Chapter Five

The research institute was fairly isolated, set in the middle of an expanse of wasteland near the edge of the city. There only appeared to be one road leading there, and the entire facility was surrounded by high, electrified fences. There was only one entrance, which was accompanied by a check-point and several heavily armed guards. Inside the compound there was another guard station, as well as groups of humans walking patrol routes. Pyro had said this place was well-guarded – he hadn't been exaggerating.

"All right, Vertigo, land here," our leader said. "Any closer and they'll spot us."

We touched down on the other side of a small rise, and got out.

"Are we just going to leave the chopper here?" asked Mole.

Pyro nodded, "Don't worry; if we need to make a quick getaway I can summon it by remote control. Recyclo's set up the automatic pilot to kick in and fly the 'copter towards my signal. Come on."

We followed him to the top of the rise, and surveyed the facility in the distance. There was an awful lot of open space between it and us, and I wasn't entirely sure how we were going to get there with the element of surprise still intact. Pyro would have a plan, though. He usually did.

"All right, here's what we do," he said. "We can't get any closer without being seen. Atlas, use your power on the earth around them. They'll think it's an earthquake, and if they follow their standard safety protocol they'll duck into the reinforced bunker just at the entrance of the building. That should give us the time we need to get over there without being seen."

My faith had not been misplaced. A look of concentration crossed Atlas' face, as he stretched out both arms towards the guard posts. For a few moments, nothing happened, then I could feel a slight tremor in the ground. It grew and grew more violent, until the earth around us was literally shaking. Gemini grabbed Pyro's arm to keep her balance, while Cassandra and I braced ourselves against each other. Vertigo had probably never lost his balance in his entire life, and he stood casually now, hands by his sides. Recyclo was likewise cool and composed, unwilling to do anything as undignified as leaning on another person for support. Scarab and Mole were both short enough that they weren't in danger of overbalancing.

For the humans in the guard posts, however, it was a different story. They were running frantically across the ground towards their bunker, throwing open a hatch and dropping inside. When the last human was inside, Pyro said, "Let's go!"

Atlas dropped his arms. The ground continued to shake, and would do so until it had settled down. By the time the humans ventured out of their bunker, we'd be on them. That was the plan, anyway. As a group we broke into a run, moving as fast as we could towards the facility. We covered the ground quickly, as the last of the earth tremors began to die down around us, and Vertigo was the first to reach the electrified fence.

"Can we turn off the power?" he asked.

Pyro nodded, "The controls should be in the guard hut."

Recyclo had already walked inside the now-empty guard shack, and presently the humming sound of the fence's electric power abruptly stopped. I heard a gasp of pain from behind me, and looked around. Gemini had just summoned her twin, an act which she still couldn't do without discomfort. I watched as her duplicate walked over to the fence and touched one of the wires. Nothing happened. The barrier was safe to touch. Recyclo had emerged from the guard shack, and a metal blade appeared in his hand as he approached the fence. He made short work of cutting through the tough metal, and quickly made a hole big enough for us to climb through. We had to move quickly. The earth had settled once more, and the humans would be climbing out of their bunker any moment. Once we were on the other side of the fence, Pyro said, "All right, when they come out of the bunker I want to be ready for them. Kill them all. We can't afford to have any of them escape. A further armed response unit showing up is inevitable – but I want to have some time before that happens. Everyone get ready. Cassandra, watch the facility in case any more come out of there."

"Got it."

We spread out a little as we closed in on the bunker, and each of us tensed as the hatch was pushed open from below.

"What the hell was that?" came a human's voice.

"An earthquake of course, where did you go to school?"

"But we're not even on a fault line! There can't be any earthquakes around here!"

"Well, obviously you're wrong!"

The first human lifted himself out of the bunker, and as he looked up his eyes widened in shock at seeing us in front of him. His hand reached for the weapon at his side, but before he could say or do anything, Recyclo skewered his throat with a knife. The human collapsed on to the ground, dead.

"What the hell?" yelled a voice from inside the bunker.

Without warning an automatic weapon was thrust up out of the hole, and bullets began to spew in all directions, as the panicking sub-creature tried to hit something. He was firing too high into the air, and hit nothing. The sound, however, was enough to advertise the situation.

