"Keep going! It should be up ahead!" Hank exclaims from behind Charles, as they both run forward as quickly as their legs would carry them. Lillian rests, unconscious, over Hank's left shoulder.

Charles glances behind him, making sure that no guards were chasing them. They have faced ten up till now on their pursuit to the main control room. Along the deserted, sinister hallways, Charles found a shotgun on the ground next to a dead scientist, with eight bullets loaded. Hank holds onto the crowbar for safekeeping.

"There!" Charles stops suddenly, causing Hank to almost crash into him, "The room."

They approach the secured room cautiously, not wanting to grab any unnecessary attention.

BANG!

Charles jumped in fright, turning around swiftly and spotting three security guards with submachine guns gripped in their hands. He aimed the shotgun barrel at the guard in the middle who ran towards them, scoring a headshot, then steadying himself as he dodges the other guards' shots simultaneously.

"Get the door open HANK!" Charles shouts frantically and Hank clenches his jaw.

"I'm working on it!" He replies, ripping the biometric security scanner to unlock the doors out of being bolted to the wall. The wires spark as they are ripped apart. Hank expected the door to open automatically but nothing occurred.

He roared then clenched his hands into fists, punching the life out of the door and persisting to cause more than just dents in the large slab of metal.

Charles, occupied in defending himself and his friends, comes head to head with death. He continues to aim and shoot, his aim getting better with every-

CLICK!

Charles pulls the trigger repeatedly, but no bullets shoot out. He groans loudly then throws the gun at one of the guards, hitting him in his shins. It buys them some time to get the door open. "HANK, door please!" Charles repeats loudly and Hank growls in response.

The guards run closer, making it harder for Charles to dodge the shots and protect Lillian at the same time. "Come on Hank-"

"DUCK!"

Charles glances back and lowers himself just in time to watch the metallic door fling across the hallway and crash into the two guards, throwing them back and knocking them out for good. Charles raises his eyebrows and breathes heavily, his heart thumping out of fright.

He scurries into the security room and Hank carries Lillian inside, placing her in a spot where attackers wouldn't be able to shoot her. She is still unconscious, which concerns Charles slightly.

But he has other things on his mind at the moment.

The control room is decently large. It can easily house five people, each having a good amount of space to themselves. The room is surrounded by screens, a few large but many smaller in size, all showing a variety of numbers, signs and titles. Charles spots screens displaying vitals of test subjects, ventilation and security of the entire facility and the main screen that displayed the entire map of the building with each room labelled.

Hank examines the various coloured buttons of different sizes and shapes. It's a preschoolers dream place to be but under the red light and the thrill of being shot at any moment, it's more of a nightmare.

Scattered across different panels, some buttons were labelled while others are left to Hank's best guess. He takes a deep breath and rubs his hands together, beginning to input commands into the computer system to somehow get online.

In the meantime, Charles grabs hold of the crowbar and heads out of the control room once more, keeping a watchful eye on every direction for guards. He runs towards the dead bodies of the guards they had just fought and takes their submachine guns, along with their magazines of ammunition in their belts. Luckily, he spots some shotgun shells scattered across the floor and he picks each quickly.

Hank groans loudly in frustration. He is still in his 'Beast' mode, and he isn't able to control his hands as nimbly as he would want to around the unknown buttons that could make the situation far worse. Hank almost slams his fist down on the table but he takes a moment to regain his senses and resume tapping into the system.

Charles rushes back to the control room and places the weapons and bullets on the table in the middle of the room. He starts to reload the weapons while Hank continues to-

"Professor..." Hank mumbles, with a tone that made it seem as if al the life in him was extracted out. Charles looks towards Hank then follows his friend's gaze. His neutral emotions quickly transform into horror as he watches the display on the large screen on the wall.

The screen is divided into a grid, ten squares by ten squares, of monochromatic camera footage that seem to be coming from different cameras all at once. The angle for each footage recording is from high up, just like CCTV media. And every single once displayed a person in the room, either laying down on a bed, walking around or talking or screaming out.

These mutants... they are trapped in 'jail cells' of rooms, unable to fend for themselves like how Charles and Hank were lucky enough to do.

"Hank, what is that..." Charles mumbles, feeling sick to his stomach, "Who are those people?"

"Test subjects Professor," Hank sighs, "Just like we were."

Charles bites his lips in melancholy, shaking his head, "We have to help him, Hank. We need to get us all out of this bloody place."

THUD! 

Charles' and Hank's eyes dart to the hallway beyond the control room doorway. The distant stomping of military boots indicated that people are approaching them swiftly.

Charles grabs one of the submachine guns and slings it over his shoulder using the strap, and he holds another in his hands, safety off and a finger on the trigger. He glances back to Hank who gives him a slight nod.

