Location Classified

Somewhere in the Indian Ocean

General Obsidian walked down the hall nervously. He had just received news that he knew wouldn’t be well received. As he walked down the hall to make his report, he thought of ways to sugar coat the news. He walked into the briefing room and swallowed as he saw the hulking form of Protocol, questioning his choice to join the Undertow.

“General Obsidian reporting, Sir. I am ready to give my report on ‘Project Take Back’.” He said as he saluted, successfully hiding his fear.

“You may begin.”

“As you know, our target as associated herself with a new super hero team called Force Works. The members…”

“I’ve already reviewed the Shield files on most of them,” Protocol interrupted, “But there are two whom I am not familiar with. The one called X-Treme and the girl called Tarene.”

“Well, the only data we have on them is data we’ve gathered ourselves. X-Treme possesses super strength and speed on par with the superhero Spiderman. He also has the ability to ‘burn’ someone’s blood when it is oxygenated, though we have found a way to block it. We managed to get a D.N.A sample also, and you would be shocked to learn who this ‘X-Treme’ is related to…”

“I could care less about his family tree. What about this Tarene?”

“Well, this ‘Tarene’ is even more of a mystery. For some reason, our computers say she looks like Thor. There are similarities in their D.N.A, yes, but not appearance…”

“Get to the point.” Protocol growled.

“Well, from what we can tell, she’s just as powerful as the so called thunder god but no where as skilled. We have figured out a few ways to take her down.”

“Good. Now, as for your plan, it entails an assault on the entire team, is it really necessary? Have you considered ambushing individual members of Force Works as they leave their base?”

“We have, sir, but that’s not an option. Apparently, Parvenue is smarter than some give him credit for. The Work Tower was secretly an old Shield office. When Shield was shut down for a time, Parvenue bought it and…”

“And given the number of secret passages built into the Tower and real-estate that Parvenue owns, we’ll never be able to discover how and where they come and go.”

“Correct. The records on the tower were purged by Nick Fury before the new Shield was started, so that’s no help. We suspect that’s why Parvenue set the team up in Metro City.”

* (Nick Fury purged old Shield files in Captain America 251. David)

“No doubt. I trust everything set for the ambush?”

“Yes. Despite the fact that we’ll be facing Force Works head on, we hold all the cards. Force Works maintains a tip line, and we’ve taken advantage of that fact. Over the last two weeks, we’ve been feeding them information about the illegal operations of organizations like the Watchdogs, Ultimatum and various super human terrorist groups. When they went after them like good little heroes…”

“We were there with scanners and able to observe unnoticed.” Protocol smiled.

“Correct. We’ll have the element of surprise and have full knowledge of their abilities and weaknesses. They won’t stand a chance.”

The General looked at Protocol, who had a look of satisfaction on his face. Which was good, seeing how angry he had been when he lost Namorita as a Solider of Misfortune. He had executed dozens of the senior brass over ‘lapses in judgment’ after she had been rescued. That had certainly been a mistake that the Undertow was paying dearly for now. Without brass the Protocol had executed, the Undertow had no way to recruit more soldiers, and with every strike they made, their power lessened. They were down to a measly five hundred soldiers now.

“When do we strike?”

“We’ve fed Force Works information about a terrorist meeting in San Francisco. We’ll launch after Force Works finishes with them.” Obsidian started to leave, but Protocol had one last question.

“What’s the status of Project Five Chinamen?”

General Obsidian shuddered, “It’s… ready. Every member of the Undertow has been implanted and altered, as per your order.”

“Good. Let us hope it does not come to that.”

San Francisco

Ned Lathrop, otherwise known as Meteorite, waited anxiously for the meeting to begin. He, along with thirty odd other mutants were members of the self-described mutants rights group called the. Resistance. The group had started out as just another branch of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, then Mutant Force before, with the help of new leadership; they evolved into a much more serious mutants right group. Of course, to them that translated into attacking anti-mutant organizations like the Friends of Humanity without provocation and other acts that would be considered terrorism by most law biding people, but that wasn’t seen as much of a problem by the membership. They gathered here today to discuss their next strike. All discussion quieted as their leader, a woman known as Mist Mistress, flanked by two other members who acted as her bodyguards, took the stage. She waited a moment before she began speaking,

“My fellow mutants, in the last several weeks, we have struck great blows for mutant kind! Our attacks on federal buildings have taught the flat scans that we will not be ignored and that we won’t stand for Proposition 66!”

The crowd roared in agreement,

“But I must know, are we ready for the next step!?” She demanded.

“Yes!” They all shouted in unison, though in truth none of them knew what that next step would include.

“Then we must turn ourselves into the proper authorities and take full responsibility for our actions!”

There was a long moment of silence before one brave soul asked, “What the hell are you talking about!”

“We’ve done all we outside of the law. If we turn ourselves in willingly, we will help mutant rights immeasurably!”

“Hell with dat!” One member shouted, “I ain’t goin’ ta jail!”

“Yeah, are your own fumes getting’ ta ya?” Another asked.

‘Mist Mistress’ shook her head. “I tried to do this the easy way, I really did.” She muttered to herself.

“You didn’t think it would actually work, did ya?” One of her bodyguards asked. By now, the crowd was visibly becoming suspicious of them, and several members were starting to advance.

