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"Ooooooh myyyyyyy!" Mastodon cried out in surprise as he went flying into the sedative chamber. His massive, fur-covered back slammed into the rear of the cage that his body created a vaguely elephant-shaped dent in the wall. The quick witted behemoth was quick to push himself back to his feet and raised his fists. He wasn't down and out quite yet. "You sluggish brute! Return to my side, that we may make glorious battle. Victory will belong to Mastodon this day!" But the taunt didn't take. The Hulk turned away from the D-list super villain and faced Professor Thorton, who was still standing in the second-story observation room looking down at the jade giant. Sweat poured down from his brow; the doctor was only now beginning to realize how truly outmatched his forces were. [i]Bruce Banner is no longer a man. [/i]The Professor thought. [i]He has become a force of nature.[/i] The creature let loose a terrible roar. The bellow echoed throughout the compound, causing nearly everyone to hesitate and listen. Such anger. Such rage. This mindless monster's livid hatred was plain to see; it was a hatred that had festered and grown for years. A hatred embedded into the thing's very soul. A hatred now directed at Thorton. The Hulk wrapped a giant hand around the operating table and pulled it out of the concrete and tile floor as if it hadn't been bolted down at all. Professor Thorton, frozen by fear, couldn't move a muscle as the table came flying through the reinforced glass and slammed into him.

"THORTON!" Mastodon screamed out in a mixture of horror and confusion, watching as his mentor was apparently crushed by a flying table. The Elephant Man ran up behind the Hulk with the intention of beating the monster's head in. He was stopped in his tracks, however, by the sound of an alarm blaring throughout the base. The voice of the late Professor echoed over the intercom. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. If you're hearing this message, then that means that my heart has stopped. Do not attempt to save me; the detonation of the nuclear bomb placed underneath this facility cannot be stopped or reversed. Contingency plan Alpha-Centuari Canary One is now in affect. I repeat: Contingency plan Alpha-Centauri Canary One is now in affect. All units are to evacuate the premises immediately. Self destruct in two minutes. I apologize for the extreme measures, but I must make sure that the Weapon X Program dies with me. I..." Thorton chocked up, before talking in a breathe of air and continuing. "I'm doing this because I love you all. I may not have ever showed it, but I cared deeply for each and every one of you. I'll be damned if I let Romulus manipulate more mutants into joining his war against Trask and his Sentinel Order. You deserve better than this, Team X. You deserve to be FREE."

Wolverine, Laura and Lady Deathstrike rushed into the lab through the hole in the wall created by the over-anxious Mastodon. "What's Thorton goin' on about?" Logan asked as he stared down the Hulk, who was moments from escaping. "We've been lied to. Manipulated. Controlled." Lady Deathstrike realized it was as if a fog that had been covering her mind for some time had finally lifted. "I don't know how or why, but Romulus had taken control of our brains and altered our way of thinking." X-23 looked at Deathstrike as if she'd gone mad. "Everything I've done, I've done of my own volition. No one here is manipulating us but Thorton. Even in death, that bastard is leading us on. Now come on, we have a giant to fell." Laura popped her claws and took a step towards the Hulk. Logan shot out his hand and wrapped his fingers around X-23's forearm. "Lady's got a point, kid." Logan rasped. "Ever wonder why we can't remember where we came from? Or why we've never wanted to go outside 'less Rommy said so? Doesn't fit, not with me." Laura ripped Logan's hand off her arm, breaking his grip. "We wouldn't be having this conversation if we were mind controlled, you idiots." While the three mutants were busy bickering, they didn't notice Valkyrie approaching until she flew between the three of them and the Hulk and started shouting. By this time the Hulk was already outside; moments from leaping away.

"He's getting away!" Laura took off at a sprint towards Valkyrie and the Hulk, letting loose a ferocious battle cry like some sort of animal. "KID!" Wolverine yelled, following after her. X-23 jumped over Valkyrie, dodging any attempt to stop her using an impressive display of acrobatics and inhuman reflexes. Logan's clone and female counterpart stabbed into the Hulk's thick back and swung around to the green beast's face, aiming to shove her foot-claw into the creature's left eye. At the same time she brought her second pair of claws around and aimed to impale them into the much more powerful behemoth's head. Wolverine, eager to help his pseudo-daughter, approached Valkyrie with the same surprising speed. Instead of acting her with his claws, Wolverine did the unexpected: he struck the physically stronger opponent with a nerve strike. The move was meant to disable a normal human's muscles for just a few seconds; long enough for Wolverine to grab X-23 and pull her away from a rightfully pissed off Hulk. "I'll hold 'em off! GET TO THE AZRAEL!" Team X hesitated for a moment. "GO-" Wolverine roared, before the Hulk grabbed him by the face and tossed the tiny mutant outside. Kestrel led the remaining members of Team X out of the room and up towards the landing pad. Mastodon kept himself between Valkyrie and the rest of the group as they bade themselves retreat. "I shall hold off this femme fatale whilst you all make your escape!" Mastodon proclaimed. Maverick stopped running, turning towards his friend. "You can't! That nuke'll kill you for sure." Elephant Man turned towards Maverick and smiled. "I will see you again, my friend. In this life or the next. Now run!"

Wolverine looked up at the Hulk, the monster dwarfing Logan in sheer size. "Ah, crap." He muttered. This wasn't going to end well.