"Hold up, if this is Miles Drake, then who's the guy outside?" Justin asked a very good question as he, Sarah and Director Stone were standing around the unconscious double of Miles inside the pod.
"I….I didn't know what to expect when we came all the way down here,…but I definitely didn't expect this." Sarah voiced still in disbelief of what was before them.
"As suspicious as this is, this still doesn't prove that Miles is the man in the shadows." Director Stone butted in.
"Are you serious, what does a guilty person look like to you man?" Justin asked thinking that Director Stone was in denial.
Justin then noticed something that was on top of a table beside them and he went to pick it up.
"You said you wanted more proof, then how about this." said Justin as he was holding up one of Enzo's shards after taking it off the table.
"What is that?" asked Sarah.
"This is one Enzo's shards that I told you about, now what would he be doing with this?,…and more importantly, how did he get it?" Justin replied as Sarah took it from him to get a better look at it.
Director Stone sighed as he realized how incriminating it all looked.
"Wow, it's pretty, it almost looks like a diamond." Sarah commented.
Sarah walked past Justin to put it back down when she bounced Justin's arm.
"Ugh." Justin groaned.
"Oh, your arms haven't fully healed up yet?" asked Sarah.
"No." Justin replied.
"Serves you right, you should've never gone after Amethyst on your own." Sarah scowled as she slapped him on his arm.
"Ouch! You can't do that to an injured person, and besides, you already gave me an earful back at the A.D.A." Justin grumbled.
"I should've done more than that, just remember what Kate told you the next time you decide to do something that stupid again." Sarah spoke, calmly but still very serious.
When Justin was healing up in the med bay after his fight with Enzo aka Prism thanks to Jones's new hobby of coming up with code names, Kate explained to him a few things about his condition. Apparently absorbing energy through arms to increase the damage times two with every punch to beat Enzo did a lot of internal damage within his arms. Kate advised him to not use that move again unless it's absolutely necessary.
And if he finds himself in a situation where he needs to use it, Kate advised that he should throw no more that five punches with no more than two times the damage or else he could damage his arms again, and if his arms continue to receive damage like this, not even Justin's self healing capabilities might be able to repair them.
"I try to be more careful from now on." Justin tried to put his mother's mind at ease.
"I hope so, for your sake." Sarah replied, eying her son wearily.
"What do we do now, cause I think it's safe to assume that Justin's right about Miles." Sarah added, getting the conversation back on track .
"Miles definitely has some explaining to do,…but technically there's no concrete evidence that he's the man in the shadows." Director Stone replied, looking at the unconscious double of Miles once more.
"Then why don't we wake him up and interrogate him, his vitals suggest that he's definitely alive but it seems he's in a deep sleep." Sarah informed them as she looked at the screen near the pod.
"Alright, let's wake him up." Justin agreed.
Sarah started tampering with the controls on the screen and altered them to wake him and Justin used his strength to remove the glass covering from over him. Suddenly, Miles' body started fidgeting as he was starting to regain consciousness and then he opened his eyes.
"Miles?...you alright?" Sarah asked slowly as to not frighten him.
"Sarah? Jayce? W-what's going on?" Miles questioned.
"Well, we were actually hoping you could tell us." Director Stone spoke.
"Wait… who are you?" Miles asked Justin.
The three of them were surprised by that question and looked at each other in confusion.
"What're you talking about, this is my son, Justin." Sarah answered.
"Yeah that's funny, the last time I checked, Justin was a toddler, so seriously…who is he?" Miles asked again thinking Sarah was kidding.
"How long have you been in there?" Sarah asked, unsure of what was really going on.
"I'm not sure, everything's hazy." Miles murmured.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Director Stone inquired.
Miles thought hard about how he ended up in the pod, suddenly, his facial expression changed as some of his memories came back to him.
"What is it?... what do you remember?" Director Stone pushed.
"Me and Joe were working on experimental cures by utilizing the cubes energy but someone tampered with our work and did something to the volunteers, they developed dangerous abilities and then they went on a rampage through the building and then on the streets,…..wait, what happened after that, did you guys manage to contain them?" Miles asked in genuine curiosity.