“No, but it was worth a shot.”

The crowd watched in anger the image of their leader Mist Mistress and her two bodyguards disappeared and revealed Mirage, Speedball and Kymaera of Force Works. Mirage pulled her bow taunt and aimed one of her psychic arrows at the crowd “We can do this two ways. The easy way, or the hard way. Either way, you guys are going down. Which is it going to be?”

“The hard way.” One member sneered. Just as he said that, the back wall exploded outwards, revealing the rest of Force Works.

“We’re here to kick butt, and chew peppermint. And we’re all out of peppermint.” X-Treme declared. The Resistance, and a few members of his own team, gave him a curious look.

“Adam, it’s bubble gum. Kick butt and chew bubble gum.” Arsenal explained.

“Oh, right.”

“X-Treme, Wiz Kid, flank left! Wolfsbane, Arsenal, flank right! Tarene, you and I are up the middle!” Nova ordered. Without another word, Force Works attacked the Resistance. Though vastly out numbered, Force Works had the edge in skill and power. Nova cut thru their ranks at superspeed, knocking Resistance members down and leaving them vulnerable to his teammates. X-Treme’s power allowed him to take down groups at a time and Mirage’s arrows allowed her to strike down members regardless of their physical abilities.

“I give up! Please, don’t hurt me!” One member, Occult, shrieked as he threw himself on the floor.

“Don’t worry little guy, they’ll go easy on ya now that you surrendered.” Speedball explained as he dropped into front of Occult, intent on getting him out of harm’s way.

“Sucker!” Occult unleashed his most powerful optic blast at Speedball, knocking him back into another group of Resistance members. Speedball smashed into ten members before ricocheting back and clocking Occult.

“Thanks for the boost, buddy!” Speedball said, “I’m nice, not stupid.”

Another member of the Resistance, Paralyzer, recognized the problem that faced the Resistance. There were to many Resistance members in too small an area to fight effectively. Force Works could lash out indiscriminately and hit a foe, and they knew it. The only way they would win this would be if they could take this fight out into the open. Paralyzer grabbed another member of the Resistance who had been trying with several other members to hit Nova with his powers. Nova, however, was evading them with ease.

“We need an exit!” Paralyzer shouted.

“If we take down any other walls, this building will collapse on us!” The other Resistance member, known as Blowhard, replied.

“Then we’ll use the exit they made!” The two members made towards the hole that Force Works created, but saw that Tarene, whom was easily repelling anyone who tried to escape, guarded it. She hadn’t caught sight of Blowhard or Paralyzer yet.

“I got this.” Paralyzer unleashed a powerful electrical blast at Tarene. Tarene saw it at the last moment, and instinctively raised her mallet to protect herself. To everyone’s surprise, including Tarene, her mallet simply absorbed the electrical energy harmlessly.

“Let me take a shot.” Blowhard stepped forward and pointed his hands at Tarene. Without warning, two hundred miles per hour winds shot forth and battered Tarene. Tarene, now braced for an attack, was barely pushed back two inches.

“I can do that too!” Tarene brought her mallet up, and spun it, producing a counter wind that stopped Blowhard’s winds instantly. But she didn’t stop there. She kept spinning her mallet and before she realized it, created a mini tornado that blew Blowhard, Paralyzer, and a dozen other members of the Resistance into the air, thru the back wall of the building and out into the bay. The tornado almost hit Mirage and Wolfsbane as well, but Wolfsbane sensed it coming a split second before it would have hit them and she tackled her friend to the ground.

“Tarene! I said kid gloves!” Mirage shouted as she picked herself up off the floor. Mirage was about to chew Tarene out for being so careless, despite the fact that they were still in the middle of a battle, but she heard the building creak, and saw it starting to sway. She sprang into action.

“Team, the building’s about to come down! Maneuver G-Three around Tarene! Bring the house down, under our rules! Kymaera, get out of here and get those who were blown out! Nova, me and Rahne are out!”

Maneuver G-Three isn’t a plan that is by any means complicated. The basic idea is everyone forms together and starts blasting until whatever they want to happen, happens. Arsenal, Speedball, X-Treme and Wiz Kid all made a bee line towards Tarene. Once there, the energy projectors started blasting the roof and walls with optic blasts, plasma blasts from Wiz kid’s guns and kinetic energy. X-Treme and Tarene worked to prevent any Resistance members from leaving.

“Nova express time.” Nova grabbed a strap built into Wolfsbane’s and Mirage’s costumes and picked them up. Nova then flew the two women out by the hole made by Tarene’s tornado and swung around, landing into front of the building that was housing the meeting. Once he set the two young women down, the building finally collapsed onto itself.

“Well, that’s one building that’ll never harbor terrorists again.” Nova said, “How are you going to explain to Sawyer that we intently demolished that building?”

“I’ll let you know when I figure it out myself.” Mirage replied, I’ll probably never hear the end of it

“Do ye think everyone’s all right?”

They looked towards the rubble of the building, and saw that their teammates were none the worse for wear, having been protected by Speedball’s force field seconds before the building came down.

“Nova, go help Kymaera. We’ll see if the others need a hand.”

