Although he had been put to sleep by the man(identifying himself as "Serenade") and his guitar, Jamie's dreams were still not peaceful. All the night he dreamed of laughter, his father and his "seaside mansion in Vegas". Sam and his large, "kind" eyes, deceiving him. He could trust no one. Lance, glaring at him, still mad at him. The brotherhood wouldn't come after him...they didn't want him back. No love for the freak. No one cared about the freak.

 Face it! A voice slithered in the back of his mind while he slept, almost hypnotising. Now your not just a FREAK, your a LONE freak. A lone mutated wolf. What would any pack want with YOU?!

 Groaning in his sleep, Jamie tried to force the voice into silence, but he knew it was right. And it wouldn't go away.

 The light woke him minutes later, still squirming about the voice's obvious suggestions. His eyes finally opened with difficulty, revealing the smiling face of Serenade staring at him through his own bars.

  "Finally awake, sleepin' beauty?" He laughed, still strumming his guitar, still in the same place he had been the night before.

 Doesnt he sleep? Jamie asked himself, but decided against asking the man himself. That would be rude.

 Opening his mouth, Jamie started to ask Serenade what the time was, but was interrupted by a sudden hush in the voices that had been heard only seconds before.

  "S-Serenade...?" Jamie started, but Serenade held his index finger up to his lips in a signal for silence.

  "Good...good...good..." A deep voice was saying continually, passing by all the cages of now cheesy-smiling mutants. A man with deep black hair and a dazzling white frown, wearing a deep blue buisness suit and looking important, was examining inside all of the cages carefully. Stopping at Serenade's cage, the man could stand at his own height and chat with the seemingly favorite mutant of the man.

 Bending down, the important looking man peered into Jamie's cage quickly before standing back up again.

  "Which one is this?" He asked the carnies that were following him. Each of them shot glances at the cage, labeled "four".

 Steve jumped forward.

  "That one don't have a name, Mr. Porchelli, it's the new one."

 The man, "Mr. Porchelli", crouched down so that he could look into Jamie's cage with ease.

  "How old are you, freak?"

 Jamie stared with wide eyes at Mr. Porchelli.

  "I-I-I-I...t-t-t...um..."

 Mr. Porchelli raised an eyebrow at the stuttering child amusingly, but Steve seemed angered by Jamie's actions.

  "The man asked you a QUESTION!" He roared defensively, but Mr. Porchelli raised a hand for absolute silence.

  "We'll call him Stutta."

 Some of the tension that had grown from the cages around him released, but some still stayed.

  "Now, Stutta, answer my question loud and clear."

 Jamie let out a shaky sigh, and raised his bravery.

  "Twelve. I'm twelve, almost thirteen!" He stated as boldly as he could, with a slight bit of annoyance staining his voice. Mr. Porchelli laughed.

  "Now that's more like it! What's Stutta here do?"

 Steve stepped forward again.

  "We were thinkin' about testin' a new attraction out with little Stutta here." He held out a bag of marbles, and the tension in the room increased again.

 Mr. Prochelli raised his quite active eyebrow, and reached inside the bag, pulling out a handful of foggy white marbles.

  "Go ahead, Mr, Porchelli, have a shot."

 The man shrugged and aimed the marble at Jamie, missing by a few feet at least.

  "This is challenging..." He muttered, trying again. He missed six more times.

  "Quick! More marbles, Steve!" He demanded, reaching in the bag excitedly for another handful of marbles. After two more shots, a marble connected with Jamie's shoulder, Two multiples squishing into him from either side. Mr. Prochelli broke down into loud, snorting laughter.

  "That is merry, very merry!"

 The tension again deceased from the room.

  "Boys, get Stutta here a collar, pronto. Lead the others into the room as usual, then Stutta will join them."

 The carnies nodded and assembled to their buisness. To his luck, of course, Jamie got Steve to put his "collar" on.

  "Stand still, you little FREAK!" Steve muttered angerly at Jamie when he tried to latch the collar on the twelve year old. But when Jamie would not stop fighting, Steve finally had to call over another carnie to hold the boy down while he put the collar on...tightly.

  "Get with the others now, you annoying little trouble maker." Steve ordered, pushing Jamie into a room filled with the other mutants. Many of them sent him guilty, somewhat sorry looks, others ignored him.

  "There he is! There's Stutta!" A kind voice said behind him. Turning around, Jamie faced a...TALLER version of Serenade.

