Iran, Dasht-e-Lut Desert

At first glance, the small Iranian town was perhaps the definition of a ghost town. The simple mud and brick homes were empty, devoid of any personality while the windows were thrown open and doors swung back and forth in the desert wind. The air was almost stagnate, as lifeless as the town itself appeared to be as the wind blew a thin line of dust through the air. However, the town wasn’t completely abandoned, as it seemed.

In fact, walking down the main street of this small little town were four individuals whom, by themselves, could empty almost any modern city by merits of their reputation alone. They all wore specially made body hugging uniforms, dark blue form fitting suits that denoted no rank, but bore the an insignia of two crossed swords over a globe on the shoulders.

The first figure, who identified herself to teammates as Flashblade, walked at the front with an unquestionable air of authority was a six-feet tall woman with blond, short-cropped hair and an Uzi slung under her arm. She eyes kept scanning the town calmly, ready for this long mission to finally be over.

The second man, known to his teammates as Meteor, was a man of medium height, bald Caucasian male. He hovered in the air towards the back of the group, electricity flowing up and down his body. His body language was casual but at the same time, never more ready for action. He fell into combat easy; there was no science involved for him.

In comparison, his third teammate, a tall, broad shouldered African American man who titled himself Twilight, couldn’t have been more tense if he tried. His every thought and movement was in anticipation of an attack he was sure to come at any moment.

Lastly, there was ShadowWind. He stood the tallest of the group with long, fiery red hair and twin swords strapped to his back and various throwing stars, knives and various other weapons secured to his body. He studied the town with a trained eye that combined extensive training, raw skill and experience.

“They’re coming.” He said simply.

There was a whistling sound that suddenly lanced through the air, but with practiced ease Twilight raised a force field of solid yellow energy that easily withstood the force of the explosion. Men of all shapes and sizes began pouring out of every nook and cranny. Some looked like creatures of myth, others demons of the pit and more still looked like regular humans with the exception of their disproportioned bodies, limbs that smoldered with personally generated energy, or both. Flashblade estimated there were at least four-dozen attackers, all wearing the light brown uniform of the Iranian Republican Guard. Her only saving grace was that she knew every last attacker had no real experience in using their powers whatsoever and lacked proper training. That was why her team was in Iran, after a fashion.

“Alright team, remember the plan, don’t rely on backup and teach these bastards what it means to be American!” Flashblade ordered.

Twilight dropped his force field as Flashblade swung her hand outwards, ultra sharp energy blades flying from her hands. They found purchase in the skulls of a half dozen of her enemies, much to the confusion of the survivors. Her team took the quick reprieve to scatter in separate directions.

Flashblade aimed her first blades low, slicing into the legs and calves of the first waves of attackers. The men couldn’t help but stumbled as vital veins and nerves in their legs were shredded, and those in back tripped over their wounded comrades as they crowded forward to reach their prey. To say they made easy targets was an understatement. 

Meteor rose into the air and began to rain down lightning bolts upon the enhanced Republican guard members, leaving nothing but smoking skeletons when he was done. His teammates barely reacted as they fought, trusting their electrical teammate with their safety to the fullest. It took only a minute for him to wipe out a quarter of the opposition.

“Hey, Amigo!” A voice shouted on his communicator. Meteor continued his barrage as he replied, “Go ahead, Jose.”

“We got incoming bogies at three o’ clock.” Meteor looked down at the position to see a convoy of a half dozen troop transports.

“I got ‘em. You just keep covering the others.”

Meteor dropped himself in front of the convoy and stood as resolute as his idol Stone Wall Jackson as the military vehicles bore down on him. The first one slammed into him and crumbled like an accordion against Meteor’s powerful body. Those in back slammed into the first truck, and spilled over, pouring their occupants painfully onto the street. Before any could hope to recover, Meteor unleashed a powerful, yet tightly controlled electrical burst in all directions for twenty feet.

