Author's Note 1: Finally, the chapter that most of you were waiting for: the X-Men will finally confront Trask. This will be action packed. Will they succeed? Also, what else will our favorite umbrakinetic uncover about his past?

Chapter 10: Machine, Machine

We sped through the streets of Bayville as fast as we could. The air was cool and the moon began to shine like a beckon. Leading the charge to the base in a red convertible was Scott, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Rogue, and I. We were followed by Jean driving the X-Van with Shadowcat, Boom-Boom, and Berzerker. Wolverine took up the rear in his blue motorcycle. (Now I know what you're thinking, 'Why are the New Mutants here? You didn't mention that before.' Well, you see, just before we left, Professor X thought we should take those three on our mission. Maybe it's because of their control, or maybe it's for extra firepower. Either way, we agreed to bring them along).

As you can tell, I was excited. After all, I wanted to get my hands on some meatbags and see what my new weapons were capable of. "Let's hope those Shoalin lessons I took in China paid off," I thought as I looked at one of my hooked swords (After all, that was where I first learned how to use dual weapons. Anyway, let's return to the story…).

It wasn't long until we arrived near the large, abandoned building that marked our enemy's hideout (it must have been a hotel back in its prime). The establishment was ten stories high and it didn't seem to have any electricity (it must have been a hotel during the days it was in use). "Are you sure this is the base, Darkstrike?" Iceman asked. "Looks like an old building if you ask me."

I checked my PDA and cross-checked the data. It was clear that we weren't just near the site, we were standing above it. "This is the site," I said. "My equipment is never wrong."

"So if da base is below us, how do we get in?" Rogue asked.

"Good question," said Berzerker.

"Man, I don't see what the problem is," Boom-Boom began. "Let's just blow the thing up. That should work."

"Yeah, and then get ourselves caught," Cyclops said. "We have to think this through." The conversation was closed when we heard a truck drive near the building. It looked like the same type used in war with the back covered by a tarp. The vehicle stopped in front of a large door that must have been the garage. When it rose open, the truck went slightly downhill inside the basement parking lot.

"Well, it looks like we found the entrance," Jean said. "There's no doubt that the entrance is guarded."

"I'll take on those guards, no problem," Wolverine replied. "The rest of you stay here until I give the word."

"I believe that it would be more efficient if I go in there with you," I said. "This is a H.Y.D.R.A. base we're dealing with. There's no telling how many guards there are in that one spot."

"Fine, kid. Just don't do anything stupid that will jeopardize the mission."

"Don't worry about me. I've been in this kind of situation at least a dozen times." We left the others behind and hid in a bush near one of the other buildings. Wolverine was ready when he displayed three long claws that extended from his knuckles. They were metallic and very sharp. "Grandma, what long nails you have."

"It's a long story. All you need to know is that it's all because of Weapon X. Now I have adamantium grafted to my skeleton."

"Weapon X…" Then I remembered. "I've heard of that before. That's where distribute something called the 'healing factor'."

"How do you know about that?" Wolverine asked, somewhat skeptical about what I said (then again, who wouldn't be. Weapon X was one of those secret departments where they created to make super soldiers for the government by tampering with the very genetic material from the subject. And what they do back there even gives me the creeps).

"My master volunteered as a test subject in exchange for a cure to his terminal illness. However, his healing factor didn't activate right away. Due to that flaw, he was sent to some base where he was supposed to be… 'disposed of', if you will. When the meatbags were about to kill him, that was when the tables had turned and the healing factor kicked in. He sought revenge by destroying the facility and freeing the imprisoned mutants."

"Tell me something, kid. Who is this master of yours you're talking about?"

"His name is…" Before I could disclose that information, the conversation was cut short by a truck headed toward our location. "This conversation would have to wait," I thought. Just before the vehicle passed, we jumped into the back and sat behind a few of the boxes. When we got inside, I shot as many security cameras as I could. After a few minutes, the truck stopped and the footsteps of approaching guards were heard. On both sides, the shadows of the enemies were creeping up the sides of the tarp. By the time the guards look poked their heads inside to check the cargo, we hid behind the equipment once more. After their inspection, the two were about to leave.

