The distant blaring siren starts to draw closer, stripping Charles from his drug-induced slumber. With a sudden reaction, his eyes dart open and glance around the room in pure disorientation. He started to lift himself up, but a wave of nausea from the intense series of dizziness hits his insides.

He shuts his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath to calm his nerves, before getting off the bed on which he had laid. It was at that instant where he realized the whole room was illuminated with red.

As sinister as it looks, the emergency light in the corner of the room beat like a heart, synchronized with the siren.

He attempts to use his powers to figure out what is going on at the moment but all he comprehends is a mess of... chaos.

Charles notices the sound of people frantically running around and the shadows behind the translucent glass pane confirms it.

He has a sudden, overwhelming feeling that this facility is about to collapse at any moment... and he has not a clue of what to-

THUD!

Charles jerks in fright, his attention shifting to the room door that seemed to vibrate from the loud sound.

THUD!

Someone's breaking in, Charles thinks to himself.

He glances around the room, searching for a weapon in what little illumination the red light gives off. After scavenging the room to save his own life, Charles grips a hammer sitting inside a tool box in the corner of the room tightly after taking it out.

Charles slowly advances to the door, dread sinking into his muscles and causing him a slight lack of fast reflexes.

THUD! THUD! CLANG!

With every deafening noise, he flinches until the door is ripped off its hinges and thrown to the far side of the hallway.

He gulps in pure terror, forming the courage to verbally face this... intruder, "L-L-Look, I mean n-no harm at all! Please just-"

The darkened figure hastens towards Charles and as soon as a face is revealed, Charles stares on with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Hank?!" He blurts out, speechless to any other words due to the fact that he hasn't seen his friend in ages... and that Hank was currently in his blue Beast mode.

"Professor, we have to go!" Hank exclaims as he watches the corridor on his left and right for any threats.

Charles walks towards him slowly, furrowing his eyebrows with confusion, "Wait, what's going on?"

Hank grabs the Professor's arm and guides him out of the room and down the corridor. "I don't know but these people have been experimenting on me and for some reason, I'm stuck like this!" Hank responds with rage, his fangs in full display as he speaks, "I heard you communicate in my mind and I somehow escaped. We have to get out of here NOW-"

He stops in his tracks, taken over by an overdose of confusion and shock. Hank widens his eyes and faces the Professor, "Y-You're walking?! H-How... What? How did you-"

"They did something to me Hank, when they put me in the cryonic hibernation procedure," Charles explains in a rush, rather grimly.

"But it's amazing!" He expresses, "Maybe these people aren't-"

"NO!" Charles shouts, causing Hank to back a little with worry, "They have spoilt... e-everything in our lives Hank. They've ruined everything, I mean look at you! They've done something to you, clearly. We have to stop whatever these people are doing, even if I never walk again!"

Almost on the verge of tears, Charles pleads to Hank, who listens and nods with confirmation.

They continue down the corridor with extreme caution. Charles leans close to his friend, whispering, "Hank do you know anything about Lillian?" A feeling of optimism starts to spread inside his body.

Hank frowns then looks to the floor, "I don't know where she is Professor. I've continued to ask them about her but when the experiments got out of hand I could no longer concentrate. I'm sorry..."

Charles sighs then turns to look behind him, hearing a few marching people approach. Charles starts to run. followed by Hank, but the sedative still in his system begins to slow him down slightly.

Hank looks back to him with concern, then drapes one of Charles' arm around his shoulder to support him. They both hasten to what Charles is sure of to be the control room. 

"Now we go in there, get Lillian out-"

"Professor," Hank sighs, "What if she's... not here anymore? Maybe she wasn't here at all."

"Hank I know she's still here," Charles responds with hope, "I-I heard her call out my name, I can't give up on her yet."

Up ahead, Charles watches the control room door intently as he walks over to-

"HEY!" A man yells out, holding a double-barrel shotgun in his hands and wearing a white lab coat. Charles clenches his fists then looks to Hank, who starts to growl.

"Professor, go!" Hank commands and charges towards the small army of scientists and guards that have their attention on the 'rogue' mutants.

Charles groans in frustration at the realisation that he'd have to take a full circle the other way, around the floor corridor, to reach the control room from the other side. He hopes that the halls form a closed circle or square.

As much energy as he can muster from his slightly limp muscles, Charles makes a run for the other way, while the sirens continue to blare and the light continues to drag the horror of the situation. He can still hear the cries of agony and the sounds of a ferocious fight from behind him.

Charles looks back to make sure that nobody-

CLANG!

He collides, face-first into a large metal pole that serves as some sort of internal communication device for the facility.

The Professor's world starts to spin. The throbbing head pain spreads across his cranium like a virus, almost making him fall to his knees.

Just as he balances himself and the pain almost subsides, a crowbar swings right near his face, missing him by an inch as he backs away swiftly.

He starts to breathe heavily, looking at the man who gripped it in his fists. Charles glances around, while still keeping his attention on the attacker, for anything he can find to protect himself.

The man swings the crowbar two more times, missing the Professor but causing him to trip on some loose wires and fall onto the floor.

He scrambles back for safety, looking around and crying out for help. He began to beg for his life, questioning what he did wrong and proclaiming that he just wanted to go back home.

