miserably. "It was because of me -- for herself, she wouldn't have cared." "Och, lassie," said the doctor, "if only --" There was a knock on the door. "Jess, are you up here?" Sam called. Dr. MacTaggert looked up, annoyed. Before she could say anything, he yelled again. "It's real important." I followed her as she opened the door, with an expression like a thundercloud. "Have ye lost all reason, lad?" she snapped. "Begging your pardon, Doctor," Sam said. "It's an emergency." He turned to me. "Pick up the phone," he said. "Empath is on the line from New York -- there's trouble." The first thing that flashed through my mind was to say "You're kidding." But the expression on Sam's face was far too worried to dismiss, as much as I'd have liked to. I wanted to go somewhere quiet and think about all the things Dr. MacTaggert had brought up, but I wasn't going to be able to -- not until this was cleared up. "He's on the telephone?" I said. Sam jerked his head towards the phone on the desk, its message light blinking. I went over and picked it up. The connection was full of static. "Stay awake, Manuel," I heard Amara say. "Jessica will be with us in a minute." "So... hungry," Manuelito's voice was so faint, breathless, filled with pain, that anyone but me would have had trouble recognizing it. My heart was in my throat. "[I am here, little brother]," I said. "[What is wrong? Do you need me?]" "[Europa!]" he said forcefully and choked. I could hear him gasping for breath, fighting for air. "[We were attacked -- Central Park -- Famine...]" "[Stay calm,]" I said to him. "[Do not waste your strength.] Amara -- what's going on?" "I am grateful to have you on the line," she said. "He's been lapsing into Spanish. It seems the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are attacking New York City. Manuel was in Central Park with some of his classmates when the Horseman called Famine attacked -- they are in a bad way, now. He's tried to reach the Hellfire Club and the Massachusetts Academy, without success." "[Please -- believe me,]" said 'Lito. "[Please help.]" "[I believe you. Where in the park?]" I said. "[I will come for you, I promise. Just tell me where you are so I can find you --]" I waited for his reply. The line sounded suspiciously empty of static. "[Are you still there?]" I said. "Are we still connected?" I said to Amara. "Manuel?" she said. Doug cut in. "We've lost the line," he said. "Damn -- I couldn't trace it. The trunk lines to New York have been going down left and right, and Empath's luck finally ran out." "What's going on?" Sam said behind me. I hadn't been paying attention to him or Dr. MacTaggert. "It _was_ Em -- Manuel," I said. "He's in trouble, I'm sure of it. We were cut off." "Tell the others to meet us downstairs in the Mission Planning Room," Sam said. "Let's get a move on." * * * On the way down, Sam told me how Amara had answered the phone, then called for himself and Dani when she was sure the call was genuine. It was lucky Amara had answered the phone, because anyone else besides me at the house might not have believed his plight. We were the next to last group to get to the room; only Roberto and Warlock followed us in. Doug was crouched over the main computer console, typing frantically to bring the screens and other terminals to life. I'd never seen the X-Men's full technical array put into operation; they had a sophisticated setup, beating anything the Pentagon had, I'd wager. "Everyone take your seat. Let's get rolling," Dani said. "Doctor MacTaggert, I'm glad you're here with us today, would you sit right here?" She patted the chair next to her. The New Mutants wasted no time getting into place. If nothing else, Magneto's discipline had taught them how to be organized in times of emergency. "Y'all have been told about the phone call," Sam said. "Amara, Jess, would you comment on the authenticity of the call?" I didn't wait for Amara. "That was Manuel," I said. "He's in trouble!" "Hold up, Jess," he said. "Amara, you picked up the phone first --" "I am also convinced of the authenticity of the author of the call and the seriousness of the emergency," said Amara. "And I have less of an emotional tie to Manuel." I shot her an annoyed glance. "'Lito would never lie to me," I said. "Not even if a gun was held to his head." "You have no doubt that it was Empath?" said Dani. "I'm sorry, Jess, but it has to be asked." "It if was a fake, I'll eat my own hat," I said. "Whomever would have to know an awful lot about 'Lito." "Which is not impossible for a telepath like the White Queen," commented Roberto. Across the table from him, Sharon nodded. "If that's so, we still have a situation that we've got to deal with," said Sam. "Tom, I