In the middle of the Atlantic ocean, miles away from civilization on a large island, a facility built to hold the continents most notorious Nucrons was built. The fog is thick, the wind howling and the waves crashing against the unforgiving cliffs, the building was indeed a testament to the lengths the Nigerian government will go to uphold their plans.
At the entrance of the unforgiving structure, prisoners were being led inside wearing gray overalls. Their hands and legs chained with matte black welded iron and their necks adorned with an iron collar weighing heavily on their bodies as they walked miserably into building.
the first section of the building was a large hall where the prisoners were kept in "cell-pods", large tanks that the prisoner are placed in, they have all sorts of wires and contraptions hooked up to them, at the end of the hall there was a door that led to other parts of the prison, labs, training rooms etc.
In a room on the farthest side of the prison there were four cell-pods that contained, Ahmad, Sadiq, Nasir and Umar, alive but unconscious, their hands and legs bolted to the pod walls with iron handles. The door opened and marching in were five heavily armed agents, and following them was Dr Kane and Dr Reed. Dr Kane looking smug and confident as always and Dr Reed keeping a slightly worried but mostly nonchalant expression as he came into the room, another set of soldiers walked in along with three scientists wearing lab coats. As they walked in, Dr Kane and Dr Reed looked at the boys with enthusiasm, this was the first time they had laid eyes on the boys after watching footage of their actions and now they're finally in the custody of Kronos labs. Dr Kane smiled as he walked by the cell-pods one by one and then stopping at Sadiq's pod.
"these boys… are the key to my plans. Once we get them on our side, NOTHING… can get in my way." he said.
"you want to turn these children into dogs of war? (scoffs) goodluck." Dr Reed said.
"you think they'll be hard to turn?… trust me Reed, it'll be easier than anything we've done so far." Dr Kane replied.
"the brain chips we're developing will be quite suitable for mind control sirs. I am confident in that." one of the scientists spoke.
"that's what I like to hear! When will this brain chip be available Professor?" Dr Kane asked
"its still in development… but we trust before the end the month we'll have substantial results sir." Prof Charles answered.
"ok then. Honestly I don't think we'll need them for these boys, teenagers are inherently stupid, it should be easy, don't you think?" Dr Kane asked arrogantly.
"you're not serious. You've seen the way they fight, you see how coordinated they are… they WON'T break so easily." Dr Reed said.
"then why don't we introduce ourselves? So we know what exactly we're dealing with." Dr.Kane said.
"... very well then…" Dr Reed agreed.
"... wake them up." Dr Reed commanded. The second scientist tapped on his tablet and in a few seconds, the boys began to wake.
The air was cold, ears ringing, heads aching and vision blurred as their eyes opened, the body was almost completely numb and movement was hard. The boys were disoriented, grunting as they woke from their forced slumber.
"goooooodddd mmmooooorrrrning boys!" Dr Kane said. Nasir's eyes opened fully as he was starting to regain his vision and body movement as well as Umar. He tried to move around but was held back by the restrains put on him inside the pod.
"oh! that's good, bloods flowing again isn't it?" Dr Kane said. In a few moments, Ahmad regains his wits and has remembered all that has happened, his face covered in anger as the other boys also regained themselves.
"ahn ahn, why the frown son?" Dr Reed asked Ahmad.
"..." Ahmad remained silent as he glared at the two scientists. Sadiq recognizes the two scientists and decides to speak.
"you're… you're the scientists who created the antidote." he said.
"oohhh, good!" Dr Kane said.
"what is this? … where are we? What've you done with…" Sadiq asked.
"hold on my boy. Relax, try to regain your energy. You're heart rate is going crazy." Dr Reed said as he pointed to the monitor connected to Sadiq's cell-pod.
"don't worry boys, I know you're all confused, disoriented… maybe even scared... but don't worry, all will be clear with time." Kane said.
"let's get started, shall we?" Dr Reed asked.
"yes. Well boys, my name is Dr Marcus Kane and this is my colleague Dr Emeka Reed." Dr Kane introduced.
"WE… are the men responsible for your powers… and we are also responsible for making the antidote that was supposed to get rid of your powers. This building we're in was made specifically for your kind, delinquents, devils and little demons who decide to disobey the government and try their very best to keep their superhero dreams alive… (laughs)" he explained.
"... some of you that refused the antidote will be "rehabilitated" and sent back into the public. Now those of you who took the antidote but still have your powers are a different story. You will be held for… further study." Dr Reed continued.
"so what's stopping us from breaking these restraints and beating the hell out of you before leaving?" Umar asked angrily.
"that would be the pods you're in right now, they work both as prison cells and inhibitors for your powers… you can't move, or use your powers as long as your in there." Prof Charles answered.
"that's Professor Charles by the way, he's our lead scientist here at Yaba X." Dr.Kane said.