That was until Wolverine gave a signal by extending both sets of his metal claws. Before the foes went to far, we each grabbed the individuals (I pulled one of them in with the hooked ends of my blades, while Wolverine forced the other inside). We knocked them out and stuffed them in a couple of boxes. "Hey, who's in there!" shouted another armed soldier from outside.

"It looks like there were more than these two," Wolverine replied. "Think you can handle it?"

I peered outside to take a look at our situation. There must have been about fourteen guards stationed outside the vehicle and ready to attack on sight. I gave a smirk and placed my hands on the hilts of my swords. "These meatbags won't present much of a challenge." On the count of three, we leapt out of the tarp covering and rushed at the soldiers on separate sides. I charged at the guards as quickly as I could, hands still gripped tightly on my weapons. The enemies opened fire, lasers of red and blue barreling towards me. I did my best to dodge the attacks by zigzagging my way to the targets. When I was a few feet from the nearest target, I jumped forward, drawing my blades while in the air. By the time I landed, I delivered a strong, simultaneous slash at the guard. From behind, another guard rushed towards me. Knowing this, I pulled the soldier I slashed toward me and then spun kicked him to the other opponent. Both guards crashed to the ground. "Two down, five more to go," I thought to myself. I crossed my swords in front of me and charged at the soldiers. As expected, the opposition fired at me once more. However, their blasts were no match against me. As soon as they were in close range, I slash at on of the guards. Then I lunged in between two other foes. The foes continued their onslaught, but their efforts were otiose. I sliced one of the enemies with a chain of vicious strikes. The other two lunged at me on both sides, loading their weapons as they came. Before the foes began to shoot, I wrapped one of my hooked swords around one of the guard's guns. When I got a good grip, I ripped the weapon out of his hands and hurled it at the other enemy. The weaponless opponent was stunned. But before he could react, I defeated him by spinning toward the enemy, slicing him with every revolution. The last soldier threw away his comrades gun and opened fire. I evaded his shots, veering at breakneck speed. By the time I closed the gap between myself and the enemy, I slashed him with both swords, and then finished the meatbag off with a powerful butterfly kick. The foe was sent flying a few feet back. The fight was over and I was surrounded by the unconscious bodies of guards. "These meatbags should have ran when they had the chance," I said to myself. I spun my swords and then return the swords on my back.

"Not too bad a job, kid," Wolverine said as he walked casually toward me. "Now find a way to get that door open." With a slight shrug, I went to the guard booth located on the floor above us. The inside of the confine was small, having only one chair and a control panel in front. After typing in a few commands, the door rose open. Wolverine gave the signal for the others to enter. All eight students arrived safely inside. "Okay, now. How do we get to the basement."

"Let's have a look, shall we." I searched the computer and found a blueprint to the facility. Before I downloaded it to my PDA, I skimmed through the map. "There are three options. You can either take the stairs down next to you, using the elevator on the far side of the room, or sliding through that air duct."

"Alright," Cyclops said. "Iceman and Berzerker, you go with Jean and Darkstrike. The rest of us will distract them while you get to the bottom."

"Are you sure?" a concerned Jean asked. "There's no telling how many of those soldiers are in there.

"Don't worry, Jean. You need to get down to the control center as soon as possible."

"Alright, Scott. Just be careful."

Getting tired of listening to the sentimental speech between these two lovebirds, I decided to cut in their conversation. "Let's hurry up, people," I hastily replied. "This H.Y.D.R.A. facility isn't going to blow itself up." "Though, truth be told, it would save me the trouble." With my umbrakinesis, I tore off an opening from the shaft above. Thanks to Jeans psychokinesis (telekinesis for those who don't know), we were able to reach the air duct.

In a few minutes we arrived at the first floor where the battle between the other X-Men and H.Y.D.R.A. had already begun. Explosions were created and streams of lasers were firing on both sides. It wasn't long after the security alarm had gone off and the rooms were now in red light. "Come on!" Berzerker said. "We have to go help them!"

"We can't do that right now," I replied.

"What do you mean?" asked Iceman. "The others can't hold all of them off."

"No they can't. However, if we are to assist them, let's focus on the objective at hand."

"But…"

"He's right," said Jean. "I don't like it anymore than you do. But we have to get the control room before we can do anything else." Though Berzerker and Iceman felt that they were better off joining their companions, they knew what had to be done. With gritted teeth, the two reluctantly pressed on, with Jean in the lead.

