Brotherhood Pt. 4

Null was lying, insensible, on the cold steel of an operation table his limbs strapped down by leathery brown bindings. All over his body were electrodes that were hooked up to various machines to keep track of his vital signs. Heart rate, body temperature, and pulse were just a few bodily signals that were represented by numbers and green lines on the screens of the equipment.

Caduceus was watching the scene unfold from the comfortable observatory room above the people below. Null was surrounded by three men dressed in white aprons, spandex gloves, surgical masks and caps, the typical attire for a dissection. He desperately wanted to be down below and actively participate in the itemization, but he had been ordered to take only a bystanding role in this operation.

"Disembowel one guy and they assume you're Hannibal Lector." He said to himself

The men below were checking and double checking the equipment to ensure that they could pick up the minutest physical fluctuations that occurred in Null while he was under the knife. To tell the truth he was becoming impatient with the time it was taking to carry on with the operation.

"I want to see the blood!" he heard the internal voice command

He covered his face with his palm as he tried to calm himself down; he couldn't have that side of him showing up now at least not now. There would be plenty of time to indulge in his dark fantasies later, but for now he would have to settle for the small trifle that was occurring below…if they ever got to it that is.

Pressing the button to the intercom that would allow him to speak through the glass he said, "Gentlemen, are we ready to begin?" he asked trying to hide his anticipation

One man turned to look up and nodded his answer, "Good, please proceed." He let a crooked smile out at his satisfaction

He looked down at the utensils that would be used in a few moments, "Use the scalpel, the scalpel." he thought madly to himself

One of the doctors picked up a shiny stainless steel scalpel and Caduceus wanted to jump out of his skin in excitement, but held himself in check. Slowly holding the tool in front of his blue eyes the man looked at the other two dark eyes around him before lowering the blade down to the chest of Null.

Caduceus looked with eagerness as the man lowered the blade; he imagined a crimson mist of blood shooting into the air once the knife parted his skin. A sadistic grin crept on his face as the blade made contact with Null's stomach.

Blood leaked out from the superficial wound made by the cut, but the doctor pulled it away for some reason. His fellow surgeons gave him a questioning look, "Fred, what are you doing?"

Gripping the scalpel the man looked at his colleague, "This…this is wrong, he's just a kid." The man said

Caduceus was watching with a slight scowl on his face confused about the pause in the man's hands. Pressing his finger on the intercom once again he said, "I hope no one down there is developing a conscience. You know the obligations you hold to this organization, gentlemen."

Fred could sense the irritation in his voice despite the fact he was behind a pane of glass, he also knew the aggressive streak that surrounded Caduceus which was only fully realized when a punishment was being issued. In spite of this the thought of cutting into a young teenage boy was something he could not bring himself to do. The problem lay not in the issue of blood or graphic imagery, but the fact that the boy was still alive, barely due to the tranquilizers but alive nonetheless.

This was not a cadaver he was cutting into, but a breathing human being, and to dissect him in this way was beyond inhumane. Feeling a hand come on his shoulder he looked to his left at the black haired man, "Don't get cold feet now Fred. You know what A.I.M. does to people who can't follow orders."

While he tried to convince his friend from making a colossal mistake that could potentially ruin his life, the monitor that showed the heart rate of Null began to rise. This was witnessed only by the third brunette haired man.

"Uh…guys." He tired to warn

Fred either ignored or didn't hear his friend because he continued to look at his other partner, "I know that Jordan, but can you honestly say that you will be able to look yourself in the mirror after doing this?"

The number on the heart monitor rose higher and made a beeping noise, but no one but the observant surgeon seemed to notice.

"You two should really take a look at this." He said

Ignoring him once again Jordan said, "Maybe not but it's better to be self-loathing than six feet under."

Fred could not agree with that, to live knowing you willingly destroyed someone's life was not something he thought he could do. Jordan was right about one thing though, A.I.M. had an unofficial policy on how to deal with disobedient employees which encouraged everyone to carry out their orders without question.

A audible beep sounded off from the machine prompting their worried friend to say, "Jordan, Fred! Look!" he almost yelled

No longer able to tune him out both of the men shouted, "What?"

