Miles away, at the Shadowgreen Institute, an entirely different scene was playing out. Within the prison one floor below the Shadow Force floor, a mutant criminal was planning a prison break. Jeremy Jones, codename Firestorm, was a rogue mutant that liked to do things his own way. Rather than attend Shadowgreen and learn how to blend in to human society, he embraced a criminal path and went on a series of bank robberies before he was apprehended by the Shadow Force. Behind bars, he had conspired with three other mutant criminals to stage a jailbreak and return to their criminal ways, this time joining forces to more effectively get what they wanted. Tonight was the night of the jailbreak, and Jeremy was prepared to play his part.
Every night a guard would come to check on the prisoners, so he had planned to set a trap. When the guard came by, Jeremy threw himself on the ground and started writhing and moaning in pain. Surprised, the young guard grabbed the bars of the cell.
"Hey, are you alright?!"
Jeremy didn't answer, crying out in pain to make it seem like his condition was getting worse.
"Hang on, I'm coming!" the guard said in a panic as he inserted the key into the cell and opened it.
The guard rushed to Jeremy and crouched down to check on him. When he did, he reached up and grabbed his arm before punching him in the face with a fire-augmented right hand. The guard collapsed unconscious, and Jeremy took his key off of him.
"Thanks for the keys, chump."
Moving down the cells, he let his partners out and the four were headed for the exit.
"Hey, should we let him out?" his partner Tempest said, pointing toward a cell.
Jeremy looked over and saw Sergio Gregori, codename Blood Wolf, floating in a reinforced glass tube full of liquid that would keep him unconscious permanently. Because of his ability to transform his victims back into werewolves from a distance as long as his blood remained in them, he was deemed too dangerous for regular confinement and had to be put in this special cell.
"Nah, just leave him alone. He's not a mutant anyway."
All four criminals believed in the ideology of mutant supremacy, and so refused to be a part of Shadowgreen, which insisted on coexistence with what they saw as an inferior species. The fact that the school's most famous alumnus was also not a mutant further irked them and caused them to lash out against the prevailing culture of peaceful coexistence.
The four mutant criminals escaped the prison floor and took the elevator further down into the basement. When they reached the basement, they escaped into a sewer line that would take them into the nearby French city of Nice. Around this time, the guard regained consciousness, realized that Jeremy was gone, and checked the other cells. To his horror, three other prisoners were gone, and so he radioed to the Shadow Force just one floor up.
"There's been a jailbreak! Four prisoners have escaped their cells!"
The facility was instantly on the alert, with everyone immediately trying to track them down.
Within the sewers, Jeremy knew that it wouldn't be long before they expanded the search outside of the Institute.
"You're up, Navigator!"
The third criminal among them had a special power of being able to open up portals within their dimension, which would instantly take them somewhere else.
"Where to?" he asked as he prepared to open the portal.
"Let's get out of the country. Take us to New York!"
Navigator nodded and the portal opened up. The four criminals leaped through, landing on Wall Street in the Big Apple. Smiling triumphantly, Jeremy turned to the fourth member of the group, a mutant who specialized in mind control codenamed Hypnotico.
"Now, then, we'll need your power to help set up a base of operations and begin our attack on Shadowgreen."
Within the financial center of the United States, they would have access to all the money they would need to pull it off. Jeremy grinned sadistically as he saw his plan coming together beautifully.
Later that morning, Scott awoke to the sound of his bedside phone ringing.
Who could be calling at this hour?
Scott picked up the phone and gave the customary greeting.
"Scott, this is Nick. We've had a jailbreak at Shadowgreen."
Scott was instantly awake and bolted upright in bed, his eyes as wide as saucers.
"When?!"
"Several hours ago, around three in the morning here. Four criminals escaped their cells after overpowering a guard."
"Are they still in France?"
"One of them can open portals at will so I'd say it's unlikely."
"Any idea where they are right now?"
"We have an investigative team working on that. When we have something, I'll call your cell to let you know."
"Thanks."
Scott hung up the phone and turned to Jessica, who was waking up, as well.
"Four mutant criminals escaped from Shadowgreen's prison and are on the loose," he explained.
Getting up, he headed into the kitchen to make coffee, his cell phone close by for when Nick called back.
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