Meteor had unleashed what he’d been told was a biological EMP weapon, that scrambled a brain’s ability to process electrical impulses. The men who’d been in the convoy began spasming and quaking, swallowing their tongues as the electrical pulse their foe had unleashed utterly destroyed their brain functions, turning off vital organs like the lungs and the heart like light switches. He scanned the soldiers quickly, and killed those he deemed suffering too much before returning to his teammates’ side.

As for Twilight, he allowed himself to be separated from his teammates as bursts of white-hot plasma and elongated fists slammed against his energy shields. His powers easily withstood the multiple energy attacks, but he flew away from his teammates, smashing through mud walls as his foes advanced upon him.

A powerful blast rocked him from behind and sent the energy manipulator into a controlled crash to the ground. Standing up, Twilight observed he was surrounded. And he smiled.

“I hadn’t thought we trained you guys this well,” He commented wryly. The few that understood the comment thought it was slightly curious, but were denied the chance to reflect  on it further. Twilight released a tightly focused blade of energy from his waist in all directions. The edges of the blade were no wider than three molecules, and it turned his foes into half the men they used to be, literally. The sands beneath Twilight’s feet ran red with blood, and it almost physically sickened him. Still, he thought as he rose into the air, this had to be done.

ShadowWind, whose powers didn’t include long distance attacks, by all rights should have had the hardest time against his many foes, but it was quite the opposite. A sword in each hand, he cut down the super-soldiers with ease. One soldier released an energy blast towards the warrior, which he easily deflected with the flat of his blade towards another foe. His swords flashed quicker than the eye could see at dozens of foes, yet each and every strike was precise. A jugular slashed, a ventricle pierced, his blade did not want for blood.

The warrior hacked and slashed, arcing his swords upwards and slicing a man in twain. Blood flew through the air liberally as he said into his comm. “Can anyone tell me the status of the heavy hitters?”

As if his foes had heard his question, a soldier some twenty feet away clutched his chest, and activated his gift. Within moments, the man who’d once been the shortest boy in his family was some ten stories tall.

ShadowWind, who held a soldier under one arm, could tell from the look in the giant’s eyes that the titan knew the truth, “Never mind, I got one.”

ShadowWind jerked his arm back and snapped the man’s neck like a twig. He then sheathed his sword and strode towards the giant. The men he’d been fighting pulled back, eager to watch one of their most powerful (and therefore most revered) defeat their enemy.

“Hey, Paul Bunnon, you think you’re big enough to take me?”

ShadowWind was answered with a raised fist that soon came crashing down towards his body. Almost leisurely he leapt forward between the giant’s legs to avoid the blow. As he rolled, ShadowWind plucked a stray two by four that had once been apart of a demolished house from the ground. Leaping up, he removed a vial from one of his pouches and poured it on the tip of the board. The board was broken and jagged at one end, perfectly suited for his needs.

“Yeah, I’m definitely telling the kids about this one,” he promised himself. The giant turned to face him, and the martial artist wasted no time with witty banter. He took aim, and threw the two by four at the giant with every last once of superstrength his body could provide.

The board struck the ten-story man directly in the soft, fleshy part of his eye and sunk in deep. The giant screamed and fell backwards, the poison in the board already within moments of ending his life. His comrades had barely enough time to realize what had happened before they were crushed underneath the giant corpse.

By the time the mini earthquake had subsided, ShadowWind was already moving to rejoin his team.       

The team cut a bloody swath of destruction through the city, but even their decades of experience wasn’t enough to guarantee victory. That was why two members were secretly stationed on the roofs of the buildings, acting as snipers. When a Republican guardsman ventured too close to his foes, or appeared to be lining up a shot from a distance, he was secretly removed from the field.

The two wore uniforms similar to their teammates down below, but that’s where the similarities ended. The first was a woman of Thai descent, who had all sorts of gadgets and advanced weaponry strapped to her slender form and titled herself Savant. She carried a sleek, sliver rifle that was utterly silent as she pulled the trigger. The rifle fired special, invisible energy bullets that neutralized the human nervous system with a single shot. Her teammates were protected against the weapon by devise she herself built, but she took no chances. Each and every shot was quickly and carefully taken.

