Notes and Disclaimer:   The first idea was Min's - then Mara Greengrass, David Ellis, Diana, Dyce, Lady Sascha, Nadja Lee, and I all got in on the act too.  And now Mamfa Fickwalker!  Min's nice enough to let us all play in her sandbox.  But the toys still belong to Marvel.  We ain't makin' any money with this.

Warnings:  bad language, violence, racism

Min's Notes:  Pax threw us a plot twist.  Lions and Tigers and Alex, oh my!

"She's staring at us again," Dani said, eyes lowered, hand on his arm.  He could feel the exhausted tremors run through her, but her expression was as cool and calm as always.  Normally, Dani kept her cool better than anyone he knew, but he could feel the tension in her.  Alex Summers moved closer to his friend, draping his arm around her shoulders.  The contact soothed her slightly; she pressed back against him, and it felt good.  Better than it should, he thought guiltily, because lately things had been far from normal.  They were on the run from the only homes either of them had ever known, being chased by a mysterious enemy, all while trying to find his missing brother.

He shouldn't be noticing just how good it felt when she pressed close to him.  Particularly when she was dreaming for him.  And paying the price in raw anxiety and snatched, troubled sleep.

Lately she got nervous if he wasn't close.  Sometimes, it seemed, she could barely stand to let him go off to the bathroom on his own.  They needed to stick together, if they were going to find out what was wrong.  Why they were being chased.  What was behind her vivid dreams.  There was a darkness building, she said.  Her dreams were leading them north, following Scott, he hoped, but she seemed to feel the increasing pressure of pursuit like a nearly malignant, living force, concentrated on Scott as well as on them.

Then there were his recent bouts of unexplained fever.  He got so hot, at times, that Dani couldn't even touch his skin.  So he hadn't been sleeping well either.  And Dani, hardly at all.

"I know," he answered quietly, glaring over at the skinny girl with the short red hair who kept shooting them narrow-eyed, frowning looks.  Willing her to get over it.

He hadn't realized how much attention he and Dani would draw just by traveling together.  At home hardly anyone gave them second looks anymore -- they'd been inseparable for years.  But out on the road a blond white boy and a black-haired dark-skinned girl drew lots of attention.  Very little of it good, as they'd learned already.  The red-head was case in point.  He glared back at her and had the satisfaction of seeing her jerk her chin around, flushing faintly.

Beside the rude woman stood one of the most amazingly beautiful women he'd ever seen.  Alex watched her from the corner of his eye, curious.  She was tall, regal, with dusky skin darker than Dani's, long white hair and warm amber eyes.  And the hair looked natural rather than bleached.  She looked subtly uncomfortable with the attention she drew just by being there.  His days on the road had taught him to recognize that much of pain.  At least the black girl wasn't staring at him and Dani like they were freaks.  He watched her jab her friend in the ribs, probably for staring.

The red-head didn't bother him as much as the three white frat boys did.  They were watching the two women now, had been ever since the pair had come in.  Jostling each other, slapping each other with their baseball caps and making crude comments about the two women.  But Alex hadn't missed the blatant and nearly hostile stares two of them had given him and Dani when they arrived.  The chunky man at the front moved away from the window, counting out his cash, and the mother with the two kids stumbled up to the window, hauling up a massive shoulder bag onto the counter, and digging through it, searching for her wallet, obviously.  Taking plenty of breaks to snap at her whining children.

Alex was just glad they were next in line.  They needed to get their money changed and out of there as soon as possible.  Dani's dreams had first driven them east and now north, with increasing urgency, and had finally forced them over the Canadian border.

He'd wanted to keep going due east, toward New England and the most likely place he'd figured Scott to live from the scant clues his brother had given him over the years.  Then try to contact him again via e-mail locally.  Scott's determination to keep his location secret still confused him.  He was starting to wonder what his brother was hiding from him.  He wanted to find him fast.

Dani's last dream had scared them both.  She'd woken screaming, fighting him wildly when he tried to comfort her. Waking finally, only to break down and sob hysterically on his shoulder while everyone else on the bus glared.  The tears had scared him most of all.  Dani seldom cried.  Her hushed, halting words explained it as best she could in response to his quiet urging: Shadow Eyes was following them.  Flying through the air with the air as his vessel and death in his wake.  Looming ever closer.  And at his fingertips, by his command flesh flowed like water, changing. Turning to fire and doom.

