Morningstar #21

Making his way back to Uranium City, Morningstar arrived as the very first hint of day began to appear in the eastern sky.

Landing just outside of the city, the synthoid bent light to make himself appear invisible and then began to make his way toward the hospital on foot. En route he happened upon a small patrol of mutates and overheard them talking about Lt.Henderson's impending battle with Brute. It would take place at sunrise, and would be followed with a special "treat" involving the young mutate Pinga and a pack of vicious mutated dogs.

Making his way to Uranium City hospital with all due haste, Morningstar easily penetrated the facility undetected and made his way back to the kennel in which he and the Epsilons had been held. While he didn't find Lt.Henderson within, he did discover Pinga in one of the cages. The synthoid was quick to tear the cage door off of it's hinges, but no sooner had he done so when Bloody Mary entered the room. She was quick to attack the interloper, but their scuffle had barely begun when Pinga touched the female mutate and thereby banished whatever unnatural feelings of hatred and rage clouded her mind. With that, Mary sat stunned for a moment before breaking down in tears at the memory of her deeds over the past few weeks.

Knowing that the sun must by now be cresting the horizon, Morningstar gently but firmly took Mary by the arms and demanded to know the whereabouts of Lt.Henderson. Mary replied that she was alreay in the pit. The battle had already begun.

Thus, after Mary assured the synthoid that she would escort Pinga to the surface, Morningstar made his way to the arena; smashing through the doors to find Brute playing a cat and mouse game with a severely battered Lt.Henderson. He quickly stepped in on her behalf, slugging it out with Brute until at last the huge mutate fell beneath his blows.

Morningstar had only a moments respite however, before Hi-Voltage, Crusher, Bile and Droopy entered the pit. The crowd went wild as they engaged the synthoid, but he was soon joined by Lt. Henderson. Together they managed to defeat the mutates, but during the course of the battle a stray photon blast tore a hole in the surrounding cage, and with the battle's end, the crowd began to pour through the opening, wild with bloodlust.

Morningstar and Lt.Henderson quickly found themselves surrounded by mutates, but it was a small enough matter for the synthoid to envelope both himself and Henderson in a field of solid light. He then shaped the field into a tunnel leading out of the pit, and left a wall of force behind to block the exit.

From the pit Morningstar made for the main lab; losing track of Henderson while en route (she has skills). Nevertheless, he made his way inside and immediately stepped up to the huge vault door occupying the far wall of the lab. He was about to attempt to pry it open when he was interrupted by the Overmind and a crowd of mutates lackeys. The synthoid moved to fire a photon blast at the mutate leader, but before he could the Overmind's eyes flashed with white light and the synthoid found that he was no longer in control of his body. The Overmind thence prompted him to power up the labs laser scalpel with the intent of making Morningstar slit his own throat with it. However, with the scalpel powered to full and the synthoid on the verge of carrying out the telepathic command, the Overminds head exploded. Standing in the doorway of an adjacent entrance stood Lt. Henderson; the majority of her Epsilon armour in place and a smoking energy rifle in her hand.

With the Overmind's demise, Morningstar regained control of himself, and many of the mutates stood bewildered. Others however remained as bloodthirsty as ever and surged toward both Morningstar and Lt.Henderson. Other's began to join them, but the duo held their own against the mob. Eventually a free for all broke out as those mutates sickened at the memory of their own deeds attempted to restrain their fellows.

And so the battle raged, and as it did the bloodthirsty mutates unleashed a small pack of mutated attack dogs. However, while this did serve to turn the tide of battle in their favour, the advantage was short lived as energy blasts began to tear indiscriminately through the crowd of mutates. Before long, Morningstar and Lt.Henderson found themselves in the prescence of a fresh squad of Epsilon Blacks.

One of the Epsilon Blacks ordered both Lt.Henderson and Morningstar to get topside, immediately, as he and his troops continued to force the mutates back. However, on their way to the elevator shaft, Morningstar took Henderson by the wrist and virtually dragged her to the computer room. Therein, he ordered her to download all data relevant to the Uranium City facility and it's experiments. She refused, insisting that they get topside, now. When Morningstar again denied her, she scowled at him as she dropped the energy clip out of her rifle and fiddled with it for a moment. When she finished it began to emit a low, but quickly building hum. The synthoid immedaitely surrounded both the energy clip and Henderson's hand in a field of solid light. When the clip exploded a moment later, the Lt's hand was vapourized.

A very frustrated Morningstar then dragged Henderson back to the surface. There he found three Epsilon Shuttles and two squads of Epsilon regulars. In their midst stood General Jeremy Clarke.

Striding over to the Epsilons, the synthoid threw Lt.Henderson to the ground. He then bulled his way through their ranks, took Clarke by the collar, and surrounded them both in a field of solid light. A moment later, he took off skyward.

General Clarke demanded that the synthoid set down immediately, but Morningstar refused, flying even higher and accusing Clarke of conducting illegal experiments of the people of Uranium city; demanding some form of justice for them. The General however remained indignant, reminding the synthoid of his rank and position,and warning him of the possible charges he could face for abducting a General. When Morningstar sought to press the matter further, Clarke cut him short, saying that the synthoid hadn't a clue of what it takes to protect a country's interest against an ever-growing population of superhumans and extraterrestials. He went on to explain that each of the people experimented on in Uranium City had already been diagnosed with terminal illnesses, brought on by cellular mutation, prior to any government expermentation. Thus, if any were still alive today, it was precisely due to the work that took place within the Uranium City facility. He then reminded the "synth" of Yellowknife, GenTech, the Brood, and what, precisely, was responsible for the synthoid's own existence, before once again ordering a return to the hospital.

Frustrated and confused, Morningstar at last complied. And as he brought the General safely back down to the earth, the Epsilon troopers surrounded and levelled their weapons at him, demanding his immediate surrender.

Morningstar complied