Iceman

Blizzard

Emma Frost

Harry

Tanya Redfield

Sherry Redfield

Grizzly

 
Gibbon

E. S. U. Rec Hall

Simultaneously the referee dropped the hockey puck and blew his whistle. Bobby stared at Jessica awkwardly even as the whistle was blown, missing his chance to capture the puck with his hockey stick. Almost immediately, Jessica checked Bobby down to the ice and skated passed him.

"Nice one, Jessica!" Monica grinned wildly, skating across the ice.

"Thanks Monica," Jessica glided across the ice, glancing back at Bobby with a bit of a sneer. Bobby locked eyes with the woman.

"Oh-ho! Taken by a woman, huh Drake?" A man in a white Harry's Hideaway shirt snickered, as he took off on the ice after Jessica and the other players.

"Shut-up, Jon," Bobby replied to his teammate and employee, moving to his feet on the ice with the support of his stick.

"Keep your mind out of the gutter, Bobby!" Harry shouted from across the ice. "I know she's a looker, but geeze!"

Bobby skated across the ice, moving across it fairly quicker then anyone else could thanks to his training as Iceman with the X-Men.

"If you weren't such a goofy guy, Bobby, you probably could've taken her the minute she rushed you," Candy shook her head as she came from the side of Jessica and checked her. "But nooo, you had ogle over a brunette..."

"I wasn't ogling!" Bobby replied, taking possession of the puck and quickly moving in the direction of the opposing team's goal.

Jessica was ready to slam Candy onto her ass, but inside she knew she had to control herself. It was just a game, after all. But her past as Blizzard, and with Bobby Drake on the other hand wasn't...

The young woman who was once known as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle leaned into the doorway above the Empire State University rec hall with her arms crossed, watching Bobby take possession of the puck before him once a female on his team checked Jessica.

In Bobby's own immaturity, he spun a circle and glided across the ice backwards. Emma Frost could see the grin plastered across his face as Jessica rose to her feet. She didn't know why, but there was just something about Bobby Drake...

As much as she wanted to hate the immaturity... as much as she was annoyed by it... and as much as she despised the potential he squandered... she found there to be something admirable and appealing within him.

And she hated it.

Emma glanced away from the ice to Tanya and Sherry's row. The young girl was standing in her seat, cheering for Bobby as he danced across the ice. Tanya appeared to be enjoying Bobby playing in the game as well.

Obviously, Tanya was a single mother. Sherry didn't look much like her at all, but the two seemed happy together nonetheless. In the back of her mind, Emma couldn't help but envy the relationship the two might have. She didn't know for sure, but the thought of having such a young girl as your daughter to mold and grow with...

Was it possible that Emma Frost herself wanted something out of life besides money and power? Maybe it would explain why each student of hers had a special place in her heart, even though she would never admit it. They were the children she never had, and never would have...

The team below cheered as Bobby shot the puck past his opponents' goalie and against the goal's net. Bobby skated around the goal with his arms held high into the air egotistically, a wide grin across his face.

"Humph," Emma bit her bottom lip, smirking.

As Bobby came around the goal and rose onto one skate, he felt a tremble throughout his ankle. Suddenly, he lost use of his legs and fell flat on his face, leaving him to skid across the ice dumbfounded. Uncontrollable laughter echoed across the ice as Bobby slided on his chest a few feet, blinking wildly.

Turning on her heel, Emma Frost turned her back to the ice and left the rec hall proudly. She was the White Queen, and even though it would be nice to have all the luxuries a normal life like those in the rec hall had, it just wasn't her.

In the back of her mind she thought.... There was no way it would work. No matter how much she wanted it to.

Brooklyn, New York

A bold figure flung himself from rooftop to rooftop. His muscular form allowed him to perform this obstacle with relative ease. Destination? The building a block down engulfed in flames. Firefighters and police were already on scene, having evacuated all possible souls from the blazing inferno.

All possible souls, but one...

"My BABY!" A hysterical woman shouted in tears, being held back by the strong arm of FDNY fire chief John Malcolm.

"You can't go in there ma'am!" He tried to persuade, using his arms to hold her at bay. As two firefighters moved to the entrance, a barrage of rubble blocked their way.

"NO!" Cried the woman as she clawed into the fire chief's back, breaking down into his arms. His eyes trailed up to the top floor as the flames licked the night's sky. Suddenly, a brown blur shot forth from overhead.

"Look!" One of the bystander's chimed. The woman rose from the fire chief's shoulders, looking up to the burning building in a type of awe....

Grizzly flung himself from the final rooftop keeping him from the burning building. His large form crashed through the window head first in a type of dive, rolling to his feet once he touched the weakened floor.