“We’re fine, as is the so called ‘Resistance’.” Wiz Kid said, anticipating Mirage’s questions, “Our barrage made sure that when the roof came down, the pieces weren’t large enough to kill or seriously injure anyone. What’s more, the Resistance had a few force field projectors among them, so they took refuge around them, so all they suffered were, relatively, minor injures.”

“So, where are they?”

“There.” Wiz Kid pointed towards a back corner of rubble just as it started to shift, and reveal two dozen members of the Resistance. Unlike force Works, though, their uniforms were cut, and there were deep gashes in their skin. “We surrender.” One member said weakly.

“Smart move.” Kymaera complimented as she and Nova returned with the Resistance members who had been blown out into the bay. The two lovers had found a fishing net and used it to gather up the way ward members. “Bleeding all over your foe is unlikely to win a fight.”

Mirage turned towards Tarene, “I need to talk to you.” She growled. Tarene cringed at the tone, but before Mirage could continue, Arsenal got between them.

“Let me handle this, Mirage.”

“Why should I?” She demanded.

“Because I have some experience teaching, and I know you’ll just yell at her, and that won’t get us anywhere.”

“Fine, why not?” Mirage sighed. She didn’t have the patience for Tarene right now. She turned to the rest of the team, “Okay, let’s dig the rest of these losers out.”

“Hey Rahne, is Dani always this…high-strung?” Speedball whispered.

“O’ course nae,” She replied, “She goes t’ sleep e’ery now an’ then.”

I heard that!

Arsenal pulled Tarene, who looked like she was about to break down and cry, aside.

“I’m…sorry…I just wanted to help and… now Dani and everyone hates me.” She sobbed.

“No, she’s just a little high strung,” Arsenal placed his hand on Tarene’s shoulder to reassure her, “And she doesn’t hate you, kiddo. None of us to.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. You just need to be a little more careful, Tarene. When we fight someone, we want to subdue them with as little force as possible.”

“Then, why did we allow a building to fall on them?” she asked innocently. Arsenal rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think of a decent answer.

“Umm, there are always exceptions to the rule. You just need to learn to use less force.”

Location, Secret

As Paul Pierre Duval, otherwise known as the Grey Gargoyle, regained consciousness, he struggled to comprehend what was happened. One moment, he was sitting in his cell at the Vault, stewing over his defeat. He had blinked, and wound up in what appeared to be some kind of underground palace. The walls were lined with the finest art works and sculptures. And standing in front of him were three of the oddest individuals Duval had ever seen. One man, carrying an oddly shaped bow, wore blue spandex and wore a purple turban. Next to him was standing a black woman wearing a Hawaiian robe. Finally, next to her was standing a raven-haired man, wearing what Duval somehow recognized as a Cimmerian armor, and had with eyes that chilled Duval’s soul.

“Welcome back to the world of the living. I am named Marduk, of the Everlasting.” The raven-haired man said.

“What do you scum bags want with me? You better tell me, or so help me…”

“Scum bags? Making demands? Is that anyway to address those who released you from your bondage?”

“Yeah, thanks. Now, give me one reason not to tear each of you limb from limb.” Grey Gargoyle warned as he stepped forward. Marduk stepped forward to meet him.

“I’ll give some very convincing reasons,” He replied, his eyes locked with the Grey Gargoyle, “I freed you from prison to fulfill my agenda. I have brought you into my home, my place of power to do so. Do you honestly think that I would do something so foolish if I did not have some way to keep you in line?”

Duval gulped, and Marduk knew he got the message. “Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

Marduk led the Grey Gargoyle down a hall decorated with ancient treasures. Marduk’s companions walked behind the Gargoyle, carefully watching him.

“As I understand it Mr. Duval, you once lusted after the secret of immortality.”

“Yes, that’s right. What’s it to you?”

“Because I intend to give it to you.” Marduk explained as they reached twin golden doors. Marduk threw them open to reveal a lavish well, filled with a bubbling green substance. “This, is the Genesis Well.”

“Is it…”

“The fountain of eternal youth of legend? No, but it may as well be. It can grant a mortal power and eternal youth.”

“What’s the catch?”

Marduk turned to the Grey Gargoyle, and produced a picture of Tarene from inside his coat, “This young woman is our property. She was taken from us by Force Works and given sanctuary. In return for an increase in your powers and immortal life, you will kill Force Works and return her to us.”

“Sounds simple.”

“Oh, there’s more.” Marduk smiled.

“What?”

“Have you heard of Metro city?”

“Yeah, it’s a dump. Waste of space. Why, is that where Force Works is?”

“Correct. A dump thru which hundreds of millions of drug went thru. That was, until Nightshade, the local drug dealer, was shut down. The city is ripe for a new drug lord, I should think.”

Grey Gargoyle smiled. Power, eternal life, and more money than he could ever know what to do with. But he knew what the downside was already. “This Genesis Well thing is going to hurt a lot, isn’t it?”

“Oh, immeasurably. But keep your mind focused on the end goal.” Marduk said as he pushed the Gargoyle into the well. Duval screamed as his body touched the water. His flesh felt like it was peeling off and his bones felt as though they were on fire. If he were of a more spiritual bent, he would have sworn that his soul was on fire.