 He's almost as tall as Scott... Jamie tried not to think to himself as he stared up at the twenty one year old.

  "So, Stutta," Serenade laughed, making a motion to glomp Jamie on the back, than, thinkin again, settled for patting him lightly on the head. "Got a name already? Good kid, good kid."

 An unrecognised man entered the room, holding a clipboard and looking busy.

  "Stutta?" He called, and Jamie ignored him. "Stutta?" He called again, sounding annoyed.

  "Stutta, that's you, kid!" Serenade pointed out, laughing. Jamie turned and walked up to the man in surprise.

  "You Stutta?" The man asked gruffly, looking down at him. Jamie nodded.

  "Acrobatics."

  "Huh?" Jamie asked, not comprehending.

 The man made an impateint noise in his nose.

  "You. Doing acrobatics. Show tomarrow. Tent four. Go."

 Jamie stared.

  "N-no!" He said, only slightly bold. "I-I'm not gunna!"

 There was a chorus of loud gasps from behind him, signalling that all in the room had heard what he said and dissaproved.

 Sighing, the man slowly pulled out a strange looking remote control and pointed it at Jamie casually.

 Another unision gasp escaped the crowd behind him, and out of the corner of his eye, Jamie saw people covering their eyes, and the eyes of those around him who's hands were tied behind their backs.

 The man clicked a small knob on the remote to the third knotch, and pressed the large botton above it.

 The moment his finger touched the round, purple button, Jamie's mind screamed Pain, don't you get it, PAIN!, and his hands clutched his forhead instinctively. Electricity ran through him like lightning, making him unable to move from the place he was in, unable to process thoughts. Perhaps he was screaming, if he was, he could not hear it. But as suddenly as the pain had come, it stopped, and Jamie fell to the ground, his legs limp, his head spinning wildly.

  "Now I'll say this one more time. You. Tent four. NOW!" The last word said by the man came out as a harsh bark.

 Jamie got weakly to his feet, receiving no help from any of those around him. At last on his shaky legs, Jamie fought wildly with himself to stand up strait.

  "NO!" He yelled stubbornly, standing his ground. The man's eyes widened in what looked like amused shock, than his hand moved to the remote again, clicking the notch to five.

  "Mikey, Mikey, yo yo! Hold up, man!" A voice yelled frantically behind Jamie, and Serenade stepped forward, standing in front of Jamie. "Mikey, wait up. He's only a kid, man. You can't give him the five."

 The man, "Mikey", seemed enraged at this interruption.

  "You better get outta my way, Serenade, and stop tellin' me what I can't do!" He bellowed angerly. "'Less you be wantin' the same fate as him!"

 Serenade trembled and moved tentatively away from Jamie, breathing jaggedly and looking ashamed at his cowardly move.

 Mikey pointed the remote at Jamie once again, and pushed the botton.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 Bleep bleep bleep. Bleep bleep bleep.

  "Could it be?" Professor Xavier wondered, fitting the Cerebro's helmet onto his head curiously. The screen maximized, showing exactly what he had been wanting to see.

 Name: Jamie Madrox, Age: 12, Power: Multiplication, Hair: Brown, Eyes: Blue. After all that, there was a note: Caution, extreme care necessary when handeling. Location: Searching.

Bleep bleep. Searching. Bleep bleep.

 X-Men, Brotherhood, please assemble immediately to Cerebro. The Professor announced telepathically. A minute after his announcement, Scott and Logan rushed into Cerebro.

  "What's the Emergency, Professor?" Scott asked curiously, walking up behind the Professor, but his question was immediately answered when he saw the screen.

  "So, you found the shrimp, eh? Where is he?" Logan too, came up and looked to the screen, only to see the dissapointing flashing "searching" where the location should have been.

 Silence from the three followed as they waited for the rest to come.

 Searching. Bleep bleep. Searching. Bleep bleep. Searching. Bleep...

 A female voice rang from Cerebro.

  "Location found: Beaumont, Texas."

 Slowly, the rest of the X-Men and Brotherhood members filed into Cerebro. Professor Xavier wasted no time.

  "Cerebro has informed me of Multiple's wearabouts." He said, waiting for the reaction he expected. It happened.

  "Short Stuff was on Cerebro?!" Tabby screeched. "That means he was using his powers...what if they hurt him? I'll give them a peice of my..."

