Chapter 1
It was shaping up to be a decent fix; a robotic helper in the making. The upper half of a blank mannequin torso, stained red with rust. Its outer shell was buffed and shiny in only one spot, the rest if it looked like some dilapidated thing pulled out of the trash. The middle was split open, hollow and cramped with a rusted interior. Galvanized wire rope stabbed out of it’s middle in all directions, some cut bluntly, a few others were sharpened to a deadly point. Lifeless eyes stared off at the wall, glimmering bleakly each time the torch ignited and the engineer got to his welding.
An interesting design choice, sure, but a necessary one.
Just fix up the inside, repair the skeleton and rewrite the code. Clean up the rust and buff out the scratches. Just had to beat this little bastard back into the right shape. Some polish and TLC and this little guy would be back in business. First, there was the matter of all the sharp protruding wire to be dealt with.
Todd didn't stop welding when the Lieutenant came in and called him by name. Always Toad any other time, but Todd when he was in trouble. He honestly couldn’t recall how many hours had passed, but he knew he’d been sitting there working on this one android for the entire day.
“Tolansky, you’ve got a new assignment-” the lieutenant's voice boomed over the dull drone of the torch.
His eyes burned the moment he started to blink, maybe for the first time in hours. “Joyous.” He didn't even bother to have a tone. He snapped off some sharper wire ends with a set of wire cutting shears.
Seemed like Lieutenant Garrison wasn’t in the mood to humor him. He stood right over him, tapping his left arm with a thin file. “Come with me, Toad. I need you in Containment real quick.”
“For what? I’m kinda in the middle of something,” now he stopped his machinations, lifting his helm up and squinting at the white hot edges through his goggles.
“I’m afraid your little robots have to wait. Let’s go.”
He crushed his rolled up cigarette into the ashtray and stood to his full height, taking a deep breath and stretching. His back popped. Garrison said nothing, just holding the file out before him. He started to mosey out the door while Todd gave the thing a once over. It was a case of a group of people who went missing near Upo Marsh in Korea.
“Come along, Mister Tolansky-” the Lieutenant was halfway down the outside corridor, and now that he was thinking about it, Todd wondered what co-agent they could possibly have in mind.
“Why am I playing detective? That’s not my job, never has been.”
“No,it’s not. I’m looking for a more… delicate approach.”
“Delicate?” Toad was starting to get antsy. “Then why are we heading to the place where we keep all the big bad guys?”
“Because she knows the area, speaks the languages, and most likely can use this along with her good behavior to barter for her release. We’ve had a few folks on the outside petitioning for her release, and a psychiatrist signed off on the whole psych evaluation thing, but I don’t like taking chances. Besides, she’s proven herself to be quite the agreeable detainee.”
Todd’s expression darkened. Who were they talking about, and why was Lieutenant Garrison being so vague about who it was? God, if he wanted delicate, he should have sent Wanda...
They approached an enormous set of steel doors that hissed to life when the Lieutenant swiped his identification emblem. Something strange and ominous set in, and for a moment, Toad felt, for the most part, cold. He knew this feeling…
Across the great expanse of the white room, two figures stood amongst a group of armed guards and looked to be speaking with one another. One of them was the doctor lady but the other was seated in a chair in the prisoner’s scrubs. The doctor was a heavyset woman who seemed to blend into the background despite her bright yellow blouse and black pencil skirt. Even though she was easily twice the size of the mutant sitting before her, she bowed her head and spoke in a manner that suggested utmost respect to the other.
The other woman, dressed in bright maroon, did anything but blend into the background, rather, she stood out. Her hair was long and incredibly dark, looked almost like she’d just woken up from a nap. There was a muzzle on her face and shackles around her wrists and ankles. Of all the people they could have decided to relieve, it was her.
“Mister Tolansky, meet your co-agent.” Garrison’s booming voice announced their arrival, startling the doctor lady standing before their detainee in a clean white lab coat.
There was a time where that person was his closest friend and only confidant. He needed little visual cues to know the identity of this woman. They’d known each other since they were kids; inseparable at one point. But then she was taken away, and he never saw her again until...
Things were fine and well for a while, Toad finally had his friend back and for almost a year, he was happy. Then people started going missing. Then Patty Simcox’s house caught fire. Then Kieth died, and suddenly everyone was scared. The X-men were scared. Xavier was scared. That was really the only excuse that was needed.
The last night they'd seen her, she'd taken all the gang out to eat as a celebration for Fred and Todd doing well on their finals. Dominik got his background cleared, and Tabitha was getting back in touch with her mom. Pietro surprised everyone with Future Funk tickets, and Callie had a big audition coming up. Things were going great.
He remembered the last things she said to them when they dropped her off at the institute that night; "Love you guys! Don't forget me!"
And then they never saw her again.
The lump in his throat started to hurt, but he just had to control himself. He remembered confronting Scott and Jean about it. He confronted them all, but only Jean seemed to be the one who actually gave a damn. She told him just about everything.
“The professor did something- no, we did something awful. Our friend was accused of a crime she didn't commit. And we all went along with him...”
His old friend glanced over at him for a moment, but hurriedly looked back to the floor. It was those intense pink eyes that gave it all away.
She was nodding and her hands were shackled, placed in her lap. Her demeanor was polite, but the sensation in the room was far different. The way the guards had their hands on their guns; that look in that lady’s eye when she agreed to remove the muzzle. The atmosphere was tense, to say the least, and Toad just watched as the figure in her lab coat delicately removed the contraption from his friend’s face. It took everything he had not to laugh at her; she looked like she was about to stick her arm in an alligator’s mouth.