I took a short glance at Rogue. At the moment, she was using hand to hand combat against some of the soldiers. "Don't worry," I thought with a look of determination. "This won't take to long. Just hang in there." I continued following the others as we traversed through the air ducts. The deeper we traveled, the darker it became. Cold air swept past us as we progressed through the shafts, courtesy of the large fans connected to the ventilation systems.

In about an hour, we arrived on the fifth floor. This level was darker than the other four, covered in large patches of shadows. I could also feel my power increase a bit (then again, my powers feed off of shadows and moonlight, almost like Sunspot It wasn't long afterward that we hit several dead ends. "What's the deal?" Bobby asked. "Why can't we go any lower?"

I pulled out my PDA from my pocket and looked up the blueprints. No matter we couldn't proceed: The ventilation system stopped on the fifth floor. The last two also had air vents, but they were much too small for us. "I guess from here on out, we'll have to go on foot."

"Alright, everyone," said Jean. "Stick together." With a concentrated psychic blast, created an opening. We jumped to the ground and walked through the halls. It appeared that the soldiers were too busy with the others upstairs. We managed to get through the fifth floor without any trouble and enter the next (I know that a few of you are wondering why we just didn't take the elevator. For one, it doesn't reach the seventh floor. Another reason was because it wasn't usable due to the emergency taking place upstairs).

However, we were still feeling a bit uneasy. We should have seen at least one grunt, but there wasn't even a foreign footstep. But I knew that something wasn't right. Almost as if we were being watched (and it wasn't by the cameras because we were able to destroy them). After an hour of trekking through the sixth floor, we found the entrance to the seventh floor at the end of a short corridor. "This looks like the place," Berzerker said. "Let's hurry up and get in there."

"Not so fast!" said rough voice from behind. We turned around and faced a group of soldiers with their guns drawn. The one who spoke had his arms folded and wore dark blue specks. He was also bald. "You're not going anywhere, mutants."

"Just great," I said. "We have unwanted company."

"What was your first clue, genius?" Iceman sneered. I gave a brief, sharp glare toward the walking ice cube before the enemy started to speak.

"It seems that our little basement has a small rat problem," said the commanding soldier. "If you're trying to get to our control room, think again. Mr. Trask does not want to be disturbed."

"Who are you?" Jean asked. "And what is going on in there?"

"Silly little girl. You should know better than to talk to your superiors like that. But then again, you're mutants. Abominations like you never know their place."

"Just answer the questions, meatbag," I ordered.

"If you must know, I am Dr. Trask's right hand man, Jacob Swindel. I am the commander of these soldiers. If you think you and your merry troupe of genetic sideshows can stop me, think again."

"Tough talk," said Berzerker. "Let's see if you can back it up!"

"With pleasure, fools. Alright men, fire at will!" On that command, the soldiers shot their lasers. With Jean's psychic barrier, the flurry was bounced back at the enemies. Iceman, Berzerker, and myself, participated in the battle with a barrage of ice beams, electric blasts and shadow bullets. We were able to push back the enemy units. However, when we came out the corridor, we found ourselves trapped. On the left and right sides of the hall, we were surrounded by a band of H.Y.D.R.A. soldiers. It was at this point that Commander Swindel started to laugh. "How amusing," he said in a mused tone. "Trapped like the rats you are. There is nowhere for you to go. However, I am in a merciful mood today. If you surrender peacefully, I will spare your pathetic lives… at least, until I deliver you to my superiors where you will be used as test subjects. But if you resist, I will be forced to exterminate you."

"We'll never let you get away with this!" Jean protested.

"I shall not be experimented like a guinea pig by lowly meatbags," I said. "If I am to die in battle, I shall die with honor." On that note, I pulled out my pair of hooked swords and got into a defensive pose.

"Boy, you really have been watching too many martial arts films," Iceman quipped as he transformed into his frozen form.