  "Tabitha." Jean soothed, placing a hand on Tabby's arm. She grew silent, so Charles continued.

  "Cerebro has informed me that Multiple is in Beaumont, Texas, situated at the Carinnan Family Circus..." The X-Men and Brotherhood stared at him cluelessly, so Charles finished."...famous for its mutant show."

 Despite themselves, all in the room gasped.

  "We have to go get him! Bring him back!" Pietro volenteered, stepping forward in a determined manner. THe rest of the Brotherhood nodded behind him, and the X-Men nodded beside them.

  "You must know." Professor Xavier warned. "That...mutant shows, or..." He hesitated, before continuing. "...freak shows, as some may call them, are heavily gaurded, and many a time brainwashing. This will not be easy."

~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*

  "Gemmie anotha cold towel, HURRY!"

 There was a shuffle of feet at this command.

  "Stutta...Stutta...common Stutta..."

 Jamie heard the voice...but so far off. How could he possibly find it in all this fog?

  "Where's the towel?!" Serenade yelled frantically. "This kid's burnin' up!"

 Another shuffling of feet, a cold towel on Jamie's heated forhead.

  "Ya couldn't do nothin', Serenade. Stutta got what was comin' to him." A helping mutant, Stretchy, comforted while Jamie mumbled feverishly to himself, obviously hallucinating in his troubled sleep.

  "Stretchy, common! Ya can't tell me ya don't feel guilty about...well, just that kid BEIN' here! Kids ain't supposed to be in FREAK shows...they're supposed to be in school, fallin' asleep in class and playin'...aww what is it...well anyway, action figures." Stretchy sighed.

  "Ya well, we're just freaks. He ain't a regular kid, he's a freak. We ain't just regular guys, we're freaks. There ain't nothin' we can do about it. This kid's gotta know that!"

 Serenade nodded reluctantly.

  "Yah but...I sure hope someone comes to get him. Cryin' shames, livin' your life in a freak show. Espessially, startin' young."

 Stretchy patted Serenade's arm in an understanding, brotherly manner.

  "Hey, when Stutta wakes up, tell him ol' Stretchy says hello, ya hear?" Serenade nodded and waved as Stretchy stalked off, and he leaned against the wall beside Jamie, staring down at the stirring boy.

  "You really got yourself in a jam, you know that, kid?"

 As though hearing him, Jamie let out a few non-understandable phrases before growing silent again. Serenade reached over and held his hand an inch from the boy's forhead. Radiating pulsing heat.

 He'd be well enough to learn tomarrow...after they had a talk.

******* *******

 Jamie ran a hand across his sweating forhead, shivering convulsively. For the whole night he had been stirring, his mind filled with hallucinations and colorful dreams. When he had finally awakened, the temperature around him, and his body temperature were rapidly going through a constant battle with each other. The temperature outside was warm, and his body sweat with the heat, but his mind convinced him that it was cold, and so he shivered to keep warm.

 It wasn't until he had been awake for an hour, sitting in the dark of the early hours, that Serenade nervously approached his cage from his own, staring hard through his own bars, and past Jamie's.

  "Stutta." He said gently, and Jamie looked up into the older boy's face, wrapping his arms around himself in the process. Serenade continued talking, knowing now that he had the boy's attention.

  "Look...I...I know you only been here a few days, kid, and in that time, I...I feel a certain need to protect ya. And I tried, but...but I ain't always gunna be there." His voice cracked slightly. "Tomorrow you gonna be all by yourself, just you and your wrangler. I ain't gonna be there to stop em' when you mess up." Choking out a laugh, the boy sniffed back a tear that was threatening to fall.

  "You gotta know..." Serenade continued, adding anger to his voice. "These guys don't show no mercy!" He slammed his fist hard against the dirt. "You gotta know where you stand, Stutta, and make sure they KNOW you know. You gotta pretend like you ain't carin' what they're doin to ya." Serenade's voice cracked again, and he covered his eyes, in fear that Jamie would see the tears that fell from them.

  "I...I just don't wanna see you get hurt..." He concluded, leaning close to the bars so to be heard by the other boy. "Like...like you did yesterday."

 Serenade stuck his hand out through the gap between the bars, and held it out to Jamie. With a grateful smile, Jamie gently put his hand into his, too weak to notice the notable size difference. In that position, the two fell asleep peacefully for a few hours more rest.