As rain harshly fell onto their heads, the Dark Angels found themselves in front of the dome-shaped facility, surrounded by dozens of corpses impaled by ice. Tom, inspecting the door, noticed a key card reader. "Looks like we need a key card. Quicksilver-" before Fixer could even give his instructions, Quicksilver disappeared and reappeared with a keycard in his hand. "Got it."

Pietro swiped the card, causing large metallic doors to slide outwards and open for them. Everyone 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, prompting both boys to use their powers to dash into the room. Due to Ky's Time Reduction ability, it seemed as if he too had super speed, dashing through the room before both of them returned to their team. "All clear." they both said simultaneously before the rest of the team followed them inside.

Strangely, the metal prison seemed to be completely empty, having zero signs of life on the inside. "Answer. Do you hear anything?" Eagle asked her as she set her headband to its highest range. However, the only thoughts she could hear were that of her own team. "I don't hear anyone but you guys." Xiao spoke with a defeated tone, for once in her life she was saddened that her unwanted ability wasn't working.

"This is obviously a trap of some sort." Tom spoke with frustration.

"Definitely." Ky added, scanning the area for some sort of answer. "Pietro, can you bring me a body of a soldier?" Ky asked, and in a flash, Quicksilver was standing with a body over his shoulder. He then threw the body on the ground, allowing Ky to do whatever he wanted with it.

"Uh... What are you doing?" Quicksilver asked, watching as Ky knelt beside the body and placed his hand on its forehead. "Don't worry about it." Ky felt it wasn't necessary to out the specifics of his Psychometry ability, especially in front of Eagle even though he somewhat trusted him.

Ky then searched through the soldier's past using his Psychometry ability. The soldier had no need to be alive since Ky could view the past through even inanimate objects. Ky wasn't looking through the soldier's actual memories, just the memory of the soldier's body as if he were watching a movie about his life.

Despite having such a powerful ability, Ky ended up finding almost nothing that could help him. What he did learn was that soldiers like him weren't even allowed inside the facility in order to prevent information from leaking, therefore, none of the soldiers would have any clue what was going on inside the seemingly dead facility.

"Apparently, not even the guards know what's going on in here. All we can do is continue onward." Ky stood up and led the pack further into the facility, deciding to take point just in case he needed to reverse time. However, he wasn't the only one who wanted to stay in front, as Iceman decided to walk side by side with him, knowing he could take a surprise hit if necessary.

Before long, the team found themselves nearing a suspicious-looking open room. "This looks like the right way, but stay sharp." Iceman told everyone, deciding to step in front of Ky to take point in case this was a trap.

As the group walked, they found themselves in the center of an intersection of four combined corridors. Once they had reached the center of it, four walls suddenly crashed down, creating a booming clank as steel walls met metal floors. The instant Ky heard the walls strike the floor around him, he reversed time, only by a few seconds, before using his Time Reduction ability, slowing down time around him while moving at a normal speed. Before the walls could close, he grabbed Xiao's hand and pulled her out of the room.

Quicksilver's eyes then darted toward Ky, and due to his superhuman processing speed, he was able to realize what was about to happen despite the fact that the trap had not been sprung yet at that point in time. Seeing Tom and Eagle nearby, he grabbed both of them by their wrists and followed Ky out of the closing door.

With just a hair's length between Tom and the newly formed door, the door shut behind them, leaving Iceman inside on his own. "Holy shit! Bobby!" Quicksilver exclaimed, turning back around and running toward the door, realizing he left him behind in the panic.

"Bobby?" Tom muttered, following Quicksilver before investigating the wall itself. There was no sign of any panel or keycard to open this door, it was as if it was nothing more than a steel wall. "Bobby!" Tom yelled, slamming on the door, only to get a chuckle in response from the other side.

"Stop being such a drama queen, I'm fine. Thank God you guys are out there instead of in here." Bobby scanned the room for an exit as he spoke, seeing nothing but steel walls surrounding him. "I don't see any way out of here though. I guess I'll sit tight while you guys..." Bobby's voice trailed off, his throat started to feel dry and he could feel his entire body begin to shut down.

As he started to wheeze and cough, Tom could hear Bobby's knees hitting the floor, his coughing becoming more aggressive by the second. "Bobby? Bobby!"

Tom received no response from the Iceman, as his body continued shutting down once all of the moisture and oxygen in the air was removed, practically turning the room into a vacuum. Iceman was powerful, easily up there with Ky in terms of being capable of one day growing to omega-level mutant status. However, despite his great untapped strength, Bobby still needed to breathe and he needed moisture in the air to use his powers to their fullest.

Slowly, Iceman's icy body began to sublimate, transforming his icy shell from a solid state to a gaseous state. "Bobby!" Tom continued to scream his name, though he continued to not get a response.

Bobby started to bellow in agony, feeling his icy skin turn into gas. Slowly, Bobby returned to his normal state, losing his icy exterior. By that point, Bobby was merely a human, practically standing in the vacuum of space. The human body could only survive for up to fifteen seconds in such conditions, and the countdown began.

Digging through his bag of supplies, Fixer started getting to work on a device that could override the door's systems, even going as far as using the materials needed to make the device that would destroy the bombs in their necks. If it meant saving Bobby's life, it would be worth continuing to be Waller's slave for a little longer.

Bobby continued to slowly perish inside the room, unable to move his body as his muscles weakened and he began coughing up blood. Hearing Bobby gargling on his own bodily fluids only made Tom work faster.