"Yaba X?…(scoffs)" Sadiq exclaimed.
"like the name? Get used to it, it's your new home. So embrace it." Dr Kane said.
"so why did you bring us here? I can't imagine its just to talk." Ahmad queried.
"smart lad! Yes you're right. Well the truth is, the four of you are… SPECIAL." Dr Kane answered.
"not only are you genetically superior to every other Nucron we've captured so far, you're skills, both separately and combined are… very impressive." Dr Reed explained.
"you're mentor taught you well." Dr Kane said.
"what… where is he? what did you do to him?!" Umar asked angrily.
"don't worry he's fine. We got him somewhere nice to stay while we talk." Dr Reed answered.
"so what do you want from us?" Ahmad asked.
"so impatient, you must be the leader of this little group. I remember watching the footage of your fight with the bandits, quick to demand, always the one to speak up for the team. I like that. Well since your so eager I'll tell you the story." Kane said.
"You see when we first learnt that we were going to be the ones to work on the asteroid, I was quite apprehensive until I saw some of the readings it was putting out. I knew it was going to be something extraordinary and when the accident happened, the results were beyond ANYTHING we could dare to imagine." Kane explained.
"that very explosion, sent a POWERFUL shockwave of radiation that activated a dormant cell that laid deep within your bodies… and THAT, was just the beginning. After the explosion, we knew that we couldn't leave this be, we decided to look deeper. We lasered into that rock and found what you now know as Nucranium." he continued. Dr Kane signaled at a subordinate scientist, the scientist then brought forward a briefcase and opens it. Inside the case was a green rock that had a bright glow. Dr Kane picks the rock out of the briefcase and holds it up.
"this… is Nucranium, at its purest form." he said. The boys reacted rocks power, they could feel it, sense it, they all knew it was the real thing. They all felt uncomfortable and Dr Kane spotted this.
"indeed, I can see that you can feel its presence. Let me fix that for you." Dr Kane said. He signals again as he put the Nucranium sample back into its case. Another subordinate brings forward another briefcase and opens it, revealing a green brick that darker glow than the Nucranium sample. Dr Kane picks up the brick from the case.
"... and this is Nucranium in its… mineral form, its foreseen value could be up $72,000 per gram." he said.
"and just a few weeks before its revealed to the world, you boys should be honoured." Dr Reed stated.
"so you want to be rich. Why don't you just embezzle money like the rest of the worlds evil old men?" Ahmad snared.
"(scoffs) believe me young man, this is just the beginning of our splendour." Dr Kane answered.
"so what exactly do you plan on doing with us? If its going to be revealed in a few weeks you'll be too rich to care about anything. How does abducting us make this better for you?" Sadiq asked.
"oh lets not get ahead of ourselves… you're still tense, haven't settled into your new home yet…" Dr Reed said.
"TELL US WHAT YOU WANT FROM US!" Umar demanded.
"ohh, getting restless, are we? I think you've been told all you should know for now. Rest easy boys… we'll talk soon." Dr Kane said. Umar began to struggle with his restraints, trying to force himself free.
"put them back to sleep." Dr Kane commanded. Prof Charles tapped his tablet and slowly the boys began to fade to sleep as they struggled to get free from their restraints. As the boys lost consciousness, Dr Kane and his compatriots walked out of the room.
As they walked out, Prof Charles walked up close to Dr Kane.
"sir, are we going to use the brain chip on them? I don't think you did any convincing back there. You didn't even tell them your plan." he said.
"you think I was going to tell them everything about their fate right then and there?… don't be cruel Prof, they just woke up from a traumatizing experience. If we tell them everything from the jump its going to do more harm than good, to both us AND them." Dr Kane answered.
"oh." Prof Charles exclaimed.
"Dr Reed said the truth, teenagers are quite stubborn, so we'll have to turn them the proper way. Give it a few weeks, you'll see." Dr Kane said.
"yes sir. But what about… the other one?" Prof Charles asked
"keep him where he is, I have something special for him." Dr Kane instructed.
"ok sir." Prof Charles obliged as they walked out of the room.
A few hours later, the boys were transported to the first section of Yaba X along with the other Nucron-inmates. The giant hall was quickly modified into a well rounded prison with regular cells, the only difference being, instead of bunk beds, they used their pods as their rest place, along with clocks and calendars in the rooms, the time read 9:15pm on Monday, April 17th . almost two weeks after the interhouse sport incident.
THE NEXT DAY
TUESDAY 18th April.
8:00am…
The prisoners were awakened from their forced slumber, as their eyes opened so did their pod-doors. The boys stepped out of their pods, dizzy and still trying to get their wits together, they quickly got their strength back and they were able to notice everything around them. They got together and tried to make sense of their current situation. After a few hours of talking the boys have an understanding of what happened back at school before they were captured, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
"do you think he's here?" Sadiq asked.
