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“The rain!” Iron Fist screamed in warning to his teammates. “He’s using the rain to--”

A torrent of water drowned out the hero’s words as Hydro-Man unloaded his watery mass in a solid stream. The pressure pounded against the martial artist’s skull like a jackhammer, the villain refusing to let up.

Danny found himself wishing they had just stayed in Chicago, but when Colleen said her client was under attack from a new group calling themselves the Flood, how could he have refused? He might have been on the outs with Misty but Colleen was someone who still deserved whatever help he could offer.

Apparently Hydro-Man, along with the muscle-bound and blue-skinned Orca, and the mutant named Barnacle had decided to rob Colleen and Misty’s client, which turned out to be the Detroit Naval Research Center. Together the trio called themselves the Flood and were currently attempting to swipe a nuclear submarine reactor that was scheduled for decommission. The Navy had transported the core in last night when the group of miscreants had decided to take it for themselves.

A 1987 Buick crashed into the side of Weinzerl’s Garage and Detailing, decimating the family owned business into nothing more than a pile of bricks and mortar. Diamond Dust had been the intended target but as usual she proved harder to hit than most people. Orca, the Atlantean powerhouse, roared in annoyance as he readied something else big to throw at the woman.

“Whatever you got I can phase through,” Diamond Dust said as she shifted her form back from intangibility. Her body was glossed over with a hard material that had a density like her namesake. Her fingers elongated slightly into points, a special bonus of her transformation. She raked her claws across each other in a modest attempt to discern Orca from another attack but he seemed intent on following through with the action. “Have it your way.”

Diamond Dust bolted toward the lumbering brute, locking her auburn eyes with his baby blues. Orca, still decidedly sure he could take a woman a third his size, razed a telephone poll like a battering ram. Diamond Dust, using the control over her own density, simply continued running straight through the poll, her right claw raised and ready to slash.

“What the hell?” Orca exclaimed. “That’s not fai--AHH!”

Clutching his face from Diamond Dust’s slashing strike, Orca haphazardly tossed away the telephone poll, not paying attention to where it landed. The strange color of his Atlantean blood began to rise to the surface of his face and the pain overtook his primal instincts.

“Is this where you say something only marginally smarter than the Hulk?” Diamond Dust quipped as she tried to flank the brute to make another run at his face.

Orca swung his tree trunk arm out in a wide arc, hoping to catch the hero in a bulldozer clothesline. Diamond Dust again phased through the attack, slashing wildly once more at Orca’s blue-skinned face. Mainly on instinct driven by pure hatred, the Altantean managed to snag Diamond Dust by the face, clasping his huge fingers around her pale and tiny skull.

“Easy up now, blue boy,” Cage bellowed as he fell down through the sky.

Orca looked up just in time to see Luke Cage’s twin boots stomp into his already scarred face. Cage, having chosen the higher ground of the rooftops to descend from, ground his foot into Orca’s face down into the pavement. Down for the count, he released Lynn from his bulky clutches.

Meanwhile, Iron Fist choked back whatever air he could manage to breathe in from under the watery onslaught of Hydro Man. “Never second guess a second rate villain!” Hydro Man cried out. “I may not be regarded as much but I’m more than enough to take down a pack of lower tier capes!”

Hydro Man’s mastery over water extended beyond his own liquid form. Using the nearby storm clouds, he commanded buckets of harsh rain to fall from the sky and onto his foes. The hazy rainfall made it difficult for his enemies to see let alone where to strike him from. That, couple with his own impressive powers, made his a dangerous adversary.

“I don’t doubt it,” Strider mocked as he zoomed across the street turned battlefield. “No one disputes your power. It’s your brains they have a problem with.”

The speedster dove headfirst inside the liquid body of Hydro Man, taking a deep breathe at the last moment. “What are you--” Hydro Man tried to say, but it was too late. Strider began to spin counter-clockwise from inside Hydro Man, quickly agitating the molecules that composed his body.

Hydro Man started his own vortex going the opposite direction in a desperate attempt to thwart the speedster, but it was all ready too late. He felt his control slip and his molecules begin to disperse. Water spouts shot out from his central form, gushing into the street as the rain became to subside.

“Guy’s got water on the knee,” Strider meekly mused as he exited the thinning water column that once was Hydro Man. “Hurry it up, Photon, before he reconstitutes himself.”

The energy Avenger heeded Strider’s warning and swooped in from overhead, her powers activated to their full potential. “On it!” she replied. Now that the torrential rain storm has dissipated she could easily join the fight without having to worry about hitting one of her teammates. She pointed her extended hands at the still spinning Hydro Man and fired a volley of synthesized light. The rays sizzled into his liquid flesh, dazzling his senses and shocking him into unconsciousness.

Two down, one to go.

Barnacle, a mutant that could condense moisture into a weapon, traded blows with Colleen Wing. Her samurai sword clutched in her hands, she would manage time and again to break through Barnacle’s clumsy defenses only to be stopped short by his rock hard armor. He had fashioned a crude sword of his own, formed from the very rainfall that Hydro Man had brought. Like his armor, it was nearly unbreakable.

“Stupid freakin’ broads,” he muttered after missing Colleen with his clubbed weapon for the third time in as many tries. “Who hires chicks to do man’s work?”

