Back to Gatefold
Issue #6 by A. Crute
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"Times Begin to Change"
Misty & Colleen’s Quarters…
The room was dimly lit by the low wattage bulb. Misty didn’t see why they needed such a low wattage bulb when apparently the generators which ran on some kind of thingymajig that she couldn’t begin to describe were pumping out enough energy to level a square mile if they chose to blow.
Tony had explained the dimmer bulbs in bedrooms were to make people uncomfortable so that they’d not sit in their room moping and depressed but rather mingle amongst one another and find companionship. Misty couldn’t help but think that they were just spreading the depression around.
Their were three figures sitting in their room currently. The size of one of those figures currently made for much less room than usual (which usually wasn’t much anyway.)
“Cosy.” Colleen mugged over sarcastically as she tried to lay her sword on the floor without jamming either end into one of her friends as she sat down on the lower bunk.
“I’ll talk to Tony and see about getting you moved to a bigger place if not a room each.” Luke leaned against one of the walls.
“Oh like you have clout with Tony?” Misty raised an eyebrow. Luke’s face tightened “Don’t pull that face, I’m not saying you’re unimportant there’s no need to go and prove you’re manliness…fact is he’s treating us the same as everyone else. No less than two to a room. We’ve got a lot of people to jam in. We can’t all be as lucky as you sharing a room with the filly you just happen to be dating. Even Tony’s sharing a bunk with Pym.”
“I’d hate to think about the lack of room in there with the armour in the corner,” Colleen sighed.
“Then if Hank loses control in his sleep and supersizes,” Luke added, the three smiled at that for a moment.
“He could shrink to free up room. He might just snuggle up in a shirt pocket,” Colleen added with a shrug.
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Misty looked between her two friends and shook her head.
“Just trying to lighten a pretty crappy situation Mist,” Colleen looked from Misty to Luke who returned her worried glance. Misty had gotten a lot more serious than she used to be since Danny died. It was understandable none of them were the same anymore but.
“It could use it,” Luke nodded defending Colleen’s argument. His brow creased and he exhaled slightly.
“What happened out there Luke?”
“You heard, Crystal was bitten and became one of them…I tried to save her, pull her out of the water but it was too late.” Luke rubbed the back of his hand across his chin and moved his shoulders in a tiny shrug. His friends didn’t buy it for a second.
“She wasn’t like the others though? That’s what you said upstairs,” Colleen prompted.
“She was mean, not brainless…like and evil version of herself. She still had her powers too, like they said it might be that she was one of those Inhuman things.”
“Or it might be because she was a superhuman,” Misty nodded speaking aloud the thought that they had all had. The two girls looked at Luke, the only superhuman amongst them, thankfully his skin seemed impenetrable to the creatures infection.
“I just keep thinking of Danny,” Luke sighed. “Would he have been like her or like the rest? Does whatever mystical martial arts power he have make him human or superhuman.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Misty snapped sharply, she stared them both in the eyes as they turned to look at her. “He’s gone, you cut off his head. There’s no point in dwelling on it.”
The three were silent for a second. Luke took a step towards the door. “You’re right, I’m just going to head off.”
“Luke,” Misty looked to him as he turned “Don’t. I didn’t mean to snap. You’ve had a rough day you could do with some company.”
“Mist if I left every time you snapped at me I’d never see you.” He smiled. “I’m feeling a little run down at the minute, sick to the stomach is closer to the money. I just need a lie down.”
Colleen stuck out her bottom lip in a pretend pout “oooh man flu,” she smiled, Luke returned it and then exhaled a snort of derision as he shook his head, waving over his shoulder as he walked away.
The entrance to the compound…
Tony Stark stood looking down at the form of Quicksilver. He had just blasted the white haired mutant with a blast of his repulsor rays. The energy had tossed him through the air smashing his head against the door.
He sighed and rubbed the metal hand of the Iron Man suit against his face. “I’m sorry for that Pietro.”