Their answer was given when Null's body jerked forward held in place only by the fastenings on his arms and legs. All three jumped back from his sudden reanimation as he began to struggle to free himself. Thrashing like a wild animal it was only the voice of Caduceus that brought the three to their senses.

"I think you should try to restrain him, I doubt he will be grateful if he manages to break free." He said calmly

Following his advice Fred grabbed a hold of Null's left arm, "Paul, grab that anesthesia! Jordan hold his legs!" commanded

The two men did as they were told; Paul obtained the syringe from the tray also holding the surgical tools and removed the cap. Jordan tried to restrain the flaying legs of Null, trying because the boy was proving to be unusually strong for someone his age, hell for anyone at any age as a matter of fact.

Paul grabbed his hand with one hand and prepared to insert the needle, seeing this Fred relaxed just a little which he regretted because when Null spotted the needle he went ballistic. With some effort he ripped his arm from the strap and grabbed the collar of Paul. Because the needle was so close to him it embedded itself in his arm.

Paul gazed into his eyes and found himself about to wet his pants at their appearance; they were pitch black, with the sclera, cornea, and pupil all the color of the darkest night. For some odd reason despite his fear he found himself transfixed by the abyss that seemed to go on forever. The dark orbs seemed to hold a mystical sway over him and he felt his arms go limp and his mind float. It was like he was in a state of conscious sleep and he didn't want to wake up anytime soon.

"Gaaaaaahhh!" Paul cried as his spellbound state was broken when Null head butted him across his nose. The bone cracked under the pressure as blood spurted from his nostrils. He fell on the floor as he held his muzzle in pain.

His two friend saw this happen and their confidence in restraining the boy dipped by a noticeable degree. Sensing this Null broke the strap holding his right leg and kicked Jordan hard in the chest sending him sliding across the floor. Disregarding the fact that he was strong enough to kick a full grown man several feet like he was hitting a soccer ball he held out his freed hand and conjured a curved knife with a coiled handle.

Caduceus noticed that the purple light that accompanied his manifestations was not present instead there was a black mist that appeared as the knife popped into his hand.

"Interesting." He thought

Null in his haste did not notice this cosmetic difference and instead jammed the blade into the shoulder of Fred.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!" he screamed as blood sprayed out of his shoulder, he grabbed the blade as he fell backwards to the ground.

Noticing his chance, Null unfastened the remainder of his bindings and hopped down from the medical table. His mind felt…different somehow, hazy but clear, focused yet scattered, he blamed this feeling on the drugs in his system and the man that put them there.

Looking up he glared at the man who put him in this position. Caduceus' arms were crossed as he returned the look but without the hostility. The stare off continued until a black mist covered Null's right hand, leaving behind a long barreled Python Magnum, black with a wooden handle made it look like a true weapon of death.

Aiming down the sights he fired with hate in his heart

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets hit the glass, cracks appeared showing the bullets would have struck him in the chest had the pane not been reinforced. The look Caduceus was giving him made it seem like he was being mocked, even though he wasn't making any expression. Throwing his gun to the ground in frustration he refocused on escaping this hellhole.

His eyes landed on the sliding doorway he made a break for the exit.

Seeing him move towards the door Caduceus pulled the walkie talkie from his pocket, "Get me a team in the science area immediately." He said

Running into the door he pushed against it fruitlessly, he knew this motion would not work but he needed to do something. Still he was angry that his route of escape was shut off, so he did the only thing he knew to do when he was angry. He cocked his arm back and punched the door with tremendous force.

Expecting his knuckles to break from the force he put behind the strike, he was surprised when he not only felt no pain but his fist left a clear impression of his knuckles in the metal door.

"That's new." He said to himself

Maria typed and clicked the mouse of the laptop with an unbreakable focal point her white coat had been removed to reveal a black sleeveless t-shirt underneath. She had broken into the private quarters belonging to Caduceus to gain access to his computer or more specifically his files.