"What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?" Miles asked as they realized that he was talking about the 7/15 incident.
"Miles, that night, that was twelve years ago." Sarah broke the news to him realizing that he has been in that pod for all that time.
"What? what are you talking about?" Miles asked refusing to believe what he was hearing.
"Its true Miles, you been stuck inside this thing for that entire time." said Director Stone.
Miles couldn't believe what he was hearing, but since the last time that he saw Justin he was a toddler and now they are claiming that the teenage boy standing in front of him is Justin, it made what they were telling seem more believable.
"Let's get out of here before the other Miles comes back, then we can ask all the questions we want." Sarah suggested.
"No!" Jones spoke, as he was listening over the comms.
"He hasn't left the premises yet, if you guys come out now he'll definitely see you, just stay put for now and I'll let you know when it's safe." Jones continued.
"Copy that." Director Stone replied.
"Guess we can't go anywhere right now, we might as well get some answers in the mean time." Sarah suggested.
"Well, let's start with how are there two of them." Justin helped.
"What, what are you talking about?" Miles asked confused.
"I don't know how, but there's another Miles Drake, he's outside the building as we speak." Director Stone informed him.
As they mentioned his doppelganger, Miles' memories were triggered and he started to have memory flashes, the events of that night played over in his head like a flashback.
"Miles?... what's wrong?" Sarah asked as she noticed Miles holding his head.
"I remember, I remember everything." Miles replied.
"Tell us everything you remember." Director Stone prodded.
So Miles proceeded to tell them everything that happened that night.
TWELVE YEARS AGO AT H.T.I TOWER
"Morning Miles" Joe Jackson greeted Miles as he walked in the lab wearing his lab coat.
"Morning Joe, you ready to change the world?" Miles asked enthusiastically.
"I've never been more ready for anything else in my life." Joe replied excitement written all over his face.
"Hey honey." Sarah greeted her husband as she walked in a bit later, holding a three year old Justin in her arms.
"I'll be right back, I'm gonna take Justin over to Sofia's house so she can watch him." Sarah informed him.
"Sofia?...what happened to the baby sitter?" Joe asked.
"Something came up so she had to cancel but he'll probably have more fun with his aunt and playing with his cousin Chloe…now won't you." Sarah explained before she started tickling little Justin, making him laugh.
"Ok, hurry back, I'll see you soon little man." Joe sent them off as he kissed his wife.
"Well, are you ready to meet the brave volunteers?" Miles asked as Sarah left.
"Yeah, let's go." said Joe as they went into the other room.
On the other side of the door were five individuals, both male and female dressed in white from head to toe, each either sitting or lying down on his or her own bed. Sadly, they were all suffering from some kind of cancer which modern medicine stood almost no chance of curing at the time. So they had willingly decided to be apart of the experiment.
"Good morning everyone, I'm Dr. Jackson and this is Dr. Drake, we're pleased to meet you and we're thankful that you all volunteered for this procedure.
"You're thankful?" one of volunteered asked.
"I'm guessing everyone here aside from you two is suffering from some kind of terminal cancer, myself included, and you guys are saying you might've found a way to save our lives, if anything we're the thankful ones." He continued as the other four agreed with him.
"Don't thank us yet, this procedure is still experimental and as far as human trials go, this would be our second attempt, the person is still alive but we're still monitoring him for potential side effects, are you all sure that you still want to go through with this?" Joe asked.
"I am, my cancer is already stage four and the doctor said I'd be lucky to live another two months, so I've got nothing to loose." one of the women spoke up and the rest of them gave a similar response.
"Okay, who's first?" Miles asked looking around the group.
"I'll go." the young man from earlier spoke up.
"Okay, come with us." Joe instructed.
He followed them to the treatment room and inside he noticed a pod like contraption.
"What's that?" he asked.
"This is how we intend to cure you, well,…hopefully." Miles explained.