The figure blurred slamming his hand into the face of Tony before being driven to one knee. Tony’s hand flew up and unleashed a second blast from his repulsors just as Quicksilver’s hand connected with him, the suits sensors working a lot faster than Tony’s own senses and reflexes.
The mutant crumbled to the ground with a scream as his knee caps shattered and he crumbled to the floor holding his twisted legs.
“Tony!” Clint yelled as he rushed down the hall, he was followed by Hank Pym. He was the one who had to break the news to Pietro about Crystal only to have him streak off at his top speed. He had tried to follow as best he could picking up Clint Barton as he ran.
Hawkeye skidded between Pietro and Tony whilst Hank ran past and knelt at his side. “Connors! Someone get Connors!” He commanded to the small group of refugees who were investigating the noises.
“What the hell are you doing Tony?” Clint was glaring into the eyes of Tony Stark. His own eyes were darting between the archer and the screaming mutant.
“I’m following you’re words Clint. I’m focusing on the here and now and putting the people in this base as my top priority.”
“By crippling them!” Hawkeye turned to glance over his shoulder. Hank was slipping a needle of some kind into Quicksilver’s arm. “Pietro…” Hawkeye stopped his question before he even asked it. The mutant was still screaming and trying to grab at his legs. Doc Connors skidded to his side, he was about to speak to the mutant when Hank flashed him the needle that he had injected Pietro with and then seconds later Pietro went silent.
“He’s out…won’t be for long though he’ll metabolise this in a few minutes. We need to get him into the medical bay, he heals fast but not right…we might be able to save his legs…he might even be able to run.” Henry nodded. He increased his size gradually as he spoke and picked the mutant up in his arms before striding past his two team mates who were watching Quicksilver carefully.
“Yes by crippling him,” snapped Tony once the two doctors and their patient was out of sight. Hawkeye watched his friend’s expression closely, he took a step back and relaxed his body posture slightly. He was giving Tony a chance to explain. “You were the one that was out there with Crystal…what do you think would happen if Quicksilver was bitten?”
“We don’t know, we don’t know what happened to Crystal or why. Pietro isn’t an Inhuman.”
“He is a superhuman though…say that hypothesis is right, what is the worst case scenario?”
“If he got bit…which is unlikely given his speed.”
“These things happen, he could get surrounded, stumble and fall anything like that, then he gets bitten. Then what?”
“Then we’ve got a super speed zombie on our hands,” Hawkeye nodded slowly.
“Who could turn so many of us before we turn around. I did what you said, I thought about the people here and got my head out of the clouds.”
“but you didn’t have to…” Clint tailed off, he would have done just the same given the situation.
He wasn’t sure what worried him the most, the look in Tony’s eyes that showed no remorse for his actions of the fact Clint knew within himself that Tony was right.
A little later…
Henry Pym, Tony Stark and Curt Connors stood in the control room which had become their main meeting point to discuss things within the base. Luke, Misty, Crystal and Clint would usually be here but with recent events the three ‘brains’ of the group found themselves alone.
“How is he?” Tony tapped away at one of the computers hacking into the security system so he could watch Pietro lying in his bed. Hawkeye sat beside him in a chair. He asked trying to hide the feelings in his voice. It worked, he came across to the others as cold.
“It’s too early to tell how bad the damage iss,” nodded Connors. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. “We’ve done all we can and all we have to do is let him heal.”
“How long will that take?” Tony watched the video carefully.
“We don’t know, Pietro’s mutant physiology make it difficult to predict.”
“I want him moved to a secure detention cell,” Tony said as he clicked the monitor off and turned his back on his friends. He didn’t want them to see the expression he was having trouble hiding.
“What?” Henry stood to his feet and leaned on the console that stood between the men. “Tony this is a tough time for all of us but I’m beginning to worry about you. You can’t be serious about this? It’s unconscionable.”
“He could heal up faster than expected and be out of here before we have time to realise,” Tony raised his voice as he turned.
“We wouldn’t have to worry about that if someone hadn’t broken his damn legs. What were you thinking? We don’t do that sort of stuff to each other that’s what the villains are there for!”