"I'll act like I didn't hear that." With Jean and Iceman battling enemies on the right side of the hall, Berzerker and I had to contend with the squad on the right side of the hall. Berzerker covered me through consecutive blast of electricity. I rushed through the mob of soldiers, slashing at whoever was in my path. However, no matter how many we defeated, more kept coming. It was almost as if they knew we were here. Knowing that I would get overwhelmed if I stayed on the floor longer, I jumped on the wall and then planted my feet on the ceiling to get a good look. The entire hall was choked with military meatbags. "This will take longer than I thought…" However, even being on the ceiling wasn't any safer than being on the ground. The enemy lasers fired on my location. Luckily, I had much more room to maneuver.

"Hey, Darkstrike!" Berzerker replied. "Why don't you get down here! I can't take all these guys on by myself, ya know." After dodging the laser fire, I allowed myself to drop from the ceiling and landed on a couple of soldiers. I made my way back to where I was. It looked like we hardly made a dent in the number of foes. "I'm getting tired of this shit."

"I agree. This is really becoming bothersome."

"So, what are you gonna do?"

"You see, we're in a dark hall, am I correct."

"What's your point?"

"My abilities grow stronger when I'm in the company of shadows. Allow me demonstrate." I began to concentrate, my hands shrouded in dark energy. I could feel my power increase sharply. In less than a minute, I unleashed a powerful shadow beam. The attack was strong enough to clear out our side of the hall. To tell you the truth, I had never used that much energy before. I was now kneeling on the ground, feeling the effects of fatigue.

"Man, are you okay?"

"I'll live. How are the others?"

We turned around and saw that Jean and Iceman had also taken care of their opponents. There were a few with lying unconsciously on the floor and others frozen on the floor, wall, running in place, and even the ceiling. "It looks like we stopped them cold in there tracks," Iceman replied. "Get it?" We gave the teen a few cold stares of our own at his stale joke.

"Where did Commander Swindel go?" asked Jean.

"Who knows, who cares," said Berzerker. "Let's just get outta-"

Before the teen could finish, he was pulled away. He was now in a sleeper hold with his mouth covered by the hand of Commander Swindel. This took most of us by surprise. "Let him go!" Jean ordered.

"I don't think so, fools," said the commander, who continued to tighten his grip. "I have the advantage now. And since this is my domain, you will play by my rules if you want your friend to live."

"So you want to play a game, Commander?" I asked. "Fine by me. However, there's a hole in your plan."

"Oh really? And what would that be."

"For starters, this is my domain and it is I who have the advantage." With my hand outstretched, I created an orb of dark energy around his head. Unable to see or breathe, the commander loosened his grip around Berzerker and began to struggle against the attack. "It would appear that the rules have been bent. You loose, meatbag." The commander was running out of air in that confined sphere. However, I was beginning to feel weaker due to that last shadow beam.

"Stop it, Tical!" Jean said. "Let him go!"

"Yeah, we already won, man!" Iceman replied.

"Might as well," I thought. "That last attack gave me quite a strain. This foolish meatbag isn't worth my time." I released my hold of the enemy's head. The Commander was now on the ground, unconscious, but alive. "Let's go," I said as I lead the team to the door that would lead to the control room.

We walked down the stairway which led to our next destination. Now it was pitch dark and the only way to securely get to our location was by using the rails on the side. After a few minutes, we arrived on the seventh and final floor of the complex: the control room. This level wasn't a hall or a small floor like the others, it was a large room. There was also some light. On the far side of the room was the large computer that controlled most of the facility. At the moment, the place was empty. "It looks like the coast is clear," said Jean. "Let's hurry."

We ran to the machine and I began to hack into the systems. The other three guarded me as I went to work. I was able to cut off the security systems and uploaded a virus I created specially designed for this computer. I was also able to download other files on my PDA including one that was about a certain Dr. Jericho. However, before I could open it, all of the lights in the room became brighter than ever. We were temporarily blinded. During this period, we heard the footsteps of soldiers arriving at our location. When the lights dimmed, we found ourselves surrounded by a small troop. Their lasers were pointed right at us. We got into our defensive postures, ready to fight off the enemy units. "Damn it, Darkstrike," replied Berzerker. "What the hell did you do?"

"I assure you, it wasn't me," I replied. "These meatbags came on their own accord."

"Then who's behind this?" Jean asked.

"That honor would belong to me," said a voice from behind the soldiers. The armed men moved aside as the figure approached. It was none other than their leader, Bolivar Trask. "Now tell me, what are you monstrosities doing here?"

