Game of Survival [Book One]

13

"Somebody hold him back!" Polaris yelled as a handful of them ran after Stone who was trying to wrap his hands around Death's throat.

"That's enough!" Reaper's voice boomed as he suddenly appeared between Stone and Death. Death hadn't budged an inch. Instead of being terrified like he should have been, he was standing behind Reaper with his arms crossed, a smile plastered on his face, and his eyes staring deep into Stone's hatred filled eyes.

"What's going on?" Psylocke asked as he appeared out of nowhere.

"Judging by the way he's acting, and with what both are thinking, Death is the reason that Stone died in the first place," A mutant named Frenzy exclaimed as he walked through the door that was to the left of all the commotion.

"Frenzy!" Angel screamed as he ran towards the mutant that had come unannounced.

Frenzy, birth name? Dong Young-bae. His ability was mind manipulation. Though he wasn't a threat, the one he was traveling with was. He went by Blade, simply because his ability was to grow sharp blades out of anywhere on his body. He had complete control over his ability which made him terrifying. Birth name? Yixing Zhang.

"Yay, a happy family reunion," Blade sarcastically said as he walked in behind him. "Now that you've said your hello's can we discuss why we were brought here."

"For war," Split said. It was the first time since he had arrived at the warehouse that he had transformed into his less attractive personality. He hadn't done anything wrong, yet, but everyone was waiting for it. The ones he had been with at the compound were watching him silently, waiting for him to crack and try to go on a killing spree.

Warlock stepped forward, shaking his head back and forth. "It's not just war, Split. It's our only way to survive."

"I wouldn't bother trying to explain it to him," Fortis began.

"All he'll do is argue with you," Rogue finished.

"Will not," Split angrily stated.

"We know you better than anyone here."

"How about you go to hell."

"Only if you're not there."

Split started to breath heavily as he stepped towards Rogue who looked ready to kill Split. Before either of them had a chance to lay a finger on the other, Inferno was stepping between them. "Do you really think now is the time to be fighting between one another?" He calmly asked.

Rogue stepped back, looking away from Split who was smiling from ear to ear. When he was his inhumane personality, he enjoyed picking fights with other mutants. He looked at it as a way of trying to convince himself that he was stronger than all the other mutants on Earth. For the most part he was. However, there were stronger ones.

"If anyone fights again, I'm going to start using my ability on you," Warlock angrily said, finally having enough.

"Impossible," Split exclaimed with a laugh.

With a quick movement of his eyes, Warlock was making direct eye contact with Split whose smile began to fade as Warlock slowly crept into his mind. Before any of the other mutants could process what was happening, Split was reaching for the pair of scissors on the table beside him. His eyes stayed locked with Warlocks as he wrapped his hand around the handle of the scissors tight enough that his knuckles began to turn white. It wasn't until the blade of the scissors was against his throat that he started to blink. He quickly dropped the scissors, quickly stepping away from Warlock fast enough to trip over his own feet.

From behind him, Ira caught him and helped him steady himself. The warehouse was dead silent as the few that knew about Splits ability to not be controlled by others was proven incorrect. No one knew what to say, not in the moment when Warlock proved to be almost as horrible as most humans knew him to be.

"How?" Split asked, stuttering on the single word long enough to turn everyone's eyes towards Warlock who was still watching Split closely.

"Mental manipulation," Ira finally answered for Warlock who was too angry to answer.

"That doesn't make sense. I thought Split was immune to other abilities," Morph said as he nervously picked as the scab on the back of his hand. It had been a couple of days since he had trained last and he was beginning to feel uneasy. He had grown tired training as often as he was, but training was the only thing that was keeping his mind on track since he discovered that he had an ability he never knew about. It didn't help that Inferno was no longer able to train with him. He was left with Fortis who used his force field most of the time, making it harder for Morph to learn how to control his abilities.

Finally, Warlock spoke. "That's what he believed because at confinement they had tested him with other mutants. After the first day of him being here I was curious if it was possible to control his mind. It took me less than five seconds to enter his mind and take control."

"Wait, what? You entered my mind without telling me?" Split yelled as he started to step towards Warlock while thinking about all the ways he could rip out his throat.

Warlock smiled slightly before his eyes turned to slits. "I suggest you rethink how you'll kill me before I really make you slit your throat."

Split immediately stepped down, swallowing hard as he mentally screamed at himself. How could he be foolish enough to think about killing someone who could read his mind. "What did you make me do?"

"The first day?"

"You controlled me more than once?"

"Of course, how do you think you only recently changed into this personality. I've been controlling the part of your mind that causes the transformation."

"Warlock," Reaper said.

"What?"

"Something is wrong."

"I feel it, too," Angel suddenly said, his back straightening out as he looked around the warehouse.

Warlock stopped talking and pushed his mind outwards to see if he could hear anything. Outside of the warehouse was complete silence. At least it was until he heard the slight sound of someone thinking about how to outrun a group of humans that were after them. The voice continued to grow louder until Warlock decided to run out of the warehouse and see who it was. The moment he stepped through the door a skinny mutant with long, blue hair came running out of the woods. His eyes met Warlocks for a split second before he stopped dead in his tracks, turned around, kneeled, and sent a line of fire towards the forest where a group of humans in military gear were coming from.

The mutant had been on the run for more than a month from the same group of humans. They referred to him as Dragon after he suddenly shot flames out of his mouth after he was shot with a specialized bullet, they had created to take him out. When they started hunting him, they hadn't taken into consideration that his ability was to create fire. A bullet to kill a mutant that could control the elements did nothing to a fire mutant.

Before he went on the run from the humans, he was called Kwon Jiyong by his family and the asylum. When the humans started to refer to him as Dragon, he stuck with it. It seemed fitting to him. He was able to control, and breath, fire, after all.

Reaper followed Psylocke out of the warehouse, freezing next to Warlock when he recognized Dragon from years ago. Suddenly he yelled, "Protect him at all costs!"