POV: Dr. Elizabeth Mason

"This is it, Elizabeth. The final solution." I almost expected Dr. Thacker to rub his hands together in evil glee.

It's do or die time, literally. The teams are in place, the nanos are primed, and all my work comes down to this moment. My programming either works or it doesn't.

Dr. Thacker leans over my keyboard and places his finger over the "enter" key, playing up the drama of the moment before pressing it. Nothing happens, at least in our office, but all over the country, mutants drop dead or paralyzed wherever they are. It's nighttime, and we have approximately six hours to collect all the bodies and ship them to processing plants before the sun rises.

I have six hours before I can implement the second part of my plan. A little over six hours before I can drive to the airport and leave the country. I'm already packed and ready to disappear, ready to move to London, change my name, and live out the rest of my life with a clear conscience. All I have to do is wait by my computer until the time is right, and then...

"Dr. Mason, come. Let's go to the New York processing center, and see the fruits of our labor." Dr. Thacker's pulled out my chair and is signalling me to follow him.

"Uh, I'd rather observe from my station."

"Nonsense. Our work here is done. Come on." He raises his voice and invites everyone to join us.

I have to go. If I refuse to leave, he'll get suspicious and my plan might be discovered too soon. But if I do leave, I won't be able to initiate the second phase. Unless...

While Dr. Thacker's gathering everyone together, I connect my computer to the internet and shut off the screen, but not the tower. If I can get my handheld computer to link up with this one, I'll have access to the mainframe and I can enter the final commands from wherever I go.

This damn computer isn't working. I've been here for hours, and I can't get connected. I keep trying to send the codes, but I've been plagued by weak signals and faulty connections. I should've gotten a better internet service provider for this piece of crap.

My time is almost up. They're taking us down to observe the start of the mutant processing, and I still can't send the codes.

"Elizabeth," Dr. Thacker's hand rests on my shoulder as he leans down over me. "You're been fiddling with that thing for hours. What are you doing?"

Oh no. He knows.

"Ah, the internet. How can you think of your email at a historic moment like this?"

"I... um... I need to make a stock trade, and I can't connect." Yeah, that's it. That's stupidest possible explanation you could think of Elizabeth. Great job.

"Here, use mine."

What? He's handing me his personal assistant. "Top of the line in every way. It's even got a satellite connection so you're never out of contact."

I don't believe it. There's gotta be some catch. I never have luck this good.

"Elizabeth? Are you coming?"

"Yeah," I answer distractedly, following the group but not taking my eyes off the screen. It's a different configuration than I'm used to, so it's going to take a few minutes, but I've gotten connection up and it seems to be holding.

We enter a white room, and I glance up to see eleven mutants lying limply on stretchers. I've got to hurry, but in my urgency, my fingers stumble over the micro-keyboard, and I have to go back and re-enter my last five commands.

Everyone's screaming and when I look up again, I can see one of the mutant women is out of bed and backing away from our group with her bare hands outstretched like weapons. Why isn't she paralyzed? She shouldn't be able to move.

The doctors and my teammates are backing away from her, and Dr. Thacker is pressing the alarm button in his hand over and over. No. They're going to kill her. Four more entries. Just four more and I'm done. But, there's no more time.

Soldiers run into the room and Dr. Thacker immediately commands, "Shoot her!"

"NO!!!" another mutant yells as the soldiers open fire. The woman collapses to the floor in a bloody heap, and the other mutant is up, long, metal claws flashing. He shouldn't be able to get up, either. What's going on? Why aren't the nanos...

Uhhh. I think I just found out where my luck ends. He... he was going for Dr. Thacker and that bigoted prick... he pushed me in front of him... onto those claws. I can't... I need to breathe, but... Ahh... he's pulled them out... I'm falling.

The mutant's slashing again... everyone's running. I can feel... feet on my back and legs... They're running over me... trying to get away. Then, everyone who could leave... is gone. The clawed mutant doesn't follow... He's pulling that woman... into his arms.

I have to... to send the commands. Before I... Uh, I can't breathe... but I've got to finish.

I get... the last four entries in... I just have to... press the last key.

"Hey! Stop whatcher doing!"

I thought... she was dead, but that mutant... she's up now... heading towards me... Can't let her stop me... I push the key, and activate the nanos.

POV: Rogue

Blood's spreading out around me in a red pool, but there's no more pain. Everything's hazy, fading, and then Logan's strong arms are lifting me towards him, and my bare hands brush against his still uncovered chest as he bends over and kisses me.

It hurts. The gunshot wounds hurt so much as they pull themselves back together in my chest, healing as Logan gives me life again. Even as his strength floods my body, his overwhelming love floods my soul. But I can sense him weakening. I'm killing him.

As soon as I have enough energy to move, I push him away and stop the connection. He falls onto the tile floor, and for an endless moment, he lies perfectly still. Then, he takes a deep, gasping breath, and I can breathe again, too. He's going to be ok. Now, all I have to do is get us out of here.

Scanning the room, I only see one human still alive. It's the woman with the computer. Even terribly wounded, she's still pecking slowly away at the little machine. Before the soldiers came, Logan'd noticed how her typing speed increased when I fought back.

~She was probably tryin' to stop you, Marie. She's probably tryin' to kill us, now. You can't let her finish.~ Logan's thoughts echo through my mind.

I get up and try to get to her, but she presses one last button and drops her head to the floor.

The mutants on the other stretchers start getting up, no longer paralyzed by whatever'd been done to us, and suddenly, a voice starts broadcasting over the loudspeaker.

"Attention. You have been captured by the federal government as part of a plan to exterminate all mutants within the United States borders. I allowed them to think they'd succeeded until you all could be united and informed. Your human captors have been incapacitated for one week. I suggest you use that time to leave the country. For your own safety and the safety of your loved ones, do not return to your homes. Do not contact anyone. Leave and live, or stay and die."

The voice stops broadcasting, and everyone in the white room starts yelling at each other. Where do we go? What do we do now? How do we get out of here? Everyone's asking questions, but none of us knows the answers.

A few at a time, my fellow prisoners leave the room determined to either find the person who broadcast that message or to find their own way out. Soon it's just me, Logan, and the dead humans. Well, dead except for one. That woman's still wheezing on the floor.

I already have my gloves pulled back on and I'm dragging Logan across the floor, when the woman gasps, "Help me... Please."

It might be because of Logan's senses, but even through the bloody gurgling, I recognize her voice. It's the same as the loudspeaker voice. She's the one who helped us. She's a human, but she saved us. I can't leave her to die. But I can't carry both her and Logan out of here, either.

Laying Logan down gently, I walk over, kneel by the injured woman, and roll her onto her back. Even before I've inspected the wounds, though, I know she won't leave this room alive. The smell of death is on her.

I grab a sheet off a nearby stretcher and press it to her chest where the claws punctured her flesh, but it's not helping. She's trying to talk, but the gurgling is worse, and I can't understand her. She's drowning in her own blood.

She needs a doctor, and for once in my life, I wish I'd absorbed someone. If I'd only brushed against Jean once in all those years at the mansion, I might know what to do now. As it is, the only doctors here are human, and she "incapacitated" them so we could escape. All I can do is watch her die.

There are footsteps echoing in the hallway, and I think some of the mutants might've returned until I look up at the doorway. I see Jean standing there in a white bodysuit, and then I see nothing as I faint dead away.