He shook away those dark thoughts when Dani touched his arm, bringing his attention back to the room.  Finally, it was his turn at the window.  Dani crowded close at his side, keeping a cool, wary eye on the three men behind them.  She didn't like them either.

They left the currency exchange before the rude frat boys, and the two other women.  But they had to walk down the highway shoulder a few miles to town to catch the next bus, and after a mile or so, Dani was practically staggering with exhaustion.  She trudged along behind him, lips set in a determined line.  Alex was worried about her.

They had money, and plenty of it, courtesy of a bank card Scott had sent him long ago and told him to save for an emergency.  He'd carried it wrapped in plastic in his wallet for over two years, the PIN long ago committed to memory.  They'd both gaped stupidly at the nearly ten thousand dollar balance carried in the account.

Scott hadn't been kidding when he'd told him he would provide for any emergency.  Alex's mind still reeled.  What had prompted his brother to take such extreme steps?  And where had he gotten his hands on that kind of money?   Alarmed, he'd only taken out a few hundred for each of them after discussing it with Dani.  Neither of them were comfortable having too much cash on hand.

But all the money in the world wouldn't get a rental car for two sixteen-year-olds.  They'd been stuck with buses and the train.  Once they'd reached the highway after eluding the helicopter in the hills, they'd hitchhiked up I-25, out of Las Cruces.  They were both reluctant to try that again.  And not just out of fear for their safety.  The kindly trucker who'd finally picked them up had taken them all the way to Denver, but he'd asked lots of leading questions about their families, obviously suspecting them of being runaways.  They had finally slipped away from him at a truck stop, feeling cheap and ungrateful for doing it, but reluctant to let the well-meaning man get them in trouble with the authorities.

Dani stumbled against his heels, jarring him out of his uneasy thoughts.

"Sorry, 'Lex," she muttered.  He came to a halt, frowning at her.  She stopped beside him, blinking wearily, her hands clenched tightly around the straps of her backpack.  As if holding onto it tighter would keep her awake. Cars whipped past them on the highway.  It was a cool afternoon, partly cloudy but so far no rain.  Evening wasn't far away and their bus would be leaving soon.  He scanned his friend carefully.  She looked drawn and pale, dark circles under her eyes.

"Give me your pack," he said.  Dani just stared at him, then shook her head.

"No, I've got it," she said, annoyed.  He rolled his eyes in disgust.

"You're about to fall on your face, Dani.  You haven't slept the night through since before we left home," he said, blue gaze locked to brown.  She snorted and hitched her pack higher on her back defiantly.

"You either, buddy," she said, expression mutinous, eyes snapping with anger.  "And I haven't had a fever three out of the last five nights running."

"I'm fine today," he muttered, mildly embarrassed.  They glared at each other, standing there at the side of the road  Lost in their battle of wills, tired, disoriented they simply didn't pay enough attention as a late model SUV pulled to the side of the road a little way ahead of them.  Or to the men who climbed out.

"Well, look what we have here," came a sharp voice. "Looks like the boy's havin' some trouble with his squaw, don't it?"  Alex and Dani looked up in shock to see the three college age guys from the currency exchange circling toward them.  One of them was a big hulking guy, the other two more average in build; but it was three against two.

"Hey!" Alex snapped, indignant. "Watch it."  The big guy came toward him, a sneer on his face.  The one who'd spoken, dressed in a green sweatshirt, spat on the ground near Dani's feet.  She danced out of the way, her hand on Alex's shoulder, glaring back at them.

"You run around with a 'breed bitch like this you have to learn to deal with her properly, punk," the guy said, narrowed gaze raking up and down Dani's body insolently.  And Alex was suddenly very afraid.  Cars and trucks were racing past, but no one was stopping.  The third guy was somewhere out of his sight.  He didn't dare take his eyes off the big one or the talker.  He reached back, feeling for Dani's hand, squeezing it reassuringly as they both backed up slowly.  Highway to the left, wooded verge to the right.  The buildings they'd left behind were now over a mile away -- there was nowhere to go.

"Hey, man, just leave us alone ." he began, but was interrupted by a cry of outrage from Dani.  Her hand was torn out of his and he whirled to see the third guy yanking on her other arm, dragging her toward the trees.  Alex lunged after her automatically and the big one was on him.  He went down hard, but was scrambling to get away even as he hit the ground.  Dani swung at the guy holding her and landed a good punch to his jaw, snapping his head back and staggering him.  But then the one in the green sweatshirt was on her.

