Just then Cyclops and Jean entered the hangar. "We got them all out. SHIELD agents have them secured," Jean informed me telepathically.
"Got it," Cap nodded. "Professor, can you get a fix on Wyndham?"
"I have been trying to do so for the last half hour, Captain. I believe he's three floors down," Xavier responded.
"Alright — you heard the man. Move out!" Cap ordered. He, Logan, Johnny, Scott, Jean, and I all followed his lead toward a hallway that opened onto a staircase.
They ran down, while I jumped over the railing and free-fell three floors before shooting a web line and swinging down into the door, slamming it open with my feet.
I landed on my knees and looked up. "Woah."
The others came in behind me and stopped in awe. The room was a long corridor lined with ten-foot-tall vats of blue liquid. The surfaces of the vats were frosted over; we couldn't see through their translucent glass.
Johnny lit his hand on fire and approached a vat, melting away the layer of ice — revealing a mangled face underneath.
"What the fuck?!" Johnny cried out, jumping back. I narrowed my eyes, etching the face into my memory. Wyndham...you monster.
It was the face of a twelve-year-old child. Blond hair, blue eyes. His mouth had no lips; his face had swollen inward, his forehead jutting out grotesquely. He was diseased. I prayed he hadn't been conscious for any of it — no one deserved such a life.
"Don't feel too bad," Wyndham's voice came through the speakers. We looked around but couldn't find him anywhere nearby. He must have been monitoring us through a camera. "They felt no pain."
"Y-you sick bastard!" Johnny cried out. "You twisted son of a bitch!"
"Language, Mr. Storm," Wyndham chuckled. "Surely you — a child born to a family of scientists — can understand that sacrifices have to be made?"
"T-they are dreaming," Jean said with closed eyes. "He's brainwashing them, trying to make them loyal to him...to HYDRA."
"What are these things, Wyndham?!" Steve cried out. I looked around — he had to be here somewhere. No doors, no exits, nothing visible.
"Clones — of you, dear Captain. One might even go so far as to say they are your children," came the sinister voice.
"What?" Cap's voice dropped several pitches. I could feel the rage in it — the utter, white-hot anger.
"These were my very first attempts to recreate the serum — clones, plain and simple. But they were...defective. Your DNA is very difficult to replicate from the tissue samples we had."
"That's impossible. I never gave any samples," Steve called out. He motioned to us, signalling us to spread out. I nodded as I jumped to the ceiling and melted into the shadows above.
"Jean, he has to be somewhere in here. Can you scan for him?" Cap asked mentally.
"Yes, sir. I will," Jean closed her eyes as Scott and Johnny stood around her, watching for trouble.
"No, you never gave any samples, Captain Rogers...but Peggy Carter did." I paused at that. I could almost hear the satisfaction in his voice.
Steve's eyes went wide. "What?"
"You didn't know, did you? That she was pregnant at the time? That she had your child? A child that...met with an unfortunate accident?" Wyndham laughed.
I blinked. 'This isn't right — this isn't part of the movie universe. Did I...did I change something?'
"No," Logan gasped, clenching his fists.
"What did you do, Wyndham?!" Steve cried out. I moved through the shadows. I needed to find him. Now.
"He was such a beautiful child, Captain," the monster continued. "He had your eyes...and her hair."
"There!" Jean cried out, pointing at a wall at the far end of the room.
We all charged ahead — when suddenly every vat in the room began to vibrate. One by one, they shattered. The clones inside lurched out and landed before us, naked and newborn-like, each one mutilated in some form.
Some were missing their skin. Some were missing limbs. Some were hunched and malformed. One was so deformed he looked like a grotesque frog.
"SCREECH!" they all cried. I heard some of their vocal cords snap from the strain. They charged.
I dropped down and grabbed two, hurling them into another group and slamming them to the floor. I stepped back and webbed them in place. "There, that should—"
SNAP!
"—Damn," I hissed, leaping back just as one swung its three-fingered hand across my face, missing by inches. They were strong — but stupid.
"These things are bloody creepy!" Johnny cried out, hurling a fireball at one — only to watch it shrug off the flames and tackle him to the ground. "AHH! Get it off! Get it off!"
"I have you," Jean picked the clone up telekinetically and hurled it back. Johnny's eyes were wide with horror as Scott stepped up and blasted a cluster of them into the wall.
"We'll handle this — you find Wyndham!" Logan barked at Cap, swiping his claws across a clone's neck.
"We harvested what we could from your son," Wyndham continued to taunt. He wanted to provoke Steve, and judging from the Avenger's face, he was succeeding.
"Shut up!" Steve cried out, hurling his shield at a speaker and destroying it before charging toward the wall Jean had pointed to.
