A/N: I own nothing, I am just a guy with an over-active imagination.
Meanwhile – Back in the present
The beast opened its maw and let out a sickening high pitched cry which to Logan echoed through the room causing him slight discomfort. Reaching into his belt he took a few smoke pelts and threw them towards the humanoids as he unsheathed the claws in his left hand, just in time to catch the beasts spiked tail, hardened flesh and bone stood no chance to adamantium as his three claws cleanly sliced through.
The monster roared in pain, no blood, noticed Dark Claw as he glanced at the severed appendage as well as his claws. The beast then lunged at him, its talons wide and its gaping mouth filled with various rows of razor sharp teeth, below the brawl the two humanoids morphed into the appearance of homeless people, again speaking in their indecipherable language before igniting a series of incendiary devices.
Dark Claw kicked the beasts abdomen, while thrusting his right hand claws towards it jugular and then eviscerating it with his left hand. As he looked at the beast lying there dying, his mind flash to a similar sight a very long time ago. The man lay there bleeding, dying as Logan as a boy repeatedly slashed and clawed at his insides, tears running down his face as the loss of his parents gripped his heart causing unspeakable grief and yet the man lay there smiling before whispering, "Just like me".
By the time Logan had came out of his involuntary flash back the entire warehouse was engulf in flames. Pushing through his inherited instinctual fear of the fire, he made his way back to the two remaining prisoners. His re-breather still functioning prevented any breathing issues caused by the smoke. As he entered the room, he found the pods still there but the fire had begun to makes its way to them, reaching into the back of his utility belt he took a fire repellent capsule which the threw at the approaching flames. The capsule exploded into a thick foam suffocating the fire within seconds, knowing he had to work fast, Logan brought up the building blueprints finding that the eastern wall face and open alley. He went to work causing the wall to explode, then securing the two pods together before lowering them to the ground.
Without warning a series of explosions began to erupt throughout the warehouse, one of which launched him out of the building and plummeting to the ground below. His armour absorbed some of the impact, yet the initial landing was extremely painful, his healing factor when to work repairing the damage.
"Freeze freak show!" yelled one of Metropolis police force as he held a standard glock 9MM at him, inside the police car his partner was on the radio requesting backup, as well as the fire departments presence.
Logan got to his feet, although still sore his healing factor had almost finished its job in repairing the damage and soon the pain would cease. The viewing modes of his lenses still glowed red and stood out in the night, while his armour seemed to fade from sight leaving nothing but those crimson eyes staring deep into the cops very soul. And with that Logan disappeared right before their eyes. He left the pods there, no doubt an ambulance would be called to scene upon their discovery as he rendezvoused with his copter and began his flight back home. The auto-pilot engaged, Logan moved to the back of the aircraft to get some rest.
SHIELD Triskelion - Quarters of Captain Clark Kent AKA Super Soldier
Clark walked into his 1940's decorated quarters, the one that he been specially designed for him to help him acclimatise to the modern area. On the outside it had all the usual features, a bed, desk, radio, wardrobe and drawers. However. the room had various hidden U/V emitters lined throughout to help him recharge his powers and the room was completely soundproof so as to help him rest without the need to ear plugs as he had previously used back in the war.
He had just been briefed the Doctor Banner was ready with the new Superman Serum and was ready to begin human testing which was scheduled for tomorrow. To this Clark was conflicted, more soldiers like him would make the United States.. and the World a much safer place. However, did these soldiers know what they were giving up? One of the last conversations he had with Professor Erksine before the procedure was that they doubted he would ever be a father. The extent of the genetic rewrite is too great, it may be impossible for you to father a child with a human woman. He remembered the doctor saying, at the time it didn't matter with the Gerry's in Europe killing hundreds of innocent people. But now... he thought to himself as he washed his face. He finally decided that it wasn't worth thinking about and decided to get some sleep.
The Next Day - SHIELD Helicopter – on route to Section 6
Clark sat opposite Director of SHIELD dressed in his army uniform as he looked out the window while the General looked over the short-listed candidates for the trials as the helicopter flew over the Metropolis skyline. I can fly faster than this he thought, before his eyes caught the sight of portion of this city which had been left in ruins.
"Excuse me Colonel, but what happened down there? Where we attacked?" he asked, he had recently caught up on some to the terrorist activities which had transpired in recent years and that was his first thought.
"Yes, yes we were Captain. By Doctor Banner" answered General Wilson as the looked up from on the candidates files with his one remaining eye.
"Doctor Banner? But how can that be, he seems so normal?" replied Super Soldier, his head turning from General Wilson back to the scene of devastation, his telescopic vision allowing him to zoom in and see the extent of the damage as well as the rebuilding efforts.
"Here, take a look at this" with that the SHIELD Director handed a tablet over to the Captain, pressing play the video file began to depict Doctor Banner sitting in chair addressing the camera.
