Undying Will

Time in the arcade came and went for the mutants, and before long, they were all back in the van, just a few miles out from the Russian border. The commute was lively as the mutants were passing the time joking around and answering hypotheticals.

Ky remembered this exact scenario. It was one hundred percent unchanged. He looked over at Pietro, knowing the question that was about to be uttered by the speedster.

"Alright, who is the strongest superhero you guys think you can take out?"

Everyone took their turn explaining which superhero they believed they could take on in a fight. The entire time, Ky was completely zoned out and lost in his own thoughts. The anticipation of what was to come was building up inside of him. He thought about his new ability that he called Undying WIll and wondered if it truly was because his soul refused to die. 

'What if I was just lucky and given a second shot? If I die again, what happens?'

"What about you, Ky?"

Ky ignored the voice, still being lost in his own thoughts. 

"Earth to Ky?"

"Ky?"

"Ky!"

With a jolt from Xiao, Ky finally snapped out of it. Once his mind was back in reality, he saw everyone else staring at him. 

"You alright?" Tom asked. Along with Xiao, he looked the most concerned. 

"Yeah, yeah. I just zoned out a bit. What happened?"

"We were talking about superheroes we can beat. Who do you think you can beat, c'mon, c'mon." Pietro was anxious for Ky's answer, rocking side to side in his seat. 

"Oh, Spider-Man." Ky answered simply. 

"Hold it. Spider-Man can literally lift buildings, dude. He could punch your jaw off in a single punch and you'd be dead. There's no way you can beat him."

Pietro's words echoed in Ky's mind. 'And you'd be dead.'

Ky immediately had thoughts of death once again. Not only his own death but the deaths of his friends. He couldn't shake this feeling of discomfort and Xiao was able to pick it up. He could tell from the look on Xiao's face that she knew something was off. Her power dampener was active, so she couldn't hear his thoughts. 

"You wanna know who I think I can beat? Thor." Pietro spoke proudly, though everyone else looked at him as if he were crazy. 

Meanwhile, Xiao and Ky were still looking at each other. 

"What's wrong?" Xiao asked him. She was going to find out one way or another, but she wanted to give Ky the choice of how she'd learn what was on his mind. 

Ky looked at her with trembling eyes. He knew that this dread inside of him was going to be shared with her if she read his mind. He didn't give an answer and Xiao started to reach for her headband, but he grabbed her hand and shook his head. 

Everyone else was so caught up in their conversation about heroes, they weren't paying the two of them any mind.

"What? What is it Ky?"

Ky let go of her hand and deactivated her headband to allow her to read his mind. He didn't want Waller to hear what he had to say. He was going to tell Xiao everything.

'You have to keep this between us, Xiao. I don't want the others to know until the time is right.'

Xiao's eyebrows scrunched upon hearing his vague explanation. 

'We're all going to die today. When I died, I reversed time to the point right before we left the arcade.'

Xiao's eyes widened. She pulled away and looked at Ky's serious expression. It sounded unreal, but she could tell by looking at him that it was the truth. 'We have to save everyone, Xiao. I don't want to let them know until it's time. Waller is going to betray us and even Eagle. I watched him kill Eagle with my own eyes. And my brother... he's alive.'

Xiao's expression couldn't be any more ghastly but Ky wasn't finished yet. He still had one last reveal.

'And he is the one who kills me.'

Xiao said nothing; not because she didn't want to, but because she couldn't. The burden that was once Ky's was now shared between the two of them. The two rode silently beside each other with their shared burden. 

After some time, history repeated itself and the Dark Angels found themselves hiding behind the concrete walls of the dome-shaped, Russian Weapon X facility. 

Within the concrete walls, there were soldiers armed with anti-mutant weapons, along with regular rifles and machine guns. It was just was it was the last time Ky was here. Whether they be in towers, on catwalks, or on the ground, these soldiers were keeping watch, doing their best to see through the fog.