“A mortal in the well. You realize that…”

“Its power will kill him in two short decades, I know, Aqhat. Only mortals pure of heart may bath in the well. Still, he will live long enough to serve us.”

“And none of them will follow us.” The Hawaiian goddess referred to as Papa said, “how long before we fish him out?”

“Three hours.”

“It only takes four minutes for the well to permanently affect a mortal, though. You are being overly careful, Marduk.”

“Yes, that sounds better.”

“Better than what?”

“Than me saying I still get off on the screams of a French man.”

“While the Resistance may try to pass itself off as a mutant’s rights group, they are little more than a group of thugs who don’t speak for mutant kind. We received am anonymous tip about their operations.” Mirage said, explaining why Force Works had targeted the Resistance, “We’re glad we were able to stop them before they were able to harm anyone else, human or mutant. Next question?”

“Peter Cannon for D.C Exposed. My sources tell me that Force Works was working together with the Resistance and that you turned them in when they refused to recognize your authority.”

Mirage glared at the reporter. Underneath her mask, her face was twisted with rage. Normally, she wouldn’t even dignify that comment with a response. But, as leader of Force Works, a very public super hero team, it fell on her to answer any questions from reporters.

“Those sources are lying, Mr. Cannon. We received a tip about the Resistance, and acted on it. That’s the extent of our relationship. Next question?”

“So there’s some kind of relationship between Force Works and this terrorist organization?” Cannon continued. Mirage ignored him, and glanced at Kymaera. Kymaera gently pulled the bigoted reporter aside, and the other reporters continued with their questions.

“How did you find out about the Resistance?”

“How large is the membership?”

“Is it true you’re seeing X-Treme?”

Mirage rolled her eyes, and answered all the questions as politely as she could. Why can’t they just attack me? THAT I could deal with

Nova, her second in command, didn’t feel that way though. Despite the tough and sometimes down right racist questions the reporters were asking, he couldn’t help my smile.

“Nova, why do you think it is other heroes have chosen to eschew actively supporting the mutant agenda?”

“I’m not sure what agenda other than equality you’re referring’ to,” Nova answered, “And I don’t pretend to speak for other heroes, just myself. Some of my best friends are mutants, and I just got tired of seeing ‘em disrespected.”

“Nova, why haven’t other members of the New Warriors joined Force Works?”

“Nova, is it true that you tried to kill your teammate Night Thrasher?”

“Nova, what does Namor think of your relationship with his cousin?”

It’s about time I got this He thought to himself as the flash bulbs flashed in his face.

“Mr. Cannon, I don’t suppose you know what slander and libel are?” Kymaera asked.

“Don’t threaten me, you mutie lover. You won’t censor me! I have my sources, and they…”

Kymaera squeezed Cannon’s shoulder slightly. Even so, with her superhuman strength, she came within inches of damaging it, and Cannon quickly shut up “You are free to print… whatever you want. But, I know just as well you do that your sources are non-existent. Force Works won’t stand for slander. We’ll hold you accountable for every word you say about us. Think about that.”

Kymaera released his shoulder and Cannon just glared at her in impotent fury. He hated mutants, and those who supported them, with a passion. But he didn’t want to get sued either.

“‘Nita, Mirage is finishing up the Press Conference and we’re ready to leave.” Wiz kid reported over their comm. link. Kymaera blew Cannon a sarcastic kiss and took to the air towards the Stealth Wing.

“Force Works will issue a full press release on today’s incident tomorrow, thank you. That will be all.” Mirage turned away from the reports and towards the Stealth Wing. Once she was inside, she sat down in her seat and pulled out a laptop. She started to type up a report for Sawyer, but just couldn’t do it. She rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on. I didn’t recall signing up for this Dani thought bitterly.

Never saw yuirself as a diplomat, eh Dani? Rahne asked over the special psi-link they shared.

I’m diplomatic when I need to be. I’m just not used to dealing with the media so freakin’ much. Everytime a mutant farts; they have to get my opinion on the smell. Not to mention Sawyer breathing down my neck Dani replied, being the team leader was never this hard with the New Mutants. At least all I had to deal with there was Magneto. That reminds me, how was your first date with Doug?

Rahne chuckled slightly Ye have been busy, Dani! I’ve had five date wit’ him, nae countin’ him showin’ me around the city, and they’ve been wonderful.

Five dates already? Dani asked, shocked. She knew she had been busy organizing Force Works, making training schedules and getting the team security clearances and such, but she was surprised she hadn’t known Rahne was going steady with someone until now Aren’t you taking it a little fast?

Ye know I’m nae fast Rahne scolded, And I’m nae about tae be cooped up in the Work Place all the bloody, and yuir always busy, so I go see Doug...

I’m sorry Rahne, I’ve just been so busy. Haven’t you made any friends at the church where you volunteer?

Nae when I’m running off to save the world every ten minutes Rahne replied. An it’s all right. It’s nae yuir fault ye have t’ do so much, after all

“Man, we never got this kinda press when I was with the Warriors.” Speedball said as he picked up a Newsweek he had brought with him. Naturally, the main story was about Force Works.

“That’s because you didn’t have Grace and Tumbait doing your P.R.” Wiz Kid replied, “I wonder if I had them while I was doing solo work if I would have been a house hold name by now.”

