Colossus struggled to regain his balance after being rattled so much. The Mutates plucked him up by every limb and dragged him to the pond.
"Tie him up first," they said. "Metal might sink, but he could still try to swim."
"What are you doing?" one of the kids said. It was Billy.
"Shut up, kid, or you're next," one of the nastiest ones said.
"Leave boy alone!" Colossus tried to break free. "You are doing great evil."
"Stay out of it, Bill," one other adult Morlock said. "We can't fight them. Callisto took our strongest fighters when she left. It's just us now."
"You can make them sick," Billy said to Trudy, the mutant who had the plague.
She shook her head. "I don't use that since I was...brainwashed...and I definitely wouldn't use it to save Mystique. I say good riddance, and this other fellow, what's he to me? It's none of our business."
"But they're going to kill him!" Ruthie cried.
"So? Better him than us," Trudy said. "Be quiet."
Colossus was almost to the edge of the pond now. He struggled violently to get free, but there were too many of them holding him down.
"He's still got a lot of fight..." they grunted.
"Maybe if I shake up his skull," Avalanche said, reaching for him.
Billy suddenly kicked a soccer ball and hit him in the back of the head.
Avalanche turned.
"Leave him alone!" Ruthie yelled.
"Colossus is nice!" Billy said.
"You guys are mean!" Dennis added, though he sounded terrified.
"Don't mind them--they're just foolish kids," Trudy said at once.
But Avalanche was a mean guy.
He reached out and shook the ground, and the kids went flying onto their backs. The other Morlocks backed up.
"You want to play rough, kid?" he said.
The other Mutates watched this.
"Come on," one of them said, a little uneasy. "They're just dumb kids, Avalanche. Don't kill them."
"We were told to kill anyone who wasn't useful," Avalanche said.
"I don't think that means kids," the same person said. "Killing kids ain't right. We're not monsters."
"Speak for yourself." Avalanche reached for Billy.
Trudy swore, then she reached out her hand, and her mutation came out and infected him.
"Have a touch of the plague," she said.
Avalanche started sweating, and then he went down on his knees...
Trudy pulled her hand back, shaking. "No..." she muttered. "Not again..."
The other Mutates backed up a little.
"That was one of the horsemen," one muttered. "She can make you sick real easy. Just back away from her."
Apparently none of them had immunity to disease.
For the moment, Trudy had bought everyone time. But how much time? Pyro lit up a lighter.
"You want to play, lady?" he said.
He shot fire at her.
She could only try to duck.
"Stop it!" the kids cried. "Leave her alone!"