Just then the elevator doors opened, and out poured dozens of animal hybrids. They quickly surrounded us, helping the clones force us back. I had to vault sideways to avoid a rhino's horn.
We stood back-to-back in a circle, clones and animals pressing in on all sides. I looked at Cap. He looked furious. "Got a plan, Cap?"
"Yes — carve a path for me. Wyndham's mine," he growled.
"Short. I like it," Johnny thrust his hands to the side, flames roaring to life. "Ready, Cyclops?"
"Say when, Flameboy," Scott touched his visor.
"Hey — that's what I call him!" I chuckled.
"Ready?" Cap asked. "Fire—"
KAKOOM!
Everyone froze.
A vat came crashing down, crushing a cluster of clones and hybrids and carving a clean path through the room. Standing on the other side was Jessica Drew, jaw set and eyes filled with resolve. "Your route, Captain."
"Okay — now that's cool," I grinned.
"Move!" Steve yelled, leading the charge with Logan at his heel. I leapt up, delivering a high kick to a tiger hybrid that lunged at us. I landed outside the mob and stood back-to-back with Jessica as we punched and kicked the horde back.
"So you changed your mind?" I asked her as we drove one deformed clone after another back.
"You were right — it's not my fault, but I can at least do something to stop it!" Jessica yelled, throwing several clones aside and zapping them with her venom blasts.
"Cool," I grinned. "Guess that makes you a superhero now, huh?"
"If you say so," she grinned back. Damn...she was kind of cute. I wondered if Felicia and Jean would be open to— no. No need to be greedy.
Jean, Scott, and Johnny were clearing them out in droves. Jean launched them into walls while Scott and Johnny blasted them back with pure force and fire. I couldn't help but grin. Guess I had my own team now.
"I have a plan!" Jean called out.
"What is it?" Jessica asked — apparently now linked into our telepathic communications.
"I'm going to bring the roof down and cut them off!" Jean looked up at the ceiling. "Scott, I need your help."
"Just tell me what you need," Scott replied.
"Everyone — get back!" Jean cried out. Jessica and I jumped clear as Johnny sent out a wide sweeping blast, burning the enemies in front of us. Scott fired two powerful beams at the roof and stepped back. Jean closed her eyes. I could feel her mind being stretched to its limit. Then the roof came crashing down, dividing the room in half and cutting off the clones and hybrids entirely.
I straightened up, watching the dust settle. "Okay, Jean — you've officially bumped Storm off my 'coolest mutant powers' list."
Jean smiled, doubled over and panting. "T-thanks, Spider."
"We need to move," Johnny said as Jessica helped Jean to her feet. "Cap might need us."
"Right. Can you move, Jean?" I asked.
"I'll manage," she sighed.
We took off and found Cap and Logan standing before a torn-open wall. Logan had clearly gone berserk on it, ripping it apart with his claws. On the other side sat a reinforced metallic door.
Logan roared and thrust his claws forward — only for a massive electrical feedback to blast him backward.
"Logan!" I cried out, leaping into the air and catching him, lowering his now-surprisingly-heavy unconscious form to the ground. I checked his pulse. "He's just knocked out."
"I'm afraid even his impressive metallic claws can't cut through this," Wyndham's face appeared on a monitor beside the door. He stood in the middle of what looked like a lab. "It carries enough electrical current to fry an elephant. His mutant healing factor is the only reason he's still alive." He looked over my shoulder, and a thin smile crossed his face. "So, Jessica — I see you've chosen the enemy's side."
"You're my enemy," she growled.
Cap hurled his shield at the door, slamming the sharp edge into the metal and leaving a dent before it flew back into his hands. "What did you do to Peggy?!"
"Nothing — nothing at all," Wyndham smiled. "But your son...well, sacrifices had to be made."
"You monster!" Steve cried out, hurling his shield again and again. It barely left more than a scratch.
"That door was built to withstand a hundred pounds of TNT. I doubt a frisbee can do much harm to it."
"Then it's a good thing they have me," Cyclops replied, stepping forward and unleashing an optic blast powerful enough to rip apart steel walls, slowly forcing the door apart.
I grinned. Wyndham should have been sweating — but he wasn't. He looked perfectly calm. "Impressive, indeed. But no matter. I want you to come for me. I expect it — because I have a little surprise waiting for you all."
BOOM!
Cyclops' optic blast tore the door apart, revealing a staircase descending into darkness. We followed Cap down, and it opened into a vast lab with a raised platform at the back. Wyndham stood before us on that platform, injecting himself with a red syringe.
"What is he doing?" Johnny asked.
