The Horrors of Helix Institute Thanks to Hawke and Shadow's investigation, Nocturne gathered new leads regarding Helix's experiments. The data that was recovered from the Crawfordsville facility revealed the location of various Helix facilities and information regarding the experiments said facilities were conducting. One particularly facility stood out for Nocturne, the Research Center of Advanced Genetics (RCAG), a facility located in the outskirts of Fortune City. Knowing Helix's ultimate goal was to create the perfect soldier, Nocturne figured that this facility would more than likely hold crucial information that could help her put a stop to their schemes. Nocturne decided to investigate the facility, but remembering how her past experiences with Helix's facilities went, she decided to bring back up in the form of Nightshade. The duo sped in their bikes towards the facility and although they were ready for a fight, they were not ready for what was to come. After an uneventful drive, they arrived at the facility. The duo quickly took a vantage point in order to prepare their strike, Nightshade making sure to hide their bikes, while Nocturne scanned the area. Helix clearly didn't want visitors, as they had gone out of their way to hide the facility in a secluded area of the outskirts. Nevertheless, the pristine white facility stood out quite bluntly even in the darkness of night and cover of trees. "Something's not right." Nocturne said as she scanned. "What do you mean?" Nightshade asked. "There are quite a few of their security vehicles, yet there doesn't seem to be anyone patrolling at the entrance." Nocturne said. "Odd. You think they might be preparing a trap for us?" Nightshade asked. "Doubt it. They have no reason to suspect we are gonna show up here tonight. I think there might be something else going on here, perhaps something went wrong." Nocturne continued scanning the area. "So what's our plan tonight? What are we after?" Nightshade was just finishing stashing the bikes. "We need to find whatever leads we can. A facility like this should hold crucial information on their top plans, if we can get that we might be able to plan our attacks better. We should also try to stop whatever they are doing here." Nocturne instructed. "Alright, sounds good. Well, I'm as ready as I'll ever be so just give the word and let's do this!" Nightshade pumped her first. "Well for once, you are gonna like my strategy. In light of a lack of surveillance, I say we go guns blazing and enter through the main door. We'll deal with thing as they come." Nocturne stopped scanning and prepared her gear. "My kind of strategy! Let's do this!" Nightshade pumped her fist with enthusiasm. The duo descended from their vantage point and ran towards the main entrance. Nocturne prepared a smoke pellet, Nightshade opened the door and Nocturne quickly released the pellet, engulfing the room in smoke. Nocturne quickly turned her scanner on to see if there were any threats, but to her surprise the lobby was vacated. The duo marched in, Nightshade taking care of the security cameras with throwing stars. Nocturne looked around and noticed some corpses and a lot blood staining the otherwise impeccable marble floor. "Well they certainly seem to have company from the looks of it." Nightshade said, "Something must have gone horribly wrong." "If we track the blood we might get to the bottom of what's going on." Nocturne fired up her scanner in order to trace the blood trail. "I checked one of the corpses, apparently they were researchers and I found this..." Nightshade was holding an id key card, "I think this might be useful." "Very good find. Now let's track the blood and see what we find." Nocturne said. Nocturne followed the blood trail, unsure of what she would find. Along the way, they saw a few more corpses and a quick inspection showed that they all died from blood loss due to some severe slashing injuries. The trail led them through the lobby and into an elevator and thanks to the card Nightshade found, they were able to open it and continued their search. The elevator had two upper floor options that seem to be for administrative offices and one for a underground basement, which was the main lab area. Nocturne pressed down and they began making their way down into the basement and whatever secrets the research center was guarding. "I dunno about you, but I got goosebumps right now! What could possibly make slashes like that?" Nightshade said. "I dunno, but I have a feeling we better prepare for action. We are going to have to face whatever killed those scientist and we'll also have to deal with Helix's security." Nocturne said, crossing her arms. "Well, I'm glad you decided to bring me along. You shouldn't face these things alone!" Nightshade added. "I don't like putting you or anyone in danger. It's why I normally like to do this by myself, but sometimes....."Nocturne replied. "We are a team, Noct. I'm more than happy to risk myself to help you in battle. As are the others." Nightshade smiled. "I know, but.." "No buts, we are gonna kick butt together and you are gonna like it!" Nightshade winked. "Alright, let's do this." Nocturne smiled. The elevator opened to what was a huge and complex laboratory full of rooms, all sorts state of the art equipment and whatnot. As they stepped out of the elevator, the duo quickly realized that