The weather was perfect for the occasion as heavy rain poured down from the sky, along with a fog so thick, that one could barely see anything ten feet or so in front of them. The soldiers were being vigilant as their scanners picked up five unknown living beings within the vicinity, though readings like these were so common, they assumed it was just some wild animals as always. However, their vigilance would be meaningless as Iceman shrouded himself in his icy exterior.

"I got this." he whispered, forming an icy slide in front of him that shot upwards toward the heavens. Iceman then slid upwards, disappearing through the fog as he soared up toward the clouds.  The rain stopped, though only for a moment. The clouds did not part, despite the heavy rain suddenly stopping, which seemed off to the native Russian soldiers.

A few soldiers, noticing the change in weather, looked up toward the sky, only to be met by a sight that compelled their eyes to widen in shock and horror. A few soldiers shrieked in fear, their bellows being cut off by the sounds of ice striking flesh as razor-sharp icicles began raining from the sky.

Through the thick fog, the screams of Russian soldiers could be heard as blades made of ice continued to rain down and impale them, some soldiers dying immediately while others weren't so lucky, being impaled over and over until they met their excruciating end.

It was just like before. From behind the concrete wall, the Dark Angels looked at each other with wide eyes and jaws gaped. They couldn't see anything that was happening and they were just outside of the range of the frozen rain barrage. However, they heard the screams, the flesh being impaled, the bodies slumping onto the ground, and the ice striking the ground just behind the wall.

After a few minutes, the screaming ceased, as did the falling icicles. Moments after the commencing silence, Iceman was seen sliding down from the sky, landing in front of the team with a cold, blank expression. He didn't even know how many people he just erased in an instant, nor did he want the answer.

"Hey." Eagle spoke, wanting to say something that could perhaps make Bobby feel like less of a monster. "These guys are hiding a weapon capable of God knows what. We're doing what's necessary. Alright?"

Iceman nodded, telling himself that what he was told must have been true.

"Let's go." Ky took the lead, to Eagle's surprise, and began climbing the wall. Everyone else followed suit, climbing behind him. Once over the wall, everyone outside of Ky was shocked to see the dozens of dead bodies impaled by Iceman's ice. 

The group made their way to the metal doors of the facility, finding it locked with a card reader at the front of it. "Quicksilver, find us a keycard."

Pietro disappeared into the fog and reappeared with a keycard.

Pietro swiped the card, causing large metallic doors to slide outwards and open for them. Everyone but Ky took cover, hiding out of sight as the door slowly opened in case there was a trap waiting for them. With their backs against the wall, the Dark Angels peered around the corner, looking into the dark, metallic facility that reminded them of the place they were forced to live inside for the last few months.

"This isn't just some base... It's a bloody Weapon X facility, just like ours." Tom saying this compelled all of the mutants to glare at each other, realizing that this so-called mutant weapon was someone just like them, likely being held against their will and forced to fight. This information only complicated matters even further.

"Quicksilver. Tempo. Clear out the room." Eagle instructed, but Ky stopped him.

"There's no one here. I've already seen this before." 

Everyone looked at Ky with a mixture of confusion and intrigue.

"What do you mean?" Eagle asked.

"The Russians have this place booby-trapped. Let's just say my powers allow me to tell." 

"How?"

"I can use my..." Ky was about to come up with some bullshit explanation, but then it hit him. "Psychometry."

'I can use my psychometry on the building itself, right? Why wouldn't I?'

Ky placed his hand on the wall, and in an instant, he witnessed the entire history of the building coming to be. It started out as a prison a century ago, then once mutants came to be, it became a place where mutants were tortured and tested on. It wasn't until ten years ago that the Russians found their weapon...

And an eight-year-old girl named Illyana Rasputin.

When the Russians got word of mutants infiltrating a nearby nation, they sent a reconnaissance team to collect data on their abilities. Those soldiers who attacked the Dark Angels were nothing more than pawns meant to die to witness their abilities. Within a day, traps were made specifically for each mutant. But now Ky had knowledge of every single one. 

His mind held the map of the entire facility.