Before it could fully collapse on him, Grizzly leapt from his spot and slammed his feet against a support beam, which thrusted him across the charred and flaming building. The gentle cry of a baby rung through his mind, even with the crackle of fire. Grizzly used his super agility to travel across the small apartment, avoiding collapsing debris and enraged flames.

As the muscular and heavy form of Grizzly moved to a room's doorway, he saw a cradle before him. Surrounded in flames, the cradle gently rocked side to side. The baby's cries slowly began to diminish as Grizzly stood there. When he began to approach, the only echo he could hear was the crackle of fire, eating away at the building.

With a slightly confused brow, Maxwell Markham looked down into the cradle, only to his shock to see the face of his partner, Martin Blank -- the Gibbon, clutching a rattle. Complete in baby attire, the Gibbon launched his rattle. Grizzly's head moved to the side, narrowly avoiding the plastic baby toy.

"Gibb...?"

"Wake up, you dumbshit."

Opening his eyes abruptly, Grizzly found a blue sky before him. Gently, he rose the upper half of his body from the concrete rooftop he was laying on. Crouched down beside him was again his partner the Gibbon. Tapping him on the face, Gibbon sighed.

"We're supposed to be on lookout, and you're just dozin' off?"

"Heh, sorry... must've been those chili fries I ate earlier...."

"AH SAID GIVE IT BACK!" A voice shouted.

Gibbon stood up from beside Grizzly, who wiggled his nose out of aggravation, then scratched at it with his hand as he watched his partner bound to the edge of the building's rooftop, looking down to the streets below to investigate. Grizzly quickly followed.

Below, they saw an elderly black woman at a tug war for her purse with a young thug. Throwing a hand into her shoulder, he knocked her to the sidewalk and began running past her. Within moments, he found himself before the tall, lanky, muscular, and quite furry, Gibbon. Gasping, he skidded to a stop before he wrecked into the monstrosity of a super hero.

Gibbon growled lowly, as he narrowed his eyes onto the young thug. Adrenaline began coursing through the thug, and he noticed his hand beginning to tremble. Deciding to take a chance, he bolted past Gibbon, who didn't seem to bother intercepting.

"Oh CRAP -- !" He yelled as he slammed into the hard chest of the Grizzly, falling backwards onto the ground. Grizzly and Gibbon began to surround the young thug, growling lowly and concentrating their fierce looks onto him.

"I'm, I'm sorry -- !" The young thug muttered, then bark out. "Here!"

Catching the purse after the common thug threw it at him, Grizzly stepped aside. The young thug scrambled to his feet, then bolted out onto the streets with three pairs of eyes following him. Grizzly stepped passed Gibbon to the elder lady who moved to her feet.

"ERRRRRTT!"

The sound of screeching tires caught their attention, where they saw the young thug struck down by a speeding taxi. Blinking, the Grizzly returned his attention back to the elderly lady and held out her purse.

"Umm... here's your purse, ma'am..."

The Game

"Hey Mom, Bobby's team is winning right?" Sherry asked, hunching a curious brow to her Mom. Tanya smiled as she looked to her daughter.

"Yep, they are sure."

The game was 3 to 2, and in the closing minutes. There was only a handful of people watching the hockey game in progress, at least compared to the number of people E.S.U.'s rec hall could hold, but they enjoyed the game as it passed nonetheless.

A local sports bar near E. S.U. frequently had challenged other pubs to hockey games in a type of advertising scheme, and for good clean fun.

"YOUR MOTHER WEARS ARMY BOOTS!!" Shouted Jon as he got checked against the ice rink's barricade, a loud thump echoing around the hall.

"Yeah!" Sherry shouted, standing up in her seat. "What he said!"

Tanya laughed and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders, pressing for her to sit down. Bobby glanced up from the ice to Sherry, smiling, and turned back to the game at hand. Sherry noticed this, and looked back to her Mom.

"Bobby isn't gonna come with us, is he Mom?"

Almost immediately Tanya's facial expression sunk. She looked to Sherry, and shook her head lightly. Her daughter glanced down for a moment, scratching the side of her neck.

"Sorry Hun, but he probably won't be..." Tanya said with regret. She hadn't even told Bobby where they were going yet. "We'll only be gone for a little while, though."

Shrugging, Sherry's eyes went back to the game. Tanya knew she had to tell him soon. It just wouldn't be right to go without telling him. Besides, if he knew where they were going, maybe he could write or visit them.

The referee blew his whistle to end the game just as the other team sunk a shot. It was tied, three to three, but the crowd wasn't disappointed at all. Lining up, both team of bartenders crossed to shake hands and thank the other team for a good game. Bobby and Jessica soon crossed paths.

The two former adversaries stood before each other as their coworkers and teammates on the ice began departing from the ring into the locker rooms provided. A friendly smile came over Bobby's face, as they were soon left alone aside from the exiting people in the stands, and referee.