they lab had turned into a warzone. Gunshots and screams were all that could be heard through the facility, a sign of terrible things to come. Nocturne and Nightshade quickly made their way inside a room that was to the left of elevator, but they didn't have time to asses the situation as they stumbled into a group of Helix's security. "Hey it's Nocturne, don't let her get away!" One of the soldiers shouted at the others. "Well, it's nice to see you too boys. I hope I didn't kept you waiting." Nocturne chuckled as she prepared to attack. Nocturne quickly launched a smoke pellet, clouding the room in smoke, Nightshade launch into action attacking one of the soldiers with her baton. They were surrounded by eight soldiers, but this was just a practice exercise for the duo. Nocturne punched the soldier who shouted and then she capitalized with a knee strike, sending the soldier into his sweet dreams. Two soldiers tried to attack her from behind, but Nocturne was too fast for them, dodging them and retaliating with a leg sweep. "Nightshade to me!" Nocturne shouted. Nightshade teamed with Nocturne, the latter pulling the soldiers at them and Nightshade knocking them out with her baton. They action had apparently caught the attention of nearby soldiers and six more showed up, but the duo was ready to wipe the floor with them as well. Nocturne tackled one of the soldiers, while two more tried to catch her, but she again dodged with grace and retaliated by smashing their skulls against each other. Nightshade continued her assault with the baton, attacking those who would try to come at her with ease. It didn't take long before all the resistance had been dealt with. Once the action was over, they finally had a chance to regroup and continue the investigation. Nocturne noticed that they were in a set of test rooms, with some strange subjects in another room. Nightshade found a computer and began searching for info, thanks to a device Heero had given them, they were able to hack computers in a manner of seconds. While Nightshade was checking what information the computer had, Nocturne continued searching the room. She was disturbed by what she saw in the other room, as life pods contained what seemed to be strange test subjects that looked like the product of a Lovecraft story. Something stood out, one of the pods and a huge one at that, was empty. There was a plaque next to it that said "Project: TWINBLADE X" "Nightshade, have you found anything interesting?" Nocturne asked. "Lots of stuff, actually, but we need time to analyze it. From what I gathered, they are doing some serious crazy shit here. Mixing human DNA with other animals and that sort of thing....man these people are insane.." Nightshade said. "Can you find a layout of the lab?" Nocturne asked. "Yeah, I have it here. Apparently this is one of the main research rooms, this one is dedicated to interspecies genetics. There a few other research rooms, but I think the most interesting one is "Human Cellular Advancement Research". Nightshade said. "Why is that?" Nocturne asked. "Because one of its lead scientists is none other than Alexander Jenkins." Nightshade replied. "Alexander Jenkins? Isn't he the scientist that won a Nobel Prize for his research in cellular structure and genetics?" Nocturne said, crossing her arms. "The same. He was apparently working on improving cellular regeneration and that caught Helix's attention." Nightshade added, "Might be interesting to find him and see what we can get." "Indeed, I wonder what sort of relationship he has with Helix. Come on, let's go check that room and see what we can find." Nocturne said. Having gathered all the information they could from the room, the duo decided to head to Jenkins' research room, hoping to find the scientist there. This time however, returned to her usual form, sneaking past most hostiles. She prepared her dart gun and took care of a few soldiers that were gathered near Jenkin's room, sending them into a blissful sleep. Gunshots and screams could still be heard. With the immediate opposition taken care of, Nocturne and Nightshade made their way inside the room. Nightshade went straight into the computers while Nocturne searched around the area. Unlike the previous room, there were no bizarre abominations here, on the contrary if it were not for the fact that this was a Helix facility, one would think it was a perfectly normal laboratory. Nightshade's work quickly proved to be successful as she managed to access Dr. Jenkins' personal log. "Noct, check this out!" Nightshade said. "What is it?" Nocturne ask as she moved closer. "It's Dr. Jenkin's log. And boy does it have some good stuff here..." Nightshade said. The duo read the doctor's log and it detailed what he had been working on for the past few months. He explained that he was working with Helix against his will and how they wanted his life's work. He had been working on a way to improve cellular structure and regeneration, a potential breakthrough that could improve human life quite a bit. However, Helix had other evil intentions for it and after pondering his options he decided he would not let them have it. "So there you have it, Jenkins apparently escaped with his life work. Whatever that is." Nightshade said. "If this is true, then we need to find him before Helix does. We need to move fast!" Nocturne said. "You are right! We