"Humans are coming from inside the building!" Cassandra yelled. "Ten or more! They're armed! They'll be here any minute!"

"Vertigo, Gemini, Recyclo, Gladiator – deal with them!" Pyro ordered.

Without questioning him, we hurried towards the front of the facility, waiting for the doors to be thrown open and the sub-creatures to pour out. I glanced round momentarily to see another human experimentally thrusting his head out of the bunker. Scarab was in position, and thrust his hugely strong arm around the guard's throat, lifting him bodily out of the hole, and twisting until a sickening snap told me the human's neck was broken. The building's front door was kicked open, and sub-creatures began to spill out. These were dressed differently from the ones in the bunker – they looked more like military than simple security guards – but it didn't matter. They were only human, and we were superior.

"We've got hostiles!" yelled one human, who appeared to be in command. "Drop them!"

"Sir, they're only children!"

"They're mutants, dammit! Finish them!"

Unfortunately for him, that was his last contribution to the battle, as Recyclo flicked a knife through the air into his neck. The rest of the humans, taken by surprise, dropped back to assume defensive positions, bringing up their weapons to bear on us. Vertigo was already on them, moving so effortlessly he appeared to be floating, as he knocked one human's weapon out of his hands, then spun round to kick another in the face. Gemini and her twin, moving in perfect synchrony, kicked another two humans to the ground. I inhaled deeply, then breathed a jet of flame straight into another group of soldiers, setting them on fire. They screamed, dropping their weapons, rolling on the ground to try and smother the flames. Recyclo strode calmly through the melee, pausing to thrust a blade into a sub-creature's heart. Another human gave a scream of rage, picked up a fallen machine gun and emptied a clip into Recyclo from point blank range. His eyes widened in disbelief and horror as my friend, looking distinctly unimpressed, dropped the metallic shield he had just created. The human panicked and fled. A throwing knife brought him down before he could get more than ten feet away.

This was too easy. I hadn't even needed to go berserk. A human stumbled into my path, and I swung my fist into his jaw, throwing him across the ground to land in a motionless heap – unconscious or dead, I didn't care which. I saw Vertigo, flipping upside down to kick two humans simultaneously, then twisting in mid-air to land back on two feet with perfect grace. I saw the Gemini twins dodging in opposite directions to avoid gunfire, then reacting in tandem to kill the human responsible. There weren't many left now. I grabbed one who was aiming a weapon at Gemini, and hurled him into the side of the building. Vertigo was casually trading blows with an unarmed soldier, while another had grabbed a combat knife from a sheath on his thigh and was approaching Recyclo. My friend opened his right hand and was holding a similar blade. For a moment I watched as they slashed at each other, then hurried over towards them as Recyclo's blade vanished. It was part of his mutation – the 'recycled' objects he created only lasted for a matter of moments. As I approached, he ducked a wild lunge from the human, then recovered his composure to create a blade in each hand and thrust them into the soldier's chest. The human gave a hacking, bloody cough, then fell to the ground.

I heard a scream from behind me, and whirled round. Gemini had been shot in the chest, and I watched in horror as her lifeless body crumpled to the floor. I ran over, knowing there was nothing I could do to help her, but then a hand grabbed my shoulder and I heard her voice from behind me, "Relax! That's my twin! I'm OK!"

"Where's the one who shot her?"

"Up there!"

I looked up in the direction she was pointing. Two or three floors above our heads, a window was open, and two sub-creatures with sniper rifles were bringing their weapons around to aim at us. I pulled Gemini to safety beside the building, out of their line of fire. A quick glance around told me that there were only a couple of humans left down here – and as I watched Vertigo was twisting in mid-air to deliver a two-footed kick to one's neck. The human was thrown to the ground and didn't move. The last of them was fumbling with his weapon as Recyclo approached. My silent friend raised both hands, and from his palms came clouds of white gas. He was converting them from the air around him, and the human choked and gasped as the gas surrounded him. Falling to his knees, his eyes streaming, he tried desperately to run to safety. Vertigo's fist came up into his jaw, and he fell unconscious. Recyclo was now hidden behind the clouds of tear gas, and the snipers up in the building were aiming at Vertigo.

