Dazzler tailed Frost as they made their way back up through the subterranean levels of the Institute to where the main school classrooms were. Every now and then Frost would pause, her mind projecting and seeking direction. Finally, Dazzler sensed she had picked up on something, as she made a direct path toward one of the classroom doors.
Frost stood at the door, looking through the observation window as Dazzler peered in over her shoulder, receiving curious looks from the students inside. At the front of the class stood an athletic woman with long dark hair, dressed in a Lila Cheney T-shirt, leather pants, and motorcycle boots. Dazzler noticed that she wore Goth-like makeup down her face too. She looked like someone Dazzler would see at one of her gigs, not teaching a school class.
The woman glanced at them, then at her class. She stood before a large monitor showing media coverage of the event every mutant knew all too well: M-Day. The day the Scarlet Witch cast a spell sealing the fate of many and creating the darkest day in mutant history. The day when the majority of the mutant population lost their powers. Some had even died as a result.
Sorrow filled Dazzler and she glanced down at her own boots, partly in guilt. She had no idea why she’d been one of the lucky few to have been spared that day.
Frost opened the classroom door.
“Mutant numbers were decimated during this event,” the teacher told her class, with an accent Dazzler placed as being from somewhere in eastern Europe. “You are all very lucky to be here at this school, working on your mutant gifts, when so many others cannot.”
At this point the teacher looked questioningly at Frost.
“Sage, apologies for the interruption, but I need to speak with Fabio,” Frost said to her.
Sage glanced at a hefty teenage boy with shaggy brown hair, sitting at the back of the class. “Fabio,” Sage said, “come.”
“Er, sure.” Fabio stood tentatively, trying to avoid the curious stares of his classmates.
“Uh-oh, what’d you do?” a large young man made of rocks with a baritone voice said.
“Santo,” Sage said plainly. “No.”
As Fabio made his way toward the door, Frost turned to Sage. “I think you should join us for this.”
Sage gave a nod. “Class, I will play this documentary on M-Day for you now. Please watch carefully. I will have questions for you at the end.” She set the film playing, then followed Fabio out into the hall to join Dazzler and Frost.
“Is everything OK, Ms Frost?” Fabio asked, tugging nervously at the black shirt he wore, imprinted with three golden orbs across his stocky chest.
“No, it’s not,” Frost said bluntly. “What do you know about MGH?”
Fabio’s face turned ashen.
“MGH?” Sage asked, arching a perfect dark eyebrow with curiosity. Her eyes were a blue-gray mix, like a misty morning over the ocean, and up this close, Dazzler saw that it wasn’t Goth makeup on her face, but instead, strange tattoos. Two black lines ran down her face from beneath her eyes, like angular brackets that accentuated her cheekbones.
“Er…” Fabio stalled.
“Who else is involved?” Frost demanded. “Tell me now.”
“I- It was just me,” he said, before touching his hands to his forehead and wincing in pain.
Frost studied him fixedly for a moment, then looked to Sage. “Bring Benjamin Deeds to my office.”
“Morph?” Sage asked, before heading off down the corridor.
“Is there anyone else?” Frost asked Fabio.
“No. No.” Fabio shook his head. “It was just us. I swear.”
He raised his hands to his head again as Frost gave him another mental pat down, then satisfied, she eased off again.
“He’s telling the truth,” Frost said, for Dazzler’s benefit. She looked back to Fabio. “Let’s head to my office. You’ve got some explaining to do.”
•••
Dazzler stood to one side of Frost’s chair, arms folded, while Sage stood on the other, as the two nervous students, Fabio Medina and Benjamin Deeds, sat before them.
“Tell me everything you know about the Mutant Growth Hormone steroid,” Frost said firmly.
The two young men exchanged a hesitant glance. Benjamin was smaller than Fabio, meeker, and dressed in a collared long-sleeved shirt and tie like he was headed out to a job interview or maybe a date. He looked at them from behind a long dark fringe as though it would offer him some protection.