“The two of you,” Lieutenant Garrison spoke evenly through the harsh atmosphere in the room, though still loud. “Will be going to investigate the disappearances of a group of people backpacking near a marsh in South Korea. A group of tourists have been reported missing since then, but there are a few folks in the parks and rec areas that might know how to get things going. They cannot be directly involved, as you know, so we’ll be sending you two out to get to the bottom of this.”
The shackles came off and Garrison kept yapping, but Todd wasn’t listening. He thought he saw the tension in her jaw loosen, her expression lighten somewhat. Butterflies swarmed in his guts the more he looked at her, watching her walk over to his side. To his surprise, she was a little taller now. Not by much, but he could see it. The woman in the lab coat reached into a tote and handed over a dark blue blanket and a hairbrush, which she immediately started to use after she draped the blanket over small shoulders. Pink eyes looked his way for just a second before turning her attention back to the doctor. Such stiff body language made Toad bristle in spite of himself. He was never one to handle these sorts of things well.
“Sir, I build animatronic robots for repairs and helping out with work, I am by no means a missing persons detective.”
“That’s why Miss Villanueva will be doing the detective work, we just need her to have a chaperone while out and about. A Doctor Waston to her Sherlock Holmes. You’re responsible for her, so to speak.”
=======
Flat white and slate gray hues greeted them as he stepped into the cafeteria. It was late, so there was hardly anyone here. Probably the best, considering the year of the dread that hung around the two of them.
“I heard you got sick.”
“For a while, I was. I'm better now.”
“You look much different now. Less green.”
“Is it… is it bad?”
“Of course not. I’ve always loved how you looked. It’s just different.The hair, the skin, the face, it’s all different but it’s still you.”
Callista sat adjacent to Todd at a slate gray lunch table in awkward silence. Neither of these goobers were good at small talk on a good day, and now- This was not going to be an easy week. He hadn’t seen the head or hide of Callie in nearly 8 years, and now she’s been sitting in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody this entire time. And why was she even there? His skin crawled at the thought. Did she really?
That thought dispelled itself almost immediately. He knew she was a bit of a weirdo, but she had never actually hurt anybody while in Bayville. Sure, she scared a lot of people, but you don’t lock people away for being scary. Besides, it’s not like S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t messed up this stuff before.
“Listen,” Callie whispered, her lips hidden behind her knuckles. “I’ve been so nervous that I wouldn’t be given another chance, I was going to turn down this case, but-”
“But?”
“There’s more people missing. I thought after all I went through, after all the work I did, I had put a stop to it, but it’s not over.”
Hearing her say that made him incredibly nervous. “What do you mean? Doctor V is still dead, right?”
“It’s not that… It’s Apex. There’s another location.”
Todd's leg bounced. He knew she could hear it. Drawing a deep breath through his nose, he tried to keep himself calm in the face of all of those unpleasant memories. Being trapped in an underground test facility full of never ending rooms, varieties of monsters, Michael…
“How do you know this?” He finally asked when he felt the butterflies in his guts settle down. “And what happened to you? We all thought you died.”
Her face didn’t change. Big pink eyes blinked over at him, glassy and eerie. They reminded him of a mountain lion; the huge iris and pinprick pupils gave her gaze an almost ominous look. No, it was ominous. She didn’t answer him for a few moments. A drink, a bite of her food, and then she rested her chin on her knuckles again.
“I was framed. Xavier had a hand on it, I think. Whether he intended to or not, I got caught up in all that mess. Then after that incident with Pietro, they were sure it was me.” She shrugged. “Him and Mister magnetism told SH.I.E.L.D. where I was, waited for half of the X-Men to leave for the holidays, then one night, a thousand armed guys were waiting there to arrest me.”
They sat in somber silence for a while. It took everything Callie had to stop her eyes from welling up with tears. “I thought everyone was going to be happy to see me, but… nobody did anything to help me. Not Scott, Jean, Logan, nobody.”
Don’t cry, please, for the love of god. Do. Not. Cry.
“But when I was brought here, I cooperated with investigators. I even took them back to the First One, because they didn’t believe me when I said there was an entire hospital buried under the woods. But when I showed them that I was telling the truth, they decided to help figure out what was happening with them.”
Callie stared at her drink for a moment, a styrofoam cup filled with bland black coffee. Her chest hurt.
She took another long drink and spoke again, this time with a cheery tone. “I’ve been sitting here in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody this whole time, but I’ve been cooperating with the missing persons cases since I was detained. We’ve even found a few people. Now, I finally, finally have a chance to,” she paused. “I can finally end it.”
“Who, the missing people?” he felt a pang of anger in his chest. Typical S.H.I.E.L.D. Oh sure, they'll help you, so long as you do a few things for them in exchange. And how come he’s been working with this place upwards of three years now and he’s never even seen her here? The whole thing seemed like a nightmare...
“And the one who made em go missing.” She took another bite of food. “That’s what we’re going to be trying to do in Changnyeong. Those people who went missing are the closest thing we have to go on, the most recent disappearance. It’s our best bet at finding whoever’s responsible. We find them, we find the sister location.”
Toad blinked about a dozen times. “So Doctor V wasn’t the only one pulling the strings?”
“I know, you know what they say about cutting off the heads of snakes, but I killed the wrong snake.” She had a valid point.
