The sun was rising in the sky as Powerhouse drove them back to the house, holding hands in the back seats were Ben and Stacey. Ben turned his gaze towards Powerhouse.
'What's the news with that new girl you captured?' He asked as the big man held his gaze on the road.
'Don' t know the full story, boss.' he said as he turned the car to the left and went down a narrow lane, 'All I know is that she wanted to speak with you.'
'Speak with me about what?' He asked sharply.
'Don't know, sir. But I bet that it has something to do with that attack.'
Ben turned back towards Stacey, 'Are you all right, darling?'
Stacey nodded, having said nothing since Ben had told her about the vision that he had, all she could think about was what it could mean for them. After their long drive, they finally arrived at the house. Standing guard at the main entrance was a small band of Ben's own private security forces. They wore protective, bulletproof black armour across their chests. On their heads they wore a helmet that covered their entire face, leaving only their mouth exposed. They were armed with small handguns, Uzis and AK-47s. As the car pulled into the drive, one of the guards came up to the window.
'Powerhouse.' the man said as he lowered the window, Powerhouse looked at the man.
'What's wrong, Johnson?' The big man growled, making Johnson back away.
'Is Mr Fox available?' He asked sounding worried. Powerhouse turned away from the guard and looked at Ben.
'Boss, you're wanted.' he said as Ben let himself out of the car.
Once Johnson saw Ben getting out, he fell on his knees.
'What's wrong? Is the situation under control?' Ben demanded, as Johnson picked himself up, looking as if he were about to cry.
'I'm sorry, sir,' the man pleaded as his body started shaking with fear, 'But it looks like that prisoner escaped,'
Ben's face grew red with anger, 'Escaped? How? When?'
Johnson backed away, 'I don't know, sir, but it looks like she hasn't been gone long.'
'Put the house on high alert. I want that woman found and unharmed. Do I make myself clear, Captain?'
Johnson saluted, 'Yes, sir. I'll tell my men to do a full sweep of the house and the surrounding area, we won't let that woman escape.'
He swiftly made his way towards the entrance of the house and to a small unit of security forces. Powerhouse came up to Ben and rested a large hand on his shoulder.
'Don't worry, boss, we'll get the woman.'
'I know we will, Powerhouse,' Turning towards the car, he saw Stacey getting out. Rushing over, he took her hand.
Stacey looked at him, worried.
'Babe, what happened?'
'That prisoner Mist told us about has escaped. My security forces are looking for her as we speak.' At that moment, shouts came from inside the main reception of the house.
Quickly, they raced through the door, followed by a squad of security guards. As they burst inside, Ben could hardly believe his eyes. Standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by a pile of broken bodies was the prisoner. Like Mist had said, she had light green skin, dark green lips, eyes, and nails and red hair. She looked just like Stacey, apart from one difference. Her chest, arms, and legs were ribbed with muscles. She wore what looked like a pair of ripped jeans and a ripped, white tee shirt, her long red hair blowing in the breeze from the open door. Ben took a look at her and turned to face Powerhouse and Stacey. He could see Stacey was worried.
'Ben, I'm afraid.'
'Don't be, Stacey, it will be okay, I'll sort this out.'
Turning to face the woman, he took a few steps towards her, the woman watching him closely. 'Looks like I got your attention.'
Ben looked at her as he came closer, 'You did.' he said stopping for a moment as he scanned her with his mind, 'My name is Ben Fox, and you call yourself Greena, right?'
Greena stared at him in surprise, her mouth dropping open as she saw him coming forward, 'Your real name is Trisha Morgan and you served in the army in Iraq, didn't you?'
Looking at him as if he had just come from another planet, Greena asked sharply, 'How do you know all these things about me?'
Ben laughed softly, 'I'm a psychic, and like you, I'm a mutant.' Ben looked at the pile of bodies near them and back at Greena, 'You didn't kill those guards, did you?' He demanded.
Greena looked at him and laughed, 'No, they're just stunned that's all. My real target is you and that other freak,' she said aggressively, looking over at Stacey. Suddenly, she ran towards Ben with her fist out ready to hit him.
Before she could land a hit, Ben raised his hand and held her in the air. Greena looked at him in surprise and horror. 'How did you counteract my attack?'
Ben smiled at her, 'I knew that you were planning to attack me before you even had a chance to move.'
