The world was silent except for the ringing in Adrian's ears. He stood swaying, bloody and bruised, his clothes torn to ribbons. One of his eyes was so bloodshot the white had turned crimson, making his gaze wild and unfocused. His breath came in ragged gasps. He looked like he'd crawled out of hell.
Across from him, Magneto hovered low over the floor, defeated and battered, cloak in tatters. His face was twisted in a mix of rage and disbelief as he locked eyes with Adrian.
Adrian coughed, a wet, horrible sound that sprayed blood onto the cracked floor. "You… lost… Magneto," he rasped, voice thick with pain. "We're not… as weak… as you think."
But before he could say more, a blur of silver light flashed across the debris-strewn corridor. Quicksilver appeared, scooping up Magneto with a scowl. "Time's up," he muttered.
And in the next instant, they were gone—along with the rest of the Brotherhood. The corridor was eerily empty.
"Damn it!" Adrian growled, eyes flicking wildly as he scanned the wreckage for any sign of them. But they had vanished.
"Adrian!" Cassie's voice cracked as she rushed to his side, eyes wide with horror. "You're bleeding everywhere—oh God—"
Adrian gave her a shaky, bloody smile. "I'm… fine…" he tried to say, but it came out as a cough so violent he spat blood across his chin.
"Adrian!" the team shouted in unison, their voices blending in panic.
His knees buckled. The hardened plates of his quirk flickered and faded, causing deep gashes to split wider across his chest and arms. Blood gushed from reopened wounds, soaking his shredded shirt. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed, barely catching himself on one trembling hand.
Sage sprinted to him, pressing her hands over his chest. Golden Light shimmered as she poured her healing energy into him. "Stay with me, Adrian," she whispered fiercely. "Don't you dare go anywhere."
Peter skidded next to them, ripping strips from his ruined suit and tying them tightly around Adrian's worst wounds. "Hold on, man," he muttered, hands shaking. "You've gotta hold on."
Cassie hovered close, voice trembling. "This is bad—so bad. His muscles are torn, bones shattered, and he's lost so much blood. Adrian… how did you even stand?"
The others looked on, faces stricken with worry and disbelief.
Suddenly, the ground shuddered violently beneath them. Chunks of ceiling crashed down around them as the entire facility groaned and began to collapse. Sparks showered the corridor, and a deafening crack echoed through the ruined halls. Magneto's battle had destroyed the metal supports, turning the place into a deathtrap.
Elio let out a terrified wail, eyes wide as the floor split open nearby. His powers flared uncontrollably, twisting chunks of metal into dense, writhing balls.
Sage kept one hand on Adrian's chest, never stopping her healing, and reached for Elio with the other. "Hey, sweetheart," she called gently, voice cutting through the chaos. "It's okay. You're safe. No one is going to hurt you anymore. Breathe with me, okay? Inhale… exhale… inhale… exhale…"
Elio's breath hitched, tears streaming down his cheeks as he matched Sage's slow, steady breaths. The swirling metal around him stilled, then fell to the floor with a heavy clatter.
"Good job," Sage whispered with a warm smile, despite the dust raining down around them.
Elio's face crumpled as he burst into sobs. "It's all my fault," he cried. "If they didn't want me, Mr. Adrian wouldn't be hurt. It's because of me…"
Peter dropped to one knee beside him, pulling the boy into a hug. "No, buddy. It's not your fault. None of this is your fault. And Adrian will be okay—we'll make sure of it. But we have to go now. The building is coming down."
Together, the Vanguard gathered, forming a protective circle around the unconscious Adrian. Peter and Bobby carefully lifted him, wincing at the fresh blood staining their hands. Sage clasped Elio's hand tightly, leading him forward as the walls groaned and shifted ominously overhead.
The Escape
The team moved as fast as they dared, weaving through buckled hallways and over heaps of smoldering debris. Every footstep was a careful dance between speed and caution. The corridors were dark, flickering emergency lights casting ghostly red shadows on the cracked walls.
A massive slab of concrete crashed to the floor behind them, sending a shockwave of dust that made them all stagger.
"This way!" Cassie shouted, pointing to a side corridor. She pulled up the building's old map on her cracked phone. "There should be a maintenance hatch leading outside if we can just get there!"
They skidded into a side hall, but their path was immediately blocked by a mountain of twisted rebar and concrete. Peter's eyes darted around, desperate for an answer. "No way through," he muttered. "We'll have to find another way."
"Wait—over here!" Cassie called, spotting a rusted metal door labeled LAB 3. She slammed her shoulder into it, the hinges screaming as it swung open.
They spilled into a dark laboratory. The room was full of equipment that looked straight out of an old war movie: ancient, boxy computers with cracked screens; crates stamped with faded WWII-era symbols; rows of chemical vials clouded with age.
Peter couldn't help but crack a grin, despite the situation. "Well, this place doesn't look creepy at all," he quipped.
Elio gave a small, shaky giggle through his tears. "Yeah… it looks really creepy, Mr. Spider."
Bobby, limping but on his feet, chuckled hoarsely. "I feel like I'm about to find a Nazi zombie in here."
Cassie scanned the lab, eyes darting across the dust-caked floor. "There!" she said, pointing to a steel ladder descending into a service tunnel. A round hatch sat open, icy fog rolling up from below. A biting chill wafted from the darkness.
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Why do I feel like they kept a giant popsicle down there?"
"Whatever it is," Cassie replied, dead serious now, "it's our only way out."
They climbed carefully into the tunnel, each footstep echoing in the tight, frozen shaft. The walls were lined with frosted pipes and strange machinery humming with low, ancient power. Stale, frigid air bit at their faces.
As they walked, they passed old, rusting cabinets stamped with swastikas and files in German too faded to read. Every step felt like they were descending deeper into some long-forgotten nightmare.
At the end of the corridor, they entered a massive underground chamber. A tank of cloudy, ice-encrusted glass sat in the center, thick with frost. Inside, something dark and massive floated, barely visible through the fog.
"What… is that?" Cassie whispered, voice hushed with awe and fear.
Sage shook her head slowly. "I don't know. I've never been here before. But this place… it's old. Older than anything we've seen."
Peter wiped a circle into the frost-covered glass. His eyes widened as he read the barely legible nameplate riveted to the tank's base. His voice was a low whisper, almost lost in the dead silence of the chamber.
"FLEXO."