“I have a few things S.H.I.E.L.D. needs me to sort out before leaving, but I know once we leave, I cannot leave your sight. You heard Lieutenant Garrison earlier; I still can’t be trusted around normal people.” Her demeanor changed for a second, but Mort was more than aware of it. “I can’t even be around other mutants.”
“No, that’s not true,” Todd found himself denying. “You’re no different than the rest of us, Cal. I’m gonna… Well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but believe me when I say I’m gonna help you out. You want to go on some great quest to try and prove your innocence, fine, but I'm going with you.”
Callie smiled, a tight-lipped smile that hid her teeth. "You don't really have much of a choice now. I missed you, Todd. I would hug you if we weren’t being watched.”
They were both smiling now. There would be plenty of time for catching up later.
=======
They arrived in Busan the following day, after a 14 hour flight, where the rain came and didn’t stop. Raindrops started hitting the pavement so hard and fast it seemed like the streets were boiling. Todd and Callista stood out in stark relief against all of the black business coats and dark blue umbrellas with their colorful coats and Cal’s bright yellow umbrella. They both ate at the airport; cold kimchi soup and plane sandwiches.
“Boring sandwiches,” Callie called them.
“Origami paper sandwiches,” he had replied. That got a giggle out of her.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had a car waiting at the airport. Callie was the one who knew everything about the spot they were going, so she was driving. The marsh was about an hour northwest, a decent little drive from the loud city to the peaceful expanse of the countryside.
Todd was looking over the case information, all stashed neatly away in a notched notepad where he would occasionally write down notes on his work in the garage. There was a map of the search area clipped to the first page, separated by four large red circles drawn in marker. Upo was the largest, with Sajipo to the east, Mokpo up north and Jjokjibeol to the west, all clustered up east of the Nakdong River. He had to ask Cal at least a dozen times how to properly pronounce each location.
“So we’re looking for leads on three missing people?” he asked, staring out the window for a moment.
“More than that. We're looking for several groups of people. Dozens of tourists have vanished, and I have to see what we can do about talking to people who might have heard or seen something in those areas.”
“Maybe we can find some spare time to do something. You know, maybe go get some food? Eat a whole restaurant like the good old days?”
There came that tight-lipped grin again, toothy and bright. “We are going to a rather popular tourist spot. Maybe once we gather enough clues, we can take a break and do something like that.”
These areas were frequented by tourists and nature enthusiasts of all sorts, and was apparently a birdwatcher’s paradise. He read a bit of the tourist information at the airport.
“As far as people around here know, there’s a serial killer on the loose, but we know it’s much worse. I want to make sure I don’t cause a major panic and start making things worse, so for now let's just go about this like we’re still unsure about what’s going on.”
=======
The two walked for a while in silence, save for the drone of rain pelting down on everyone’s ponchos and umbrellas. Teams in their sanitation suits were going about organizing the crime scene. Rain floated down gentler now, in quiet reverence for the forest around them. The entire place felt somehow sacred. Everyone here was an intruder, disturbing the peace of timeless ages.
The trees bobbed and nodded when water from the trees slipped onto them. The mists turned their distinctive pale foliage bright green in the wetness. Todd wanted to say something, just to ease the tension he was feeling, but doing so felt like it would be a sin. He felt as though his outside presence was not welcomed here, and understood Callie’s rigid expressions.
Even before the groundsman hesitated at the water’s edge, looking down on either side before he shook his head and wiped his brow on the back of his sleeve, he knew this would probably be a stomach turner. They got closer, and then the smell hit them. It curled his nose. Looking on filled him with an unexpected dread.
Todd swallowed past the nervous lump in his throat and tapped his pockets as they got nearer. Trees concealed their efforts, hiding this little spot perfectly within the greenery. Anyone hiking past thiem wouldn’t even notice them.
“Oh god,” Callie held her hands over the mask.
Todd didn’t answer her. He drew his shirt up over his nose and peered down into the water below. A shape bobbed and buffeted in the water, bloated and pale. A face upturned in the water. He couldn’t look at it. Some decaying woman- impossible to discern in the murky water where one part ended and the other began. The heavy rains forced it close to the water’s edge and had partially hidden it under an outcropping of grass.
“What the fuck happened here?” he asked to himself.
“I found her washed up here this morning. I called the proper authorities, Mutant matters and all that.” the groundsman adjusted his cap and sniffed, looking away from the water and over to Callie. “I got a call a few nights ago from some campers nearby, but when I went to their coordinates, there was no trace of them. Not even trash left behind. I just figured it was a prank. Teams combed the marsh and even brought in a team of divers to look for any clues, but they found nothing.”
The waters of the marsh were black, black and still as a mirror, even with the rain misting down. Dark little puddles dotted all over, the kind of puddles that seem innocent until you step into them and accidentally fall into Water Hell.
His shriveled face looked grim as he recalled recent transgressions. “I knew Su-Jon. He was a good man, mutant or not. And his family? I- I can’t help but feel like there was something I could have done. Maybe if I had searched longer…”
Immediately, Todd was angry. Cal was too; he could feel it, not at the old man, but at the circumstance. This man looked to be almost seventy, and he was still working a tiresome and lonely job as the steward of a watchtower in the middle of nowhere. No doubt, a thankless job.
The three of them walked through the wild grass and Callie tiptoed over, barely peeked over the edge of the grass before squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head. She pointed into the water. “That’s one of the people who went missing.”
“How can you tell?” their guide asked incredulously.