But then from the corner of his eye, he spots something under an office desk. A pistol peeks out from the bottom, and when Charles sees the right moment he dives in to grab the pistol.

The man raises his hands over his head, ready to bash Charles' head but-

BANG!

Charles squeezes his eyes shut, holding the gun out in front of him, over his head, pointing at the attacker. After a loud THUMP! his eyes dart open to the sight of a pool of blood spreading across the pristine floor, from the attacker's head. In the red light, it looks like disgusting black goo, oozing out towards Charles.

He squirms as he gets up, feeling himself tremble with fear of what he has just done. But after a moment to bring his sense about, he checks the magazine of the pistol and places it on the table after finding that there aren't any bullets left.

Charles reaches to pick up the crowbar, laying next to the dead body he had just shot. He steps over the body then jogs down the hallway from where his attacker had appeared from.

*****

A labyrinth of hallways and corridors is what make the foundations of this facility, as the cliche goes. Charles wished that it could have been a simple building with a stright forward layout but the odds are never in the victim's favour.

Countless times he has felt that he has been going in circles, but he never seems to reach back to the control room... only further away.

"Argh, this doesn't seem right at all," Charles mumbles with frustration, almost swinging the crowbar at the metallic wall next to him, dividing two laboratories.

He approaches a crossroads; an intersection with three hallways sprouting at its edges. He complains, glancing from hallway to hallway for any indications of which might be the right way for him. The lack of signage does not make things easier.

He picks the one in the middle, deciding to continue straight and hoping not to come to a dead end.

Charles starts to lose his breath. He hasn't had a drop of water run down his throat in what seems like weeks. He feels the need to sit for a moment but the dread of another attacker being close makes him pass up the opportunity.

He can feel his shoulders droop a little, his grip on the crowbar loosen from the lack of energy in his body. He shuts his eyes a little as he walks ahead-

THUMP!

He jumps back in fear, a sudden burst of adrenaline perks up his senses and he holds the crowbar up in defence.

"Professor it's me!"

Charles squints his eyes then rolls them, taking a deep breath of relief when he finds out that it's Hank.

"Did you get into the control room?!" Hank questions and Charles shakes his head with irritation.

"I'm lost in this bloody maze, Hank! I have no idea where it is," He replies with a furious whisper.

"Come on, I think it's that way," Hank points out and starts walking back the way Charles had come, "It should be in the hallway next-"

"Well now... What's going on here?"

Shivers run down their spines. A raspy voice echoes in the corridor from behind them. The soft clacking of dress shoes on the floor, intimidate both of them and they turn around every so slowly.

A man emerges from the non-illuminated side of the corridor, wearing a dark turtleneck sweater and pants. He has his hands in his pockets and for some reason Charles imagines him having a smirk plastered on his lips.

"Where are you two going?" He questions, "The show has only begun."

The man claps twice, something Charles finds quite odd at the moment. But the unanticipated shift in light causes him and Hank to cover their faces with agony. They were just getting used to a whole new red world when now, the lights flashed back to a blinding white.

The feeling felt similar to the ringing that happens in one's ears. Charles rubs his eyes and squints them as he attempts to look at the man in the distance in front of them.

He clenches his fusts, recognising exactly who this is. He couldn't believe that he didn't from the man's voice.

"Ennis," Charles mumbles and Ennis laughs slightly. His typical villainy demeanour was not intimidating Charles in the slightest.

"Yes, I'm happy you remember me, Professor," Ennis comments then walks closer to the mutants in the room. Charles examines his surroundings just as his eyes are getting used to the change in light.

They stand in a large square room, with various metallic cells, with enormous metal bolted doors, surrounding them. With two cells at each wall, there's a small window in the middle of them for viewing.

Charles peers inside them from where he's standing in the middle and they all seem to be empty... except for one. There's a person inside, but he can't make out who it is or if they are okay.

"Now," Ennis places his hands together, "I can't have anymore commotion here fellas! Let's... call it a truce and be on our ways-"

"Never," Charles interrupts with disgust, "After what you've done, you're never going to get away with this!"

Ennis sighs rather loudly, pursing his lips together then looking to the cell which houses a person. "You both have caused so much disruption here. The past couple of days have been... exhausting," He informs and stands beside a control panel next to the cell door.

Charles glances to Hank, with utter confusion, who shrugs his shoulders. "Look I have a nice thing going on here, without you two ruining my plans!" Ennis exclaims surprisingly then inputs a passcode into the number pad.

A HISS! and CLANG! later, the metal cell door starts to open slowly, and the dread and anticipation within Charles and Hank grows as well.

"You wanted to see her, right Peofessor?" Ennis asks, "Well I think I can arrange a special, face-to-face meet up."

He raises an eyebrow then clicks his tongue, as if calling a dog.

"Enjoy Professor!" He says before walking off into the darkened corridor ahead. Charles looks to Hank in horror as both of then back away.

The person in the cell walks put slowly, their head tilted to the side and their hair...

Charles places the puzzle pieces together in his mind. The hair and the gait... he's astounded that he did not recognise that tuft of wavy and long ginger hair.

She lifts her head up straight, glaring at Hank and Charles with fiery glowing eyes and threat in his limbs.

"Lillian..." he mumbles under his breath, "Oh lord, no."