“Are you trying to say that I’m a villain Hank?” Tony’s voice lowered. He stopped shouting and glared at his fellow Avenger.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Hank shook his head and closed his eyes, he stood up straight and lowered his hands. “I just can’t understand what you were thinking…yes now we will have to lock him up because he doesn’t trust us or feel safe here. If we however tried to speak to him before…”
“It wouldn’t have made any difference. You know what Pietro is like, what could I have said in the seconds it would have took him to open the door which would have stopped him…he was a risk to us, everyone here.”
There was silence for a moment or two in the room as the three men stood in silence.
“We need to find out more about these zombies…I need test subjects,” Curt said finally to break the silence.
“What do you know so far?” Tony asked. Hank was flicking through the notes which Curt had given him just before they came in the room. He was the worlds top biochemist so between him and Curt who was one of the worlds top geneticists surely there was something they could do.
“It’s a fasscinating affliction,” Doc Connors began “as we know it seems to be a virus of some kind which not only kills but hastens decomposition up to a point…then keeps the corpse ‘alive’ and in mostly one piece which carries on moving and eating. They seem to have basic drives and instincts, that’s why they seem intent on biting everyone even though their bodies cannot process what they eat.”
“Any ideas about Crystal?”
“None other than the very early primary ones. If were to know anything I’ll need remains of two of a normal human zombie, Crystal’s and another superhuman.” The two men looked a little down about this comment. “I have found something interesting though in my study of Venom. This virus…much like most viruses is a symbiote.”
The two men looked at him. “Of course!” Henry cried and began to flick through the scribbled notes looking for something specific. “It’s a symbiote but unlike most viruses it manages to strike the correct balance,” he turned to Tony “the thing with viruses is they can’t survive outside of the human body but they’re too good at what they do, either they’re killed by the body or drugs or they kill their host and so die anyway. This virus doesn’t do that, it somehow keeps the body ‘alive’…that’s why Venom is immune! His symbiote counteracts the effects of the virus.”
“So all we need is enough symbiote suits to fit out the population…I don’t see that as a viable option,” Tony shook his head. He didn’t like to think of the human race becoming a race of Venoms or Carnage. “could it be sentient? It seems to animate the dead…plus when it interacted with Crystal she changed?”
“It could be I suppose, like Venoms but it’s not the only explanation. Crystal’s distinct biology could simply cause it to interact differently…alter her brain patterns as well as he biology.”
“We need something,” Henry shook his head and sunk it into his hands. “Some sort of sign or ray of light or this life is going to become very depressing very quickly.”
“You mean it isn’t already?”
“Have either of you thought any further about my idea? The Pym particles?”
Curt and Tony looked at one another. Curt looked away then but Tony looked directly at Hank. “I don’t think it’s a good idea if I’m honest.”
“But if we shrink the population of the base down it means we have less cramped conditions, no need for rationing plus as best as we can figure we’ll be safe from the zombies. We’ll be too small for them to see,”
“It’s just too dangerous, the entire world would be too big for us. Think about the predators for god’s sake…Hank we all appreciate your ideas, you’ve been responsible for keeping this place running but I don’t think this is the one.”
The three men were silent for a moment again. “I’m going to do it,” he nodded.
“Henry I really think…”
“No you’re right about that idea but that’s not what I mean…I’m going to save us all, I’m going to develop a cure to all of this.”
Sickbay…
Hawkeye sat in silence in the bed next to Quicksilver. A drip was filling his body full of what painkillers they had. He was still unconscious from whatever Hank and Curt had been doing to him to help heal his knees.
Clint watched his chest going up and down slowly, it was the only thing he had ever seen Quicksilver do slowly. “Hawkeye?” he mumbled, his eyes opening and panning towards Clint.
“Yeah Pietro buddy it’s me,” Clint sat forward out of the shadow in the room into the vision of his fallen team mate. He out of all those left in the base was possibly the closest of any to Pietro thanks to their time as part of the ‘Kooky Quartet’.