The big guy wrestled with Alex, wrapping his thick arm around his throat, pressing hard.  Alex clawed at the arm, feeling the heat of rage boil up inside him.  Oblivious to the startled cry of pain that came suddenly from behind him.  Eyes only for Dani as she fought.

"Dani!" he yelled, desperately.  She was struggling, but she was tired and there were two of them.  One caught an arm and twisted it ruthlessly behind her back.  She cried out in pain.  Alex bucked hard, managing to partially dislodge his own attacker, scrambling desperately across dirt and scrubby grass toward Dani, calling her name.  But then his vision exploded into stars and he tumbled forward into blackness, Dani's screams echoing in his ears.

He woke slowly to jarring motion and harsh laughter.  He blinked his eyes furiously, trying to clear the darkness from them, finally realizing that it was simply the darkness of full night.

He was lying on top of either his own backpack or Dani's -- or both -- in the back of some kind of sports utility vehicle.  His head throbbed with sick pain, focused on a spot behind his left ear.  Somebody must have hit him. There was the sound of struggling from the seat in front of him, a grunt of pain, a hissed-in breath.  Then the sharp sound of flesh on flesh and a short cry.  Dani!  He tried to sit up and fell back with a groan.  His hands were tied behind his back.

"Damn she's feisty!" he heard a male voice say. "How much farther to this cabin of yours, Gene?  I deserve first piece of this girl." Dani gave another muffled cry and Alex bit his lip hard to keep from shouting at them to leave her alone.  The road was rough and it was pitch black outside. They were far away from a town or city then, somewhere rural.

"Half mile or so," another man replied.  Alex recognized the voice.  The frat boy in the green sweatshirt -- Gene, apparently -- was driving.

He grimaced.  That meant the other two could be mauling Dani.  Since they'd brought his unconscious body along too, that didn't bode well for their chances of getting out of this alive.  He didn't want to think of what they would do, might already have done, to Dani.  He had to bide his time for now.  There was no way he could take on all three while the truck was in motion.  He just hoped Dani was still okay.

A new voice came from the front of the truck.  "What the hell was that?  Did you see that?"

"Cool it, Jimbo," the man holding Dani said. "Was probably just a deer or something."

"You saw it too, huh?" The last man's voice was tense, alarmed.  Maybe from fighting a guilty conscience for kidnapping two kids?  Alex could only hope.

"Christ, Jimbo, I'm drivin' here and I didn't see nothin'," the guy named Gene said scornfully. "Now this ain't the best road in the world, so quit bein' so jumpy."

"Too big to be a deer," Jimbo was saying, voice shaky.  "Bear maybe.  Big bastard too."

"You're a fuckin' pussy, Jimbo," the guy in the seat in front of him said, voice harsh with disgust.  "You don't know shit about the woods, Yankee boy. Coulda been anything.  Even a rock."

"That was no rock, you Canuk shithead; it had fuckin' teeth, I swear."

"Pussy."

"Hey, I didn't see you getting burned by that mutie kid," Jimbo said, a definite whine to his voice. "My arm's blistering, you asshole."

"Oh, poor baby," Gene mocked.  "Well, that mutie kid won't burn anything at the bottom of the fuckin' lake.  And we're here now so quit your bitchin'."

Alex's heart chilled as he realized they were talking about him, just as the SUV came to a jarring stop.  Mutie?  What were they talking about?  He wasn't a mutant.  He closed his eyes, not wanting them to know he was awake just yet, as they piled out of the car.  Dani kicked and fought as they hauled her out, grunting with effort but not screaming or crying.  It was a good sign, he hoped.  Maybe they hadn't done anything permanent yet.

Then the back popped open and two of them were reaching in for him.  He stayed limp as they carried him across the rough ground, slung between them. One held his ankles, the other had rough hands under his arms.  From the too-bright light glowing against his eyelids, they'd probably left the truck's headlights on.

"Alex!" he heard Dani cry, then another tussle.

"Shut up, bitch," one of them said.  Alex fought to stay limp.  Then they dumped him on a hollow-sounding wooden surface and he couldn't stifle a moan as his head bounced off the ground.

"Think he's wakin' up?"

"Let's find out."

"Yeah, why should the government robots have all the fun?  We can snuff us a mutie too."

