Recap - The team has left Antarctica while Angela and Xavier are being fired at by Sergei's jet.


Chapter Fifty-One: Symbiosis Part Three

Above Birdsville, Australia - 6:55 AM

"I have an idea but you have to promise to be back," Xavier tells her.

"Of course," Angela replies.

Angela listens to what Xavier says. She flies above Sergei's jet and opens the hangar door. Xavier jumps out without a parachute and lands on Sergei's jet. Angela takes a shaky breath as she closes the door and is left alone with the controls system telling her to get out of the air and fix the problem. She says a silent prayer to whoever is listening to keep Xavier safe from this plan that seems as if it has more problems than solutions.

Xavier, from the exterior of Sergei's jet, watches Angela's quinjet fly off until he can't see it anymore. Then he feels a hand yank his wrist and he groans, thrashing his feet as his back hits the jet. He feels himself being hauled up and he struggles for any traction. Before he could strike a punch, he feels himself getting thrown inside the jet. Xavier looks up from the ground and sees Sergei coming down from the staircase.

"How far are you?" Xavier whispers to Angela in his earpiece, lowering his head so Sergei doesn't see him speaking.

Angela: Still pretty far! I can't make any repairs in the air nor in the time the quinjet gave me before it automatically lands. I have to set her down.

-o-

Quinjet - 9:54 AM

Daniel groans as he rolls onto his side and hunches into a ball to make his body feel as if it's one piece when it really feel like exploding into many pieces. The quinjet ride is taking a whike because not only are they coming from the Antarctic but a sudden snow storm is blowing against them, slowing them down.

"I feel like vomiting but I don't want to throw up my heart," Daniel grumbles. "Someone tell me what the hell is in my body."

James, with Emily's help, go through the scans Emily got in her suit about the experiment. Once they read through it, both of them freeze. Neither of them want to tell Daniel what they just read and he doesn't have the energy to ask again.

"To be optimistic," James ironically says with a pessimistic tone, "your body isn't going to burst open."

"What the hell?!" Merida exclaims from the pilot's seat. "You and I saw all those dead bodies with their organs ready to harvest."

"This experiment wasn't made for them. The virus that's in Daniel's body is searching for something and since it couldn't find it in those scientists' bodies, it just - " James makes an expolsion gesture with his hands as a way to show the tragic demise of all those scientists.

Daniel huffs. "It's looking for gamma, isn't it?"

James and Emily nod as Daniel groans and Merida accelerates the quinjet out of the storm.

-o-

Above Birdsville, Australia - 7:00 AM

Xavier gets forced onto his feet by one of Sergei's men and is forced to face him. In the spur of the moment, he's trying to think of the best way to get him to surrender when he's on his jet. Speaking rationally, Xavier's on Sergei's jet so he doesn't have the right to surrender and he obviously has more control. But he believes in himself. He could do this in just enough time for Angela to get back. He just needs to play his cards right.

"Hello," Xavier says to Sergei and his men.

"Captain America's son!" Sergei exclaims in a welcoming manner which Xavier didn't expect. "It is an honor to meet you, it really is. I mean, you are an exact replica of your father, even without the shield. I see that the Super Soldier Serum has been passed on to you. Does that mean your offspring will be enhanced as well or is that a question too personal for you?"

Sergei waits for a response which Xavier doesn't have because he expected to talk about being taken in, not about his future children. Forget about having a strategy because Xavier doesn't know how to respond to that weird question which made him a bit uncomfortable.

"Surrender now," Xavier states, getting straight to the point.

Sergei shakes his head with a growing grin on his face. "This is my plane so I'll save you the time. Show yourself out and try to survive the fall. Your twin isn't here to give you a ride back."

"You're right, you really are. I wouldn't survive the fall. Even my old man wouldn't and we're talking about the man who jumps from planes without parachutes for fun. My team will always have my back."

"That is where you are wrong, Xavier." Sergei takes a step closer to him. "You are being betrayed. You all are. Daniel is just the first one to go. Which one of you will be next?"

Xavier is about to attack Sergei but stops when Sergei pulls something out of his pocket. Strategies start running in his mind once he sees that the item Sergei's holding is a grenade without the key in it. With seconds on the clock and Xavier knowinf that Sergei is including himself on this explosion, Xavier pulls his shield over his face just as the bomb goes off.

Xavier suddenly feels a gigantic force blow him back, blurring his vision. He feels himself spinning in the air due to the impact of the explosion. He sees the plane in flames as debris falls, slowly getting smaller and smaller in his eyes.

Then he realizes that he's free-falling with no parachute or Angela in sight.

-o-

Quinjet - 10:02 AM

"Why make something like this?" Emily asks, her voice shaky. "What's the point of this gamma-locating virus?"

"I don't know," James replies. "These papers only contain the procedure of how to make and administer it. There is no purpose or objective, it's just - !" More incomprehensible hand motions.

"I get it!" Daniel grunts sharply, holding his side. Everyone looks at him to explain. "Instead of my organs bursting out, this virus will find the gamma gene in my body and act as a catalyst to get the Hulk out. That's what my body feel like except a thousand times worse."

"So this is something like another round of MojoWorld?" Merida asks since Mojo's technology also had a gadget that let out the hulk from Daniel's body.

Daniel laughs a little but not because he finds it funny, but because this all makes sense to him now. The others are a bit alarmed at this psychotic reaction considering that he's on the floor in complete pain.

"Oh no," Daniel says with his laugh still present, "Mojo was being nice and all with his little painless darts so the Hulk could make a little appearance here and there when needed. That was great, just quality entertainment. This virus that's inside me right now actually feels like it will kill me."


Stay Tuned - What will Daniel do about this plan that was supposedly targeted for him? Will Angela make it back in time to save her twin?