"he should be, they probably put him in like another side the building." Umar answered.
"(sighs) … I'm sorry guys. I did this, if I just ignored Bala we wouldn't be here." Ahmad apologized.
"I don't think it was completely your fault." Sadiq stated.
"what do you mean?" Ahmad asked.
"a while before you guys blew up, we saw one of those spy-drones again, it saw everything that happened at that school." Umar explained.
"they've been watching us since we fought those bandits." Ahmad said.
"yeah, they were probably planning to get us somehow, that fight was just a new opportunity for them." Sadiq deduced.
"... which is why G showed up in school while the fight was happening." Nasir added.
"but how did he know what was going to happen?" Umar asked.
"he has all these connections, maybe one of them told him they were coming for us." Sadiq hypothesized.
"I know that much. I mean how did he know they were fighting?" Umar asked.
"I thinks its as they said, one of his connections probably told him they were going to capture us soon… or something like that." Ahmad said.
"This whole thing is just weird." Umar said.
"speaking of weird, did I see Zainab use superpowers… and then disappear?" Ahmad asked.
"... " Nasir looked away.
"what?" Ahmad asked.
".… hmm, she was the one that made you fall right?" Umar asked.
"she was acting very weird the whole day. I think I saw part of her hair had been dyed purple too." Nasir said.
"pls tell me you guys are joking. Wait I thought it was dream powers she had." Ahmad said.
"looks like she didn't tell you the complete truth Sado." Umar said.
"no no no, there's something else happening here. Someone doesn't change THAT much in one night, she texted me goodnight with heart emojis the night before." Sadiq argued.
"women are scum bro.." Umar stated.
"no, I'm with Sado on this one, Zainab isn't that kind of girl, not for as long as I've known her, we're definitely missing something..." Ahmad said.
"... but we'll find out what's up with her after we get out." he continued.
"ok. How do we get out of here…?" Umar asked just as a sound echoed across the hall and their cell doors slid open and stayed that way awaiting the boys to walk out of the cell.
The boys were not the only ones that this was happening to, all the cells doors in the prison slid open, allowing all the inmates roam free. Everyone was walking around the large hall, mingling in their separate cliques as they walked around. The boys walked out of their cell slowly, taking precaution as they watched other inmates move around as they were already used to this life. The boys eased in as they walked around, observing their new environment. As they walked, an inmate approached them.
"you must be the new blood around here." the inmate said as he walked up to them. The inmate was tall about 6'2, dark and well built. He also had a huge scar on the left side of his face. It looked as if an iron had been swiped hard across his face. Ahmad reluctantly shook his hand as he greeted the man.
"... see as una fair, light skin boys. (chuckles)" the inmate teased. The boys remained silent, undeterred by the inmates intimidating demeanor.
"relax boys, nothings going to happen to you as long as you maintain your lane. You get?… good." the inmate said and then promptly walked away.
The boys stood their bewildered by the interaction, they didn't know what to expect in prison but continued to walk around. A few minutes later, the loud speaker made a static sound and a man began to speak.
"all inmates, report to hall 2B and assume your positions NOW." the command was given and immediately, all the inmates marched away to hall 2B. the boys didn't know what was happening but followed suit, bracing themselves for what was to come.
All inmates filed into hall 2B and stood at attention, the hall was huge with nothing inside, except a large window at the very top of on opposite wall(the observation booth). Inside the booth, Prof Charles along with some other scientists where already in their position ready to begin their exercise when Dr Kane and Dr Reed walked in.
The inmates were subjected to intense battle conditions using immersive simulations, the hall had been embedded with the most advanced technology in the world. The simulation included extreme weather conditions, precise and debilitating temperatures, high and low gravity, and pscholgical evaluations. Their inhibitor collars were disabled but still controlled momentarily so the scientists could observe the full extent of their powers. The scientists were looking to see how far a Nucron can be pushed to their limits and beyond to get stronger and achieve stronger feats of their powers. Most of the Nucrons were able to survive these tests but were unable (or probably refused) to push past their limits, the boys however were a different story, they excelled beyond their analytics and far above what the other inmates were capable of. They were stronger, faster, smarter and a lot more powerful than the others, keep in mind there are a lot of inmates with the same powers as the boys but they were still out-classed. The scientist smirked at each other in delight, the boys had far exceeded their expectations and were ready to implement them in the next phase of their plans.
Days would pass and the boys would be continuously subjected to more these intense exercises. With each passing day, the tests become more grueling and demanding on their bodies. They also had to deal with the hostile environment the prison had become, but they continued to endure, biding their time, getting stronger, learning more about their enemies (and themselves) and plotting their imminent escape from their abductors. The only thing stopping them was one thing: they can't do it on their own.