"We're here to put your plans on ice," said Iceman.

"You mutant fools honestly believe that? Pathetic. However, if you want to know what I am planning so badly, I'll give you a demonstration. In fact, you will be the first of your kind to die." Trask and his men evacuated the room and locked us inside. We looked up and saw him and his soldiers swarming around the chamber behind glass (bulletproof, I believe).

"What the hell are you up to?" Berzerker asked.

"Yes," I added. "Why don't you face us in real battle instead of cowering, meatbag?"

"And get my hands dirty?" Trask replied behind a speaker on a glass. "I don't think so. Prepare to meet your doom." After Trask pressed a button, the wall infront of us began to rise. Once the barrier risen, two small lights pierced through the darkness. It wasn't long after a giant foot stepped out of the shadows following another foot. We backed away slowly as the metallic body emerged from the unknown depths. It was a giant Sentinel. However, this wasn't the one like before. This model was a colossus; larger than the one we faced last time. "As soon as I get you and those nuisances upstairs out of the way, I will unleash this and others in the city. The mutants that populate this city will be the first of their kind to meet their demise."

"You bastard!" Berzerker hissed.

"Say good bye to this world, mutant scum."

We quickly got into our battle positions. I put away my twin blades in exchange for my katana. The Sentinel began to scan our mutant life signs. "X-Men, let's go!" Jean replied just before the robot fired a laser blast. At the last second, we rushed out of the way from the attack. In his frozen state, Iceman rode his ice slide toward the Sentinel, firing consecutive beams at the robot. The deadly machine swung its massive arms at the teenage ice cube, but had no success as the target used evasive maneuvers against the swipes. Iceman seemed to be getting the upper hand. But his luck soon ran out when the unit fired a few missiles. Iceman was able to dodge most of the barrage, but that was before one of them hit the bridge, causing an explosion powerful enough to make him loose focus and crash to the ground. Jean quickly attacked the Sentinel by hurling large object. With every hit, the mechanic enemy staggered back. After hurling seven large item, Jean was about to finish him off with an eighth, a large table. However, the Sentinel fired a laser directly at the object, causing a small explosion in the process, and then fired again at Jean. The psychic was able to dodge the attack, which created a large, thick cloud of smoke. Before she could react, two long claws from the Sentinel swiped at Jean. The blow threw her body against the wall, hitting her head in the process. She then fell to the ground unconscious.

"Damn!" I said. "This modified version is more powerful than its contemporary."

"No kidding," Berzerker hissed. "You have any ideas?"

"Just one: don't die!" I said right before the giant robot fired another laser beam. On impact, we found ourselves thrown in the air and landing about a few yards away from the foe. It's bad enough that I was worn out from that last battle and that my power has weakened due to the amount of lighting in the room. But now I'm in a duel against a powerful Sentinel with half of my team temporarily out of commission (talk about lucking out big time).

Berzerker and I unsteadily got to our feet, using the wall for support. The giant body of the Sentinel towered over us. It's eyes lit brighter as it got ready to finish us off. "There's got to be some way to put that thing."

"I'm too weak to perform any kind of attacks due to that ambush earlier," I thought. I looked up at the ceiling in discontent. "Even if I wanted to launch something against those lights, my shadow attacks would be cancelled out before they could reach their destination." I looked for around the room for anything I could use to capitalize. I looked at Berzerker's hands and saw electric current crackling as it traveled his hand. It was then that I had an idea. "Berzerker is able to channel electricity. I might not be able to stop those lights, but maybe he'll be able to short circuit the power." "Berzerker, I want you to shut off those lights."

"What? How's turning off a few lamps supposed to help us?"

"Just do it!" Knowing that there were no other options, Berzerker unwillingly fired a bolt of electricity at the fixtures above. In a few seconds, the power shorted out. Now the room was mostly covered in darkness with a few patches of dimmed light coming from the floor above. I could feel my energy returning to normal. The Sentinel raised its foot and stomped hard on the ground where we stood.

We got out of the way before the large body part landed. "I think it can see in the dark."

"Hey, Darkstrike. How about you hit high and I'll hit low?"