“I already know you’re involved,” Frost said, impatience setting in, “and I know Cyclops and Magneto knew about it, too. So, tell me. Now.”
Morph looked at Fabio. “Magneto knows?”
Fabio shrugged his shoulders.
“Which one of you brought it into the school?” Frost demanded. Dazzler sensed an anger rising in her beyond the impatience. An anger stemming from the fact that everyone else seemed to know more about what was going on than she did.
Fabio darted his eyes to Morph, who hung his head a little lower.
“Spit it out, Benjamin,” Frost ordered.
The teen swallowed hard. “I- I heard these guys talking about it in town. One of them said his dad has access to this special substance that could give normal humans powers, like super strength and stuff. He said they could use it to defend themselves or maybe pick up dates.” He swallowed again. “Then they started talking about what it could do to those who already had super-powers… and… and it sparked my interest.”
“What interest?” Frost asked.
Morph shrugged nervously. “I can transmorph into people who are in close proximity to me, but… I wanted the ability to shapeshift into anyone. Whether they were close by or not.”
Frost nodded. “So, you bought some.”
“Not right away,” Morph said, glancing at Fabio. “I came back to school and saw Fabio. He was feeling down. Some of the kids had been teasing him, calling him Goldenballs–”
“I go by Egg now,” Fabio interjected firmly, making sure the women understood that. Dazzler studied the orbs on his shirt and figured the kid’s mutant power had something to do with those “golden balls.”
“We both wanted to be more than what we are,” Morph said quietly. “Especially after Magik accidentally transported us into Limbo that time, and we had to face those demons… So, we decided to try some.”
Frost sighed. “Tell me you didn’t buy it as you are. Tell me you morphed into someone else beforehand.”
Morph nodded. “I took on the physical attributes of another kid nearby.”
“How long have you been taking it?” Sage spoke up.
“We only did it once. Before practice,” Morph said. “I managed to morph into Hijack. He wasn’t part of the class. He was on the other side of campus at the time.”
“And I made the biggest golden ball I’ve ever seen,” Fabio said, unable to stop the smile that slid across his face. “It knocked Santo right off his feet.”
“Cyclops knew something was up,” Morph said. “He pulled us aside and made us tell him what was going on. He made us hand over the remaining MGH, then he left.”
“Why are you asking us about this?” Fabio asked.
“Has something happened to Cyclops and Magneto?” Morph asked, his eyes popping wide behind that long fringe of his.
Frost considered her answer. “We’ve… lost contact with them.”
The two young men shot each other a surprised look.
“And that’s why you’re here?” Sage asked Dazzler.
Dazzler gave her a single nod.
“Are they in trouble?” Fabio asked, his face turning ashen again.
“We don’t know,” Frost said. “We’ve just lost contact.”
“You need to give us the details of who sold you the MGH,” Dazzler said firmly, “so we can trace their footsteps.”
“Sure.” Morph nodded emphatically. “It was at Gamercade, on the main street in town.”
“And the name of the kid who sold it to you?” Dazzler asked.
“I don’t know his name,” Morph said, “but I can identify him.”
“Wait outside,” Frost ordered them. “And do not breathe a word of this to anyone.”
Seeing her stare, they nodded in acquiescence and quickly left.
Dazzler turned to Frost. “Why didn’t Magneto and Cyclops share this information with S.H.I.E.L.D.? It’s not in their files.”
“S.H.I.E.L.D. is involved?” Sage asked, darting her eyes between the two women. “They’re back?”
“I’m afraid so,” Frost said, then turned to Dazzler. “Knowing Scott and Erik, they would’ve been protecting the school. If they gave S.H.I.E.L.D. the name Gamercade, then S.H.I.E.L.D. would have suddenly narrowed down the location of our school.”
“Well, I need to retrace their footsteps and find out what they discovered,” Dazzler said. “I’ll head to Gamercade now.”