"Please, step inside the pod." Joe insisted.
He climbed inside and the door shut afterwards. Joe then proceeded to open his briefcase and took out a miniature storage unit that was housing a small amount of energy that was siphoned of the cube.
"Extraordinary, I just never get tired of seeing it." Miles voiced as he marveled at the glowing blue energy.
"You and me both." Joe agreed as he placed it inside the pod.
The injectors that would be used to administer the energy, started to move.
"Wait, what are these things?" the man in the pod asked.
"What's your name?" Joe asked, ignoring his question.
"Oliver " he replied.
"Oliver, don't be afraid, this is all part of the procedure, but this will Sting a little." Joe tried to calm him down.
"Okay" Oliver replied, still a bit nervous as the injectors pierced his skin and released a dose of the energy inside of him.
Oliver came out of the pod a couple minutes later, his veins in his arms, legs and the rest of his body became visible as they started to glow blue.
"What's happening to me?" asked Oliver as he looked at his body before the glow disappeared.
"Lie down here." Miles instructed.
"O-okay" Oliver agreed and followed.
Oliver laid down under an x-ray machine and both Joe and Miles were happy with the results. The energy they injected him with had turbo charged the cells in his body causing him to self heal and began eradicating the cancer in his body.
"Amazing, the tumor is actually shrinking, we've done it, we've really done it." Miles gushed becoming ecstatic.
"Yeah, we did it, this is our second success after Jayce." Joe spoke a proud smile pushing through.
Before Justin and his friends were born, Jayce was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor and since he didn't have much time left as it is, Joe decided to put him through a completely experimental procedure in a final attempt to save his life since modern medicine was failing him. Luckily, the process was a success and for the following year, Joe monitored Jayce in case any side effects appeared but none were detected, and since then Joe decided to give others stricken with cancer or whatever disease a chance at healing.
Joe and Miles decided to put the other volunteers through the procedure, since it had proven successful not once but twice. They proceeded to monitor them for any side effects but a month later, Jayce, who would become known as Director Stone, started to develop psychic abilities which could only have been a result of the procedure. Soon after, Oliver and the rest of the volunteers also started manifesting abilities of their own, and Joe and Miles then realized that the cube's energy could give people superhuman powers, and they were contemplating whether or not it was a good thing.
"So what do you think we should do? even if we are curing people, should we present this procedure to the world knowing that it will cause these kinds of mutation?" Miles questioned, conflicted.
"....No, we need to find a way to cure people with the procedure without giving them abilities." Joe answered in deep thought.
"Are you sure? not only have we found a way to cure any disease but we've discovered a way to make people superhuman, just think of what this discovery could do for our species." Miles added.
"I am thinking about that, but do you really think that the world is ready for this kind of change? Imagine what would happen if people found out about this or what could happen if the wrong kind of people received these powers; besides, using the cube's energy to cure people is one thing…but giving people powers would raise too many questions and then people would find out about the cube, and I can't let that happen." Joe explained.
"You're right, I didn't even think of that." Miles agreed with a small nod.
"For the time being, let's not put anymore people through the procedure and just continue monitoring the volunteers for now." Joe suggested.
"Yeah sure " Miles agreed.
"Dr. Jackson, Dr. Drake." Oliver called out.
"Oliver, how are you feeling? any changes?" asked Joe.
"I feel amazing, not only is the cancer gone but now I have powers…." Oliver spoke before he was cut off.
"Careful, try to keep the fact that you have powers a secret, you never know who could be listening." Joe instructed as he lowered his voice.
Little did Joe know how right he was since someone has watching and following them for sometime now, all while at the same time keeping their presence hidden.
Suddenly, the phone in the office started ringing.
"Excuse me." Joe spoke as he went to take the call.
"Hello." He answered.
"Joe, it's Sarah, there's something really wrong with Jayce." Sarah rushed out as she was panicking.
"What? what's wrong with him?" Joe started worrying.
"We were talking and he just collapsed, but he's still breathing." Sarah explained.