think it's time to call Magneto." "I don't know," said Tom slowly. He pulled back the sleeve of his flannel shirt, looked warily at his "signal watch." "He's supposed to be in New York City right now -- if he's already dealing with whatever's going on there, he's not going to appreciate being called home to deal with an emergency that's taking place in Manhattan." "Has anyone tried to call the Hellfire Club?" I said. "I'm ahead of you," said Doug. "I've tried a number of times -- including the special line. I can get the Academy base -- but they can't reach Manhattan HQ either." "What's going on in New York?" said Dani. "Your guess is as good as mine," said Doug. "WCBS-TV is still on the air, but the transmitter is in New Jersey and they're showing an old movie with occasional bulletins to say they don't know what's with Manhattan." "Radio stations?" said Sam. "Better luck there, WNBC was still on the air up to five minutes ago -- reporting the so-called Horsemen of the Apocalypse were on the loose downtown." "So Empath's story is confirmed," said Sam. "At least the outline of the situation." "It is possible," said Dr. MacTaggert, speaking up for the first time since we'd started, "that the White Queen -- or someone else -- is taking advantage of the situation." "We don't know," I said. "But I'm not going to let the possibility that 'Lito is really injured go by." "Calm down, Jess," Dani said. "We haven't decided we're not going to do anything, yet." "Magneto would be opposed to you doing anything," said Dr. MacTaggert. "Magneto isn't here, and isn't reachable," said Dani. "We'll just have to use our best judgment." "Why should we do anything to help Empath?" said Roberto. "Roberto!" Amara said. "We are allied to the Hellfire Club, for our mutual safety and protection. He could not reach the Club, then he called here. We would be violating the spirit of our agreement with them if we do not answer." "He called me," I said. I got up. "If you're not going to do anything, I will." "Wait up, Jess," Sam said. "You're not going alone." "Hold on yourself, Sam," Dani said. "We haven't decided anything... yet." She looked around the room. "The attack on New York is no fake. The White Queen, and the rest of the Inner Circle, are unlikely to have put this ... 'diversion' together on such short notice. "On the other hand, this would be an excellent opportunity for some third party to strike us while we're scattered," she continued. "Accordingly, we shouldn't let up our guard here." "Sounds like it's time to take a vote," Sam said. "Does anyone have anything else to say?" "I got no particular desire to help Empath," said Illyana. "But an alliance is an alliance. And, he's Jess's friend." "I am happy to fight for Jessica's friend," said Mist. "As am I," said Amara. "You should wait," said Dr. MacTaggert. "Doctor -- you don't get a vote," said Dani. "Your opposition is noted, for the record." Dr. MacTaggert looked startled, nodded reflexively. The eventual vote was eight for, two (Roberto and Sharon) against, and an abstention from Tom ("You're going to do it anyway," he said, "and I know it's the right thing, but I can't bring myself to vote for rescuing that S.O.B..") Dani laid her plan out for us. Three highly mobile members of the group -- Sam, Illyana and I would go to Central Park, with Rahne to help search. The rest of the team would remain at the mansion. "On red alert," as Sam put it. Dani would lead the home effort. "If you get separated, you can make your own way home," she said. We split up to get into battle gear. "What the hell can I wear?" I said to Amara on our way up the stairs. "For that matter what are you all wearing -- school uniforms?" "I should hope not," Amara said. "We've put together masked costumes for occasions such as this." "Of course," I said sarcastically. "What am I going to wear -- my jogging suit, with a ski mask?" "It lacks a certain something," she said. "You hardly need a great deal of protection -- perhaps one of my silk himations?" That was one of her skimpy little Classical outfits. Great if you were headed for an orgy. "Not hardly," I said. She looked thoughtful. "The helmet you wore, when you returned from Asgard, covered your face well enough for a disguise," she said. "It would look pretty dorky with the jogging suit," I said. "Dorky?" she said with a smile. "Whatever that means, I'm sure we don't desire it." She looked around my room. "Why not wear your armor as well?" I lifted it up in the air. The suit still looked like a leftover from the Trojan War. "Why not indeed?" I said. I pulled out the black leather pants that had gotten me sent to Asgard -- why not? Also a black turtleneck and a pair of Storm's discarded