“We aren’t buddy’s archer,” Quicksilver took a deep breath as he turned his head to stare at Clint.
“Come on don’t say that Pietro, we go back a long way,” Clint tried to force a smile.
“Yes we do and you were a cocky annoyance then who spent more time annoying the other members of the team and hitting on my sister than you did doing your job.”
“Oh I was annoying, that’s rich coming from you,” Clint smiled and let out a small laugh. He was trying to remain jovial despite what Pietro was saying and how much a ring of truth it had. Pietro was angry, who wouldn’t be.
“It’s you’re fault she’s dead…sneaking around behind my back. If you hadn’t have been she wouldn’t have felt the need to go after you, it’s your fault.” Pietro’s eyes no longer looked groggy, they were fixed and glaring at Clint.
“Pietro it wasn’t like that,” he tried to defend himself but his words drifted off. “We weren’t sneaking around, you weren’t together.”
“We were friends again, it was a start but you stopped that. She’s dead because of you.”
Clint was silent for a moment, the only sound came as his chair squeaked backwards. “It’s best if I go now.”
“I think so,” growled Pietro “Oh Hawkeye, when you see Tony tell him I’m going to kill him and he’ll never see it coming.”
Luke’s room…
Luke kneeled on the bed behind Keisha. She was his girl…he had not made the jump into calling her his girlfriend yet.
He had been lying down trying to get some rest when she had come in. She had seemed happy to see him. He had tried to tell her he was too tired and not feeling great but he had to admit even in refugee sheek she looked damn good.
This is how they’d got to the situation they were currently in. He gently slid his hand up the front of the body whilst steadying her with the other and kissed gently up her back.
He moved around her shoulder biting gently which made her laugh just as gently. He moved onto her neck and up onto the lobe of her ear gently.
She suddenly inhaled sharply as he bit a little too hard on her ear. She was just about to gasp ‘ow’ when the wall of the room suddenly shuddered and exploded in towards them.
Moments earlier, Colossus’s room…
Colossus lowered himself onto the lower bunk in the room which he was told he would be sharing with Nightcrawler. The place still smelled of the last inhabitants who had been shuffled around.
They hadn’t discussed it but he thought it would be best if he took the bottom bunk so that the bed wouldn’t collapse down on his friend crushing him. The bead screamed as he lowered his large metal form onto the bunk. He did not want the death of another friend and team mate on his conscience.
He lay down on the bunk and closed his eyes. He did not need sleep in his metal form but the idea of living the rest of his life awake, conscious of all the things he had done in his life constantly circling through his head was not an idea he liked. He needed the sleep for a respite from his own thoughts…even if most of his dreams tilted towards the horrific events around the fall of the Xavier institute.
There was still however the hope of the better dreams, those which sometimes came, the long days lying by the lake with Kitty constantly asking questions while he drew. Her constant talk and his admiring silence. He sometimes dreamt of his Snowflake.
These were not thoughts he let enter his mind during his waking hours. He couldn’t let them, he could give himself no pleasure or joy until he had finally atoned for all the things in his life that he deemed his fault.
“Katya,” he mumbled as he prepared to slumber. He saw he face for a second as she lay bleeding under the metal hulk of exploded machinery. He had tried to reach her but couldn’t “I wish you were here.”
“Wish granted,” said a voice. Colossus opened his eyes. There standing over him was a figure he recognised. The flow of her hair and the shape of her face, even if her features were covered with darkness.
“Katya,” he smiled again. He was sure now that this would be a good dream. “I thought you were dead.”
Kitty’s face changed as she smiled and took a step back. The light from the fire escape sign above the room’s door cast a low level of light across her. The flesh was rotting from her bones, still enough of her face was left that it was clearly Kitty. Half of her smile was the same as it always was, sweet. The other half was just rows of teeth where it had been ripped from her face. “I am.”
The smile lingered for a second as she turned and ran towards the wall of the room vanishing from sight through the solid surface.