"Take him to the A.D.A, I'm on my way." Joe instructed.
AT THE A.D.A
Joe and Sarah managed to get Jayce to the medical bay and Joe started analyzing Jayce to find the root of the problem, and Joe was shocked at what he found.
"What's wrong with him?" Sarah asked nervously.
"This is all my fault, I did this him." Joe spoke in as he took a seat, feeling guilty.
"What're you talking about?" Sarah asked in confusion.
"The energy that we used to get rid of his cancer so long ago is causing his cells to deteriorate at a cellular level, and now the very thing that I used to cure him is killing him faster than the cancer could." Joe explained.
"You can save him right?" Sarah inquired.
"I...I don't know." Joe replied in honesty.
Once again, the conversation was interrupted by another unexpected phone call.
"Yeah Miles." Joe answered.
"Joe, There's something wrong with Oliver." Miles reported.
"What's wrong with him?" Joe asked on alert.
"He said he was feeling sick, then he just collapsed, and the others aren't looking too well either, I'm gonna run some tests to see if I find out what's the problem." Miles revealed, trying to mask his worry.
"Don't bother, I think I already know what's happening to them, I'm on my way." Joe spoke before hanging up.
"I'll be right back, just stay with him and call me if he gets any worse." Joe instructed.
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll take care of him." Sarah assured him as he kissed her on the cheek and left.
After Joe arrived at the H.T.I tower, he quickly ran straight for his lab.
"How is he doing?" Joe asked.
"He still hasn't regained consciousness yet." Miles replied as Joe began to analyze.
"It's as I thought." Joe spoke with a sigh.
"What? what's wrong with him?" Miles asked.
Joe explained to Miles what he discovered while analyzing Jayce and that the same thing was happening to Oliver and the rest of the volunteers.
"Okay…but Oliver and the rest of the volunteers started showing signs of cellular deterioration not long after the procedure, why did Jayce take two years to show any signs.
"Most likely because we gave the volunteers a higher dose of energy than we gave Jayce because we were so sure it would work, so their cells started deteriorating at a faster rate than his." Joe explained.
"So we did this to them?" Miles asked as a feeling of regret started to overtake him.
"Yes, but I have to fix this before it's too late." Joe spoke.
"Don't you mean we have to fix this." Miles voiced.
"No, I already have an idea on how to fix them so let me take care of it, but in the mean time, I need you to do everything you can to stabilize them until I'm finished, think you can do that?" Joe asked.
"Yeah sure." Miles replied.
For the next few weeks, Joe worked from dusk till dawn to find a new cure for the last cure, he was able create a serum, but it was only able to slow down the cellular deterioration, there was still something missing from the formula; so he continued to work tirelessly for almost another month to make the serum a permanent fix, until he found the piece that he needed, which was inside of his own son.
ON THE NIGHT OF THE 7/15 INCIDENT
"Hello?" Miles answered the phone.
"Miles, I've figured it out what was missing from the serum, I just gave it to Jayce and his cells stabilized immediately, I'm on my way to give the serum to the volunteers." Joe spoke, sounding both exhausted and excited. He was driving in a hurry with Sarah and baby Justin in the car since the volunteers didn't have much time left.
"That's amazing, I'll prepare them for the procedure." Miles spoke feeling relieved.
Little did Miles know that there was a sketchy individual in his lab already running his own experiments on the unconscious volunteers who were lying in their pods to help stabilize them. This individual was wearing a black hoodie and gloves not letting any skin left to be seen. He saw some blueprints of the pods and instructions on how to build them and he took them up and tried stuffing them in his jacket.
"Who are you?…and what are you doing here?" Miles questioned as he walked through the door.
"Wait, what are you doing to them?" Miles further asked, noticing that he tampered with the pods, or was in process of tampering with them.
Miles quickly pressed the panic button which alerted the security guards.
"Whoever you are, I suggest you stop whatever you're doing to them, I've already alerted security." Miles delivered a warning.