Callie pointed down at the body, her arm, more specifically. Todd looked too, and saw just beneath the slimy water- a bright red band on her right wrist. The backpacker in the photo provided by them was wearing an identical band.
“She’s wearing a medical band. Just like that lady.”
The old man took off his cap and wiped his face with a tissue in his jacket pocket. “That’s Lydia. That’s his wife.” Fat tears fell from eyes so wrinkled they threatened to disappear from his face entirely. “Of course, this is all my fault. I was too lenient with them, I never should have allowed them to camp over near here.”
“Why’s that?” Callie asked him. She stood close and placed comforting hands on his arm.
“This crater is cursed. Some nights, you can see the people moving around at night; white shapes in the darkness. People will come here to end their lives, sometimes it attracts the occasional paranormal investigator, but those people seldom stay long enough to find anything. They wanted to camp nearby for some early morning pictures, and I… I let them…”
Well this was something else. Toad is no stranger to disturbing scenes, but he’d never been put in a place that was supposedly cursed. There was once a time where he was the one called to make a mess out of things, but he’d long since put those days behind him, attempting to be more passive, try to solve his problems without violence. He’d been doing really well…
Todd turned away from the gruesome sight and watched Cal over his shoulder. She was stranding back from it all, just looking around the marsh. She was listening.
Past the murmurs of Toad and the Groundsman talking about the corpse as well as the scuffling of cleanup crewmates, Callie listened to whatever she could pick up. The rain made it difficult, but she tried regardless. Something about this didn’t make sense. A family, mutants, vanishing in broad daylight and one of their corpses washes up a few days later?
Okay, think- Three people missing, four days later one of them shows up dead near where they disappeared.
"Whoever did this has to be close by." Toad started out loud. Callista hummed in agreement. "But I still don't understand why they would just dump her here? Of all the places, they just put it back where they found them? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense-"
"Unless whoever's responsible wanted the body to be found?" Todd held a carton of cigarettes out of his pocket and tapped one out.
"It might be better to watch the area around the marsh to see if whoever is responsible comes back?”
“I have a better idea,” Callie stopped and turned her attention back to their guide. “You work in the watchtower nearby? “
The old man nodded. “I’ve been working at this tower for twenty years now. Well, twenty one if we’re counting this year-”
“Would it be possible for my co-agent and I to take over a few shifts from you? You would still receive your pay, of course, but it would be a safer and easier for us to watch out for any suspicious behavior rather than you, sir-"
Toad interrupted her. "Hey, waitaminute-"
"With all due respect, sir, if there is a killer running around, a man like you would be ripe for the pickings-”
“I’m afraid you’re right… Don’t worry, we’ll see if we can get this body out of here-”
“So no hotel.” Cal teased, pulling out their phone and tossing it into Todd's hands. “At least it’s a scenic park, eh?”
"Can't believe you stole my idea…"
=======
The watchtower was a massive figure of wood and steel, set back quite a distance from the primitive dirt roads. It stretched skyward, past the tallest trees, into the slate gray sky. It somehow seemed ominous.
A thin veil of fog hung over the marsh, the short outcropping of hills a dull blue in the distance. Trees fluttered serenely to either side of the path, to sprinkle gently on the truck as they drove toward their next objective.
Cal could have just booked it to the watchtower in a matter of minutes, but she was taking her time; they both needed to think. About what this new assignment had in store for them. About the cursed confinement agency that they sought. About how they were going to find it in the first place.
Last time it was easy, Calista guided them directly to the bunker. She opened the door; after having promised herself that she would never open that door again, she went back after all of the terrible things that happened. And like an idiot, Todd went in after her.
Now, they have to find another door in a completely foreign land. And they were pressed for time. So many people have already gone missing, it was only a matter of time before it happened again. That idea made him very nervous; his leg began to bounce.
His mind started to wander back to that maddened place, back when he was just a scared little boy… Yes, at one point he thought about turning back, but was more scared of the life that awaited him if he never found his friend. So many times, he was sure he would die and never see her, or Kurt, or Freddy and the boys ever again. So many times he nearly succumbed to his fear.
Todd drew a deep breath and cranked his window down. Trying with everything he had to not get anxious or racy, he tapped out a cigarette. Callie asked if he was alright, even tried to comfort him with a little hand holding.
The struggle still came back to him though- getting lost in the corridors, assaulted by Villanueva's experiments, and being rescued by Michael. God, Michael. He can never forget, as much as he tries, that horrific sight.
"They make us deformed so you will fear us. That keeps us all trapped here. Since we're monsters, no longer human-"
He tried to dispel the image from his mind but to no avail. That man is burnt into his memory, the gruesome display of mutated tissue and tumors that was the poor dilapidated thing. It is not with horror that he recalls his visage, but with a solemn and dignified fondness. After all, Michael was the one who ate his fear, granting him the strength and courage he needed to progress through that cursed place.
After Apex, after making it all the way down, finally finding Callie and then going all the way back up, Todd came out a changed man. Everyone who walks into that place comes out different.
He decided to stop contemplating old struggles and start focusing on what was going on now. It was all he could do to help his anxiousness.
First they would get all of their bearings at the watchtower and then take a look around the surrounding marshes… if there was even anything there. With no mental map of the many muddy islands, they would have to search for anything here that looked familiar. Now that he thought more on it, it would be smarter to scout from the air. If only he had brought a few security drones…
"Hmmm," Callie hummed in thought. "Don't like the sound of that."
"Sound of what?"