might be able to track his moves by checking his log." Nightshade pondered. "Yeah, we need to move fast now. Let's go!" Nocturne said as she marched toward the exit. As Nocturne and Nightshade made their way outside of the room and headed back to the elevator, the gunshots and screams became louder and louder. It soon became apparent what the source of so much strife was. To their left was a group of more than ten soldiers trying to take down what looked like a humanoid in a metal armor. The armor was designed in such a way that the creature had blades for arms. "Concentrate the fire!!" One of the soldiers shouted. The group shot at the creature with everything they had, wasting bullets upon bullets to no avail. With two swift moves, the creature tore apart the group, slashing more than half of it and sending the rest to the floor. With the soldiers out of the way, the creature fixated its attention on Nocturne and Nightshade. "Holy sh....." Nightshade was stunned. "So that's Twinblade X..." Nocturne muttered. "Twin what?" Nightshade asked. "Twinblade X, one of the subjects from that other room. And it's coming this way, brace yourself!!!" Nocturne shouted. Twinblade X ran towards the duo and for a big creature, it was surprisingly fast. But the duo was faster and gracefully dodged his attacks. Nightshade tried to attack it with her baton, but that proved ineffective as the creature's armor was quite strong. Nocturne noticed a propane tank and hatched an idea, she grabbed it and threw it at Twinblade who instinctively slashed it, resulting in a explosion sending it back. The duo began running towards the elevator, but the Twinblade recovered fast and gave chase. Realizing that the creature wouldn't let them get on the elevator in time, the duo decided to charge at it and hope to come up with a plan in the process. Nocturne and Nightshade dodged everything Twinblade threw at them, but the creature was powerful and relentless, they needed to find a way to take it down before Twinblade wore them down. Nocturne found a couple of propane tanks and continue with her strategy of giving Twinblade the propain. This however only managed to stun Twinblade momentarily. The duo continued running through the facility hoping to find something that could put a stop to it once and for all. "I don't think we have the firepower to kill this thing!" Nightshade shouted as she dodged one of Twinblade's attacks. "We certainly don't...but...they must have some sort of way to contain this thing..."Nocturne said while running. The duo continued dodging Twinblade's attacks while on the run, but it was taking a toll on their bodies. They wouldn't be able to keep at this for long, they needed to stop it now before it was too late. It was then that a miracle happened, as they continued running they noticed what looked like a big cryogenic room. "That's it! I got an idea!" Nocturne shouted. "What is it?" Nightshade asked. "I'll lure it into that freezer like room and you go to the other room and begin the cryogenic process." Nocturne shouted. "Wouldn't that put you at risk of getting frozen too?" Nightshade asked. "Don't worry, I'll get out before you can turn me into Jack Frost. Now go!" Nocturne shouted. Nightshade rand to the cryogenic control room, meanwhile Nocturne focused on getting Twinblade's attention. She found another propane tank and applied her strategy once more. With Twinblade focused on her, she managed to get it into the freezing room. The fight was now up close and personal, with Nocturne continuing to dodge the beast's attacks while Nightshade try to make it work. "Nightshade hurry! I can't keep at this for much longer!" Nocturne shouted as Twinblade tried to slice her with its two blades. "I got it! Get out!" Nigtshade shouted. "Cryogenic freezing beginning in 10....9....8....7...6...5.....4" A computer voice began the countdown. Nocturne was trying to get out but Twinblade kept pushing her. "3.....2...." Right at the nick of time, Nocturne managed to slip away and close the door. "1....Commencing cryogenic process." Twinblade growled and roared as the room began to freeze. After much wailing, the beast was stopped for the time being. Nocturne was panting, barely managing to catch her breath after the ordeal. "That was intense...." Nightshade said. "You can say that again...." Nocturne was still panting. "We managed to trap him for the time being, but it might come back." Nightshade. "That'll be Helix problem for now. We'll need to be more prepared for this thing, but for now, our goal is Dr. Jenkins." Nocturne said. "Right!" Nightshade nodded, "Let's get out of here, this place gives me the creeps." The duo make their way back to the elevator and headed to the lobby. Luckily, the lobby was still vacated, though it seemed like Helix reinforces were on the way. Nocturne and Nightshade managed to make their way back to the bikes before any reinforcements could spot them. They slipped by and made their way out of the horrendous facility. "With Helix focused on dealing with Twinblade X, we need to find Dr. Jenkins before they even notice he is gone." Nocturne said. "Right, I think we might just be able to locate him." Nightshade replied. "Then let's get to it." Nocturne nodded as they sped off back into Fortune City. It was a race against time to find the doctor, but for these two, the night was just getting started.