"Get down!" I yelled at him.

He reacted with catlike grace to dive to one side, rolling over and getting to his feet just as two bullets smacked into the earth where he'd just been standing.

"We have to kill them!" Gemini cried.

Recyclo's voice came from our side, "Stay here. I'll do it."

Forming a metal blade in his left hand, he thrust it into the side of the building, pushing it in as far as it would go, until it was secure. Creating a second blade in his right, he did the same thing, pushing it into the wall a foot or so above the first. I was about to ask what he was doing, when it became clear to me. With his left hand he 'recycled' a third metal spike from the air molecules around his palm, and thrust it into the wall above the other two. His right hand formed another metal blade, and he climbed on top of the first spike. Now it was obvious what he was doing. By creating these metal spikes and plunging them in alternately, each one a little higher than the last, he was climbing up the wall as if he was using a ladder. I was amazed at how easy he made it look – it had probably taken him years to learn – he was climbing up the side of the wall as quickly as if he were walking on the ground.

"We'll have to draw their fire, in case they notice him," I said. "Gemini, summon your duplicate again."

Gemini closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, tensed her muscles, and lines of concentration appeared along with a pained expression on her face. She gave a gasp of pain and exertion as her twin materialised beside her. I put a hand on her shoulder to steady her, and she leaned on me for support.

"Sorry," she gasped. "It's always harder if the previous one's just died."

The new twin began running out of the cover provided by the side of the building, and the snipers saw her instantly, moving their weapons to bear on her. I looked over to check on Recyclo. He was still climbing steadily, not far from the balcony where the two snipers were kneeling. Gemini screamed and collapsed against me as a sniper's bullet lodged in her twin's brain, knocking the running figure to the floor.

"I'll be all right," she said shakily. "I always feel it when she gets hurt…"

We both looked up in time to see Recyclo, having reached the level of the balcony, performing an elegant leap to land behind the two unsuspecting humans. Forming two blades, one in each hand, he stabbed both humans in the neck, flinging their bodies off the side of the balcony. The two dead sub-creatures landed on the earth beside us, and Gemini breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's the last of them!" said Vertigo.

I looked around. He was right. The group of soldiers who had tried to kill us were now a pile of broken, burnt and bleeding bodies, their weapons scattered around where they had fallen.

"Gemini – you OK?" I asked her.

"Fine. You?"

Before I could reply, Pyro appeared at our side, "We took care of the others. Recyclo, get down here and we'll go inside."

Recyclo jumped gracefully over the side of the balcony, his arms outstretched, and it took me a moment or two to realise why he was falling so slowly. He had to be using his power to form some kind of lighter-than-air gas underneath him, to slow his descent. Gemini and Vertigo had clearly seen it all before, as they didn't give him a second glance, but I was amazed. Was there anything this guy couldn't do?

Pyro too was not paying attention, engrossed as he was in trying the front doors. They appeared to be locked, and would not budge. I looked for some way of opening them, but there didn't appear to be a keyhole or an electronic keypad or anything.

"How do we get it open?" I asked.

"It's a security door," said Pyro. "It closes automatically in the event of an emergency like this. It can't and won't open until the emergency is over."

"So how do we get it open?"

Pyro turned, "Mole? Over here!"

The rest of the Brotherhood arrived at a run beside us, and Mole stepped forward. Pyro gestured to the door, and Mole pulled back his arm. Swinging it forward, his metal fist smashed into the security door with unbelievable force, punching a hole clean through. Mole ducked through the hole, and hit a switch from the other side, cancelling the state of emergency. The security door slid silently open. We went inside, moving carefully and cautiously in case there were more humans inside waiting to ambush us, but it appeared they had all come running out in the initial charge.

"OK," said our leader. "Here's what we're going to do now. Scarab, Mole, Atlas, stay here and guard the front entrance. Gemini, Cassandra, you're with me; we'll set the explosives to blow this place to hell. Recyclo, Vertigo, Gladiator, you have a look around and see if you can find out anything more about the research they're doing here. I have a feeling there's more to this place than meets the eye. Those weren't ordinary security personnel you were fighting, those were trained soldiers – and our intelligence didn't say anything about soldiers guarding this place."