leather boots. I put the armor on over it. Amara stood by watching. "Are you not going to be too hot -- oh," she said. "You do not overheat, either." "That's right," I said, putting the helmet and checked myself in the mirror. "Most impressive," Amara said. I looked down at her. "No one will know you," she said. "I sure hope so," I said. _That way I won't die of embarrassment, anyway_. I lifted myself down the hallway and into the foyer. Sam was already in costume -- a surprisingly sober outfit, complete with face-and-identity-covering helmet, and padding on elbows and knees. "Nice threads," I said. "Not too shabby," he said, giving me the once over. He had to look up -- with the modest heels on the boots, I was taller than he was. At least two inches had been added, and the crest of the helmet easily added another six inches to my total height. Rahne came downstairs to stand with us. Her costume was in shades of orange and brown. It really didn't leave much to the imagination, although her trim figure didn't need any help. Her costume was made out of a special substance that would compact into a thin collar when she changed to her wolfen form. She wore a mask that bared only her mouth and chin. She looked up at me with big startled green eyes. "Ye look like a pagan goddess," she said. "Just so long as I don't look like a scared kid from Cincinnati, Ohio," I said. "I'll be satisfied." "No chance of that," Sam said. "No chance a'tall." "_There_ you are," Doug said, coming out of the first floor hallway, his arms full of stuff. "Let me," I said. I gently lifted all the things out of his grasp. A medical kit, four little devices that looked like phasers from _Star Trek_, and two -- guns? "What the hell is this?" I said. "Tranquilizer gun," he said. "I cannibalized these from my new outfit. You use the laser sight to lock onto your target, then the gun calculates height and weight and loads the correct dose into the dart." "Neat," I said, checking it out. I strapped the belt and holster around my waist. "Ah don't expect to have to use it," Sam said, buckling his on. "But Ah don't see how it could hurt to be prepared." There were straps on the first aid case, and he put that on his back. "What are these?" I said. Doug reached up and snagged one of the phaserlike devices; I relinquished my grip on it. "Communicators," he said with a grin. He flipped back the cover, it made a little chirp. "It only has a range of about three miles and the batteries are only good for an hour of straight talk, so go sparingly." "Amazing," Sam said. "This'll be a real help. I was just getting around to wondering how we'd get together if -- when -- we found the Hellions. Cain't send up a flare -- no flares." "If you give me another 15 minutes," Doug started to say, but was interrupted by Dani and Illyana's entrance, argument going full blast. "I don't care," said Dani. "You run into trouble, you get everyone you can out and get back. I don't want you popping back for reinforcements. _Retreat_ and _regroup_ with us. We're going to be on our own, too." "Yeah, right," snapped Illyana. She was dressed in a crimson costume that was about as sharp as anything else I'd seen her wear before. "Here, wear this," she said, handing me a little leather pouch threaded on a piece of string. "What is it?" I said, as she handed similar bundles to Sam and Rahne. The wolf girl sniffed and wrinkled her nose, holding the bundle out at arm length. "You could call it a charm," Illyana said. "I want to be able to find you, later," "'Tis black magic," said Rahne. "Give me a break," Illyana said. "It's about as white as I get, okay?" "Furtop," said Dani. "Let's argue about it later, after you've rescued the Hellions, okay? Now is not the time to kick up a fuss." Rahne looked rebellious, but hung the bag around her neck anyway. Sam wisely chose to start speaking before she could say anything else. "We're all here and all ready, then," he said, nodding to Illyana. "Any luck in locating Empath and company?" The junior sorceress looked bilious. "Can't pinpoint 'em," she said. "I think Roulette is there, and she's warping the manna field something awful. Every time I put the crystal bob over the map of Central Park, all it does is make completely useless circles. So we've got a lot of ground to cover." Roberto came pounding down the hall, so excited that his power was almost on, flashing little bits of blackness from the air. "I got the maps from the computer," he said, puffing a little. There was a copy for each of us. I studied mine: it was a U. S. geological survey map of Central Park and Manhattan. I caught the scale and looked again -- the Park was much bigger than I'd imagined -- a half mile wide by two