The second sniper couldn’t be more different from the first if he tried. Jose Manuel wore a full stocked quiver on his back and still bore his special services nickname of ‘Arrowsmith’ into battle. His hands were a blur as he picked a target, notched an arrow and fired. Thus far, he’s chosen twenty targets and had twenty-two kills. As the battle carried further into town, the two were forced to move from their positions of the rooftop.

“Come on, Savant come on!” Arrowsmith snapped like an impatient child as he bounded over an alley for the next roof, “we’re missing out on the action!”

Landing in a crouch, Savant hissed, “This isn’t a game, Jose! Don’t get cocky!”

In response, the archer moved to the edge of the building, withdrew two arrows and without looking twice, nailed two soldiers who’d been getting too close to Flashblade directly between the eyes, “With skill like this, how can I not?”

“Get down!” Savant pulled Arrowsmith back from the ledge moments before it exploded in energy, taking most of the front half of the roof with it.

Three men, their hands and eyes aflame with energy, were floating at the roof’s edge, eying the two suspiciously.

“Who are you?” The one in the middle demanded, “you’re not a part of this exercise!”

“That’s why!” Savant scowled.

Arrowsmith withdrew a specially modified arrow and let it fly towards the soldier on the far right. It scattered against the man’s face and spilled sub zero liquid nitrogen, instantly crystallizing the man’s war worn face, and another blunt arrow shattered those very same features.

“Women, all they do is complain,” Both Savant and Arrowsmith ran off in opposite directions with two airborne pursuers on hot on their tails.

Arrowsmith leaped the distance between one roof to the next, spun and fired two titanium steel arrows at his attacker. They snapped against the man’s steel skin like twigs, and he only barely managed to duck under the man’s flight path, causing him to overshoot.       

“Okay, time for the really big guns.” warned Arrowsmith as he withdrew his glue arrow. He kept two in his quiver in case of emergencies.

“Come and get me you SOB!” He called out as his attacker arced back around for another attack. The man opened his mouth to return the insult, and that was all the opening Arrowsmith needed. He let his arrow fly and it landed directly between the man’s upper and lower jaw. Pressured adhesive exploded out of the arrowhead and into the soldier’s lungs. Unable to breath, the man collapsed onto the rooftop, his lungs burning for air they would never find.

Savant’s foe, while presently in hardly as danger as his comrade, was find Savant to be a most elusive foe. She’d created a dozen independent holograms on the rooftop they were battling it out on, each quick as lightning.

“Show yourself!” The soldier demanded as his eyes released bursts of energy that harmlessly passed through the holograms. He blasted away at them endlessly, certain that at least one of them was the real thing.

In fact, the real Savant was invisibly cloaked and took care to stand directly behind her assailant while he spent his energy on her holographic show. According to her readings, the man’s strength and invulnerability were directly related the energy his body kept stored, and he didn’t generate nearly as much energy as he was expending.

After several seconds of trickery, though, Savant made her move. She withdrew two silver discs and stealthy approached the man from behind and then slapped them on his head. The disks adhered instantly, and Savant ducked the backhanded blow that would have taken her head off and jumped backwards.

“What did you do?” the guardsman demanded as attempted to pull the devices off the side of his head. To his surprise, the strength that had once crushed takes was all but useless in the task.

“Your powers are fueled by a balance of various energies,” Savant explained, “Some negative, some positive. Those two discs are designed to absorb a negative energy and positive energy until overload. And in nature, opposites attract…”

The man could say nothing, as a second later the discs exploded and the energies contained within collided inside his skull cavity. Steam rose out of his nostrils and a gray substance dribbled out his ear while Savant swallowed hard and strained to remind herself she was still here.

Down on the ground, the majority of the fighting was finished. The four ground members had cuts and bruises all over their bodies, but there could be no mistaking who was the victor.

“Alright people, start sweeping. We have our ‘debriefing’ in less than half an hour, and I don’t want any surprises.” Flashblade ordered. The team split up, prowling for more prey.