The room was dark save for the light cast by the computer screen. His files were heavily protected from prying eyes so she was having a time obtaining them. Most people would consider it suicide to enter Caduceus' room with or without his permission, it was like the forest at night that held the big bad wolf that scared little kids except this wolf was all too real and his fangs were a little sharper than any fairy tale lupine.

This did not matter to Maria however as this might be the only opportunity she had to end this mess. Caduceus was in direct contact with the Director of this section of A.I.M and she would only be able to contact him through this laptop. Her plan was to send him a message that the testing of Ja'Keyon's healing factor was complete and met with satisfactory results.

She hoped that he would then end Ja'Keyon's torture and send him back on missions where he could actually defend himself and had a much higher chance of surviving.

"Finally." She said aloud as she managed to hack into the private files of Caduceus

Not wanting to waste time by patting herself on the back she scrolled over the icon that read messages. Clicking on it she saw that his inbox had one message, surprised that anyone would even think of contacting the psychopath she clicked on it.

The message opened and she was flabbergasted at what she saw, "That bastard!" she said holding her hand over her mouth

Brrrrnggggg!

Maria jumped from her seat as the alarm of the base blared loudly. The alarm only sounded in times of emergency, but she wondered what could be causing such uproar in such a heavily fortified base.

A team of five AK74u-armed yellow clad soldiers were stationed on the other side of the door leading into the surgical area. They had their weapons trained on the door and would be ready to fire as soon as it opened. A loud banging noise could be heard on the other side as Null attempted to escape, something that seemed unrealistic to the veterans, but they were prepared regardless.

"Don't worry about killing him, Captain, his healing factor will keep him alive so fire at will?" asked Caduceus through the headset inside the helmets of the soldiers

"Yes, sir!" said the leader of the squad, he was a little bit happy he was allowed to use liver rounds. The freak beyond the door had put more than a few of his buddies in the infirmary, this would be a chance get a little payback.

Thump!

The door slowly fell to the ground, no longer able to withstand the beating it was taking. On the other side was Null holding the edges of the door his abysmal eyes staring ahead. He was expecting the squad waiting for him, but with slightly more people.

"Oh well, guess I can really see how fast I heal." He said defiantly

Feeling extra brutal he pulled a knife into existence and sprinted at the yellow obstacles in his path.

"Open Fire!" yelled the Captain as their target leapt into the air

The bullets tore into his body hitting mostly his abdomen and chest, but he kept coming. Jabbing the knife into the head of the nearest soldier, making a wet cracking noise as metal met bone, blood jumped onto his chest to add to his own, kneeing the now dead man in the chin, he removed his knife and slit the throat of a guard standing over his now deceased friend.

By now the remaining three had wised up and figured out that close quarter combat was not productive to capturing him. Backing away they opened fire again, this time the attack managed to knock him down to the floor.

"Cease fire!" he heard who he presumed to be the leader shout

It was dead silent for a moment as Null just laid there on the floor seemingly defeated, at least to the unobservant eyes of the guards. If they had paid close enough attention they would have noticed that Null's body began to speedily heal his injuries, thinking on his feet he grabbed the body of the man beside him. Hoisting him up in front of him he ran forward

"Open Fire!" The same man ordered

The gunfire only knicked away his flesh as the meaty safeguard took the brunt of the automatic fire, globs of blood dropped to the floor as bone and chunks of skin were kicked away by the bullets.

"Raaaaaaggghhhh!" he roared as he pushed back against the hail of fire attempting to pin him down

Fortunately or unfortunately, the gun fire stopped when the one's pulling the triggers had to reload. Frantically they searched for their spare clips as Null dropped the bullet ridden body to the floor. Knife in hand he charged forward and literally cut out the middle man when he stabbed him in the chest. The man's last gasp flowed into his ear as he fell to the ground with Null on top.

Taking the blade from his chest cavity he flipped it in the air before throwing it into the shoulder of the guard to his left, he fell holding his new bloody hole. This left one more enemy to deal with; the man seemed to have lost his nerve as he fiddled with his extra clip of ammo. He finally managed to ejected his empty clip and insert the new one and was about to open fire once more.

However he stopped when his entire body went numb and his vision blurred sharply. A trickle of blood fell from his nose and he looked down to the last sight he would see while he was alive. A black organic tendril had pierced into his chest and it was attached to the arm of Null.