Wyndham smiled as he dropped the empty syringe. "What I have done, you stupid boy, is make myself the next step in human evolution. I must thank you, Spider — the data you gave me was invaluable! With it, I was able to complete my formula." He tossed away his cane, spreading his arms wide as his wrinkles began to smooth over. "You think I joined HYDRA to become a Nazi?! No! They were nothing but a tool to be used — like all of you! I will now ascend to the highest form of human perfection, evolving beyond what you people think possible! I have unlocked the full potential of the human body, and I will soon become—"
"Actually, evolution is a gradual process spanning hundreds of years," I called out, cutting him off. "What you're describing is metamorphosis." Everyone looked at me. I shrugged. "What? He's a geneticist — he should know this stuff."
"You will be the first one I crush, Spider!" he roared as his muscles began to swell and his frame expanded.
"Everyone, charge — don't let him finish his transformation!" Cap cried out.
"Don't bother," I called out.
"What? Why?!" Jessica asked in a panic.
"Because...3...2...1...and..."
"BRUGH!" Wyndham retched, vomiting violently before spitting up droplets of blood.
"That's why," I chuckled. "What sort of moron injects himself with something that's never been tested?"
"What did you do?!" Wyndham cried out as his muscles began to deflate, his wrinkles returning, his body shedding weight faster than he'd gained it.
"Did you really think I would just hand you the Parkers' research?" I chuckled as the others looked at me. I walked forward onto the platform, watching Wyndham curl into a ball, clutching his stomach.
"Y-you changed the formula?! Impossible! I checked it myself!"
"Maybe. But you never had the complete formula, did you?" I squatted before him. "You see, on the way over to hand you that drive...I decided to be a bit of a dick."
Some time ago:
Felicia was behind the wheel, flying my car toward the meeting point. She looked at me in the passenger's seat as I linked the hard drive to the car's onboard HUD. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm setting a trap," I told her as I combed through the formula, memorising it and embedding over a dozen tracking programs and a few self-destruct viruses.
"Think they'll fall for it?" Johnny asked.
"Worth a shot. I'm not just handing them the super soldier formula without a fight," I growled. "Can you imagine? Nazis with an army of Captain Americas?"
"You know, you should try and alter it so they can't use it," Felicia suggested.
"No — from what you told me about Wyndham, he's a genetic genius. He'd know if something was missing," Johnny shook his head.
I stopped typing and looked at my friends. "Yeah...but if I rewrite the formula, he wouldn't know the difference. He might know the first half — but the rest? It could be anything."
"You have half an hour. Do you really think you can create a new super soldier formula in thirty minutes?" Johnny asked.
"Of course not," I smiled. "But I can make a defective one in less than ten minutes that looks convincing enough to fool him."
Now:
"I destroyed the real formula," I walked up to Wyndham's withering form as the others slowly closed in. "I didn't bother memorising it — not worth the trouble." I lied. "The thing you just injected yourself with? It's a complete dud. Like the thing between your ears."
"You bastard — you risked your relatives' lives for this?!" Wyndham yelled.
"No — they were never going to be in danger," I walked away, spotting the hard drive linked to a computer terminal. "I knew Fury would be furious and would come after us with his best agents. I also knew I could convince him of the danger of HYDRA possessing the super soldier serum. So all I had to do was get SHIELD to extract my relatives before you discovered my little trick. Ta-da."
"Woah," Jessica blinked.
"Yeah, he's such a Slytherin," Johnny snorted.
"Y-you monster!" Wyndham roared. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
"Stopped Nazis from taking over the world?" I shrugged as I typed rapidly at the computer, pulling up hundreds upon hundreds of files.
Wyndham's eyes went wide. "W-what?! How are you doing that?! It should be impossible for you to access those servers!"
"It should be. But you see, I also slipped a little bug into the formula. The moment you fed it into your terminal to analyse it, my virus began infecting every server it could reach. Which means," I plucked the hard drive free, "I now have the location of every HYDRA operation you've been involved in over the past ten hours. Not bad for a kid from Queens, huh?"
Wyndham looked like he might die right then and there. Instead, he simply chose to faint.
We walked out of that base. Cap carried Wyndham over his shoulder while Jean telekinetically levitated Logan. Outside, SHIELD agents waited with guns trained on the entrance.
Cap walked forward just as Fury emerged from among his men and approached us. "Sir, we've captured the HYDRA agent Wyndham, and Spider was able to procure vital intelligence on the enemy."
Fury looked at me, waving the hard drive. "And just how did he manage that?"
"It's ah...it's a long story. You might not like me much once I finish telling you."
Fury narrowed his eyes. "To be frank, kid — I don't like you much now." I gulped. Great. Just what I needed.