Chapter 14: Never Surrender
(Toad)
Along with Sabretooth, and a couple of Brotherhood mutants, Toad snuck into the base without Hugh noticing. The group of six stealthily searched the base for an antidote to save the five patients back at the school/mansion.
"I feel kinda bad leaving Mystique out there." Toad said, breaking the search-induced silence.
"She can handle herself." Sabretooth's quiet, yet fierce voice responded.
"Will you guys shut up? You'll give away our position." the gray-skinned mutant ahead of them scolded. Sabretooth growled; a sound that still sent a shiver up his spine. The group cautiously searched room after room, finding no Monitors, no employees, and no antidote.
"Does this place seem too empty to anyone else?" Toad whispered.
Just then, the group whirled around as they heard a noise come from behind them. They were face-to-face with a terrified man in a lab coat.
"Don't hurt me!" the man pleaded, hiding his face behind his hands.
"Who are you?" one of the mutants asked.
"I work here, but please don't kill me!" the man begged.
"What do you know about the antidote?" another mutant asked.
"Antidote? There is no antidote. Not in the tr-traditional sense." the man said.
"We'll settle for the no-traditional sense. If we like what you tell us, you get to live." Sabretooth said. The man's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.
"There's no medicine or-or chemical to save your friends." the man said.
"I'm not liking what I'm hearing." the gray mutant said.
"No, wait! Please! I do know of a satisfying way to save your friends. This place, this is not what I signed on for!" the man blubbered.
"Cut to the chase." a mutant snapped.
"If your friends are still alive, and they h-haven't succumbed to the virus, they can be saved. If you sever the connection between Mr. Jerection and the afflicted, you'll essentially stop the spread of the virus. Once you uh, once you do that, you'll need to use Rheopherisis, a blood filtration procedure, to filter out the virus from the blood. They'll be fine afterwards." the man said.
"If you're lying-" Toad started to say.
"I'm not!" the man insisted.
"How do you stop the Monitors?" the gray mutant asked. The man swallowed, looking from Toad to the mutant.
(Juggernaut)
He and Mystique were currently taking refuge behind a concrete bunker, trying to catch their breath as explosions shook the ground. Screams of agony could be heard among the deafening blasts of explosives and fire. As he peered over the wall, he saw two Monitors flying above the base, like they were circling the roof.
He also saw the Cajun mutant in trouble, and devised a plan with Mystique to save him. On the count of three, they charged at the Monitors and he bulldozed through them with ease. After smashing their heads in to make sure they were dead, he returned to the Cajun and Mystique.
"Much obliged for the assist." the saved mutant said. Mystique nodded and a group of mutants exited the base. Among them were Toad and Sabretooth.
"You guys are not gonna believe this, but we can save Pyro and the others." Toad said.
"What? How?" Juggernaut asked.
"If we kill Hugh, the Monitors will die and the virus will stop!" Toad replied. The group looked around for Hugh and spotted him around the back of the base, fighting with a…Monitor?
The group of eight hurried over to the strange sight.
"Damn you, Trask! You're a disgrace to humanity!" Hugh yelled, using a force field to shield himself from a continuous stream of fire from the Monitor's flamethrower. The Cajun expertly flung two cards at Hugh's back, but they were deflected.
"Huh…Never give up, eh, mon ami." he said, shrugging. The group advanced, and the two circling Monitors up above stopped the mutants' march as they fired cure darts from the sky. Juggernaut felt the sensation of a needle prick in his arm and he collapsed to his knees, feeling a depressing feeling of weakness wash over him. He saw Sabretooth, Toad, and the three Brotherhood mutants also go down.
The cured mutants scrambled away to safety, waiting for their powers to return. Mystique went down as several stun bolts shocked her into unconsciousness. The apparently 'good' Monitor shot down one of the other Monitors with a missile and Hugh seized the opportunity. He spun around and waved a hand, causing the Cajun to suddenly move in slow motion. Before the 'good' Monitor could re-focus on Hugh, the bastard created a Katar out of thin air and thrust it into the Monitor's neck, moving extremely fast.
Juggernaut felt his strength returning and a mutant to his right generated a blade-like shard of rock from his wrist and threw it at the last hovering Monitor above them. The rock went through armor, skin, muscle, and bone, exiting through the hybrid's back. The dead enemy crashed to the ground and Hugh turned to attack them. Juggernaut glanced over at Mystique, still unconscious, and the Cajun, still moving in slow motion. Seriously, he only moved a foot and a half closer to Hugh, who ignored the non-threatening mutant. As Hugh advanced, the mutants prepared to fight him. The rock-skinned mutant was about to throw another rock shard when half a missile suddenly crashed through the psycho's gut. The 'good' Monitor collapsed in unison with Hugh, who clutched at the bloody missile as if it were his own intestines.
The remaining Monitors simultaneously died. Some exploded, some simply collapsed, and some froze in place, like a deactivated robot toy.
The Cajun was released from his psychic hold or whatever and Sabretooth was able to get Mystique to wake up. Some far-away cheers were heard and those nearest to Hugh approached his blood-spattered, mangled body. Mystique spat on his corpse and everybody soon gathered around the body of the psychotic, mutant hating nut job.
When the news about saving the remaining patients was revealed, everyone was understandably eager to get back to the mansion, but not before the second base was wiped off the face of the Earth, and Hugh's remains and the Monitors were likewise vaporized.
The flight back, albeit long, was full of cheer and high hopes. The mini-apocalypse was finally over, the infected would soon be saved…everyone was feeling better than they had in weeks, even with the mutant corpses in the back of the jet entering rigor mortis.
By the time the jet lowered into its 'parking spot', everyone was on pins-and-needles. The blue teleporter vanished to tell the doctors then news while everyone unloaded the dead. A Brotherhood mutant teleported the Brotherhood corpses away. Magneto wanted to stay and keep an eye on Sparky, but Xavier explained that the filtration process would take at least four hours, so the Brotherhood leader left when the teleporter returned to honor their dead.
(Troy)
He witnessed Hugh's death from the base. As much as he wanted to remain loyal to the man, he knew that continuing the fight now would be as useful as wearing underwear on your head.
The panic room he was in was filled to max capacity, full of scared lab technicians, and medical personnel, and security guards trying to put on a brave face. Troy turned off the security cameras and closed his eyes, Hugh's last words to him ringing clearly in his ears.
"If they manage to get past me, Lieutenant, you'll be in charge. It'll be up to you to continue my legacy. Never give up, Troy."
"Never give up, never surrender." he whispered as he reopened his eyes. He fingered his sidearm and turned to the remnants of Hugh's employees, shaking his head as a non-verbal way of telling them about Hugh's death. Some groans and whines of despair and fear were heard from the cowering men and women.
He knew what he had to do. In one swift move, he removed his firearm and squeezed off four rounds, hitting each security guard in the chest. He approached their twitching, choking, dying bodies and fired a bullet into their heads.
He holstered his gun and picked up one of the automatic rifle, ignoring the screams from behind him. He turned around and shut up the room like the O.K. Corral. When he ran out of ammo, he looked at the carnage he had single-handedly caused. He tossed the rifle away and it clattered loudly on the floor. He took out his sidearm again, sliding to the floor in a sitting position.
"Your legacy dies with you, Mr. Jerection." he said, putting the barrel of the gun against his right temple. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger of his gun one final time.