The boy seemed to be as shocked as the soldier was and he kept that look even after the tendril disappeared in a puff of black smoke. The man fell to the ground lifeless with a gaping hole where his heart used to be.

Null surveyed his palm like he had just received a new prosthetic. He had never shown that power before or the super strength. He didn't have time to ponder though as the sound of a submachine gun ripped through the air.

Just as he heard it or maybe before he got a fleeting feeling all over his body, his vision was covered in black smoke and it seemed like he was moving, but he was sure he wasn't walking. The next thing he knew he was on the outside of the base.

Back inside the facility, the soldier with the blade in his shoulder talked into the headset inside his helmet, "Sir, did you know he could teleport?"

It took Null sometime to take in his surroundings even though he knew where he was, and that was the outer wall of the facility. He was between the two sniper towers, the cold snow dug between his toes and he could feel the biting chill of the cool air especially because all he was wearing was a pair of black spandex shorts.

He took the quick breather to analyze the situation, judging from the area he was just outside the south wall, which meant if he continue straight he would come to a cliff. If he jumped off he could make a parachute and fall safely to the ground and escape. Of course that was if he managed not to be brought down by one of the snipers or…the mines.

He knew the layout of the area so he knew that proximity mines were buried not too far from the wall. The exact limits of his healing factor were still a mystery to him, but he still was unsure if he could survive having his leg blown off or his body separated into little pieces.

"So I have a choice either run and take the chance of having my brains splattered and blown to high hell or wait here and be caught by Caduceus and subjected to more of his special brand of torture." He thought

The decision was easy enough to make for him; he made a mad dash off into the distance. He felt rocks dig into his flesh and the cold was making his feet numb but it didn't matter to him, this was his chance at freedom and he wasn't about to let it slip because of a little frostbite.

While he was making his attempt at freedom, his escape was caught by one of the snipers in the watch towers. He had on light grey armor and shades along with a face mask that made him look like an ignorant interpretation of a spec ops sniper. Holstering his Russian Dragunov he aimed through the green lenses of the scope.

The boy was running at a brisk pace and a perfect shot would be difficult to do, but he might not have to worry about that because he was fast approaching the minefield.

Null was curious as to why he had not been fired upon yet; standard protocol was to take down any escapees or unauthorized intruders so why was he still running and not reeling from the pain of a high caliber round. Not one to question providence, he persisted in his gallop towards escape.

"Do you have a visual on Null, Tower 1?" said Caduceus through the headset

The reticule of the variable zoom followed Null like an ominous cloud focusing on his torso. "That's affirmative, sir." Said the sniper

"Good, he has a healing factor, so it's going to have to be a headshot. That should incapacitate him long enough for us to recover him."

Nodding, the sniper had been at this long enough to know a headshot would be difficult from this range and stance. The target was moving and steadily increasing distance, but luckily he was not the only one in this tower.

"Jerry, I'mma need you to spot me!" he said to the man behind him

Without saying a word a man with long blond hair tied back into a pony tail with blue eyes, and wearing the same dark and grey armor of his comrade place his rifle beside a wall and pulled out a pair of binoculars from his belt.

Looking through it he found Null's retreating form, "I got you Thomas."

Null was astounded by how far he had run without tiring, being shot, or blown up. He was at least 30 yards away from the wall by now and nothing unfortunate had befallen him as of yet. Not wanting to jinx it however he put his mind completely back on the task of getting to his escape.

"Too late." He thought when he caught sight of what or rather who was in front of him

Standing a few feet ahead of him was a man with a brown hood and scarf covering the lower part of his face. A russet sleeve covered his left arm, he wore black figureless gloves and by his sleeveless right arm he could tell he was African American. He was 6'5'' and well muscled.

He was wearing black combat boots with a grey shirt, body armor covering his torso, but his appearance wasn't what really struck Null. It was his eyes, by all outward appearances they were dark brown, but to Null they were out of place. While he could take a guess that the mysterious man was relatively young, his eyes seemed to be light years ahead of him. They carried an air or weariness that seemed reserved for witnesses of the Holocaust or other survivors of a great tragedy.