NEXT ISSUE: 28 days later...
The room was dimly lit by the low wattage bulb. Misty didn’t see why they needed such a low wattage bulb when apparently the generators which ran on some kind of thingymajig that she couldn’t begin to describe were pumping out enough energy to level a square mile if they chose to blow.
Tony had explained the dimmer bulbs in bedrooms were to make people uncomfortable so that they’d not sit in their room moping and depressed but rather mingle amongst one another and find companionship. Misty couldn’t help but think that they were just spreading the depression around.
Their were three figures sitting in their room currently. The size of one of those figures currently made for much less room than usual (which usually wasn’t much anyway.)
“Cosy.” Colleen mugged over sarcastically as she tried to lay her sword on the floor without jamming either end into one of her friends as she sat down on the lower bunk.
“I’ll talk to Tony and see about getting you moved to a bigger place if not a room each.” Luke leaned against one of the walls.
“Oh like you have clout with Tony?” Misty raised an eyebrow. Luke’s face tightened “Don’t pull that face, I’m not saying you’re unimportant there’s no need to go and prove you’re manliness…fact is he’s treating us the same as everyone else. No less than two to a room. We’ve got a lot of people to jam in. We can’t all be as lucky as you sharing a room with the filly you just happen to be dating. Even Tony’s sharing a bunk with Pym.”
“I’d hate to think about the lack of room in there with the armour in the corner,” Colleen sighed.
“Then if Hank loses control in his sleep and supersizes,” Luke added, the three smiled at that for a moment.
“He could shrink to free up room. He might just snuggle up in a shirt pocket,” Colleen added with a shrug.
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Misty looked between her two friends and shook her head.
“Just trying to lighten a pretty crappy situation Mist,” Colleen looked from Misty to Luke who returned her worried glance. Misty had gotten a lot more serious than she used to be since Danny died. It was understandable none of them were the same anymore but.
“It could use it,” Luke nodded defending Colleen’s argument. His brow creased and he exhaled slightly.
“What happened out there Luke?”
“You heard, Crystal was bitten and became one of them…I tried to save her, pull her out of the water but it was too late.” Luke rubbed the back of his hand across his chin and moved his shoulders in a tiny shrug. His friends didn’t buy it for a second.
“She wasn’t like the others though? That’s what you said upstairs,” Colleen prompted.
“She was mean, not brainless…like and evil version of herself. She still had her powers too, like they said it might be that she was one of those Inhuman things.”
“Or it might be because she was a superhuman,” Misty nodded speaking aloud the thought that they had all had. The two girls looked at Luke, the only superhuman amongst them, thankfully his skin seemed impenetrable to the creatures infection.
“I just keep thinking of Danny,” Luke sighed. “Would he have been like her or like the rest? Does whatever mystical martial arts power he have make him human or superhuman.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Misty snapped sharply, she stared them both in the eyes as they turned to look at her. “He’s gone, you cut off his head. There’s no point in dwelling on it.”
The three were silent for a second. Luke took a step towards the door. “You’re right, I’m just going to head off.”
“Luke,” Misty looked to him as he turned “Don’t. I didn’t mean to snap. You’ve had a rough day you could do with some company.”
“Mist if I left every time you snapped at me I’d never see you.” He smiled. “I’m feeling a little run down at the minute, sick to the stomach is closer to the money. I just need a lie down.”
Colleen stuck out her bottom lip in a pretend pout “oooh man flu,” she smiled, Luke returned it and then exhaled a snort of derision as he shook his head, waving over his shoulder as he walked away.
The entrance to the compound…
Tony Stark stood looking down at the form of Quicksilver. He had just blasted the white haired mutant with a blast of his repulsor rays. The energy had tossed him through the air smashing his head against the door.
He sighed and rubbed the metal hand of the Iron Man suit against his face. “I’m sorry for that Pietro.”