"I hate to inform you, but I've already disposed of your so called security. It was surprisingly easy, you should really consider recruiting more competent subordinates; as for stopping what I'm doing, I'm afraid it's too late for that now, it's already done." The individual revealed still with his back turned.
Suddenly, the volunteers started regaining consciousness, but they all started groaning in pain and their bodies started to change, they started to become disfigured.
"What the hell are you doing to them?!" asked Miles very appalled as he quickly made his way to the pod controls in hopes of stopping whatever was happening.
"I've already told you that it's too late to stop what's happening, all you can do now is just watch." the individual spoke sinisterly.
"What did you do?...what?" Miles asked as he turned around and realized that the individual was gone.
The volunteers' appearances continued to become disfigured and they started to become violent and started breaking out of their pods and started damaging the lab.
"Oliver, I don't know what's happening to you but please try to calm down." Miles tried to reason with him since he and Joe had developed a friendship with him.
"Dr. Drake, y…you,….you need to run…NOW!!" Oliver exclaimed before he completely lost all sense of reason, as he and the others started turning into monsters.
Miles turned around and high tailed it out of the lab as the volunteers or rather what was left of them, started chasing him. Miles pressed the emergency lock down button which sealed the doors behind him hoping that would slow them down a bit and it set off the alarm throughout the tower. A few scientists came out into the hallway to see what the commotion was about.
"Dr. Drake, what's going on?" one of the scientists asked him.
"We need to evacuate the building now!" Miles shouted, frightened half to death.
"What's happening…." He started asking before he cut off as the sealed door was broken down and the monsters went on rampage and started to harass and murder nearby scientists before making their way unto to the streets of Manhattan, killing anything in sight.
Meanwhile, Captain Sting was having a family outing with his Japanese wife, Kaya, and one of their daughters going in the direction of the H.T.I tower.
"So what do you guys feel like eating?" Captain Sting asked his girls.
"Can we get some ice cream?" asked Kimiko, their eight year old daughter at the time.
"Sure, we can get some ice cream." Captain Sting replied.
"Can we bring some for Kahano too?" asked Kimiko.
"Kahano is just a baby, she's too young to eat ice cream." Kaya replied to her daughter.
"Okay,…then can I eat it for her?" asked Kimiko making both her parents laugh.
Suddenly, they started hearing a lot screaming and saw people running towards them, as if they were running away from something.
"What's happening Nick?" asked Kaya.
"I don't know, stay close to us Kimiko." Captain Sting spoke and he took hold of their daughter's hand to prevent her from getting lost in the chaotic crowd.
"My god! what is that?" a man pointed out one of the monsters as it kept getting closer and closer.
As soon as they saw that thing, Captain Sting picked up their daughter and he as his wife started running as fast as they could but unfortunately, it did them no good, which caused them to get caught in one of the monster's attack.
The next thing Captain Sting knew, he was awaking off the ground, injured and bleeding, and hearing the cries of his daughter as she kept saying mommy over and over.
"Kimiko, come on we have to get out of here, where's your mother?" he asked.
Kimiko lifted her hand and pointed and after he followed her finger, he saw the hand of his wife, covered in blood and trapped under the rubble of the building that the monster tore through, and he screamed out.
"KAYA!!!" as he ran to her while completely forgetting about the pain of his injuries to save her. He started gently removing the debris from top to bottom when he heard no response from her. After getting most of the movable debris off, he grabbed hold of her hand, to his surprise, the bloodied hand was all that was there with her wedding ring on it and the rest of her body was out of view. He held it up and just stared at it, petrified by the shock while Kimiko started crying even louder.
Meanwhile, Joe had finally arrived at H.T.I tower with the finished serum he planned to use to cure the volunteers. Sarah was right behind him carrying Justin in her arms . Both of them noticed the damaged buildings and a few dead bodies on the pavement, some of them were even corpses of his colleagues.
"Oh my god!" Sarah exclaimed.
"What the hell happened here?" Joe asked.
"Joe." Miles called out as he walked towards him bleeding from his head and limping.