"Ticking. The truck's ticking up front."
"You telling me these clowns didn't even change the oil?" He took a long drag off his cigarette.
She didn't face him, but she still smiled. "'S not so bad…"
Since the truck was making funny sounds, Todd decided to hang back and take a look at it while Callie took their things up into the watchtower. He almost felt bad about making Cal carry everything up all those stairs, until he realized how quickly she was doing it. Sometimes he forgets but she could be just as strong as him when she wanted to be.
With a rasp outgrown, Todd set out to bring the last bags up to the Watchtower. Craning his neck so he could estimate the height of the Watchtower, Todd absently noted he had failed to take in the sheer size of the building when they had arrived. Not that he really had any intention of sightseeing, but this place was a great area for it.
He said the bags down near the door and peeked inside. Callie was already getting everything set up.
“Thank you.” It was so seldom Todd smiled; really smiled. And even then, it hardly reached his sad eyes. She turned her gaze away for fear of what she’d do otherwise.
The proximity of his voice startled her, and now found herself staring into dark eyes staring down at her intensely. She heard his heart start to race, close enough to reach out and touch him if she just wanted. She swallowed past the wetness in her mouth. Her thoughts were suddenly muddled.
A shallow nod was all she could manage, unable to stop staring up at him for a second.
Toad suddenly, in what must have been the most awkward way possible, headed for the balcony, hoping the fresh air up here would clear his head. Callista watched him step out and immediately began to scold herself. What were you thinking, agreeing to go here with him? You haven’t seen this man in fourteen years and now you’re suddenly stuck on stupid like some lovesick teenager? Spending too much time alone with him was going to be too hard for her.
To think, Todd had gone out of his way to accompany her here with not another soul where no one would come looking for them, all in a nice, secluded watch tower with plenty of privacy and a cozy bed-
Stop. Right now. You’re an animal, Callista.
Callie cursed her aching heart and ultimately thought she was being silly. After all, of course she was excited, she loved him something awful.
“You alright Todd?” She asked as she stood and joined him out on the balcony.
The concern in her voice snapped him from his own musings, and he didn’t respond right away.
He took a deep breath and sighed, he couldn't be angry with her, only himself. He just turned away, aggravated still. From someone so impassive, he knew Callie deeply and earnestly felt how he did and understood his guilt. It's not like her to purposely put her feelings before someone else’s, moreover, she did everything in her power to help, when Toad himself could not be there.
How was she even dealing with this whole being alone together thing anyway? Todd suddenly found himself wondering. Shouldn't it be harder for him? After all they hadn't seen each other in so long, after having been separated for what felt like a lifetime. And wasn't it him who'd first started to have feelings for Callista?
No, that wasn't entirely right. Something about their relationship was a little deeper than that; they’d always made it clear that they loved each other. It wasn't by some curious fluke that he'd learned this; years had gone by, and he had never had the courage or even the impulse to touch another person.
His work always came first. Work for school, work for Mystique, work for Magneto, work for yourself, work work work... Toad felt his temper flare again at the thought. Well, I'm tired of working. I want to take a damn break.
"I'm exhausted- but y'know, I'm really wired." He spoke cautiously around his thoughts.
Callie laughed, albeit humorlessly. "Me too. But I couldn't sleep. I've got way too much on my mind right now."
"About our case?"
She shook her head sullenly. "No, about us."
"I…" Todd frowned, taken aback by her piercing stare. "I love you. Like, I know you know I love you. I mean, you're the only person in my life who's really ever been totally comfortable with me when everyone else just thinks I'm a disgusting pig-" He made a sound like a laugh, but it was the only thing he could think to do before he burst into tears. He was suddenly and swiftly aware of all the times he sucked up to The Brotherhood. “Others just want nothing to do with me, or they just wanna use me… But you-”
Callista interrupted him. "I know. After everything that's happened and given all of the things that I've been accused of, you still stood by my side, and you believed me. And even still, when given a chance to go halfway across the planet with me all alone and cut off from any and all support, you dove in headfirst, just because it was me. Todd, you believed me when nobody else would. You’ve done so much for me, and I can only hope that I get a chance to return the favor one day. All I can think about when I’m with you is how much fun we used to have and how much I’ve missed having you in my life."
She's so blunt. Straight to the point. He had never expected that confessing how he felt would be this easy. But damn, he felt like he was going to start sobbing.
Pink eyes stabbed through him. She just stood there with that insufferably calm expression of hers. Damn that stoicism was irritating sometimes. But there was something else there, intertwined with that look of cool calm confidence, there was something... A thought… Desire…
"I've had a lot of time to think about it-" Todd smiled wryly and raked a hand through his hair.
A shiver bolted down his spine then, feeling a gentle caress down the outer edge of his hip on his left side. Doing that thing where she disappears in front of you and then reappears right behind you-
"I'd have thought you'd be much happier now that all that was out there?" Callista spoke softly, dreamily, utterly at odds with her normally frightening presence. Her fingers laced themselves between his. It felt wonderful, albeit awkward beneath his palm. He wondered at the way her cool soft hands were actually solid and strong despite how dainty they looked.
"Well, yeah… I just sometimes forget that you're serious. Sometimes I forget-" he was blushing, and he knew it which made it all the worse. On top of that, Callie was smiling. Smiling! He couldn't help but feel a little mocked.