"You think they were waiting for us?" said Atlas nervously. "What if our traitor told somebody other than the X-Men about our plans?"

"Possible. There's no use speculating. Hopefully we'll find something here that will let us know what's going on. All right then, go to it."

We split into three groups of three, and I cast an unhappy glance over my shoulder as I saw Cassandra and Gemini, with Pyro, heading the other way. I didn't want to be separated from the girls. They were the only two I knew I could definitely trust. Well – at least I knew Cassandra would be safe. Neither of the people she was with could possibly be the traitor. As for the rest – I had no way of knowing.

"All right, where we heading for?" said Vertigo.

Recyclo pointed down the corridor to our left, "The computer storage facility is down that way. That's where we'll find out what we want to know."

"Lead the way."

We went the way Recyclo had indicated – he seemed to know where he was going – and before long we reached a door labelled Computer Data Storage – Top Level Access only. It appeared to be electronically locked with a keypad next to the handle. Recyclo punched a code into the pad, and the door slid silently open.

"How'd you know the code?" I asked in surprise.

"Pyro and I hacked into their security system last night."

He walked into the room and we followed him. Nine or ten computer terminals were plugged into a huge machine that looked like a central mainframe and server. Recyclo glanced around for a moment or two, "Everything we need should be here."

Grabbing a swivel chair, he sat down in front of one of the terminals, and got to work.

"What do you want us to do?" I asked.

"Keep watch for any trouble."

I sighed, "How long will this take you?"

He didn't reply, and I went to stand next to the door, to keep an eye on the corridor outside.

"There can't be any security personnel left in the building, can there?" I said to Vertigo.

He shrugged, "Nah, but the ordinary office workers and scientists will still be here. Any of them could sound the alarm. It's inevitable that somebody will find us, but the longer we remain undetected the better."

"So if someone comes along here just now…"

"We silence them before they can give us away."

"Fair enough."

I had no idea how long Recyclo would take to find the information we needed, and I was preparing myself for a long wait, when he suddenly said, "This must be it."

"Hmm?"

"I've found the reason why this building was so heavily guarded. There's a secret government research team working here."

"Working on what?"

"I don't know yet."

He continued what he was doing, and again I marvelled at the unbelievable speed at which he was typing. It was almost as if the computer keyboard was an extension of his own fingers, rather than a separate entity with which he had to interact. Presently he stopped, "I've found it."

"Found what?"

"See for yourself."

Vertigo and I walked over to look at the computer screen over his shoulder.

"'The Apocalypse Project'," I read. "What does that mean?"

"It's what they're working on here. It's the government researchers' project. It seems to be something to do with genetics – but with military applications. That's all I've been able to find so far."

"Do you think they're – gosh, I dunno – breeding some kind of creatures to fight for them?"

Recyclo said nothing. Vertigo put in, "Whatever it is, it sounds as if it could be a threat to us. I'd better tell Pyro."

He grabbed the communicator from his belt and tapped it on, "Yo, leader man."

"This is Pyro," came the reply.

"We think we've found something pretty important here – you wanna come up and take a look?"

"On our way. The explosives are in place."

"See you soon."

He flicked off the comm. unit, and Recyclo said, "Here's something else. This is the human in charge of the research project."

We looked back at the screen. It showed a picture of a balding, bespectacled man wearing a white lab coat.

"There's a mad scientist if I ever saw one," Vertigo commented dryly. "Elias Van Gaarde – good, sinister-sounding name as well."

"You still can't find out what their research is about?" I asked.

Recyclo answered, "No. But whatever it is, it's taking place on an underground level."

"How do we get down there?"

"I think we should wait until Pyro gets here."

"Oh yeah. Right."

It was only a minute or two before our leader and the girls arrived.

"What do you have?" Pyro said.

Recyclo showed him. Vertigo slouched lazily against the wall while they stood over the computer, and I went over to Cassandra. She and Gemini both smiled at me.