"Works for me." I charged at the robot in a burst of speed with my red blade trailing behind. Berzerker shot the Sentinel with strong electric bolts. The robot's attention was drawn towards him as he attacked. As the enemy focused on my comrade, I struck from behind, climbing onto his back and using powerful stabs. The Sentinel reacted to my attack and tried to grab me. I slashed away at the steel hands, deterring its efforts. But this didn't last long, for I was soon in the clutches of the enemy. I tried to wriggle out of its grasp, but the robot's hold was tight. Luckily, Berzerker was able to hurl a bolt at the head of the foe. The blast temporarily short-circuited its systems, causing it to release its grip on me. I landed on the ground and watched as the Sentinel recovered from the electric blast. "So its head is its weakness…" I thought out loudly. I then turned to Berzerker and said, "I owe you one."

"For what?"

"For being of some use. Now hit him hard! It's time we end this!" Immediately, Berzerker began firing a series of bolts at the head of the Sentinel. Meanwhile, I was running up the wall. I stopped right under the glass windows from where the H.Y.D.R.A. operatives watched the battle. My comrade continued his assault. Already, the weapon's systems had deactivated. Berzerker's continuous electrical blasts began to overwhelm the giant. However, the attacks were beginning to take a toll on the young mutant. The Sentinel took advantage of this and began to stomp the ground. Berzerker evaded the attacks. Before metal menace could attack again, he ran under its body to the other side. The Sentinel slowly began to turn around, its back to the wall that I perched against. I held my sword horizontally ready to deliver the coup-de-gras. "This is it," I thought to myself. "That mechanical abomination is distracted. Time to finish this off." With a determined mind and a focussed objective, I leapt from my post from above the robot. The tails of my trench coat swayed rapidly as I made my decent toward the head of the Sentinel. With the edge of my blade pointed down, I landed on top of its head. The sword pierced through its metal dome and right into its circuitry. The robot's movement gradual slowed down until it was frozen in place. Not taking any chances, I jumped onto its shoulder, and sliced through its neck. The Sentinel's head fell to the ground. Knowing that the body was loosing its balance, I jumped off the decapitated figure. When I landed on the ground, the Sentinel's remains crashed to the ground with a loud bang.

"Alright!" applauded Berzerker.

"Finally, about time," I said.

"Oh, man," a weary Iceman replied as he and Jean rose up. "I feel like I got hit by a ton of bricks."

"At least we're all safe," Jean said.

"That's what you think!" replied an enraged Trask. We looked up and saw Trask staring at us with his hands behind his back. His men's guns were aimed at us. "I must say, you mutants have proved to be quite troublesome. But that will not hinder our progress. We have more Sentinels ready to go in the streets and wipe you all out. You may have beaten one of them. But you can't defeat them all!" I started chuckling when he finished his rant. Both he and my own teammates stared whimsically. "What the hell is so funny."

"You are, Dr. Trask. You see, while I hacked and downloaded you files on my device, I uploaded a virus on your computer."

"Yeah, it's great that you gave him a bug," Iceman replied. "So what?"

I turned to Iceman and said, "Let me finish, my brain froze friend." With a smirk, I continued speaking to Trask. "You see, my little present is infecting each and every one of your computers. It is overriding and corrupting the hardware throughout the building. Your people can't do anything to stop it."

"You are bluffing!" said Trask. "This is just a trick!"

"Is it?"

"Dr. Trask, sir," said one of the lab assistants. Trask turned his attention toward his henchman. "We are unable to control any of the systems. They're not responding!"

"The security codes are locked," added another one. "Our data is being deleted by the second…"

"Damn you!" Trask shouted at me.

I simply smirked at him and began to count down. "You think you're having trouble now? That's only the tip of the iceberg."

"Sir!" replied a scientist. "The central care has overloaded. The self-destruct sequence has been activated!"

"What?" an angry Trask shouted.

"We only have twenty minutes until this base is destroyed."

"You bastard! I'll make you pay for this!"

"As much as I would love to listen to your banter, we really must be dash," I said as I lead the team out of the room.

"I hope you guys have a blast!" Bobby replied before he left. As we ran through the halls, the lights began flashing and the computer's voice counted down how many minutes we had. We also faced plenty of soldiers and tons of firepower. However, we were able to defeat the enemies that got in our way. After fifteen minutes, we arrived on the first floor.