"Without a sample of the original alien DNA or one from Super Soldier, we have deemed it near impossible to replicate the results" spoke Doctor Banner, "Instead, we've opted to go with a new route for our improved Super Solider Stack, one that is cost effective and easier to reproduce" with that the screen faded to black before coming back with Doctor Banner strapped to a chair, while a second party whose face is obscured from view injects him with the serum. "Now that the Stack has been introduced into my blood stream, I will now be bombarded with gamma radiation, the gamma rays will help metabolise the serum and produce an even stronger result than that of the original vita-ray treatments." continued Banner as he saw witnessed the technicians move out of the cameras sight, the machines activated, the chair moving to a horizontal plane and then the machine 'fired'. At first nothing happened and then suddenly Banner began to become feral, he fought against his restraints, his ankles and wrists expanding rapidly, Banners normally pale skin took on an emerald colouration as he continued to add on several extra pounds of muscle, connective tissue and bone structure. His once 5'9" slim frame transformed into a massive, hulking monster standing at over 9 feet tall.
The monster now in sight of the camera lashed out at the lab equipment, tearing through the computers, the various cables and wires. He swatted the medical and security staff away like they were ants and then began to tear his way through the walls before jumping out of the cameras range.
"My god" thought Clark as he handed the tablet over back to the General, from what he had seen it wasn't hard to imagine a monster of that magnitude reeking havoc throughout the city... god knows how many innocents were injured in that monsters rampage.
"Keep that in mind when you're around Banner, on the outside he seems fairly normal, but if he so much as gets a little angry or upset, he turns into a walking engine to destruction, a skulking monster out of your worst nightmares and the angrier he gets the stronger he gets, the more landscape he levels and the more people he hurts" briefed the General as he saw the Captains right hand clench into a fist.
Moments later outside Section 6
The helicopter came to landing as the Captain and General took a high speed elevator down to the appropriate level. From the outside the building appeared to have only 39 floors, however the the digital display shows that there are 1200 floors, the majority of which is housed underground.
"General, where are we?" asked Clark as his x-ray vision penetrated the lift and examined the floors as they passed by, the first few below ground level were car parks, storage units. Then they became changing areas, a canteen, and then finally the lab facilities, the scientists examining stone tablets and carvings, each lab seemed to be identified by a symbol which was engraved on their doors.. even one that had the symbol of the S which he wore on his chest.
"This is Section 6, this is where we examine, catalogue, and if possible reverse engineer alien technology, culture and if possible biology" replied Wilson.
"What? Here? Isn't that something for Area 51?" asked Clark in disbelief.
"Someone's been reading up on their history." smiled Wilson in amusement, "Area 51 as the storage and test facility for alien aircraft is a simple ruse that SHIELD made up for the conspiracy theorists to mull over while we dealt with the real task. Ah, here we are" announced the General as they exited the lift on the 500th floor.
The elevator opened into a long corridor with the walls painted sterile white, the pneumatic doors opening with their 'hiss' when they approached before reaching the testing area. In the centre of the testing area were 5 glass like coffins, each one had a series of needles which Clark remembered from his own injects, a series of injections directly into the major muscle groups, he remembered Professor Erskine saying. The injections were then followed by the vita-ray treatment which caused him an unimaginable amount of pain. And we're about to do it again. He thought before he was greeted by Doctor Banner.
"General, Captain" greeted Banner as he handed over a computer tablet to one of his assistants, "I am glad you could make it. You're about to witness the rebirth of a new generation of Super Soldiers" he said smiling like a Cheshire cat.
"Doctor Banner, about the chambers, they seem to be made of glass. Wouldn't the vita-ray treatment leak out?" asked Clark, he remembered that his own rebirth chamber was a clunky metallic shell with one window, the rest was covered in lead.
"Captain, materials have developed a long way since you're time. What we have here is the next generation in radiation containment or my own design, its light weight, transparent and completely radiation proof" responded Doctor Banner.
"Doctor the subjects are ready" spoke one of the numerous technicians and medical staff on site for today's trial. He was a young man, dark hair and a beard, one of those 'stylish' ones that travelled the jawline but didn't connect with the moustache.
"Excellent, gentlemen if you would kindly take your seats in our observation area" invited Banner, as he gestured over to the sealed room with the large window which over looked the entire lab. Through the glass, they could see several chairs and cameras already set up.
They waited in the observation area and watched as they brought out the five volunteers, Clark could identify each 'recruit' from memory, their original military affiliation as well as their current rank. The first out was a short woman standing at around 5ft 4" with shoulder length brunette hair, she had dark brown eyes and appeared to be of Puerto Rican descent, Clark remembered her as Captain Rain Ortiz, she was air force, a capable of pilot and was combat proficient specialising in boxing.
Next, came Sergeant Karen "Steel" Cage, a young woman of African American descent, she stood at around 5'6" with short brown hair, she had blue eyes. She came from a military family and had an impressive record in hand to hand combat, which is were she earned the nickname, "Steel" as she favoured submission moves. She was then followed by Captain Nicholas Poe a white male, with dirty blonde hair and grey blue eyes, he stood at 6'0". He had exemplary scores and was involved in drunken altercation at a bar and was offered the opportunity to take part in this trial or face jail time.
They were then followed by the 6'5" man mountain Chris Deveurux with a shaved head, U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant and Lieutenant Sean Wolfe from the Navy SEALs, Team Six. He stood at 5'10" with a waxed head. All of the subjects were dressed in the regulation light grey shorts with the women also wearing tank tops.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can you please take your places and we will begin" instructed David Banner, as their 'handlers' brought the volunteers to their assigned chambers to begin the optimisation process.