"All right," said Pyro. "We're going down to the underground levels. I don't know what they're doing down there, but it sounds as if it may be too important to ignore. The underground level wasn't on any of the building schematics we looked at – they're obviously trying to keep it a secret. Obviously whatever's down there is something they don't want anyone to see. Come on, we're done here."

Pyro had obviously memorised the layout of the building, and we followed him from the computer room to the elevators. The elevator took us down to the underground level, where we found ourselves in an empty, sterile-looking corridor painted plain white. Ahead and to the left was a turning. Further on there were some closed doors on either sides.

"The main laboratory will be this way. Come on."

He led us down the turning, and before long we were faced by another of the electronically-locked security doors. This too had a keypad at the side, and again Recyclo punched in the code to open it. How they had got the codes, I wasn't too sure. He'd said something about 'hacking' into the security system – had he meant over the Internet? I supposed he must have done…

The room beyond was vast, and had to be taking up almost all of the underground level. In front of us was some kind of storage area, containing various chemicals – solid, liquid and gas – along with seemingly every kind of scientific apparatus imaginable. To the left were a bank of computer terminals, which appeared to be engaged in running some kind of simulation program. To the right was a cluster of huge machines, whose purpose I could only guess at. They were all interconnected with various wires and pipes, and I found myself walking over to take a closer look, Cassandra following me. Recyclo had unsurprisingly headed straight for the computers, and was engrossed in whatever their screens were telling him. Pyro was also taking a closer look at the large machines.

"What do you think these are?" I asked.

"How should I know?" he said. "I can only guess they're some kind of bio-spheres. The pipes and wires going in are probably carrying oxygen and nutriments."

"You mean there's something alive in these?" Cassandra said in surprise. "You think they're growing some kind of animals?"

"I don't know. There doesn't seem to be any way to see inside. This is a government project – and they went to some lengths to try and hide it – so there must be something big here."

"Do you think it'll be a threat to us? Should we destroy it?"

"Well, that's what we're here to find out. The explosives we've set probably won't do any damage to this level – we may have to plant more if we find anything dangerous here."

At that moment there came an violent explosion from the other side of the huge laboratory room, and voices began screaming, along with the sudden loud hissing of released gas.

"What's happening?" Cassandra gasped.

"Is it one of our bombs?" I asked.

Pyro shook his head, "No. I haven't triggered them. It must be someth – "

There came the sound of footsteps running madly in our direction, and a human appeared from between one of the huge machines.

"Run for your lives!" he screamed. "There's been a containment breach!"

Without waiting for a response, the human fled past us and towards the door we had just come in by. Frantically he punched in the security code. The door remained closed.

"No!" the human screamed. "The door's been locked down automatically due to the containment breach! We're trapped!"

"I guess the government don't want any of their secrets escaping," said Pyro sarcastically.

The hissing of escaping gas grew louder, and was followed by the sound of something heavy falling over. It was happening on the far side of the room and we couldn't see what was going on. Another voice could be heard screaming in terror, "No! No! Put me down!"

There was a snap and the screaming stopped.

"There is something alive in here," said Cassandra, her eyes going wide with fear. "Pyro, what do we do?"

Our leader turned, "Recyclo – can you get the doors open?"

"It'll take time."

"Do it. Damn, where's Mole when we need him?"

He tapped his communicator, "Mole?"

No response.

"Mole? This is Pyro. Respond."

Then he shook his head, "Damn. We're underground; the signal must be getting blocked."

From the other side of the lab came another loud crash, and an enraged roar.

"What was that?" Gemini cried.

"Dunno – some kind of animal. It must be whatever they're trying to breed here."

He was calm – but then Pyro never appeared to be afraid, always brimful with confidence in our and his own abilities. Both Cassandra and Gemini looked terrified, and I had to admit I was not exactly as cool as ice myself. Vertigo was as unperturbed as ever, and he wandered over to stand beside us. Another series of crashes sounded, and with each one the thing – whatever was making them – appeared to be getting closer.

When it finally appeared, lumbering from between two of the machines, it was like something out of a nightmare. At least eight feet tall, it had arms the size of a normal person's legs, and huge muscles bulged from every inch of its body. Its head was tiny by comparison, and small black eyes glared down at us with undisguised hostility.