"Be quick Hank," Charles says before exiting the control room and guarding its doorway and the people inside. He raised the gun, pointing it down the corridor ahead, ready to shoot as soon as he sees someone appear in his field of vision.

*****

"HANK!" The Professor exclaims as he reloads the gun in his hold as quick as he is capable of, "I'm running low on ammo!"

Hank clenches his jaw, inputting commands into the computer as quickly as he can before helping Charles, and making sure that the Professor doesn't die. "Shit!" Charles shouts, "Uh... Hank? Not to be persistent but-"

"SWITCH!" Hank roars and runs out of the control room and to the army of guards making their way closer. Charles watches with widened eyes as Hank fends off the guards in the most gruesome way possible.

Charles shakes off the feeling then rushes into the room, keeping an eye on the screen as lines of code and lights blinked. He has not a clue of what it all means but it seemed to be working, bringing them closer to getting out of this-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP... !

Charles feels cold suddenly, the large words that flashed onto the screen only makes matters worse:

'ERROR'

He looks out of the room, finding Hank still fighting two guards. Charles reaches out to grab the shotgun but Hank picks on of the guards up and throws him to the other, knocking them both out of sight. He runs back to the control room and Charles shakes his head to him with hesitance.

Charles shifts his gaze to the screen and Hank's expressions fall to confusion.

The screen changes from displaying 'ERROR' to showing a timer counting down from '20:00' minutes. As the seconds tick by, Charles and Hank look at each other in shock, unable to fathom how they ended up in this situation.

The timer can only mean one thing: This building is on the verge of collapse.

"No no no no!" Hank starts typing furiously, as Charles searches the room for a clock, which he finds hanging on the wall near the doorway. It is going to be 12 AM in 20 minutes.

He runs a hand through his hair, watching Hank intently as he frantically tries to figure out what went wrong with his typed commands. "Hank, what's going on?" Charles questions and Hank shakes his head.

"I don't know Professor, it's-"

"Hank, what did you do?!" Charles says a little too loudly.

"NOTHING, some sort of firewall blocked me out and it just-"

"HANK FIX IT!" Charles exclaims and his friend glares at him, "You're supposed to get us out and stop this What did you do now?!"

"I DON'T KNOW OKAY?! It's not my fault," Hank responds like thunder and a dramatic argument breaks out. Charles feels more helpless than angry at Hank. He knows that it is out of his friend's control. It seems to Charles that it's practically his fault that the three of them are in this mess, he's just as frustrated as one can get-

There is a sudden burst of gasping within the room, making Charles' eyes dart towards Lillian who is sitting up and leaning back to the wall, looking around in pure confusion and widened eyes.

Charles rushes to her side, sitting on his knees and bringing her closer to him for a hug. "Oh lord, Lillian!" He comments with relief, "I'm so happy you're safe." He holds her tightly, feeling her eerily cold skin against his even though sweat drips a little from her forehead. She is trembling slightly, she probably has a fever.

"Charles, what's..." She mumbles, her throat hoarse, "Why is everything red?"

Charles pulls away and Lillian examines his face in pure sadness. "What happened t-to your face?" She questions softly and he sulked, "D-Did I do that?"

Charles doesn't agree nor refuses her words, making Lillian shake her head rapidly. "I'm s-so sorry Charles," She says, tears forming in her eyes, "What happened to this place?!"

Lillian notices the timer on screen and covers her face in fear. "No no no, this is bad Charles!" She expresses in distress, "This is very bad."

"What do you know that we don't Lillian," Charles words sound more like a statement than a question. Hank comes close to them and Lillian stares at them in defeat.

"This building is going to blow up Charles," She reveals, "I had heard Ennis mention something about a self-destruct a-and he was going to use it as a last r-resort!"

Charles stares on blankly, unable to accept their doomed fate. "That's not true..." He whispers but Lillian objects his words.

"We need to find Ennis, he is the only one who can stop this," She instructs and Hank's shoulders droop as he looks to the floor. Charles joins him in the disappointment.

"Wh-What's wrong..." Lillian mumbles and Charles shakes his head slowly.

"Ennis shot himself Lily, he's dead," He tells her. She rests back to the wall, lost in her thoughts as the reality of the situation hits her.

"The stopping mechanism is a password that only he knows and can authorise..." She says and Charles raises his eyebrows, unimpressed.

"It now makes sense why he would shoot himself."

Her disorientation turns into tears, streaming down her face as she pulls her knees back to her chest and buries her face. "We're going to die now," She mumbles to herself but it's audible enough for Charles and Hank to here.

"No," Hank inputs suddenly, walking towards the control room doorway, "There has to be a way out of this place." He peeks outside then jogs ahead, down the hallway and disappearing into the distant red darkness.