Lowering his hand, he let her fall to the ground. Clambering to her feet, Greena snarled, 'I'll kill you for that!'
Coming towards her, Ben held out his hand to her, 'You won't kill me, because you have been ordered to take me back to your leader alive.'
Greena glared at Ben, 'How much of my mind did you read?' She screamed.
'Enough to know that your leader gave you those orders, promising you a cure for the serum that turned you into this.'
Greena looked away, upset. Ben continued, 'I'm sorry, my dear, but your leaders have lied to you.'
Putting her head in her hands, Greena started crying, 'I'm nothing but a freak now. An experiment gone horribly wrong.'
Ben could see that she was very much like Stacey and extremely attractive.
'You're not a freak, Trisha. You have been given a gift, one that you can use against the army and take your revenge.'
Greena removed her hands from her face, 'How can I take revenge?'
Ben smiled at her, 'Because I am willing to offer you a place here at Haven. And by reading your mind, I now know which base the military is operating from.'
Wiping her eyes, Greena stepped towards him.
'I'll gladly accept your help, Mr. Fox.' She said as she took his hand and shook it.
Stacey grew jealous as they stood discussing their plans together.
Stacey paced outside the office where Greena and Ben were talking, fuming as she watched them. Ben stood near his desk whilst Greena sat on a chair. As she was outside peering through the glass window at them, she heard footsteps coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw Mist coming up the stairs towards her. Like Stacey, she had a sour look on her face and was obviously angry. Spotting Stacey, she stopped to chat with her for a moment.
'Hey there, love, you okay?' Stacey looked surprised.
'I'm fine, Mist' she lied as she moved away from her and turned back towards the window. Mist stood next to her, 'Just look at them.' she said, annoyed, as she watched Greena laughing at something Ben had said,
'Stacey, I don't know about you, but I don't trust this Greena.'
It had been three days since Trisha had escaped from her cell, and ever since then, she has been treated more like a guest than a prisoner. Ben had only made things worse by offering her a place in Haven. At that moment, the door opened and out walked Greena. As she passed them, she turned her head towards the two women, smiled, and slowly made her way downstairs and vanished.
'What was that bitch smiling about?' Stacey asked as she turned her head back towards the window.
'More than likely, Ben and her, Stacey.' Mist sniped, 'she must have offered Ben something.'
Stacey quickly turned around to face Mist, clenching her hand into a fist.
'Like what, Mist?' She snapped as Mist backed away from her.
'Stacey,' Mist said warily, 'I don't think it's like that.'
Lowering her hand, Stacey let it fall, 'I'm sorry, Mist, I just don't know what to do.'
Before she could finish what she was about to say, she heard the office door opening again, glancing towards it, they saw Ben exiting looking pleased with himself.
'You seem happy Ben.' Mist said softly.
Smiling, he looked at Stacey, who turned away in disgust. Taken aback, Ben gave Mist a bewildered glance.
'What's wrong with Stacey, Mist?'
'Ben, Green Girl is angry because she thinks you're spending too much time with Greena. I have to say, I agree with her.'
'What? You can't seriously believe that.' He asked surprised.
Stacey came forward, pushing past Mist, 'Don't try to lie to me, Ben Fox.' She snapped, 'I saw you in there with her and I know you have feelings for her.'
'Look, you have the wrong idea, Stacey.' He said, walking towards her with his hand outstretched.
As he touched her face she backed away from him.
'Don't lie to me, Ben! I want to know the truth about what you really want with her.' She demanded.
'Ever since Trisha came here she's been giving me information about the military base.'
Mist came up to him and put one of her hands on his shoulders, 'Is that true? you are not thinking about having an affair with her?'
Ben turned to face her.
'Why would you think that, my dear Mist?' He asked agitated.
'We thought you two were involved, and you were tired of me that's all.' Stacey in a soft voice.
'That's not the case, Stacey. You know that I love you and no one else.' Ben put his arms around her, 'I just needed the information that she had that's all.' He kissed her head and turned to Mist. 'I want you to call a meeting of all our members.'
Mist saluted him and smiled, 'Have you found out where the U.S. military is operating from, Ben?'
'Yes, I have, Mist. From what our friend Greena told me, I have two names, one is Doctor Sarah Young and the other Lieutenant John Watts.'
'I'm sorry, babe, did you say Doctor Young?'
'Yes, I did and I feel stupid that I didn't know this before.'