“Wait a minute, you did solo work?” Speedball asked, “How come I never heard about you before I signed up?”

“Mainly because I worked on the West Coast, and the villains I fought were pure third rate. Losers like Contract and Quota.”

“Who?”

“Exactly. I did it to pass the time, mostly. I did so for about a year before Parnevue approached me about joining Force Works. Seemed challenging enough.”

“So you joined only for the challenge?” Nova asked, “Hardly the most noble reason to sign up for this out fit.”

“Is my reason for joining any worse than yours?” Wiz Kid replied. Nova didn’t reply, and by mutual consent, they dropped the subject.

“I’m telling you, you should either get your clichés right, or just not bother to use them.” Arsenal said from the co-pilot’s seat on the Stealth Glider, “I mean, it’s not like you need them to scare people, all the weapons you carry.”

“Nobody’s perfect.” X-Treme replied, “Besides, I’ve been in enough fights to know that clichés are more helpful in a fight than most people give them credit for. They work, otherwise, they wouldn’t be clichés.”

“I’ll take your word on it, Adam. Leave it to you to analyze every nuance of a fight.”

Before X-Treme could reply, a red light came on the consul. He activated the plane’s radio and listened intently “Chief, we have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“We’re getting a distress call from Texas. Some bast’jaks called Hydra are attacking an air field.”

“Are we there yet?” Mirage asked. X-Treme swiftly changed course to the new coordinates. Within minutes, Force Works was within eyesight of the airfield. Oddly enough, the airfield was small for an airfield, only about the size of two football fields with old, rusted metal hangars. It was obvious that it was in disrepair and all but abandoned. Force Works could make out a group of about fifty Hydra agents concentrating their fire one hangar in particular. They were being driven back by automatic fire, but it was only a matter of time before they got what they were after.

“Talk about the middle of no where.” Speedball commented.

“X-Treme, open the drop hatch. Nova, Kymaera, you’ll carry me and Rahne to the ground. X-Treme, set the Glider down away from the here and join us.”

“Oh, I hate this bit.” Wolfsbane said as Kymaera took hold of the strap on the back of her costume.

The doors opened and Force Works quickly exited the Stealth Glider. X-Treme pulled away and landed the Stealth Wing about a mile from the scene of the battle. He rushed out of the cockpit and towards the battle at top speed. Even tough it took him all of two minutes and a half to do all this, it was too late.

“Hydra is supposed to be better than this.” Wiz Kid commented as he looked over the defeated Hydra agents. “They practically defeated themselves, fighting so poorly and uncoordinated. Not like them at all.”

“Aren’t we supposed to always win?” Tarene asked. Wiz Kid ignored her.

“Sorry we didn’t leave you any, X-Treme,” Speedball said, “These guys had glass jaws like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I could care less,” X-Treme replied, “Any idea why these Hydra men attacked some random air field?”

“They were after a secret weapon we were transporting.” A man explained as he approached Force Works from the hangar that had been under attack mere minutes beforehand. He was wearing an old suit, but seemed to have an air of authority about him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an F.B.I badge, “Name’s William Peaks, F.B.I. You youngsters are Force Works, right?”

“Correct. Why were you transporting a weapon in such an…understaffed manner?” Wiz Kid asked.

“We were hoping to stay under the radar, young man. Tell me, do you have a plane?”

“How do you think we got out here? Why do you ask?”

“Because, Nova, isn’t it? Force Works has just been drafted to help with Nation Security. It’s very important that the weapon reach a secure location as soon as possible.”

“We’re not your lackeys.” Mirage hissed, “We’re willing to wait until the local P.D’s get here, but Force Works aren’t glorified delivery boys.”

“Fine. But you’ll have to be the one to explain to the Joint Chiefs, and the media,” He added, “Why their plans were delayed.”

Mirage scowled, “Kymaera, Speedball, Wolfsbane, secure this weapon, whatever it is and get it to the Stealth Wing. The rest of us are going to do one last sweep to make sure there aren’t any Hydra goons lurking about.”

“This way.”

“So, Mulder, what is this weapon exactly?” Speedball asked, “And don’t say it’s classified, ‘cause the public has a right to know!”

“It’s a sonic weapon. I won’t say more than that.” He replied as they entered the hangar. Speedball was a little taken back by the fact that the agent had actually told as much as he did. Inside the hangar was what Speedball guessed were more federal agents, standing around a small passenger airplane. The agents had burn marks on their suits, and were holding their guns at their sides.

“Wait a bloody second,” Wolfsbane said suddenly.

“What is it, young lady?”

“Ye were fightin’ Hydra off jus’ moments ago. Ye smell like roses, yuir heart rate’s barely spiked, an’ I don’ smell any gun powder in the air.” Wolfsbane started to eye Mr. Pearl, knowing she was on to something, “An’ yuir name. That’s a British name, and yuir nae British.”

“Umm… This place smells pretty bad, so that might be why you don’t smell gunpowder. As for our heart rate, you get used to this sort of thing after a while.” Another agent suggested, but that wasn’t what Kymaera heard. Sometime back, Kymaera was a prisoner of a criminal organization known as the Undertow. She was enslaved for a full year, a puppet as they enforced their conservative agenda on the world. But Kymaera hardly wasted her time angsting over her fate. Rather, she studied her captors and committed every detail, every nuance about them and their members to memory. So to her, who she heard was, “Commander B.F Skinner?”

