Legends [Book Two]

2

Inside the room where Polaris was investigating Joy stood Ira, Warlock, Reaper and Pyro. While she sat in a chair directly across from Ira and Warlock, who were trying to intimidate her, she stayed silent. She wasn't going to tell them she didn't fear them. She was forced to work with them for over eight years, after all.

"Tell us everything," Ira exclaimed, bending a large butcher knife in half, trying to look scary but all it did was make Joy hold back a laugh.

"Or else," Warlock said inside of her head.

Joy nodded as she looked passed Polaris to the mutants in the makeshift hallway. As she looked them over one by one, she recognized some of them. They were mutants who had files on them inside the secret government facility no one was supposed to know about because it didn't exist, at least not to the public. They were files that she knew almost by heart. It didn't take a lot of thinking for her to remember every detail.

"Hello?" Reaper exclaimed, knocking the table next to Joy.

"I don't work with them anymore," Joy exclaimed. It was the only thing she could think of starting with. For some reason she believed that if she started with that, they'd go easier on her, but she knew that if they were anything like she had heard, that little bit of information wouldn't matter.

Polaris nodded and made a face of understanding, saying, "Continue."

"I escaped from their hidden location after I saw them testing on a mutant."

"They were testing on mutants there?" Pyro asked while passing a small ball of fire back and forth with Inferno who was in the hallway. Inferno smirked at Pyro every time the fireball would slightly miss one of the other mutants. They considered it a fun game between the two of them. They liked to see how close they can get it to the other mutants before one of them yells at them to knock their shit off. It rarely happened, but when it did, it was mostly Ira yelling at them. Warlock shot Pyro a dirty look when he caught the fireball, gaining an apologetic smile from him.

"Yes."

Polaris continued nodding as he started pacing back and forth. "Why'd you run?"

"Because I set the mutants free and helped them escape. There was no proof it was me, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they discovered who it was."

"How long did you run for, and how did you find this warehouse?"

"The place is only ten, maybe fifteen miles from here. It's surrounded by nothing but forest. When I made it off base I ran and didn't stop until I came out into your open field. I saw him training," she said as she pointed at Death who entered the room but was paying more attention to the book in his hands than the conversation that was happening around him. When he didn't look up, she continued, saying, "and thought there had to be more of you. I decided to stay instead of turning around and running further."

Morph let out a laugh as he jumped up onto the table, bringing one of his legs up to his chest and resting his shoe on the edge of the table. "You thought you'd be safer with the mutants than with the humans?"

Joy nodded. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because, during my entire time of being stuck in that hell, I never once had a mutant treat me the way those bastards did."

"BECAUSE THEY WERE HELD CAPTIVE!" Pitch yelled as he entered the room and slammed his fist down on the table, breaking piece of it off.

"Do you need to leave?" Reaper asked as he shot him a dirty look.

Pitch stared at Reaper for a few minutes before he finally sat back down in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just think she's oblivious."

"I'm not oblivious," Joy exclaimed. "Some of the mutants didn't have extraordinarily strong abilities, they could roam around the facility freely. They could act how they wanted and do what they wanted. Those mutants were far better than my own people."

"Is that why you set them free?" Polaris asked.

"Yes. I couldn't take it anymore. The things they did to those mutants were... far beyond your imagination."

"And that's why you set them free?"

"That's why I not only hacked into their systems, but I had worked on an escape plan for over five months in order to make sure all of them got out of there alive."

"If that's the case, then where are they?" Reaper asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"I can't tell you that," Joy said with a frantic shake of her head.

"Typically, I can feel where each mutant in the world is, but I can't feel them. Why?"

"Because one of them can shield themselves, along with others. He's using his ability to hide from humans and mutants."

"Why?"

Psylocke suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, landing on top of the table with a thud. Everyone held back laughter as his face smacked against the glass table. He slowly stood up, rubbing his cheek as he looked around. "Still working on the landing," he casually stated.

Reaper quickly got up from his chair and went to him, checking him over to make sure he was okay. When Psylocke reassured him for the twelfth time, Reaper nodded and went back to his seat. Psylocke slowly got down from the table, walking over to Polaris who was angrily staring at him.

"Where have you been?"

"Finding her mutants," He exclaimed as he looked at Joy with a boyish smile.

The mutants in the room didn't need to be telepathic to know what Joy was thinking, it was clearly written on her face. "No," she softly said.

"The thing is, they didn't even know that there were other mutants out there," Psylocke said as he walked towards Joy while cocking his head to the side, smiling sheepishly, like he knew a secret no one else did. "You see, they were brainwashed at that place to believe that they were the only mutants on earth. The look on their faces when I appeared in front of them was priceless."

"What did you do!" Joy yelled, standing up and getting only a few inches away from Psylocke's face.

"I told them the truth."

"You don't understand. That facility is all they have known their entire lives, or most of them. You telling them anything about mutants will make them go crazy. They'll question everything."

"Don't worry," Polaris finally said.

"How can I not worry?"

Pitch perked up in his seat, closing his eyes as his head twitched around. When his eyes finally shot open, he looked at Polaris with a worried expression. "Is it really a good idea to bring them here?"

"It's a little late to be asked that question." Psylocke explained with a laugh.

"You?" A quiet voice said as the crowd in the hallway separated and revealed a group of new mutants. All their eyes were on one person.

Reaper.