16 There are No Secrets that Time Cannot Reveal.

Darkness. That was all that could be scene when Devin opened his eyes. Slowly sitting up Devin could tell that once again his back was gonna be covered in bruises from the levels of stiffness and soreness that pulsed through his shoulders and spine. Looking around Devin could see walls of stone and dirt that arched up and up into the over head darkness. Soon Devin remembered that he wasn't alone when he had fallen. Standing up and searching the area of what he could see he began his search for the eldest Storm sibling. He soon found her lying a dozen feet away. She look to be fine with only a couple smudges of dirt on her. Devin sat down next to her so that he would know when she woke up and began looking around once again.

Devin began to notice that since they had fallen into the earth then they should be in pitch blackness. So, how was he able to see anything let alone find Sue? Devin soon discovered that not too far away from their position was a crevice that was leaking a faint glow from it that was allowing him to see. A faint groan from his side alerted him that his unexpected companion had woken up. Devin saw her sit up and put a hand to her head.

"You alright?" Devin asked as his voice caused her to jump in surprise. Soon Sue was twisting her head back and forth as if she was looking for something. As a look of distress started to show on her face Devin also began to worry.

"Devin is that you? Where are you?" Sue called out even though he was right next to her.

"I'm right next to you. Are you alright? Did you hit your head?" Devin said as he moved closer and put a hand on her shoulder to let her know he was really there. Devin was beginning to worry that she had hit her head in the fall and had been blinded. Sue began to feel all over her head and soon she gave up.

"I can't feel anything wrong and there isn't any pain. How is it that you can see in here?" Sue asked as she reported no injuries.

"There's some very faint light that I can see coming from a small crack not too far from us." Devin said as he looked from Sue to the crevice and back in confusion before Devin remembered his conversation with Alice not too long ago about him showing draconic features during time of high emotion and stress.

'Alice am I able to see right now due to the bonding with the dragon spirit?' Devin asked as he continued to look back and forth.

'Master, you are correct though they are only in the initial stages. Once you bond with the Darkness Dragoon spirit and raise it to level 2 you will be able to see through any darkness no matter what. The Red-Eyed Dragoon spirit at level 2 will give you thermal vision.'

'Well that would be helpful now rather than later.' Devin thought as he turned to Sue.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Devin said as he took her hand and helped her up.

"How am I gonna follow you if I can't see?" Sue asked with a small amount of sarcasm. Devin didn't need night vision to know the look Sue was giving him as he was well acquainted with it even before he came to the MU.

"Put your hand on my shoulder and I'll lead us outta here. Just make sure that you don't let go." Devin said as he guided her hand to his shoulder. Soon they were on their way. Minutes ticked by as the two walked slowly. The silence was thick between them and Devin didn't mind it,but apparently his companion did as it was only very short time later that she spoke.

"I'm sorry." Sue whispered. Even though she hadn't said it very loud Devin had heard her clearly.

"For?" Devin asked as he focused on the glow in the distance.

"I realize that I haven't exactly been that great towards you. I've been accusing you of being the cause of that energy since we met and that hasn't been fair to you. Now I'min a situation where if it weren't for you I would be blind and lost in the dark. So, I'm sorry and thank you. If I can repay you back someday I would be glad to." Sue said and Devin could tell by the tone of her voice she meant every word.

"Sue I appreciate the apology and I have some words for you. Everyone has secrets and it's their decision on whether they tell someone or not. You can't make them because you don't know what their situation is or the possible trauma behind those secrets. It's best to let them tell you in their own time. As for your suspicions all I can tell you is that the energy you have been searching for isn't something you need to be worried about." Devin said. The squeeze on his shoulder told him that he had shocked her with the revelation that he had knowledge on the energy they had been searching for. Just as she was opening her mouth to grill him once again, Devin stopped and spoke first.

"Sue think about what you were apologizing for a minute ago and what I said about a person's situation." Devin said. With that reminder Sue closed her mouth and held still. After a minute she looked up and asked one question.

"Will you tell me when you are ready?" She asked as she looked at where she thought his head would be. She was actually looking at his neck, but Devin understood just fine.

"Yes."Devin said as he started moving again. It was another five minutes later that Devin realized that the crevice that he had been looking at had been even farther away than he initially guessed and that it was actually a massive fold in the stone wall that the glow was coming from behind. That was when Sue spoke up again.

"Devin I think I can see that glow you mentioned now." Sue said. This relieved him a little as he now had confirmation that she hadn't gone blind from the fall.

"Alright, lets keep going. Hopefully this leads to a way out." Devin said as they continued onwards.