and a half miles long. "Okay," said Sam. "Hellfire Club is here. Avengers Mansion over there." The locations were barely a few blocks apart, on the east side of the Park. "Baxter Building's down there." "How are we going to avoid all the superheroes?" I said. "We'll do our best," said Sam. "Bug out if you're approached -- if the Avengers are on hand, they can do a better job of saving the Hellions than we can." "Everybody ready?" said Illyana. "Be careful out there," said Dani. "Hey -- it's you that has to answer to Maggie if we don't come back," said Illyana. She gestured and bright disks of light came up from the floor. This time I didn't try to dodge, however much I might have wanted to. * * * There was a sudden twist in the fabric of the universe. I guess Illyana's teleportation interfered with my seeker sense somehow. I'm forever sensing my immediate environment and I _felt_ the sudden change as much as I could see it. We were on the steps of some big building with two fountains on either side of us and big columns in front. There were banners hanging between the pillars for Etruscan art and Vermeer. Letters near the top identified the building as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The New Yorkers near us had drawn away a little; a natural enough reaction when four people in funny costumes appear in a flash of white light. Rahne was in wolfen form. I was suddenly aware that people were _looking_ at me and I was very glad my helmet obscured my face. There weren't too many people around, really. The doors to the museum were closed and traffic was gridlocked and silent on the street. The drivers weren't even blowing their horns -- some were standing in the streets by their cars. "Okay, okay," Illyana said, holding out her map. "We're here, right on the right edge of the Central Park." Her finger stabbed at the paper. "What's our assignment, O fearless leader?" "We'll split up and search as efficiently as possible," Sam said. "Ah'll take the north end of the Park, from the Southern edge of the Reservoir to the top near Harlem. Magik, you and Wolfsbane will cover from the south edge of the Reservoir to the north edge of the skating rink, on foot. Miranda and I will fly over any portion you haven't got to when we finish our parts." I wondered who Miranda was when Sam turned to me. "Miranda," he said. "Huh?" I said, looking over my shoulder. "He's talking to you, dopeface," Illyana said, _sotto voce_. "Oh yeah," I said slowly. After my first Danger Room exercise several weeks earlier, we'd discussed codenames; "Miranda" had been the one I had hated the least. I still didn't _like_ it, but now was not the time to think up a better codename. "You'll take south of the Skating Pond," Sam said, when he was sure I had caught up. "Give a squeal on the communicator if you find our targets, or for that matter, anything you think we should know about." I studied my map for a moment. That gave me a stretch of a mile or so long to cover. "Remember, we're _not_ here to fight," Sam said. "Call for Il -- Magik to remove you if you engage hostiles; she'll get you out." "Check," I said. It sounded like a vaguely professional thing to say. With all the people looking on -- _tourists_, for God's sake, with kids in tow, taking pictures of us -- I felt constrained to put up a good front. "Take care, y'all," Sam said. He tucked his map into his belt and took off in a cloud of smoke that stretched off into the sky like a smoky gray rainbow. I watched him go and suddenly realized I was scared. How had I gotten myself into this? "You okay?" Rahne said, a furry hand on my arm. In her wolfen form she was still cute and petite -- if you didn't count the addition of sharp claws and teeth. Still, you could tell it was her -- those soulful green eyes were as warm and smart as ever. "It's just --" I said. "You'll do a guid job," Rahne said. "Our friends are depending on you." "C'mon Wolfsbane," Illyana said. "We've got a lot of ground to cover, and _we_ have to _walk_." She winked at me. "Skip the heroics," she said. "You find trouble, don't hesitate to yell. Good luck." They ran off through a gap in the crowd that surrounded us. Nobody tried to stop them,not that I'd blame them. A small female werewolf could give even a New Yorker pause. When they passed out of sight I took a deep breath and lifted up into the sky and off into the unknown. To be continued in Chapter 11 "Queen for a Day" This story (c) 1992 Connie Hirsch The New Mutants, Magneto, the Hellions, Loki, the Hellfire Club, the Horsemen of the Apocalpse, and all constituent characters (c) 1992 Marvel Comics Group. This story is not for sale and is not to be distributed without permission of the author. .