"Miles? what happened?" Joe questioned, as he helped Miles to sit down and then Miles explained everything that happened after they spoke on the phone.
"So this guy who did all this, where did he go?" asked Sarah while putting Justin in a chair since he ended up falling asleep in her arms.
"He disappeared before all this chaos happened." Miles replied.
Joe placed the finished serum on the table and spent the next few minutes analyzing the pods to see if he could find a way to reverse what had been done with the help of Sarah.
"Have you found something?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, if I'm right, the metamorphosis that they've gone through, should be accelerating their cellular deterioration even further which will destroy them, which means that any minute now…." Joe began to explain.
"They'll die." Sarah finished his statement.
And just like Joe theorized, the monsters started disintegrating one after the other, all except one, the mutated Oliver, in fact, he started growing in size.
Shortly afterwards, Justin had woken up and wandered off while his parents were preoccupied trying to find a way to fix the catastrophe they were facing, while Miles was busy treating his wounds. So little Justin found his way outside. At the same time, the mutated Oliver was heading back to the H.T.I. tower.
Afterwards, Joe began using one of the only computers that wasn't destroyed during the attack which was connected to one of their satellites, to scan the city and if all the monsters had died.
"There's only one left." Joe stated.
"You mean that red dot?" Sarah questioned as she examined the screen.
"Yes." Joe replied.
"That red dot looks like it's headed in our direction." Sarah spoke up drawing their attention to it and realizing they were in trouble.
"We have to get out if here." Miles replied frantically, not wanting to get caught up in another attack while Joe grabbed the serum.
"Wait…where's Justin?" Sarah asked after turning around only to see that he wasn't sleeping in the chair where she had left him.
They began looking for him everywhere, first in the lab and then in the lobby.
"Oh no." Joe mumbled, realizing that he might have went outside.
They ran outside in the direction that people were starting to come out of hiding after they thought that the monsters had disappeared. To their surprise, the last monster appeared, causing them to panic and run again. But Justin stood there, staring up into the monster's face. Suddenly, the monster started growing again and started to glow as a result of generating too much energy inside it's body and it was about to explode.
"JUSTIN!" Sarah called out after spotting him next to the creature and ran towards him.
Joe realized what was about to happen and quickly pulled her back with the intention of saving their son in her stead.
"What are you doing? let go of me!" She ordered.
The monster exploded before Joe could get to him, but then something strange occurred, the energy that was being dispersed within the blast, started to gather in the same exact spot where the creature was, which had left a crater in the ground after the blast.
The energy that was gathering in that spot started to get absorbed by Justin unintentionally as he was left unharmed by the blast aside from damaged clothing.
After all the energy had seemingly disappeared which could've potentially killed anyone if caught in the blast, civilians started gathering around the crater and saw what was to their surprise, a small child. In that moment, they all drew their speculations for why he was in the crater after the monster disappeared, the most popular theory was that Justin was that monster and a few of them began taking pictures. Sarah began pushing through that crowd of people with Joe right behind her. She picked Justin up, overjoyed that he was safe and they proceeded to leave.
"What the hell is he?" one person in the crowd asked.
"He's some kind of freak." Another person voiced as they quickly took Justin inside.
"Okay, how did he do that?" Miles asked in confusion.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have time to explain, but you need to take this and destroy it." Joe spoke as he gave him the serum.
"What?...but why?" Miles asked even more confused.
"I'll explain everything when I get the chance but for now I need you to destroy it." Joe pleaded, worried about what would happen if anyone got there hands on it and worse, if anyone found out that Justin's DNA was the key to making it work.
"Okay, I'll do it." Miles agreed.
"Thank you." Joe spoke as he and Sarah left the premises with Justin immediately, almost as if as if they were running from something, or someone. Joe was never seen by the public again after that night.
Miles went back to the lab and destroyed the serum just as Joe had asked. A few minutes after, Miles started salvaging whatever could be salvaged in the lab, not noticing someone sneaking up behind him, who then knocked him out. Later on, Miles woke up, hands and feet bounded, locked inside one of the pods.