"Vhat's going on, you guys?" Nightcrawler asked.

"Let's just say in a few minutes, this place is going to blow sky high!" Berzerker replied.

"Everyone, this way!" Scott replied as he led us out of the level. We were able to escape to building in time to see an airplane (I'll bet with Trask and his people inside) fly over head. Seconds later, the entire building was engulfed in a bright light before it exploded in a ball of fire. We were safely out of range as the building was demolished.

"No point in staying here," Wolverine said before driving off on his motorcycle.

"That's Logan for ya," Shadowcat said.

"C'mon," Scott said. "Let's head back to the mansion." We left the site of the obliterated H.Y.D.R.A. base behind. On our trip back, I studied the information carefully and learned how right Trask was. Though low in number, the Sentinels he had in his possession were enough to become more than a small problem. And they were scheduled to be unleashed upon the city. Just thinking about a like that situation gave me chills; an unstoppable squadron of steel and circuitry sent to eliminate every and any mutant they came across. I doubt even Magneto (no matter how strong he is), could have defeated such adversaries.

When we arrived at the Institute, we met up with Professor X in the library. "Welcome back, everyone," he said. "Logan told me about what happened. It would seem that Trask will not plot any attacks. Well, not anytime soon at least."

"And you will not have to worry about him returning either," I said. "I made sure that his facility and all the data inside were… obsolete."

"Well done. I thank you all for your hard work. If Trask had succeeded, there's no telling what might have happened."

"We're glad we could help, Professor," Scott said.

"It's time for everyone to get some rest for tomorrow. I bet you all have plans." We took his advice and left the room.

When I got into mine, I changed into my pajamas and started uploaded the information that I retrieved from the base onto my computer. I then turned my attention to the one item that I've been dying to look at: the one of Dr. Jericho. I opened the file up and read it. "Let's see what it says… 'Dr. Vincent H. Jericho was the leading authority of genetic engineering and manipulation. In his studies, it is said that Jericho built a machine known as the Genetic Augmentator. This device is said to splice DNA material and then mix it with the genetic code of the host subject.' This sounds oddly familiar…" I looked at the picture and was shocked. The doctor's drawings were very similar to the schematics of the device that I found on the government's computer. "How could this be? Unless… was this how I came to be?" My heart was racing uncontrollably as various thoughts surge through my head. I scrolled down the page to see if there was anything else that was useful. I ended up with nothing. All it said was that the good doctor hasn't been seen in years. "So this is why the Shadow King mentioned the Doctor. He was the person who… created me. So that means I am a walking pet project." I focused on my hand, examining both sides thoroughly. "But if that is true, what is my purpose? Was simply to prove his theories were right as he experimented? Or could there be a deeper meaning than that?"

I sat in my chair, holding my chin as I began to ponder about the Doctor's intentions. It wasn't long until I heard a knock on the door. "Could ah come in?" It was Rogue on the other side of the door.

"Just a minute." I closed my files and turned off my computer. After everything was closed, I opened the door with my umbrakinesis. She walked in barefoot, wearing orange and white pajamas. "You're really making a habit of this," I said as she walked in and took a seat on my bed.

"Like ah told ya before, it's da quietest room in da mansion." I shrugged at the comment for it was true. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired and sore," I said. "You?"

"Pretty much da same." I got up from my chair and laid down on my bed. "So did you find anything?"

I turned on my side to face her and said, "Not really. I thought I found the answer, one that would finally tell me who I am. Instead, I only added more questions to an already lengthy list."

"Sorry ta here dat. But from the sound of it, you're making progress."

"True. But I don't like beating around the bush. I'm a 'straight forward' kind of guy. I want to know the real reason."

"Who isn't these days. And again, ah know what you're going through. I want ta know about my past, too."

"I have a feeling that you will, Rogue."

"Thanks, Tical."

"Hey, it's the truth. Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night." When Rogue left the room, I turned on my back and shut my eyes. As I slept, I was completely oblivious of what would happen in days to come. However, I did know that there will be plenty of responses to the question of my past. It will be difficult to sort what's the truth, and what's a lie. But I did know was that only time would tell.