“How did you… Oh, hell.” The man replied. He hand shot into his pocket and he activated his radio, “We’ve been exposed! Repeat, exposed! Launch! Now!”

Kymaera activated her own comm. unit just as quickly “The Undertow is here! We walked into a…”

“…TRAP!”

Mirage and Arsenal rushed out of the hangar they had been checking the second they heard Kymaera over the comm. and ran smack into a group of paramilitary soldiers who had just teleported onto the tarmac in front of them. Worse, the co-called Hydra agents were getting up, and looked like they were on the same side as the soldiers who had just teleported in. Mirage took a split second to aim, and unleashed powerful psychic arrows at the new arrivals. However, the soldiers were completely unaffected by them. They leveled their weapons at Mirage and Arsenal.

“Shit!” Mirage leapt out of the way in time to miss being hit by automatic gunfire, and Arsenal took to the air. She pulled two arrows out of her quiver and shot the two closest men in the shoulder. She wasn’t Hawkeye, but she was still had damn fine aim. She kept moving, never them a clean shot. But the soldiers were damn persistent, and she had little cover.

“…TRAP!”

The instant Nova heard those words; he shot out of the hangar he had been inspecting at break neck speeds and towards Kymaera. He lost her once to these bastards, and he wasn’t about to let that happen again. But he smashed into a force field that had been erected around the hangar she had entered. Nova began pounding on it, hoping to either absorb it’s energy or break it, but he had no effect.

“You’re wasting your time. That shield was designed to hold the Hulk.” A voice informed him. Nova turned around to see about a half dozen lightly armored soldiers aiming high tech energy rifles at him. Nova charged at them, grabbing the leader by the neck,

“How do I turn that… arrgh!” Nova recoiled in pain. The man’s armor had an electrical shock that played havoc with Nova’s energy absorption powers. The man aimed his rifle at Nova,

“Surrender now, and you won’t be hurt.”

“Let’s see how you like your own medicine!” Nova unleashed the electrical energy he absorbed from the leader back at the man, but it had no effect. Nova flew up into the air, dodging energy blasts, but he couldn’t get far. He was still groggy from the first shock, and half the soldiers were aiming high to keep him close to the ground, while the other half aimed low, hoping to catch him in the cross fire. It took all his concentration to keep from being hit.

Damn it, how did these guys know my weakness?

“…TRAP!”

X-Treme sprinted out into the open as soon as he heard that, and ran smack into a dozen heavily armed soldiers. Without a moment’s pause, X-Treme pulled a dagger out from his belt, and charged. With skill that defied his age, he weaved between the soldiers and cut them ever so slightly with his dagger while slipping past them.

“Burn!”

X-Treme activated his power to burn an opponent’s blood when oxygenated. But nothing happened. It took X-Treme one second to realize this, before he jumped into the middle of the group, willingly surrounding himself. He wasn’t being cocky. He knew the soldiers would hesitate to fire at him for fear of hitting each other. And the last thing you wanted to do against X-Treme was hesitate. X-Treme lashed out, and in less time than it took to tell, the soldiers were lying on the ground, utterly defeated. X-Treme moved to help his teammates, but before he could, another figure appeared out of nowhere. He was the reclaimed Soldier of misfortune known as Cut, and was armed with dozens of swords and his left hand a metal claw.

“Man after my own heart, eh?” X-Treme asked, “Let’s see what you have up your sleeve.”

His eye flared, and X-Treme activated the energy he used to burn his foes, even though Cut wasn’t bleeding. The energy X-Treme used could also be used to evaluate his foe, to tell X-Treme what abilities or powers they had. This power made it pretty hard to surprise X-Treme. And what X-Treme learned about Cut took a lot of the fight out of him.

“Roosha…”

Arsenal, for his part, found no refuge in the air. The soldiers fired about half a dozen rockets at him before he got twenty feet into the air. He barely dodged them, and saw the missiles turned in midair and come right back at him. Arsenal blasted three of them with his optic blasts and barely dodged the rest. They came within a hair’s breath of him, and when they did, Arsenal realized how these things were tracking him.

The missiles are armed with magnetics! These guys came prepared! Arsenal glanced down towards Mirage, and saw that they were getting closer to tagging her, while Mirage’s arrows did little to even slow them down. Arsenal gritted his teeth, and formed a plan in his mind. It would be painful, but it was their only hope. He swooped down towards the soldiers, followed by the missiles that were tracking him. He transformed into his steel form and smashed into the group that had been trying to kill Mirage from behind. The missiles that had been tracking Arsenal then made contact, exploding with incredible power, knocking Arsenal out and seriously wounding the soldiers he flown into.

“Bobby!” Mirage ran to her friend’s side to see if he was all right. She saw that his chest was rising and falling steadily, so he would be okay. He had a healing factor, after all. But his sacrifice had bought her precious time to evaluate the situation. Mirage scanned the tarmac and saw that the rest of Force Works was in dire straights. Nova was stuck battling foes that wore light body armor that conducted electricity, making him unable to touch them. Wiz Kid was being hammered with sonics, and though his backpack was protecting him, he was being kept on the defensive. Tarene was being double teamed by what looked like two superhumans and four people wearing jet-black armors that looked slightly like the golden Avenger Iron Man. Dani recognized the armor from Shield files as Iron Monger armors. Dani quickly scanned the battlefield, looking for one member of Force Works in particular that could help turn the tide, and she found him fighting another man armed to the teeth with swords himself.