'The creator of the super soldier serum?' Mist asked.
Ben turned to face her, 'I'm not surprised that she's involved in all this. She and Watts must be working together. Stacey, I want you to go downstairs and bring everyone up to the office for a meeting, we are going to end the military plan.'
'What if we fail?' Stacey questioned.
Ben looked at her again and sighed, 'The military will be left unchallenged and unchecked, on top of which we'll either become lab experiments, or worse still, dead.'
Stacey nodded as he let go of her and followed Mist downstairs, leaving Ben on the landing thinking about what to do next.
It was mid-afternoon as Stacey, Mist and the other members of Haven gathered around the large, black conference table in the room next to the office. Stacey was sitting in between Mist and Powerhouse. At the far end of the table, wearing a blue suit sat Frostbite. Stacey looked around and saw mutants she hadn't seen before. Next to Frostbite was a tall, well-built man with flaming red hair and part of his face burnt, in a black jacket and trousers. Stacey eyed him for a moment, then turned her gaze to another mutant who was of average height with purple skin and dark green hair, she was sitting next to Greena. Stacey turned to look at the chair at the end of the room and noticed it was empty.
'That must be Ben's.' She said to herself as she tried to relax.
As she was just getting herself settled, the mutant who was sitting next to Frostbite got up from his chair and started ranting,
'Is it normal for Ben to keep everyone waiting like this?' All eyes turned towards him.
Frostbite, who had been sitting next to him got up from his seat and gave the man an icy stare, 'He's busy, Flamethrower, and if I were you I would develop a bit of patience.'
Disgruntled, Flamethrower sat back down in his seat.
'Please, accept my apologies, Frostbite,' he said patiently, 'I'm just eager to fight these humans.'
'You are eager, Flamethrower,' said the purple-skinned woman who was sitting next to him, her tone sharp, 'Don't you think that we all are?'
Just then, Ben walked into the room and they all stood. Ben raised his hand and gestured them to sit back down, as soon as they were seated Ben sat next to Powerhouse.
'My friends,' he said in a calm and clear voice, 'Forgive me for being so late, there were a few things that I had to see to.'
'What sort of things, boss?' Flamethrower asked, furious.
Ben gave him a hard stare. 'I have been informed, my dear Flamethrower, by my friend Rachel Butler that my penthouse in New York has been attacked.'
Hearing this, Stacey went cold as she remembered Lightspeed.
'What has Peter done about this, Ben? And is Lightspeed okay?' Frostbite asked icily.
Ben stood and raised his hand to his old friend, 'For the moment, the boy, Peter, and Rachel are safe.' he paused for a moment as he sat back down, 'Peter is trying his best to overturn orders to give the army complete and total power to arrest any mutants or anyone they might suspect of helping them.' He turned to Stacey, looking her in the eye, 'It's as I envisioned, Stacey, it's total war.'
'But we can win this, can't we, Ben?' Asked the purple-skinned woman.
'We can, Violet, but we must act with caution.'
Mist stood up and looked at him, 'Are you seriously thinking of going after Dr Young, Ben?' She asked, concerned.
'That would be crazy,' Powerhouse interjected, 'Some of us could be captured, or worse, be killed.'
Again Ben stood up and raised his hands, 'What choice do we have?' He asked as he began to get angry, 'We're dead if we stay here! If we take the fight to them we might win, so who's with me on this?'
Stacey stood up, 'I'm with you, babe.'
Seeing this, Greena stood up as well.
'I'm also in on this,' said Mist as she came forward.
Frostbite stood up and made his way over to Ben, 'I know that you and I have always had disagreements in the past, but I'm with you too.'
Ben smiled at him, 'You were always a hard one to please.'
Frostbite started laughing as Flamethrower, Violet, and Powerhouse made their way to Ben., Powerhouse smiled at Ben as he put one of his hands on the big man's shoulder, Violet put her arms around him and smiled and Flamethrower grinned. Ben turned and faced his small army as they began to line themselves up against the wall.
'This is it, everyone,' he said quietly, 'I will ask this only once, anyone who doesn't want to join me, please step outside now.' No one moved, 'Today, we are no longer pawns of the government or the army… we are free.'
As he finished there was a loud cheer as everyone in the room threw their hands in the air and shouted together in a loud
voice, 'Down with the army! Down with the military!'
They marched out of the office with Ben leading them onwards to victory.