“Oh, I know you didn’t just say that,” Misty Knight said as she drew a bead on the mutant. Her bionic arm steadied her rifle and locked Barnacle in her sights, only to have the shot bounce off his body armor.

“Ha!” he laughed triumphantly. “See? Ain’t no way you can take me. The Flood is gonna take whatever it wants--HUMPH!”

Iron Fist drove all the air out of Barnacle’s lungs with one punch to his gut. Colleen and Misty had kept the mutant distracted while Iron Fist recovered and flanked him, finally using his special technique to knock him down. Energy still lingered around Daniel Rand’s fingers as the iron fist energy seeped away into the cold air.

“Your armor is impressive but it could not stand against the iron fist,” Danny mused.

The third and final member of the fledging Flood fell to the ground, his armor beginning to dissolve back into the water from whence it came. He teetered forward, pausing to match glares with Iron Fist, then fell onto his back, the sweet darkness overtaking him.

“Always wrapping up a brawl with that monk talk,” Cage commented as he and the others gathered near.

Iron Fist tossed his longtime partner a sideways glance filled with a smile, which was quickly swept away by the sight of Misty and Photon. He once held one of their hearts but now he held neither, a result of a foolish night of weakness. Strider and Diamond Dust secured the general area while Colleen called in the proper authorities to haul away the villainous garbage.

“Any idea why these pugs wanted an old sub?” Strider asked.

“Client said it was scheduled to be decommissioned today,” Misty answered casually, making sure her eyes were kept off of two of the Heroes. “It’s scrap. Useless. Best I can guess was they just wanted to make a name for themselves. You know. With the whole water theme. Guess a sub was appropriate for their debut.”

“Nice to know that not all supervillains are losers without goals,” Cage chuckled.

“So what’s our next move?” Photon inquired from behind Cage. Her arms were crossed and it was obvious at how uncomfortable she was in the present company. “One of us should at least get back to Deathlok soon. Ms. Brant shouldn’t be left there by herself when we don’t know what’s going on.”

“Then go,” Misty said coldly.

Luke looked back and forth between the two women and then glanced at Danny. He raised his eyebrow but Iron Fist subtlety shook his head, as if to tell him to just let it go. He made a mental note to discuss it with Danny later, in privacy. It was very seldom that there were any secrets between the two Heroes and that alone meant that something big had happened.

His train of thought was broken when Misty cried out in surprise. Her bionic arm raised straight up, seemingly against her will. “Mother of--” she cried out as she fell to her knees. “God, it hurts! Help me! Colleen!”

The female samurai ran to her partner’s side but there was nothing she could do. Misty’s arm wavered back and forth like it had a mind of its own. The Heroes watched on, unsure of what to do. Then, with a final cry fro Misty, her bionic arm pointed straight up where a small rectangular shard slid out from her palm. The shard began emitting a strange green light which quickly condensed into a hologram, forming a face that none were pleased to see.

“The Master,” Iron Fist said, almost swearing.

{{ Greetings and salutations! }} the hologram spoke. {{ So nice to see you all again. Especially you, Mr. Cage. }}

Luke stepped closer to the hologram, ready to tear the light construct apart with his bare hands. “Eshu,” he replied, “ain’t nothing gonna stop me from breaking your skull this time.”

{{ Yes, I’m sure. It might interest you all to know that the time has finally come for me to exact my revenge on you all. }}

“S’cuse me,” Strider chimed in. “But we’ve never met. Someone mind filling me in?”

{{ Ah, yes. The demon possessor. }} The hologram of the Master shifter directions to face Strider and his wife. {{ You’ve all ready caused me so much grief that I can barely stand it. If not for my partner, who is just as eager as I am to undertake this predicament, I would have killed you during that little escapade in Texas. }}

“Partner?” Diamond Dust said. “What does this have to do with Casavan?”

{{ You misunderstand. That impotent magic user was not with whom I share allegiance. No, that shadowy person has a history that mingles with your very own martial arts master. }}

Photon tossed a quick glance at Iron Fist before stepping up beside Cage, drawing the Master’s attention to herself. “Let Misty go,” she said.

{{ Such brevity. I would release her except that her bionic arm is something of importance to me. At least, for the next thirty seconds or so before I end this transmission. }}

“What do you want, Eshu?” demanded Iron Fist.

{{ Your secretary is fine and sleeping but Deathlok is now with me. That excuse you pass off as a headquarters was easily penetrated by my minions. What I want is for you to come after me. }}

“Well this is a first,” Cage scoffed. “The bad guy is politely asking for us to show up at his doorstep.”

Misty’s arm buckled both from under the strain of the Master’s control and his desire for a second shard to slide forth from her bionic palm. A second green light emanated from it, spewing forth into a swirling circle of green and yellow energy. The strange field formed a portal that led to some place the Heroes were sure they didn’t inherently want to travel.

{{ You’ve no idea the trouble I’ve gone through to gain access Ms. Knight’s arm. This is all or none. If one of you decides to stay behind to go for help then I’ll detonate the arm, killing anyone within a square block. Now, if you’ll all be so kind as to jump through the gateway… }}

The Heroes looked to each other but no one could offer any better suggestions than what the Master had commanded them to do. They were at a loss. For now, they would have to play by his rules.

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TO BE CONTINUED

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