Charles sighs then runs a hand through his hair. He stands in the middle of the room awkwardly, not able to find something to occupy his attention with so that he would stop thinking about the destruction that will befall them very-

"You're walking again," Lillian says with a genuine, heart-warming smile.

"Y-Yeah... this chip in my neck," Charles responds and moves closer to her, "It... They told me that it does something to help me walk." Lillian smiles widely, feeling extremely happy for Charles. But Charles isn't that thrilled about it, with everything else going on.

He raised his hands up then they fell back to his sides with a THUMP!. "I'm fixed now," He comments with detachment.

Hank runs back to the control room and Charles walks up to him. "Did you find any way out?!" He questions nervously and Hank shakes his head with disappointment.

"ARGH DAMN IT!" Charles kicks the metallic table in the middle of the room then bends over as pain floods throughout his foot. He cries a little out of feeling helpless then wipes his cheeks. "There has to be something in this godforsaken building!" He states then looks to the guns on the table.

As he starts to reload one of the submachine guns, Lillian calls out to him but he doesn't acknowledge her voice. "Charles..." Lillian continues to call out but the Professor refuses to through in the towel and claim defeat, "CHARLES!"

He turns back suddenly, staring at Lillian with grief in his eyes. She shakes her head slowly, putting her hand out for him to take. He glances to Hank who shrugs his shoulders and rubs his forehead.

A tear rolls down Charles' cheek as he walks towards Lillian and holds her hand tightly. She brings him closer and makes him sit down next to her. He realizes that there is, in fact, nothing that they can do to stop this... blow up.

The 'ticking-time-bomb' on the screen displayed '05:00' minutes remaining. Lillian sighs then looks to the floor. Hank searches the room out of boredom, hoping to find something interesting enough to lighten the mood. He scavenges through the various cabinets and shelves across the room that are mostly occupied by files and papers of reports and research.

Behind a tall metallic shelf, he notices a small locked metal door that resembled a make-shift safe. He pushes the shelf to the side and breaks the lock off. The door slowly creaks open, revealing a preserved bottle of scotch whisky and four drinking glasses. He raises his eyebrows then smirks.

Hank picks the contents of the secret compartment delicately and brings it over to Charles and Lillian, who are having an intimate moment.

"Found something to liven the mood," Hank says with a small smile, "We just need a cause for celebration." Charles smiles back then watches Hank pour three glasses and serve them.

Charles takes in a breath then says, "Mutatis Mutandis." He raises his glass and the three of them look at each other warmly. Hank and Lillian raise their glasses as well then take a drink.

"Mutant and proud," Lillian mumbles then frowns. She realizes that she never really came to terms with her powers fully and that she didn't explore the full extent of them. If only she had more time. 

Hank takes a seat in front of them, leaving against the doorway frame. He pours himself another glass of whisky.

"What is... one thing you regret in your life?" Charles asks with a soft smile. Lillian frowns slightly, resting her head on Charles' shoulder and hugging his arm.

"Keeping society away from me," Lillian replies, "I lost the opportunity to meet and get to know people. The world's filled with amazing people like you and Hank and I... missed out on making friends."

Hank smiles then takes a deep breath, "I regret missing my chance to attend the International Science Convention across Europe two years ago. They invited me and... I didn't go. I was occupied here with those close to me, helping and taking care of everyone."

Charles looks at him and nods his head in thanks. "What is something you regret Professor?" Hank questions and Charles rests his head back to the wall, looking up to the ceiling of the room.

"Sending Lily for the Summit Meetings," Charles reveals and looks to Lillian, "I should have gone with you, I should have protected you. That is something I regret the most. You would not be experimented on and tortured by these people if I didn't ask you to attend-"

Lillian faces him and shakes her head, "Charles this isn't your fault, okay? It's none of our faults, Ennis and his workers are the ones to blame!"

Charles frowns and she holds his hands softly. "If there would be anyone who would be able to see the future, it would be me," Lillian adds on, "Don't blame yourself for this."

She sits back next to Charles, replacing herself in her previous position of resting her head on his shoulder. Hank glances to the clock on the screen, bringing their inevitable demise closer that preferred.

With barely a minute left on the clock, the three of them huddle close to each other with a rising sense of fear and gloom washing over them. Lillian can feel her heart thumping in her chest.

She takes a deep breath then smiles as tears moisten her eyes, "Th-Thank you, Charles and Hank, for giving me a life I never thought I would be able to live. I'm so glad to have met both of y-you."

Charles the side of her forehead then purses his lips together to stop the tears in his eyes from rolling down his cheeks. "The feeling is mutual, love," He responds and sighs.

The three of them had gone missing two months ago. All these other mutants in the building and now... the world would never get to know what happened to every single mutant in this-