Lance stumbled past corpses slick with sticky blood. He wasn't watching where he placed his feet, and thus he caught his foot on one of the corpses' legs and tripped forwards, his hand landing in a pool of blood. Shocked, Lance leapt to his feet with a yell and desperately wiped his hand on his trouser leg.
Lance shook his head angrily and continued on down the hall. He had to get out of this hell hole before his luck ran out and he ended up dead like so many others. Unfortunately he had no idea how to get out and therefore he ended up walking down yet another identical looking metallic corridor, where he came across four guards who had been brutally slaughtered. Gingerly stepping past them, Lance saw a large doorway at the end of the corridor. Intrigued as to what was through the door, and hoping that it was an exit, Lance jogged forward eager yet cautious at the same time.
Logan and Pietro were going at it once again, fists and feet flying faster than the human eye could follow. Pietro's fists were powered by an almost inhuman strength, but Logan had the advantage of experience. Unfortunately, Logan could feel himself tiring rapidly as the fight continued, while Pietro seemed to feeling no adverse effects. The two broke apart and retreated a few metres, Logan panting with exertion.
"What's wrong old man, getting tired?" Pietro said with a sneer. "But then, you never did have a chance to beat me." Despite how much he hated to admit it, Logan knew Pietro was right. He was utterly worn out, both physically and mentally and this fight only had one conceivable outcome. Still, he could try and take Pietro with him.
As Pietro launched himself forward, Logan grabbed him and wrapped his arms tightly around him. Pietro tried to shift him, but Logan's grip was like steel. "Have you gone insane old man?" he raged angrily, and Logan smiled wolfishly.
"When they augmented me, they put a very special security feature inside me. They put a bomb inside me, which would be activated when a certain code phrase was spoken. Before I killed those scientists, I forced the code phrase out of them." Logan looked into Pietro's eyes, and saw that they contained a glimmer of fear. "They all came home."
For a moment nothing happened and Pietro grinned, half in relief and half in anger. Then there an explosion tore through Logan and Pietro, filling the corridor with smoke and throwing the two bodies several metres backwards. Logan's chest had been torn apart by the bomb and he was resting against a wall, his eyes closed peacefully. Pietro could feel his life blood draining from his body, and he cursed any and everyone he could that he had been robbed of his destiny so unfairly. Forcing himself to push past the pain, he tried to use his left hand to push himself up and realised with a stab of terror that his hand had been torn apart by the explosion.
Seeing the bloodied stub of his hand made all the pain come crashing back to him and the shock suddenly set in. Pietro's head fell back against the floor and he stared at the ceiling with dimming eyesight. It was so unfair, that he had been cheated out of everything he should have had. How could he have been beaten by someone who was so vastly inferior to him? That was the last thought he had before unconsciousness overtook him.
Lance stepped through the doorway and looked around slowly. The room he had entered was large and dark - it looked like it had once been a laboratory, before it had been destroyed by someone. Lance was about to leave, when he heard the sound of someone walking towards him. He tensed, wondering what he could do if it was some soldiers but when he saw who it was, his jaw dropped.
Pietro walked unsteadily towards Lance, dressed in ill fitting, slightly damp grey coveralls. Lance shook his head, wondering if he might have suffered a mild concussion somewhere along the line, but as far as he could tell, Pietro was real. As Pietro approached him, he looked up and saw Lance for the first time. "Lance! Is that you?" Pietro asked in a tired voice.
"It's definitely me, but who are you? I just saw you fighting with Wolverine about five minutes ago." Lance took a step backwards, still not sure what to make of this new discovery.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Lance, I feel like I've just woken up from a really, really long sleep. Where are we, by the way?" Pietro seemed to really notice his surroundings for the first time when he asked this.
"We're in Hydra's base, in Russia. You were brought here by Wolverine from Genoa and made into Hydra's ultimate weapon. But how can there be two of you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but do you know how to get out of here?"
"Not quite, but I think I can find a way out." Pietro was only a few feet away from Lance now, and Lance looked deep into Pietro's eyes for several long seconds. "I don't know what I saw back there with Wolverine, but you definitely are Pietro. I've missed you so much buddy," Lance suddenly embraced Pietro, who seemed taken aback and gingerly patted Lance on the back. "Let's go," Lance let go of Pietro and led him back down the corridor he had just come down.
As they walked down the corridor Lance pulled a small device, about the size of a pager, from his belt and activated it. That would send a signal to the Excalibur agents stationed in Moscow to come and pick them up and take them back to England.
It took the pair of them about twenty minutes to reach the exit to the Hydra base, stepping over and around tens of corpses as they did so. When they reached the exit the camouflage was already removed and it was easy to walk out into the cold Russian night. They were waiting only about five minutes before a single bladed helicopter touched down about ten metres away from them and they both boarded it. The helicopter took them to Moscow, where there was a plane waiting to take them back to London.
Pietro slept almost the entire journey and Lance watched him with a worried expression. Pietro looked thinner and a lot paler than usual and Lance wondered what exactly Hydra had done to him. Still, the Excalibur doctors would doubtlessly be able to diagnose any problems and help him to recover from them.
Before they landed, Xavier called him and asked for a brief status report on the mission. Lance told him what had happened as best he could, and told him that he had managed to rescue Pietro. Xavier congratulated him before signing off, and Lance could imagine that Xavier could hardly wait to be able to debrief Pietro.
As the plane landed, Pietro jerked back to consciousness and Lance grinned at him. "Tired?"
"You have no idea," Pietro grinned back. "So I imagine Xavier's waiting back home to squeeze all the secrets out of me?"
"Standard mission debriefing," Lance said in what he hoped was a convincing tone. From Pietro's wry smile, he guessed he'd failed. When the plane landed Lance and Pietro were greeted by a quartet of armed guards who escorted Pietro to a waiting car, which took him directly to Excalibur headquarters. Lance took longer to reach headquarters and when he got there, he was sent straight to see Xavier.
The debriefing took less time than usual - Xavier merely asked him to recall all the major details of the Hydra operation, and Lance told him everything he knew. After the briefing Xavier leaned back in his chair. "While you were on your way home, we sent operatives into the base to investigate it. We found the dead bodies of Warren Worthington and Wolverine there, but we found no trace of anyone like the person you described had fought with Wolverine."
"Pietro, you mean?"
"That is what you told me." Xavier pointed out.
"I know I saw Pietro in that corridor and I know he started fighting with Wolverine. Only, I could swear that he was a different person from the Pietro who came back with me." Xavier raised one eyebrow sceptically. "I know you don't believe me, but it's the truth. It's like there were two Pietros in that base."
"Well, I will see what Pietro himself says. I've had the doctors checking him, and now he's on his way up here. Ah, Pietro, do take a seat." Lance turned and saw Pietro standing in the doorway, clad in a set of beige fatigues.
Author's Note: Thanks a lot for your reviews again Karakin and DaemonRogue 13, they mean a lot to me!