Nothing could be further from the truth, though. Though she was smiling, and broadly, mockery was the furthest thing from her mind. Now, she was ecstatic! After all this time bottling up these feelings for her best friend, when all the while he felt the same way. The way the usually composed mutant was acting so flustered about it only made it more endearing, and Callista, for all she tried, could not keep from smiling with utter satisfaction.
“One of these days, you’re going to see yourself the way I see you.” came a breathy reply.
"So, is this the part where we both confess our love and find happiness forever after?" He asked.
"Even I have to admit that’s a bit of a stretch. It's just nice to hear you say it."
Again, Todd fell silent. This was usually the part where he gently shrugged her off and left without another word. The silence stretched on and for a moment neither could bring themselves to look at the other. What's Happening Here? Is this going anywhere? Apparently, they're still not very good at what they're trying to do here, he thought bitterly.
When Cal next looked up at him, she thought she saw an undercurrent of hurt in those eyes and this gave her pause. Concern quickly washed away her guilt. Yes, she had actively been making him uncomfortable, but she never intended to make him upset.
"I love you, Todd. I really truly love you. Whatever happens, just know that you're still the only one for me." She paused for a moment to hug his arm. "You do so many of the things that I can't do. You're so smart, resourceful, and fully present. You're everything I'm not, that's why we make such a great team. That's why we've always made a great team."
He turned away sharply with a pained frown; regretting having made a face. His eyes stung and blurred. Angrily, he wiped his eyes. With a tight grip on the balcony railing and the lump in his throat that had stubbornly lodged itself there, he brought himself to look down at her.
"Thank you. I hate how you're always right." The golden clouds reflected off of her glassy eyes. He saw himself in her eyes, his downturned face who just stood there, strangely serene yet utterly depressing.
"Well, it's late and I'm tired. I’m going to go get some sleep." A small smile. “Remember how we used to sleep together?” She struggled to keep her voice even, but it wavered slightly despite her best efforts to keep her nervousness at bay.
"Oh?" Without warning, Callista reached up and circled her arms around Todd's neck. He jumped involuntarily at the touch. “That's not your heart I just heard skip a beat, is it?” She placed a dainty kiss on his jaw and smiled smugly at that shocked expression. She answered his silent question. "Yes, I heard it."
She tilted her head to one side slightly, tapping a finger on her chest. She winked at him. "It just sped up again…"
All semblance of calm abruptly abandoned, he struggled to hide the sudden flush of red he was powerless to suppress. He allowed himself to bend over so he could place a tiny kiss on her cheek. No S.H.I.E.L.D, no war, no law, no duty would stand between him and what he wanted most. Caution be damned. Nothing mattered, nothing but this moment and the beautiful angel in front of him who smiled up at him with a warm gaze.
As he drew closer to Callista, he caught one last glimpse of those bright pink eyes slowly closing, before closing his own and catching her lips with his own.
=======
First thing the following morning, the two headed out back to the location of the discarded bodies of the backpackers. As it was, not a single first or groundskeeper was seen in the area. Not even a car on the road on the way there. This place looked completely deserted. The blue fog of the place made it all seem strangely serene, if uneasily unsettling.
Speaking of alone, Todd was silently thankful that it was just the two of them. It would probably be best to not have anyone else around in case something bad actually did go down today. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if they did find something out here, and if there weren't any civilians around to get caught in the crossfire. Apex is full of some nasty stuff, the last thing anyone needs is for those creatures to come topside.
Todd and Cal ditched their truck out toward the edge of the foothills, scoping the setup. Toad spotted the coup that had tried to broadside them earlier.
The building was horseshoe shaped, dozens of rooms stacked on top of one another for about six stories; no rear approach was possible, given the foothills close way to go was the front- Callista wanted to be as direct as possible- The courtyard was a loose gravel that was littered with all manners of papers, twigs, and other debris. Their footsteps crunched atop wood, rocks, and glass. The stench of blood and gas permeated through the air.
"Hear anything in there?" Todd asked nonchalantly.
"Yes, there’s about a dozen different footsteps scooting around up there. It sounds like someone’s putting things into boxes. Something glass. It's medicine?"
He knew what waited in there. Thing is, he didn't know if he was ready to deal with it. Thankfully he wasn’t going into this alone. This is nothing they can't handle.
“Think they’re armed?” he peered around, weary of their surroundings.
“Oh most definitely. To the teeth. We’ll need to be careful, too much noise will likely cause a panic. I don't want anyone to be able to get away from here. I don't want anyone to know what happens.”
“Okay, so let’s try the stealth approach.”
The duo approached the door and gave a brief inspection. No traps or cameras here, everything was quiet. They were going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. The front door was open; a strange thump sounded. They stood silently and waited, listening. They sensed something waiting for them inside and felt a familiar tang of fear.
Politely, Toad knocked.
The front door eerily creaked open; he saw a young man lying prone in the center of a dusty parlor. Over the body and into the room were loads of dirty newspaper clippings, broken medical vials, and a shoe. This was probably where those thugs set up shop with all of their product ready for packaging, but this place was in no means a packing plant. It was more like a giant abandoned hospital. He loomed over the assumption as he carefully stepped inside, closer to the body of the bare-chested man on the floor.
Callie knelt close and immediately noticed the blood, thick and brown with oxidation. She prodded the corpse, a human corpse, forcing the stiff body to turn over so she could get a better look, but there was no need. She already saw a gaping wound where his neck had been mauled.