The figure blurred slamming his hand into the face of Tony before being driven to one knee. Tony’s hand flew up and unleashed a second blast from his repulsors just as Quicksilver’s hand connected with him, the suits sensors working a lot faster than Tony’s own senses and reflexes.
The mutant crumbled to the ground with a scream as his knee caps shattered and he crumbled to the floor holding his twisted legs.
“Tony!” Clint yelled as he rushed down the hall, he was followed by Hank Pym. He was the one who had to break the news to Pietro about Crystal only to have him streak off at his top speed. He had tried to follow as best he could picking up Clint Barton as he ran.
Hawkeye skidded between Pietro and Tony whilst Hank ran past and knelt at his side. “Connors! Someone get Connors!” He commanded to the small group of refugees who were investigating the noises.
“What the hell are you doing Tony?” Clint was glaring into the eyes of Tony Stark. His own eyes were darting between the archer and the screaming mutant.
“I’m following you’re words Clint. I’m focusing on the here and now and putting the people in this base as my top priority.”
“By crippling them!” Hawkeye turned to glance over his shoulder. Hank was slipping a needle of some kind into Quicksilver’s arm. “Pietro…” Hawkeye stopped his question before he even asked it. The mutant was still screaming and trying to grab at his legs. Doc Connors skidded to his side, he was about to speak to the mutant when Hank flashed him the needle that he had injected Pietro with and then seconds later Pietro went silent.
“He’s out…won’t be for long though he’ll metabolise this in a few minutes. We need to get him into the medical bay, he heals fast but not right…we might be able to save his legs…he might even be able to run.” Henry nodded. He increased his size gradually as he spoke and picked the mutant up in his arms before striding past his two team mates who were watching Quicksilver carefully.
“Yes by crippling him,” snapped Tony once the two doctors and their patient was out of sight. Hawkeye watched his friend’s expression closely, he took a step back and relaxed his body posture slightly. He was giving Tony a chance to explain. “You were the one that was out there with Crystal…what do you think would happen if Quicksilver was bitten?”
“We don’t know, we don’t know what happened to Crystal or why. Pietro isn’t an Inhuman.”
“He is a superhuman though…say that hypothesis is right, what is the worst case scenario?”
“If he got bit…which is unlikely given his speed.”
“These things happen, he could get surrounded, stumble and fall anything like that, then he gets bitten. Then what?”
“Then we’ve got a super speed zombie on our hands,” Hawkeye nodded slowly.
“Who could turn so many of us before we turn around. I did what you said, I thought about the people here and got my head out of the clouds.”
“but you didn’t have to…” Clint tailed off, he would have done just the same given the situation.
He wasn’t sure what worried him the most, the look in Tony’s eyes that showed no remorse for his actions of the fact Clint knew within himself that Tony was right.
A little later…
Henry Pym, Tony Stark and Curt Connors stood in the control room which had become their main meeting point to discuss things within the base. Luke, Misty, Crystal and Clint would usually be here but with recent events the three ‘brains’ of the group found themselves alone.
“How is he?” Tony tapped away at one of the computers hacking into the security system so he could watch Pietro lying in his bed. Hawkeye sat beside him in a chair. He asked trying to hide the feelings in his voice. It worked, he came across to the others as cold.
“It’s too early to tell how bad the damage iss,” nodded Connors. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. “We’ve done all we can and all we have to do is let him heal.”
“How long will that take?” Tony watched the video carefully.
“We don’t know, Pietro’s mutant physiology make it difficult to predict.”
“I want him moved to a secure detention cell,” Tony said as he clicked the monitor off and turned his back on his friends. He didn’t want them to see the expression he was having trouble hiding.
“What?” Henry stood to his feet and leaned on the console that stood between the men. “Tony this is a tough time for all of us but I’m beginning to worry about you. You can’t be serious about this? It’s unconscionable.”
“He could heal up faster than expected and be out of here before we have time to realise,” Tony raised his voice as he turned.
“We wouldn’t have to worry about that if someone hadn’t broken his damn legs. What were you thinking? We don’t do that sort of stuff to each other that’s what the villains are there for!”