Alex grunted in pain as a boot connected solidly with his ribs.  His eyes flew open, only to be dazzled by the glare.  His breath left him in a harsh gasp.  There was coarse laughter from his tormentors, followed by half a dozen more kicks that glanced painfully off his shoulders, back, and thigh. He struggled to breathe despite the pain, rolling away to protect his head.

"Leave him alone!" Dani yelled in outrage.  There was another scuffle, then a cry and she fell across him.  Her hands were tied behind her back too. She lay face to face with him, her dark gaze searching his desperately as he wheezed for air.  He saw fear and anger and determination there.  She'd fight, he knew, to the bitter end.  For both of them.  She was whispering to him, gentle, encouraging words that he couldn't hear except for the tone through the roaring in his ears.  Alex finally managed to suck in air, nodding to her that he was okay, but feeling so powerless, frightened. These sickos were probably going to kill them both -- after raping her first. Hot anger rose in him.

"Wants her little mutie boy, don't she?" one of them mocked.  A hand came down and caught Alex's hair, wrenching his head around.  It was Gene, the guy with the green sweatshirt, watching him with a contemptuous look on his face.  Alex glared back at him.

"Ever done your squaw, mutie boy?  Is that why ya got her?  Do all the white girls run away from you for bein' a freak?"

Alex stayed silent, glaring and breathing deeply, gathering his strength. Helpless, hopeless anger rising.  He didn't want them to hurt Dani. or kill her.  The thought made sharp fear shoot through him.  Fear the man above him reveled in.  He didn't want Dani to die and he didn't want to die either.

"Hey, before we go Sentinel on this little mutie bastard, let's make him watch us ride his little girlfriend here," Gene said, his cruel gaze avid as he watched the desperate anger bloom on Alex's face.  Then the creep reached over and hauled Dani away.  She kicked at him, catching him near the knee. Shouting angrily, he backhanded her to the ground.  The second guy lunged for her, leering, and hauled her to her feet again, both of them dragging her off the dock.  The big one, Jimbo, was somewhere out of Alex's sight again.  But he really only had eyes for Dani.  She was staring back at him, eyes dazed with pain and helpless anger.  Rage; hot, wild.  It was rising inside him, washing over him in waves of heat.

They threw her down on the ground beyond.  One of them dropped on top of her, pawing at her, ripping at her clothes.  She tried to twist away, but the other one was holding her down too.  Alex surged up with a cry of denial, scrambling to get his feet under him, to charge them, to intervene. But the third guy grabbed him around the chest before he could reach them, lifting him into the air, laughing at his struggles.  Alex shouted with anger.

Then he was falling to the ground amid pained cries; shouts of shock and fear.  And there was light coming from somewhere, somewhere close.  So bright.  He felt so hot.

Dani was screaming.  He lifted his arms, surprised to find them free, and pointed at one of the men on top of her.  He was burning up with rage. So angry, so hot.  Yellow-white light shot from his arms and struck the one named Gene, bowling him over.  The man screamed in agony as clothes and hair ignited; falling to the ground, writhing in agony.  The last man jumped up, stark terror on his face before he turned and ran.  White fire followed him, caught him, sent him rolling toward the surrounding woods, little more than a ball of flame.  Shrieks of mortal agony rose into the night sky.

Dani lay on the ground, first staring at him in shock, then shouting his name.  He was still so hot, like his fever, only worse.  He stumbled back, hearing the crackling of fire, smelled burning wood, burning hair, burning flesh.  Looked down to see the wood of the dock below him smoldering. Flames licked at the edges.  Beyond was a dark, rippling surface.  The lake they had planned to drown him in.  He fell back.  The fire was everywhere now, pouring out of him.  Lighting up the clearing and the shore almost like day. Fountaining up into the sky, reaching for the stars and space.  Glowing like the sun.

He was going to burn up, burn Dani up too.  He had to get away from her. Alex stumbled toward the water, tripped on the edge of the dock and fell gracelessly into the lake.

With a hiss, dark, cold water closed over his head as he willingly sank into the depths.

Dani lay on the ground, stunned.  Sweating from the heat.  Alex had just lit up like a star.  Glowing with energy, fire shooting from his arms.  The big man who'd grabbed him had dropped him and run screaming into the forest. Alex had let fire shoot out and knock the two mauling her away, let fire pour into the sky, then thrown himself into the lake.  Into the lake!  She scrambled to her feet, awkward with her hands still tied, and stumbled to the dock.  Looking frantically into the dark water.