"Who the hell are you?" interrogated Null none too happy at being held up

The enigma standing in front of him turned his head slightly and looked behind Null, seemingly not interested in answering his question, "This brings back memories."

Knowing that the window of opportunity to escape was closing the more he stayed still Null was about to conjure a gun in his hand to get rid of the man, but as he did so however he made a shocking discovery. His entire body was frozen in place, he couldn't even speak.

Trying to at least twitch his fingers he found them to paralyze as well, not even his jaw was exempt from this paralysis. Moving his own brown eyes to the man he could tell he was responsible and expected to see a cocky look in his eyes, but was amazed again when all he got was a profound…sadness.

"I'm sorry Ja'Keyon." He said cryptically

That was the last thing he heard before the sniper fired on him.

Logan rubbed his nose as the scent of Jaqueris' brother tickled his senses. This man lying asleep on the bed before them definitely had the young boy's sent mixed in with his own, which made him a likely affiliate of A.I.M. He had been carried in the room like a drunkard by Josh and Jaqueris. The mutants had gathered around him, looking on as if he were some new discovery of some kind.

"How did you get him upstairs without anyone asking any questions?" he asked looking at Elixir and Nova

"Well, it was my idea." Said Pixie making Logan turn his gaze to her "We acted like he was I and Laura's father who had a few too many drinks."

Logan nodded showing that he was actually a little impressed at the girl's ingenuity now they wouldn't have to answer any unwanted questions about the unconscious man in their room.

"Alright, wake him up, Jaqueris." Said Dani

At this Jaqueris held up his finger and sent a visible current to his phalange. Lowering it he touched the man to resuscitate him like a living defibrillator. His body shook for a moment before his eyes slowly opened to reveal black eyes.

He ran his hand through his brown hair as he tried to take in his new environment. His head felt like he had been hit with a bag of bricks and was throbbing but he could see that he was in a hotel room and that there were people around him.

Moving his head to his left he spotted a short, but muscular man with pork chop sideburns and a contemplative gaze sitting cross-legged in a chair in front of him. Beside him, also in a chair, was an attractive woman of Native American descent with her black hair tied into a long braided pony tail her brown eyes studied him closely.

Behind her was a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a blue jacket with grey pants. There were other teenagers as well including a lithe pink haired girl with wings as well as a tall African-American boy who was leaning over him.

"Aaahh!" he said jumping back from spotting the girl who had knocked him out

She had the greenest eyes and long black hair and looked at him with a cold calculating eye. He had no idea who these people were, but his mind jumped to the conclusion that they meant him harm. Why else would he be knocked out cold and dragged to a secluded area?

"Who are you?" asked the creepy girl

For some reason the idea of being uncooperative never entered his mind when he looked at her and without thinking he said, "Lysander Dascalopolis Stevens."

He saw more than a few faces change at the nature of his name, "Is that European or something?" said the blonde boy

"It sounds like the name of a dinosaur." Added the fairy girl

Not really appreciated the ridicule his name was receiving he interjected, "It's Greek."

Not caring about his name only his connection to the terrorist organization and his brother Jaqueris butted in, "What do you know about my brother?"

"Brother?" he looked the boy in the face and after a few moments his memory filled in the blanks of who he was, "Oh my god, it's you!" he said suddenly

Jaqueris squinted his eyes in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, of course you don't know. How could you?" he said obscurely

The group was at a loss of the meaning of his words and some of them wondered if perhaps Laura had struck him too hard on the cranium and had dislodged something. If his cognitive ability was impaired in any way that presented a whole new problem on what to do with him.

"I'm gonna need you to start making sense, bub." Said Logan leaning forward

Sighing the man rubbed his forehead, "Yes, I'm sorry about that." He looked at Jaqueris with a serious expression, "You see young man A.I.M….are the ones who created you and your brother."

Sorry this chapter was shorter than the others, but I feel that I should try and lengthen this arc out a little as ending it in six would feel too short to me. Please tell me what you guys think of the revelation at the end and this chapter overall.