Meanwhile, Ky was using his Psychometry ability to look into the door's past, seeing how it was created. However, this resulted in nothing as going through the door's creation didn't tell him how to open it. For reasons unknown, once he used his Time Reduction ability, he couldn't revert time for a while after, similar to how Ken couldn't pause time again until a brief waiting period. Therefore, there was nothing he could do to save Bobby at that point.

Quicksilver, using his speed, zipped around the building in an attempt to find another way in, but it was no use. No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find a way through. Despite that, he was determined to check every single last inch of the place knowing there had to somehow be a way to deactivate the death trap.

Eagle and Xiao could do nothing but watch as everyone else tried their best to find a way inside.

Seeing no other option, Ky took a deep breath and closed his eyes. 'There has to be a way.' he thought to himself. Though he knew his body and abilities had limitations, he found the concept of them to be nonsensical. 'Perhaps it's due to the laws of time itself or maybe even the universe, but I don't give a fuck what the universe says. I have to do it. I 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 to reverse time further than my limit, just as I did when I saved Eagle. That must be it, my body must evolve when someone needs me.'

Straining, Ky clenched his fists and started reversing time.

One second reversed.

Then two seconds.

The three.

Then four.

Ky's body started trembling, he could feel himself getting lightheaded as he was reaching his limit, but he didn't care.

Five seconds passed backward and Ky was getting close to opening the door once again. All he needed to do was push himself a little further and he could slip inside and pull Bobby out. No, he could go even further and stop the trap from even activating in the first place.

Ky continued to strain, putting everything he had into surpassing his limits until...

His body could no longer withstand it, and he fell to his knees. "Ky!" Xiao shouted, running over to see that blood was starting to pour from his nostrils. He overextended himself for nothing, and time continued to pass like normal. If he had pushed himself any further, he would have completely fallen unconscious as he did during his first day at the Weapon X facility.

The same events repeated once again until time caught back up to where it once was.

Tom was the only one who could save Bobby, moving as fast as he could until he eventually created a device that looked like sci-fi garbage. Placing up against the wall, Tom began drawing a circle on the door, cutting it open until the circle was complete. Tom then punched the door open, seeing Bobby lying in a pool of blood, completely unmoving.

In an instant, Tom ran in and out of the room, bringing Bobby's corpse with him and laying him on the ground gently with a horrified expression on his face. Everyone already knew Bobby's fate, but Tom didn't care how it looked, he was going to try to save him.

Tom fell to his knees and immediately began pressing down on Bobby's chest, using everything he had to try and resuscitate him, grunting each time he pressed down with tears falling from his face. "C'mon! Wake up!" Tom cried out, continuing his futile attempt at bringing Bobby back to life.

"Wake up!" he cried out again, his voice shuddering. He didn't want to lose him, the first boy he'd ever felt like he was able to be himself around. "Please! This isn't fair, wake up!" Tom wailed. Everything happened too fast. One minute they were strangers, then it felt as if just a minute later they were far more than that, and then just a minute after that, he was losing him.

"Tom..." Ky calmly spoke his name, only for Tom to snap at him.

"Shut up!" Tom shouted, continuing to press down on Bobby's chest before giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, trying to jump-start his lungs. "Don't just stand there! Help him!" Tom shouted at his friends, though none of them moved a muscle as they were all well aware that it was too late.

"Tom." Ky spoke again, this time with a little bit more authority. Though his voice didn't show it, it pained him to see his closest friend losing himself in such a way.

"Shut the fuck up, Ky!" Tom snapped at him once again, still trying to save his short-lived lover. Xiao covered her mouth as tears began pooling up above her fingers, watching as Tom lost his mind over Bobby and continued the futile attempt at saving him.

"Please... stop it. Tom..." Xiao whispered, she couldn't stand to see any of it anymore, but at the same time, she couldn't look away. Seeing that her headband was allowing her to feel and hear Tom's thoughts, Ky turned her range to zero before looking down at Tom once more, watching him with quivering eyes and furrowed brows until he couldn't take it anymore.

"TOM, HE'S DEAD!"

Tom jolted and stopped in his tracks, looking up at Bobby's face with quivering eyes. For the first time, Tom was able to see clearly that Bobby wasn't even whole at that point.

Perhaps Bobby tried a last-ditch effort to save himself by freezing his body once more, but half of his upper head was missing, along with both of his legs and his right arm. There was practically nothing left, just his torso and half of his face, the rest being turned into gas due to the vacuum.

Whether it was known by Bobby or not, he could've survived in a gaseous state, however, without being able to breathe and without any moisture in the air, it was impossible.

"Why..." Tom muttered, his voice and body shuddering. "Why does everything good in my life get taken from me?" he asked, looking up at Ky for the answers. "Why? What did I do to deserve this?"

Ky couldn't answer, he couldn't even bear to look at Tom as he continued to shudder and whimper in agony. Though it wasn't shown on his face, Ky too felt an agonizing pain within himself, as did Eagle and Xiao. They all saw him as a friend, even Eagle to an extent.

A single tear fell from Ky's face as he knelt down, placing his hand on Tom's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Tom." he whispered the only words he could muster gently. Guilt began to overwhelm him as he replayed the event over and over in his head.

He was so focused on saving Xiao, he didn't even think about grabbing anyone else. It was as if his body moved on its own and grabbed what was most important to him.

"Oh no..." Xiao muttered, prompting everyone to turn around to face her, seeing her using her headband to its maximum range. With her eyes enlarged and trembling, Xiao muttered four haunting words.

"I can't sense Pietro..."