"What the…." He voiced as he tried to break free, but his attempts were futile.
"Ahh, I see you've woken up." a voice sounded.
Miles turned his head and saw that it was same assailant that snuck into his lab earlier and orchestrated this entire mess.
"Why are you doing all of this?" Miles asked.
"Well, since you're about to go to sleep for a very long time, I might as well tell you, as for why I did what I did to your….volunteers. See I needed to know what they were capable of after receiving a certain amount of energy and if I could control them." the assailant explained.
"You're trying to build an army." Miles concluded.
"Yes, you are correct, I am… but as you can see, my first attempt was unfortunately a failure. I'm hoping my next attempt will be more successful. Although, they did serve as a distraction so that I could alter these pods to suit my needs, so I suppose they weren't completely useless." the assailant continued.
"And as for what I'm currently doing, we'll just watch and see." He added as he took his hoodie off revealing skin which was a shade of grey. Miles didn't see his face but his skin alone was enough to make him question if he was even human. He crawled inside the pod beside Miles' which were both connected by cables and he turned it on.
After the pods were turned on, feelings of discomfort, followed by slight pain were felt by them as the pods did whatever they were altered to do, causing the assailant's appearance to change completely.
After the process was finished, the assailant stepped out of the pod and Miles was completely shocked to see that this mystery person, now looked exactly like him.
"What the hell!" Miles' exclaimed, feeling like he was looking into a mirror.
The assailant then set the controls to put Miles in suspended animation, essentially putting him to sleep for a very long time. Then he began blacking out while his own face was the last thing he saw.
PRESENT DAY
"…..And that's the last thing I remember, I can't believe that bastard stole twelve years of my life." Miles spat ending the story.
"So... I had powers even back then and my dad did experiments on me when I was just a toddler?" Justin asked, trying to make sense of what had just been heard.
"Its not quite like what it sounds like, but now is not the time to discuss this, we need to get out of here before that imposter Miles realizes we're here." Sarah reminded them.
"Well that imposter Miles as you put it, already knows you're here." the imposter voiced as his face suddenly appeared on the monitor.
"Jones! Jones?!" Director Stone called out over the comms wondering why Jones didn't alert them like he was suppose to but he didn't get an answer.
"If you're trying to contact that agent of yours who you had watching me, don't waste your time, I already disposed of him." The Imposter spoke callously.
"No…" Director Stone voiced in disbelief.
All three of them were stunned as he said that.
"But enough about him, I'm glad that you made your way down there. I wasn't sure if my plan to lure you down here would work but I'm glad it did. Now I get to kill two of the remaining founding members and you Justin, you've been a thorn in my side for way too long, although I wished you could've brought Sofia along, then I would've been able to kill all of you and then there would be no one left to stand in my way, but I suppose I'll have to go kill her after this." He continued casually, as if discussing the weather.
"So you're the shadow man." Justin confirmed, not surprised he was right.
"Yes… I am." The shadow man confirmed.
"Well, since we know you're not the real Miles Drake, why don't you tell us who you really are, show us your real face!" Director Stone insisted.
"I wish I could, I've spent twelve of your earth years in someone else's skin, so believe me, I'd love nothing more. I'm afraid I won't be able to take on my true form for a few more days but unfortunately for the four of you, you won't be alive long enough to see it. He said as a countdown for the self destruct sequence counting down from twenty appeared on the screen and the exit was sealed by some kind of alloy.
Justin began using his strength to try and break through but was only managing to put dents and cracks on it. Judging by its appearance and durability, Justin managed to realize what it was.
"That alloy is the same material that Enzo's body was made of, I suppose you could break through eventually but I'm afraid you just don't have enough time, and I don't care how strong you are… not even you will be able to survive this. This is where I bid you farewell, cause this will be the last time we see each other." He said as he tuned out.
Within the last five seconds, Justin paused to think of a way out but unfortunately the secret underground base exploded just as planned destroying everything inside, and leaving no sign of Justin or the others.