Perturbed, Toad stood to his full height and peered around the room. There was definitely a struggle, but it was hard to tell when. A calendar tacked to the wall was the only thing that seemed to be in its place. The page read off as October- a gorgeous blonde woman sat side saddle on a broomstick, dressed in a black and silver dress embezzled with a spider web print cascading off of her figure. A tall witch's hat decorated her golden curls and her smile glowed bright behind rouge lipstick.
It's December 20th.
"Something's whispering up there. Something about dropping the cases off on the next floor…"
Not wanting to draw any attention, Toad simply drew a silver switchblade and stalked up the stairs as silently as possible. Callista had no weapons but remained close behind. Knowing Apex's staff, they'd already know he's approaching, so she might as well just be a guard dog.
Carefully, Toad lurked down the halls of what he now began to assume was an old sanatorium of some sort, given the multitudes of hospital beds that littered the rooms. In one room on the third floor, a lone record was playing a Lilly Andrews song. He admittedly enjoyed her music.
A thud sounded from the hallways above him. He was definitely being followed, stalked even. He wasn't at all concerned with more Apex lackeys, but if he needed to decapitate a few creeps to get this job done, he would.
Toad stepped out of the record room and made for the staircase again, heading up. He was well aware of the shadows that lurked behind and before him, and had a funny feeling that there was something around the corner just waiting for him to rear his head-
A baseball bat came swinging toward his face as he stepped into the stairwell, but Callie was more than prepared for the attack. She leapt in front of Toad and caught the bat, delivering a sharp elbow to the nose of a man in full combat gear. She yanked the bat away and tossed it over her shoulder as a few windows shattered the floor above. Let them come, Toad thought. He caught the bat and struck the man until he had him on the ground, proceeding to smash his skull in until a sickening crack sounded.
Toad looked up the stairs to see more black clad monsters with their red-eyed sneers. They bared their teeth as they approached, drawing their guns and taking aim. A shriek from above alerted Toad to the machete wielding woman attacking from the ceiling. He was given just a moment of time before he had to catch her, grabbing her wrists and swinging her aside to keep from getting his head lopped off. The woman above permitted another member of the current horde to attempt an assault on Callie. Each of them armed, some with machetes or knives, but most had their guns drawn.
Toad wasn't about to let her take the brunt of it alone. He managed to grab a hold of two men making an advance and slammed them into the brick wall. He could feel the sticking of blades entering his sides and his chest, not even phased by the pain. He squinted against a flurry of nails and claws reaching for his eyes and face.
For a fleeting moment, Toad felt the power of this crazy nasty mutation in a sort of new way. He was lashing out, grabbing at things with his fingers curled like some kind of monster. Letting loose on creeps like these was some kind of luxury; a sort of sick luxury, but one nonetheless.
He snatched away another machete from the man wrapped about his head and neck, and stabbed him, flinging him off. These guys were pretty tough, Toad thought as he grasped the modest blade and started hacking, going for the necks. That part came easy, chopping off heads and such, but he heard more screeching coming from upstairs. Callie was nowhere in sight, so he could only assume that she was already well and active up there. They were all going to storm the two of them at once, like a hive of angry bees, blindly defending their evil queen. This was going to get frustrating.
He tried his best to keep his mouth shut as he proceeded up the stairs, hacking and slashing at anything that came hurtling his way. It didn't seem to work for him, though. He still tasted the blood.
Staggering as he reached the top step onto the fourth floor, the blood-slick floor almost tripped him. He heard voices from the hallways, shotguns cocking, and wood igniting. What the hell are these quacks doing?
"Get away from me!" a voice cried out loud. They shouted out again before quickly being silenced.
"Jesus Christ-" another gasped louder back as Toad rounded the corner and started down the corridor dotted with old, bloodstained beds.
Over the bodies and into the room, the doors all stood open, all darkened by the shadows Callista cast. He stopped himself from looking at her face. The jaws were hanging open, and that's cue to look away. The whole thing was creepy, even by his standards.
The final armor-clad soldier was cornered, quite literally, shaking and crying by the looks of it. His gear was stained bright red and his five o'clock shadow was splattered with blood. That little lady ripped his right arm clean off.
"What is this place?" Callie's voice reverberated through the room in a low, uncomfortable way. "Where are the people going?"
"There… are no…. People here…." The man's voice was hoarse and rough. “We… we load the train….”
"Answer the question." Callie demanded.
"There's only…. Only monsters…. Only monsters in there."
"Where did the monsters come from?" She got antsy when they didn't answer right away. "Where are they coming from? Where are they going?"
"There's a train…. Mile and a half out… catch up to it…. Catch the…"
Toad stomped ahead. The machete's arc was flawless. It ran clean through.
"If there's a train out there in the middle of nowhere, I'll be able to hear it." Callista hissed.
"Hold on, a quiet train is not something science-fictiony, that's entirely plausible." Toad interjected.
"Well then we should start looking for it-"
"Hold up, there might be some more clues in here, this place is huge. There's gotta be something else we can take, yeah?"
Admittedly, he had a good point. They should look around for more stuff, but Callie was scared of these places. The last thing she wanted to do right now was stick around and look for clues.
"Okay fine, but whatever we do we have to be fast. I want to try and catch that train if possible. Or at least follow the tracks and see where it goes." She relented.
So, they spent a good ten minutes searching the building high and low, looking for clues. There were some clippings from newspaper articles and the occasional handwritten note, but nothing that seemed helpful.
With little to go off of, they left and started searching for the train. Luckily for them, it wasn't far. Just as the two stepped out of the dilapidated building, the screaming of a train whistle came closer and closer. Somehow, the two of them both got the idea to sneak onto the train together once it came to a full stop. Strangely enough, it didn't look like there was anyone on board.