"You're not trying to kill me, so I guess you're over the brain washing," Bobby stated almost out of no where.

"Something like that," Jessica muttered, but without bitterness. "It still gets to me all the things I did. Sometimes I just sit there, and remember everything so vividly..."

Bobby noted that the rec hall was quickly emptying out. Soon, he saw at the corner of his eye Tanya standing at the bottom of a row, holding Sherry's hand. Nodding to her, he called out gently.

"I'll meet you at the car."

"All right. I have something to tell you about!"

"Sure thing," Bobby smiled as the mother and daughter waved, then turned his attention back onto Jessica. "Some friends of mine."

"Cute kid," Jessica chuckled a but, but her face soon returning somewhat grim. "I wonder how many just like her I killed..."

"Try not to think about any of that," Bobby said as he looked to her. "You weren't in your right mind at all."

"Yeah," Jessica sighed, rubbing her arm gently. "I know. But that fact doesn't really help things much. I want to redeem myself somehow, but I don't think I still have a few years left of medical school."

"Hey-ey, new super hero on the block?" Bobby joked. Jessica laughed.

"Some super hero I'd make... what can I do besides 'make a stupid little weapon'?" Jessica mused, quoting Bobby back during their battle with each other.

"Everyone start's somewhere. Lookit me, I used to make snowballs and slide around in my underwear on a bridge of ice."

"Doesn't that give you wedgies?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

Within a few moments, the tension between them had been broken and they were soon laughing more and more with each other.

"Too bad you didn't have to go meet up with that woman and her kid," Jessica looked up from the ice after a moment. "I could buy you a drink."

"I'll have to take a rein check on that," Bobby grinned wildly, despite the fact that he was currently seeing Tanya. Though he didn't have any intentions of breaking Tanya's trust, he sure was flattered. "Bobby Drake," He offered.

"Jessica Mastiff," She replied, taking his hand in hers.

Epilogue

"As you may have heard on the news, a Chinese abortion clinic was attacked and nearly destroyed by a group of mutant terrorists," Weiss said as he strode down Winterbrand's underground facilities.

Behind him followed a hooded figure, whose beady gold lit eyes gazed around the new age technology surrounding the lab's walls. Along the walls were various monitors, either tuned onto news casts or observation reports.

"Because of this, the Chinese Military lost it's prized metahuman defender... the Collective Man," Weiss continued as the two walked into a fully functional observation deck, overlooking the underground facility's observations.

"Doesn't China have millions and millions of soldiers in it's army?" Tony Master asked, looking to Weiss through the gray rubbery skull mask covering his face. "What's one metahuman to them?"

"When you were a child, didn't you always want the newest, flashiest toy on the block?" The gold lit orbs simply stared onto Alain Weiss. "Without a task force consisting of metahumans, the Chinese Military feels like they're at a disadvantage."

The Taskmaster continued to stare through the Asian man's thin eye glasses, and into Alain Weiss' eyes. Alain Weiss leaned back onto a monitor deck's edge, using his hands to support himself.

"In short, Mr. Master... the Chinese Defense Ministry has asked Winterbrand to form a task force capable of defending China in case of an emergency involving metahumans."

Weiss' assistant, who wore a lavender skirt and a white blouse stepped up to him and held out a folder filled with a number of papers.

"Thank you, Opal," He nodded to the woman, and gently opened the folder and handed it to the Taskmaster, whose glowing eyes crossed over the first page.

"There in your hand is a six month contract for your services. We want you to train a small unit of metahumans for our personal use, and for the defense of China. You'll be paid quite well for your position, as Winterbrand is a Global Market leader in various fields."

"A legit job," Taskmaster almost grinned behind his mask, the eye holes in his mask rising partially from the strength of his brow. "Doesn't the Chinese Military know of my track record?"

"You'll be paying back your debt to society, as well as gaining a small fortune for your... own, personal use," Weiss replied, taking a pen from his shirt and holding it out. "Just read through, and sign."

"I have one more job to fulfill before I agree to this," Taskmaster explained.

"Not a problem," Weiss relentlessly agreed. "Once you're done, just agree to the contract, and you're set."

"Sounds promising," Taskmaster said nonchalantly as he looked over the hefty payment offered near the bottom of the first page. He lifted his head back up to Weiss. "It's a deal."

NEXT ISSUE: Be here as characters come and go, Taskmaster goes on his last job before joining with Winterbrand, Grizzly and Gibbon have the battle of their lives, and Iceman caught in the middle of it all!

FROSTBYTE
T

What can I say? It took me two years to finish a twelve issue run. In fact I managed to accomplish very little in the process aside from showing off characterization, which is what I regret the most. So from on out, Iceman will take a much larger direction. I have a lot planned, so stick around!