“Are you trying to say that I’m a villain Hank?” Tony’s voice lowered. He stopped shouting and glared at his fellow Avenger.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Hank shook his head and closed his eyes, he stood up straight and lowered his hands. “I just can’t understand what you were thinking…yes now we will have to lock him up because he doesn’t trust us or feel safe here. If we however tried to speak to him before…”
“It wouldn’t have made any difference. You know what Pietro is like, what could I have said in the seconds it would have took him to open the door which would have stopped him…he was a risk to us, everyone here.”
There was silence for a moment or two in the room as the three men stood in silence.
“We need to find out more about these zombies…I need test subjects,” Curt said finally to break the silence.
“What do you know so far?” Tony asked. Hank was flicking through the notes which Curt had given him just before they came in the room. He was the worlds top biochemist so between him and Curt who was one of the worlds top geneticists surely there was something they could do.
“It’s a fasscinating affliction,” Doc Connors began “as we know it seems to be a virus of some kind which not only kills but hastens decomposition up to a point…then keeps the corpse ‘alive’ and in mostly one piece which carries on moving and eating. They seem to have basic drives and instincts, that’s why they seem intent on biting everyone even though their bodies cannot process what they eat.”
“Any ideas about Crystal?”
“None other than the very early primary ones. If were to know anything I’ll need remains of two of a normal human zombie, Crystal’s and another superhuman.” The two men looked a little down about this comment. “I have found something interesting though in my study of Venom. This virus…much like most viruses is a symbiote.”
The two men looked at him. “Of course!” Henry cried and began to flick through the scribbled notes looking for something specific. “It’s a symbiote but unlike most viruses it manages to strike the correct balance,” he turned to Tony “the thing with viruses is they can’t survive outside of the human body but they’re too good at what they do, either they’re killed by the body or drugs or they kill their host and so die anyway. This virus doesn’t do that, it somehow keeps the body ‘alive’…that’s why Venom is immune! His symbiote counteracts the effects of the virus.”
“So all we need is enough symbiote suits to fit out the population…I don’t see that as a viable option,” Tony shook his head. He didn’t like to think of the human race becoming a race of Venoms or Carnage. “could it be sentient? It seems to animate the dead…plus when it interacted with Crystal she changed?”
“It could be I suppose, like Venoms but it’s not the only explanation. Crystal’s distinct biology could simply cause it to interact differently…alter her brain patterns as well as he biology.”
“We need something,” Henry shook his head and sunk it into his hands. “Some sort of sign or ray of light or this life is going to become very depressing very quickly.”
“You mean it isn’t already?”
“Have either of you thought any further about my idea? The Pym particles?”
Curt and Tony looked at one another. Curt looked away then but Tony looked directly at Hank. “I don’t think it’s a good idea if I’m honest.”
“But if we shrink the population of the base down it means we have less cramped conditions, no need for rationing plus as best as we can figure we’ll be safe from the zombies. We’ll be too small for them to see,”
“It’s just too dangerous, the entire world would be too big for us. Think about the predators for god’s sake…Hank we all appreciate your ideas, you’ve been responsible for keeping this place running but I don’t think this is the one.”
The three men were silent for a moment again. “I’m going to do it,” he nodded.
“Henry I really think…”
“No you’re right about that idea but that’s not what I mean…I’m going to save us all, I’m going to develop a cure to all of this.”
Sickbay…
Hawkeye sat in silence in the bed next to Quicksilver. A drip was filling his body full of what painkillers they had. He was still unconscious from whatever Hank and Curt had been doing to him to help heal his knees.
Clint watched his chest going up and down slowly, it was the only thing he had ever seen Quicksilver do slowly. “Hawkeye?” he mumbled, his eyes opening and panning towards Clint.
“Yeah Pietro buddy it’s me,” Clint sat forward out of the shadow in the room into the vision of his fallen team mate. He out of all those left in the base was possibly the closest of any to Pietro thanks to their time as part of the ‘Kooky Quartet’.