“No,” Frost said firmly. “Leave that to me. As you said earlier, time is ticking. Where did S.H.I.E.L.D. last trace Scott to?”
“They said Cyclops was in Vancouver.”
“Then you go there and retrace those footsteps,” Emma said. “I’ll let you know what I find out here.”
“And why should I trust you?” Dazzler asked, placing her hands on her hips.
“Why should I trust a mutant working with S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Frost countered.
“I may have a history with S.H.I.E.L.D., yes, which you know is not all roses,” Dazzler said, “but I also have a history with Magneto and Cyclops. Magneto saved my life. If it wasn’t for him, I’d still be Mystique’s prisoner. I owe him a debt.”
“Yeah, well, I have a few debts of my own to them,” Frost said. “So, I guess we’re even. We’ll have to trust each other. In fact, I’m going to trust you so much that I’m releasing Sage from the school to go with you.”
Dazzler eyed Sage, then looked back at Frost. “You trust me so much you’re sending a spy to accompany me?”
“I’m not a spy,” Sage said firmly, folding her toned arms, as her tattooed face gave Dazzler a plain stare.
“That may be, but I prefer to work alone. Thanks,” Dazzler told her.
Frost swung her chair around to face Dazzler. “Working solo is not the X-Men way, you know that.”
“I don’t care. I may have been an X-Man once, but working alone guarantees I won’t be betrayed again. By S.H.I.E.L.D. or mutants.”
“You’ll get yourself killed,” Frost told her. “You need help.”
“You underestimate my power.”
“And you underestimate mine,” Frost fired back.
“So, we’ve established that we’re all kick-ass mutants,” Sage said with a hint of boredom.
Dazzler glanced at her. “I’ll take my chances alone,” she said, walking around her desk toward the door.
“Magneto and Cyclops have disappeared,” Frost said. “I can’t find them with Cerebra, which means they might well be dead. They are Omega-level mutants, Dazzler. You are not!”
Dazzler paused and turned back to her.
Frost’s blue eyes pinned hers. “One day, yes, you might have the potential to become an Omega-level mutant, I won’t deny that, but you’re not there yet, Sparkles. Don’t let your rock star ego get to your head. If someone has taken both Cyclops and Magneto down, they are powerful. I’m concerned about this, and so should you be.”
Dazzler looked away from her intense stare. “We don’t know they’re dead yet. They could be in hiding somewhere.”
“Until they surface, we assume the worst.”
Dazzler turned back to meet Frost’s serious gaze.
“Sage has brilliant memory recall,” Frost continued. “Her mind is like no other, and she has expertise in many fields that will be of use to you. She’s what you would call an all-rounder. Trust me, you need her.”
As much as Dazzler hated to admit, Frost was right about her not being at Magneto’s or Cyclops’s mutant level. And if someone had bested them? Though her every instinct wanted to fight this, wanted to do this alone, Dazzler was starting to think that maybe she might need help after all.
She looked Sage up and down, studied those face tattoos again, then rested her eyes on the woman’s Lila Cheney T-shirt.
Dazzler gave a reluctant sigh. “Well, I guess you have good taste in music.”
A smile curled the corner of Sage’s mouth.
“Let’s get going,” Dazzler said, moving for the door again.
“Hold up,” Frost said. “I said, don’t get ahead of yourself, Sparkles. You’re going to need more than just the two of you. This has become an X-Men mission now, especially with some of our own missing. You need a team.”
Dazzler, frustrated, put her hands on her hips. “Yeah? And who else do you have in mind?”
Frost looked to Sage. “Fire up the X-Jet. You’re going to meet them now. I’ll send you the coordinates. With Magik away I can’t afford to leave the school unattended, so I’ll join you via video call.”
Sage gave a nod and headed for the door, as Frost looked back at Dazzler.
“Your ride’s leaving, Sparkles. I’d catch up if I were you.”