"What – what the hell is that?" Gemini wailed.

"It's a mutant," said Pyro. "A genetically engineered mutant. That must be what the government are working on here. An army of genetic mutants."

"Great – what do we do about it?" said Vertigo.

Pyro glanced back, "Recyclo, how's it coming with the doors?"

"Slowly."

"Shit. If this thing attacks, we'll have to hold it off as best we can."

The huge mutant had been watching us for a few minutes, perhaps trying to decide whether or not we represented a threat.

"Can we talk to it?" I suggested.

"It doesn't look like the talkative type. Everybody go back a few steps. We don't want to fight it if it can be avoided. It's a mutant, so it's not an enemy – not unless it wants to be."

"Oh, I'd say there's a fair chance of that," Vertigo replied.

We stepped back slowly, trying to appear non-threatening, hoping the mutant would leave us alone. Our hope didn't last long. The giant roared and swung one of his massive fists towards us. Gemini ducked, and Vertigo grabbed her around the waist to pull her to safety. The giant turned on Cassandra, and I ran forward to protect her. Throwing myself against him, I knocked him to the ground, and Cassandra hurried to stand with the others. The giant swiped at her with his arm, missed, and I drove my knee into his chest. He drew back a huge fist and aimed a punch at my jaw. I just managed to get out of the way, and lost my balance in the process. Vertigo was following up, and he delivered a spinning kick to the mutant's face, drawing blood but it didn't slow the giant in any way.

"Recyclo! The doors!" Pyro yelled.

"Almost there."

The mammoth mutant seemed to be going after Cassandra, as he ignored Vertigo and lumbered straight towards my girlfriend. My anger and my protective instincts aroused, I ascended into a berserk rage, and tackled him to the floor. He tried to throw me to one side, but I held on with my amplified strength and delivered a solid punch to his chest. Before he had a chance to react, I had followed up with a massive blow to his jaw. He swayed, grunted, and fell.

"Don't relax; he'll be back up soon enough," Pyro snapped. "Good work, though. Recyclo, how's it coming?"

No response.

"Recyclo!"

This time he responded, "I don't understand. The computer system just failed."

"What?"

"The whole system just went dead. I can't get anything to work."

All of us looked at Pyro. Another explosion sounded from the other side of the lab, and then the sound of harsh, ragged breathing, as if somebody was getting his first gasps of air after being underwater for a long time. The giant mutant on the floor was just beginning to stir. Sounds of movement were coming from the far side of the room, and it was obvious there was somebody there.

"Do you think there's more than one of these things?" Vertigo asked.

"I'd rather not find out. There must be another way out of here," said Pyro.

"The plans didn't show any."

"Shut up. There must be something."

"Look! Up there!" Gemini cried, pointing towards the ceiling.

We looked. At first I didn't believe what I saw, but I couldn't deny what my eyes were telling me. There was a figure climbing the side of the wall with his hands and feet as effortlessly as if he were crawling on the horizontal. It – he – turned as he heard Gemini shout, and without warning he let go of the wall, leaping backwards to land on all fours not ten feet away from us. It had to be another genetically engineered mutant, but it looked nothing like the first. This one was insectoid in appearance, with a long, sneering face; clawed hands and feet; and sharp-jointed limbs. He tensed himself to spring at us, then seemed to change his mind, and drew back his head to spit in our direction. Instinctively I ducked, and a wad of some foul-smelling liquid splattered against the wall behind me.

"Acid!" Pyro exclaimed. "All of you get clear!"

He had already flicked on his lighter, and lifted his hand to send a wall of flame at the attacker. The insectoid hissed, and leaped about ten feet from the floor to the ceiling, avoiding the fire. He didn't fall back down. His hands and feet were splayed on the surface of the ceiling, and were somehow adhered to it. With a roar, the giant mutant got back on his feet.

"Uh," said Cassandra nervously. "I hate to be the one to make a bad situation look even worse, but the X-Men are going to get here in about five minutes."

Vertigo summed up the situation succinctly enough, "We're in trouble."