***

Baxter Building

Reed POV

***

It had been a couple of hours since Sue and Devin had disappeared down the giant hole in the ground. Johnny had wanted to fly down and look for them, but I convinced him that we needed to wait and go in prepared. It didn't sit well with either Johnny or Ben, but they understood what I meant and that Sue could look after herself. We weren't sure if Devin would be alright, but there was nothing we could do about that till we got down there. I had taken a sample of the black mist that had been released and was analyzing it as the fantasticar was being prepped. Director Fury already had people cleaning up the scene around the hole and I had personally told him that when I had results for the analysis of the substance I would let him know.

As I was watching the data flow across the screen when I heard the door to the lab open. Turning I found Ben, my best friend since college, walking in. I watched as he approached with a stoic look on his face.

"Fantasticar is fueled an' ready to go. Johnny is already in the hanger waitin'. You ready to go Stretch?" Ben asked as I looked at the monitor again.

"Almost Ben, that creature was determined to get those two rockets to launched for a reason and I have the feeling that whatever it's purpose is, we aren't going to like it." I replied as I searched the data again.

"Stretch, I've known ya for a long time an' I know that you's has a lot of guilt from what happened out there. All of us have it, but don't let it eat ya up in side." Ben said as I turned around and looked at the man that I owed so much to.

"I know Ben, Thanks." I said. Not even a heart beat later the ding of the computer notifying me that it had finished analyzing the sample of the black substance rang out. After a few seconds of tapping and reading the results,my heart dropped. Ben must have noticed something was wrong.

"What's wrong Stretch?" Ben asked as he glanced at the screen I was staring at.

"We've got a huge problem besides rescuing Sue and Devin." I said as I turned to Ben

"That substance was a mutagenic polysach-" I stated before Ben interrupted with a hand up.

"Stretch, English please." Ben said as he lowered his hand.

"Sorry, it's a chemical that not only blocks a huge range on the light spectrum, but has the ability to mutate organic life through long term exposure." I said as I turned back to the terminal and began typing again.

"So who's ever sent that ugly is trying to change people into what? Mini versions of that original ugly?" Ben asked as he stepped up beside me.

"I'm not sure, but based on wind patterns and the delivery used I would hazard a guess that they were trying to block the sunlight on the surface using the this substance and the mutagenic properties are either the secondary phase or an unknown side-effect." I told him as I ran scan after scan.

"So what now? We still have Suzie and that guest o' yours, lost in the dark down there." Ben said crossing his arms.

"I'm running tests for a way to neutralize it and I'm gonna alert Director Fury about the danger so that once the tests are complete, he can synthesize the neutralizer and distribute it while we go after Sue and Devin." I said as I finished inputting the commands and turned towards the elevator. As we left I pulled a small communicator from my belt and pressed a button.

"Director Fury, we have a problem."

***

S.H.I.E.L.D. Hovercarrier

***

"Alright. We'll be ready when the file comes in. Good luck." Nick Fury said as he ended the call with Reed Richards. Placing the small handheld back in it's slot on the console of the bridge, Nick turned to an attractive woman wearing a skin tight, silver bodysuit. Strapped to her thighs were two silver holsters with silver pistols. Her long, silver hair was held back by a headband that was also silver. Every bit of equipment on her was silver. The only other color visible was her pale skin, dark lashes, and dark, rouged lips.

"Sable, what do you have to report from Sokovia?" Fury ordered as he looked out the windows of the massive ship's command deck.

"Sir, I couldn't get much from the workers other than there was an attack by an outside hostile force of unknown origins. No one knew what was stolen or what their purpose was. I did find out that there was one person missing and he was the one who killed the majority of the intruders. What's weird is that no one can remember what his name is or what he looked like. The guy who told me about him managed to tell me that he was some sort of contractor that was working as a boss before he collapsed with blood coming out of his nose." Silver Sable reported as she stood next to the director.

"So we have a mysterious group attacking government facilities and the one man who put a major hurtin' on them and might have important information on them has disappeared and no one can remember a damn thing. Great!" Fury said as he recapped the report and ended with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

"Sir there is one last thing." Sable offered. Fury motioned to continue with his hand as his brain raced.

"I searched the surrounding area with the quinjet and found what looks to be a massive blast zone." Sable said as she pulled up photos on a tablet before handing it to her boss. As fury looked at the aftermath of what looked like a sizable bomb going off he remembered that there had been a spike of unknown energy in the vicinity and now he was possibly looking at the results from that spike. Warning bells were ringing loud and clear in his mind at the thought of an anonymous person walking around with that kind of firepower unsupervised.

"Good job Agent Sable. Get some rest we'll possibly need you in the near future again. Hill, I want you to assemble a team and investigate all people entering or exiting Sokovia that are not of Sokovian nationality." Fury said as he turned from his agent to his right hand woman.

"Yes sir! Right away." Agent Hill replied as she turned and walked away to fulfill her orders. As Fury watched both women leave with his last remaining eye he couldn't help, but feel like things were moving in a direction that would leave him with more than just a headache.