The two hid out of sight and waited for the train to stop. They didn't have to wait for the doors to open, but when they did, cool air rushed outside. It was almost like opening a deep freezer.
The utter silence of the thing was unnerving.
The car that they entered was spacious, and only contained two tall cabinets that seemed to be melded to the wall. They were full of small bottles and boxes, and it appeared to be locked. Like some sort of medicine cabinets.
Callie tapped Todd's shoulder and pointed above the door. A large timer counted down from 3 minutes.
Why is the train so quiet? Was it empty? It made sense; the timer gave only three minutes for the workers at this building to load the train and get it where it needed to go. But what were they doing? What was going on the train and where was it headed?
"We have to figure out what's going on here-" Callie whispered and tiptoed inside.
"God, it's freezing." Toad was reluctant but hopped up into the train. "What's all this stuff here?"
Callista reached for the panel of glass but found that it was plastic- a bit weird for a train like this. The lock on the cabinet broke easily, another red flag, and when she reached inside, she found that everything was empty. The labels were all written in English, and the names of the drugs were outrageous, but the more she read, the worse these things seemed.
Oral hallucinogens, calming patches, laudanum, what even are these? And why have them here? Cal asked Todd as much, but he couldn't figure it out either. There were some containers outside near the stat. He suggested that they give those a once over.
The train whistle blew just as they opened the container. It moved slowly, but Toad knew that thing was going to speed up fast. Good; wherever this thing goes, that's where the missing people are.
Cal tapped into his shoulder a dozen times and pointed to one of the boxcars with a look of what he could only describe as absolute terror. He followed the direction she was pointing.
A silhouette of a small shape was pounding little fists on the window. Someone was struggling to open the door.
Callie shot up first and bolted for the train, Toad following close behind. They made a mad dash for the first boxcar they noticed that looked easiest to get into. If someone else is still alive in there, they have to help them.
Now the train was really moving, and the two were having trouble keeping up. Toad thought; he couldn't stop this thing, but he might be able to get the door ajar.
"Cal, I'm grabbing the door!"
"Be careful. Get it open and I can climb inside."
Gotta act fast before that door is out of tongue-lashing range. Like spitting out a huge ball of phlegm, his tongue shot forward, landing on the boxcar door with a loud splat! With a little luck and a whole lot of momentum, he pulled back, bringing the sliding door with his tongue. The pain was awful, but it worked.
Callista allowed herself to hang back and climb up onto the side of the train to slink forward. She stuck surprisingly well, reminding Toad of a certain web-slinging comrade. He never slowed but could no longer keep pace with a moving train. At least Cal was up there.
It was no easy feat. She landed with a painful yelp and rolled onto her back sliding on frigid, frozen floors. The whistle screamed loudly into the night. It was freezing in here…
With a start, she quickly realized that she wasn’t in a refrigerated train car. She was in a frozen train car. Surrounding her were tall dark metal containers stacked four to a pile. Was this a corpse cart? This train wasn't taking her where the missing people are, it's taking her to where they dispose of them. Her stomach flipped, and for a split second, she was terrified. But the little kid-
Hiding in the corner behind the door, there was a cowering little girl drawn up into a ball, staring over with the scariest pair of eyes Callista had ever seen. She could hear the complete and utter terror, her little heart going a mile a minute.
"I thought you were one o
She still didn't answer. Callista was getting a good look atf them," she barely spoke above a whisper.
"Oh baby!" Callie slid across the slick floor over to the child and grabbed her shoulders; she was as cold as ice. "Okay, I'm going to get you out of here, but you have to do everything I say exactly as I say. Okay?"
The girl nodded. Her hair was so black and shiny, despite the disarray. Callie felt very strange about this girl; about her uncanny resemblance… She looked exactly like herself when she was younger.
Callie hung out onto the side of the door and waved behind them. It was too windy to see anything really. She winced as a cold drop of rain stabbed into her cheek. Great, rain now, too? The train rumbled faster, and panic started to worm itself into her head.
"Okay, I'm gonna hold onto you and we're going to jump, okay?" She tried to be as gentle as possible while also retaining her sense of urgency. "I need you to roll with me-"
No hesitation, the kid clung to Callie's side and held on tight. Wonderful. She held her head between her arms. That was as good a sign as any-
"Okay, get ready- one… two… three!"
And they leapt off. Not a second later, the two came crashing down in the grass, grazing the occasional stone or stick. Callista held the little thing close, she had a few scratches on her arms and legs, but looked otherwise perfectly fine. Cal was no worse for wear. She watched the train as it revved along. She could only imagine how many people were being thrown away from here.
She looked over her shoulder when the kid started wiping blood from her lip. Cal rushed to her. "What's your name, little girl?"
But she didn't answer.
She asked again in Korean. No answer.
"Are you hurt or anything? Do you know where you were? Please, I need to know what happened so I can help you-" her now; ivory skin with pretty lips and lavender eyes that swarmed like storm clouds. Her hair was styled in a very similar way to her own- short hair with blunt bangs that gave her gaze an unsightly and aggressive appearance. But her eyes were wet with tears.
"Okay," Callista curled up beside her new little friend and hugged her close. “Okay, I’m sorry. I'll keep you safe." She stood the child up and wiped her bloody chin with the sleeve of her shirt. A kiss on the head, another good squeeze, and then she listened. Todd was calling her.