“Fight this!” X-Treme implored as he ducked another strike from the new Soldier of Misfortune known as Cut. If Cut heard him, he certainly didn’t show it. He sliced at X-Treme again, and again connected with nothing but empty air. X-Treme pulled out his sword, and held it in front of him defensively, “I can see the implants that control you and can tell from your body language that you’re being forced to do this! I know what it’s like to be a slave, fight it, please!”

Cut replied by bringing his sword slicing down at X-Treme. X-Treme caught the blade between his own double bladed sword and knocked Cut’s sword aside, “You don’t have to be a slave!”

Cut was about to attack again, but was struck by a psychic arrow and fell to the ground, unconscious.

“No time for sympathy for the devil,” Mirage said, “We’re getting our butts handed to us!”

X-Treme didn’t bother to tell Mirage he couldn’t burn anyone. He knew she already knew, so “What’s the plan?”

“Help the others, get thru that force field and then dig in.”

This isn’t fair! This isn’t right! Those were the only thoughts that went thru Tarene’s mind as she was assaulted by a barrage that would lay another other member low long ago. Two members of the Soldiers of misfortune were attacking her senses while four men in Iron Monger armors pounded on her. Wrong, who had the power to distort reality, and Black, who could increase gravity exponentially, assaulted her senses. It was effective at first, but Tarene soon had had enough. An inexplicable rage suddenly overtook her.

“Raagh!” The snap was almost audible. Tarene’s eyes turned blood shot, and she smashed her mallet into the ground, sending out a small earthquake that not only knocked everyone, including her nearby teammates, off their feet, but also would be felt for miles in every direction. This temporarily stopped Wrong and Dark’s assault, and Tarene didn’t waste a moment. She struck out at the two, but barely connected with a glancing blow. But it was still enough to knock them very, very far away. Tarene then turned towards to men in the Iron Monger armors, and leaped at them with animalistic fury. She grabbed the wrist of one Iron Monger, swung him like a baseball bat and smashed him into another one.

“Sonics!” One Iron Monger ordered. The two remaining Iron Mongers activated the high pitch speakers built into the armor and directed at Tarene.

“Cheaters!” She shouted as the sonics drilled into her brain. She instinctively caused a thunderstorm to form, the white noise of the thunder making the sonics easier to bear. Tarene charged the closest Iron Monger, intent on ripping it apart with her bare hands. Unfortunately for her, the man inside the armor was a skilled fighter. He feinted to the right, and when Tarene moved to intercept, he caught her with a left hook that drove her chin into a viscous right uppercut.

“You shouldn’t lead with your chin, little girl.” He said as he drove his fist into Tarene’s face, knocking her back. Tarene didn’t reply as she got back up. She simply wiped the blood from her chin and started to advance on the man. In her rage, she failed to notice that the other men in armor had recovered. One stationed himself behind her.

“Football!” He ordered. He blasted the back of Tarene’s knees with his repulsar blasts, forcing her down. The Iron Monger in front of her ran towards her, and let loose a kick that would have put an N.F.L place kicker to shame. Only something was wrong. His foot had stopped.

“What the hell…”He looked down and saw Tarene’s fingers embedded in his boot. At first, he was shocked. His armor was strong enough to fight the likes of Iron Man and Thing to a standstill. And here this young woman was, catching a kick powerful enough to destroy a battleship without breaking a sweat. Then he started to become very, very afraid. Tarene started to squeeze the boot harder, and the man inside the Iron Monger armor decided to practice the better part of valor and activated the boot jets. Just as he did that, Tarene swung him towards his comrade, taking two of her foes out of the fight. Tarene didn’t make any witty comment or flippant remark as she prepared to attack the last two men in armor. She just snarled, and seemingly learning nothing from the first time, charged.

Wolfsbane ducked under the oversized right fist that came crashing towards her. She leaped back, trying to put some distance between her and the Soldier of Misfortune called Right. Even as she landed, she ducked to the side to avoid being blasted by the optic blasts of another Soldier known as Light.

Don’ know how long I ken keep this up! She thought to herself dodged another Soldier called Fast. Kymaera and Speedball had already been defeated out by their foes. The majority of the Soldiers of Misfortune had teleported directly into the hangar and knew whom to attack. Dry had connected to Kymaera with her dehydrating touch before she could react, and Light’s blasts cut right thru Speedball’s force field, knocking him out. The regular agents had used a sonic weapon on Wolfsbane, hoping to overload her sensitive hearing so that the other soldiers could take her down. And it almost worked. But Wolfsbane had worked with Banshee and Siryn enough to be able to withstand high pitched sonics long enough to destroy the weapon, and she had been on the defensive ever since.