“We aren’t buddy’s archer,” Quicksilver took a deep breath as he turned his head to stare at Clint.
“Come on don’t say that Pietro, we go back a long way,” Clint tried to force a smile.
“Yes we do and you were a cocky annoyance then who spent more time annoying the other members of the team and hitting on my sister than you did doing your job.”
“Oh I was annoying, that’s rich coming from you,” Clint smiled and let out a small laugh. He was trying to remain jovial despite what Pietro was saying and how much a ring of truth it had. Pietro was angry, who wouldn’t be.
“It’s you’re fault she’s dead…sneaking around behind my back. If you hadn’t have been she wouldn’t have felt the need to go after you, it’s your fault.” Pietro’s eyes no longer looked groggy, they were fixed and glaring at Clint.
“Pietro it wasn’t like that,” he tried to defend himself but his words drifted off. “We weren’t sneaking around, you weren’t together.”
“We were friends again, it was a start but you stopped that. She’s dead because of you.”
Clint was silent for a moment, the only sound came as his chair squeaked backwards. “It’s best if I go now.”
“I think so,” growled Pietro “Oh Hawkeye, when you see Tony tell him I’m going to kill him and he’ll never see it coming.”
Luke’s room…
Luke kneeled on the bed behind Keisha. She was his girl…he had not made the jump into calling her his girlfriend yet.
He had been lying down trying to get some rest when she had come in. She had seemed happy to see him. He had tried to tell her he was too tired and not feeling great but he had to admit even in refugee sheek she looked damn good.
This is how they’d got to the situation they were currently in. He gently slid his hand up the front of the body whilst steadying her with the other and kissed gently up her back.
He moved around her shoulder biting gently which made her laugh just as gently. He moved onto her neck and up onto the lobe of her ear gently.
She suddenly inhaled sharply as he bit a little too hard on her ear. She was just about to gasp ‘ow’ when the wall of the room suddenly shuddered and exploded in towards them.
Moments earlier, Colossus’s room…
Colossus lowered himself onto the lower bunk in the room which he was told he would be sharing with Nightcrawler. The place still smelled of the last inhabitants who had been shuffled around.
They hadn’t discussed it but he thought it would be best if he took the bottom bunk so that the bed wouldn’t collapse down on his friend crushing him. The bead screamed as he lowered his large metal form onto the bunk. He did not want the death of another friend and team mate on his conscience.
He lay down on the bunk and closed his eyes. He did not need sleep in his metal form but the idea of living the rest of his life awake, conscious of all the things he had done in his life constantly circling through his head was not an idea he liked. He needed the sleep for a respite from his own thoughts…even if most of his dreams tilted towards the horrific events around the fall of the Xavier institute.
There was still however the hope of the better dreams, those which sometimes came, the long days lying by the lake with Kitty constantly asking questions while he drew. Her constant talk and his admiring silence. He sometimes dreamt of his Snowflake.
These were not thoughts he let enter his mind during his waking hours. He couldn’t let them, he could give himself no pleasure or joy until he had finally atoned for all the things in his life that he deemed his fault.
“Katya,” he mumbled as he prepared to slumber. He saw he face for a second as she lay bleeding under the metal hulk of exploded machinery. He had tried to reach her but couldn’t “I wish you were here.”
“Wish granted,” said a voice. Colossus opened his eyes. There standing over him was a figure he recognised. The flow of her hair and the shape of her face, even if her features were covered with darkness.
“Katya,” he smiled again. He was sure now that this would be a good dream. “I thought you were dead.”
Kitty’s face changed as she smiled and took a step back. The light from the fire escape sign above the room’s door cast a low level of light across her. The flesh was rotting from her bones, still enough of her face was left that it was clearly Kitty. Half of her smile was the same as it always was, sweet. The other half was just rows of teeth where it had been ripped from her face. “I am.”
The smile lingered for a second as she turned and ran towards the wall of the room vanishing from sight through the solid surface.
NEXT ISSUE: 28 days later...