But the lake wasn't completely dark.

At the bottom she could see Alex, glowing. The water around him churning, steam rising from the surface of the lake.  Then, as abruptly as he'd lit up, the light died away and all was dark again save for the headlights of the truck and something that still burned in the woods beyond.  She could smell smoke.

"Alex!" she screamed.  He was still at the bottom of the lake.  She struggled against her bonds, feeling them slip slightly. The jerks hadn't tied her too tightly -- just enough that she couldn't work free without drawing their attention.  But now they were gone.  Dead, most likely.  And Alex had killed them.  She pushed the thoughts away, concentrating instead on freeing herself.  The rope finally fell away and she jumped straight into the lake.  By all rights the water should have been cold, but it was warm around her, almost hot, like the air above.  Alex had done that.  She swam down to where she'd seen him, ignoring the stinging of her wrists, the aching of her body.  Feeling ahead desperately for him.   It wasn't more than seven or eight feet deep here.  He couldn't be far away.  Couldn't be.

Brushing against a warm shoulder finally in the darkness, grabbing his shirt, his arm. Tugging his unresisting body frantically to the surface. Then hauling him onto the muddy shore, to lie gasping beside him, all but spent.

She rolled him on his side and heard him gag and choke as water poured from his mouth and he struggled to breathe again.

"Alex!" she called, sliding her arms around him.  Holding him close, grateful to feel his heartbeat along with her own.  Frightened for them both.  He shuddered against her, pushing up, head lolling, coughing hard.

"Dani, get away," he gasped, eyes rolling wildly.  Then he went limp in her arms.  Heavy, dead weight.  Soaked to the skin, bruised, terrified, Dani held him to her and cried out a denial.  Then felt his uneven breaths on her arm.  Still alive, just passed out.  She bit her lip to keep from sobbing in relief.   There was no time for that.  Two of their attackers were gravely wounded, perhaps dead; the third had run off and still might return. They had to get away while they still could.

She staggered back, arms locked around Alex's chest, glad again that she was nearly his height and sturdy.  She dragged him away from the lake through the glare of the headlights toward the truck parked beyond.

Beside the passenger door, she carefully laid Alex on the ground.  Then opened the door and leaned across to the driver's side.  Hoping that the head creep had left the keys in the ignition.  She really didn't want to have to go search his charred body.  She sighed in relief when her hands closed around the keys dangling there.  One thing had gone right, at least.

Dragging him to the truck was one thing, getting him inside another.  Her strength was gone.  Trembling with days-old exhaustion and the dregs of fearful adrenaline, Dani slumped down on the ground beside her best friend.

"Alex, you gotta help me," she called, cupping his face with her hands, smoothing the wet blond hair back tenderly.  He had bruises and scrapes on his face and she could feel a lump on his head under his hair.  Feeling so incredibly lucky that they were both still alive, that it hadn't been worse. She hadn't killed anyone; though given the chance, she would have, to save him.  Just as he had done for her.  "C'mon, buddy.  Please."  He groaned softly, but didn't wake.  She slapped at his cheek lightly. "C'mon, Alex, I need you!"  His eyes fluttered open finally and he caught at her wrist.  Her heart soared to see those familiar blue eyes focus on her.

"Might hurt you, Dani," he moaned, frowning. "The heat.  Get away!"

"I'm not leaving you, so forget it!" she said sternly, glaring back at him. "You've got to climb in the truck.  I can't get you up in the seat.  C'mon, 'Lex!"

"No, I might." Alex said, then his eyes widened as his gaze focused on movement beyond her.  She turned, catching sight of a hulking shape in the darkness outside the cone of light from the headlights.  Flames danced in the woods somewhere beyond.  She braced herself over Alex protectively, her hands clenching into fists.  He struggled up on an arm behind her, his free arm coming around her waist, holding her close.  Neither of them in any shape to run, to fight, exhausted and at the end of their rope, but determined not to go down so easily this time.  They'd learned their lesson the hard way.  Trust no one but each other now.

A hoarse laugh, deep and rusty as if it weren't used very often, floated out of the darkness.  The shape moved closer until they caught the gleam of something that might be metal, or something wet and shiny, like a fang.

Then a gruff voice said, "Huh. You smell familiar, kid . . . ."

Go on to Mara Greengrass' "Why Did the Ganders Cross the Road?"

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