“Ye don’ have tae do this!” Wolfsbane implored the Soldiers. Kymaera had told her about them, and Wolfsbane’s heart truly went out to these poor souls. She had been a slave once herself, and she knew their pain. However, none of the Soldiers replied. In truth, they couldn’t. Their bodies were like machines, which existed for one reason. They kept up their attack, with little success. Each attack was a hair off or a split second too late. Thankfully for Wolfsbane, the Soldiers of Misfortune weren’t very coordinated, so her speed and agility allowed her to stay one step ahead of them, but that was about all she could do against them. Having been trained by Charles Xavier, Magneto, Cable and Nightcrawler, she was more formidable than she looked, but she also knew it was only a matter of time before they caught her.

“I ken help ye if ye jus’ try to stop what yuir doing!” She pleaded. Wolfsbane glanced worriedly at Kymaera. She didn’t look like the vibrant young woman Rahne had befriended in recent weeks. She looked more like a skeleton with blue flesh draped over it. If Kymaera went any longer without water…

-Thoom!-

Suddenly, the ground up heaved, knocking everyone on their ass. The Soldier of Misfortune called Fast, once known as the mercenary Sparrow and could fly, swooped in and grabbed Wolfsbane by the neck.

“Nae!” Wolfsbane struggled to get free as Fast’s finger’s tightened around her neck and squeezed. Wolfsbane raked her claws across Fast’s face, attempting to get free. Even as she did this, Wolfsbane could see the pity in Fast’s eyes. Wolfsbane’s last thoughts were to pray for death rather than be made a mindless machine of another hatemonger.

“Come on, what’s your phase variance?” Wiz Kid asked the force field that was surrounding the hangar the other three members of Force Works were trapped in. He was being protected by Mirage, Nova and X-Treme, who were holding the Undertow off. Nova tore up several large chunks of the tarmac and used them as a make shift barrier for Wiz Kid and Mirage while he and X-Treme got down and dirty.

“Anything?” Mirage asked

“Nothing yet…oh hell…get back!” Wiz kid shouted. He formed his backpack into a rocket pack, grabbed X-Treme and Mirage and darted away from the hangar moments before it was consumed in a huge fireball. Before Force Works could even take this all in, every member of the Undertow, including the faux Hydra members, were teleported away. After her foes disappeared, Tarene’s rage evaporated like dew in the morning sun, and she asked the obvious question,“Where… did they go?”

“No…” Nova uttered as he looked at the destroyed remnants of the hangar his teammates had been in moments before, “NOO!”

Nova flew into the remains and started digging furiously, throwing debris every which way, “No way, no fucking way!”

Mirage, Wiz Kid, Tarene and X-Treme simply stood there, watching, their heads hung low.

“What the hell are you idiots waiting for?” Nova demanded, “A god damn invitation?”

“You know as well as I do that what your doing is futile.” Wiz Kid answered

“But you got scans, right?”

Wiz Kid looked away,

“You little shit…” Nova was in his face in an instant, “Why weren’t you scanning? What are you good for, you little toad!”

“Nova, back off…”

Nova grabbed Wiz Kid by the collar and pulled him closer, “Or what?”

Wiz Kid created an electric gun and pressed it under Nova’s chin, “Or I’ll send an energy pulse thru your body designed to cripple your nervous system and leave you in a state Christopher Reeves would pity. I will not be manhandled by you. I will say this once. Back. Off.”

Both eyed each other, neither willing to stand down,

“That’s enough!” Mirage shouted as she and X-Treme pushed the two apart, “Nova, this is getting us no where and you know it. Now calm the fuck down, or I’ll lay you out myself!”

Nova was about to reply, but then thought the better of it. He took a deep breath and sighed, “I’m sorry Taki, I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. It’s just that I lost ‘Nita to these bastards before…”

“You’re right,” Wiz Kid said, interrupting him, “You shouldn’t have assaulted me. But what’s done is done. I wish I had some better news for you, for us all, but I don’t.”

“You didn’t get a single scan, did you?”

“As the saying goes, I have good news and bad news. When the Undertow attacked, they saturated this entire area with negatively ionized particles. It obstructed my long range scans and before I could properly compensate, they were gone.”

“And the good news?”

“I did get some scans. My scans detected what I believe to be the Undertow’s frequency for communication. If we could find them again, I’m certain I could track it back to their base.”

“So, how do we find them again?” Tarene asked.

“I…don’t know.” Wiz Kid replied, “This entire operation was skillfully crafted, we won’t find any clues here. I wouldn’t be surprised if that name that fake F.B.I Agent gave us was intentionally chosen to lead us down a false path.”

“Great, basically, we’re screwed, aren’t we?” Mirage asked, “We don’t know where they are, don’t know where they might strike next, and with every minute that passes, our chances of finding our friends decreases.”

“Yes,” Wiz Kid sighed, “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have an idea, eh lad?” A new voice asked. Force Works turned as one and saw a red haired man, well built man wearing a shirt that read ‘Save the Rainforest’.

“You…you’re that…” Nova struggled to remember the man’s name, “That Project Earth guy!”

“The name’s Michael Shauneghann. And I have a proposition for you fine people.”

NEXT: What does Project Earth want from Force Works and how will they react? What exactly is Project Five Chinamen(if you can’t figure this out, there’s no hope for you) and how will it change one member of Force Works forever? Be here as life and death decisions are made as Riptide concludes!