ShadowWind sensed something was amiss when he entered one building and could feel eyes boring into his back.

“Alright, show yourself!” He shouted.

“I ssshould have known you infidelssss couldn’t be trusssted.”

Out of the shadows emerged an Arabian man wearing a golden colored gi with green, scaly skin. He was known in certain law enforcement circles as Master Kobra, a sick and twisted Thuggee murderer and terrorist who’d come to Iran seeking asylum. ShadowWind suspected the Iranians didn’t trust the man one lick, but liked the idea of having a skilled professional assassin on their payroll and possibly leading their superhumans into battle, who weren’t a rogue mercenary outfit.

“Look Kobra,” ShadowWind started, “I’m going to be honest here. I’m sick and tired of this assignment, this country and you, and I’m literally counting down the seconds before I see my wife and kids again. So if you surrender right now, I won’t take my parental frustration out on you.”

“Fool!” Kobra hissed, “you’ll never sssee your family again!”

Meteor had just finished his sweep and landed down in front of the building ShadowWind had entered. His electrical powers detected two natural bioelectrical fields. Both were familiar, and that slightly concerned him. The electrical soldier was about to investigate, when suddenly the air filled with sounds of violence, and finally a single, short shrill scream.  Kobra’s body came crashing through the wall to land into the street like a broken rag doll. The mutant’s limbs were broken and twisted in awkward positions and his fingers were bent in ways that had to be painful.

“Nobody gets between me and story time,” ShadowWind grunted as he strode out of the building past his teammate. Meteor nodded numbly.

---

Once the team was convinced that there were no survivors, the team gathered the bodies together in the center of the town.

“Words cannot describe how utterly morbid this is,” Jose muttered as he dragged one soldier by his feet towards all the others.

“If that’s the case, then shut the hell up!” Meteor snapped, dragging along another two. He never found Arrowsmith all that amusing at the best of times.

A single military humvee then pulled up and two men dressed in the same uniforms as the others stepped out. The first man was an albino broad shouldered man, bald with the exception of a pulled back ponytail. He called himself Geomaster and his chalk white skin was slightly discolored, indicating many old battle scars. The second man was of German decent with platinum blond hair and above average height and titled himself Goldreign.

“Our ‘employers’ will be here in a moment. This everything set?” Geomaster asked.

“Does whitey not see the bodies littering the lawn?” Asked Arrowsmith flippantly.

Geomaster took a menacing step forward before Flashblade stepped between the two teammates, “We’re good to go. Call them in.”

Goldreign reached into the hummer and removed a hand held radio, “Command, this is central. Demonstration one is finished, over.”

“Acknowledged. We will be there momentarily.”

“Savant, you got a camera in there with your toys?” Arrowsmith inquired as he rested his bow across his shoulders, “cause I really want to remember their faces when they realize what happened.”

“You’ll see it in a moment,” Goldreign commented. The team walked down the block and turned a corner to where a row of transports just pulled up, and dozens of high-ranking Republican Guards, radical clerics and scientists stepped out jubilantly as they contemplated the implications of the first successful test run of their own super-soldier program.

“So, how goes the training of our Desert Sword commandos?” Asked General Abbas, who though clearly pleased, easily managed to conduct himself in a businesslike fashion. He was an early convert during the revolution who rose quickly through Iran’s disintegrated military ranks. A decorated hero from the war with Iraq, he was the main motivating force behind this project and the recruitment of Flashblade and her men. Unlike many of his comrades in the Iran military, he had little trouble dealing with a woman soldier, as he always found it best as a general to treat people in respect to their abilities.

“The soldiers performed better than expected, actually,” Flashblade reported honestly to the gathered men.

"Good, good,” Abbas commended as Flashblade and Geomaster led the entourage back the way they’d came, “I am confident that with your training, these commandos will enable us to permanently entangle the Americans in Iraq, and deter them from turning their attention here.”

“Believe me, when I’m done, the U.S. won’t give you guys a second thought,” Flashblade smirked as they turned a corner, “that’s what happens when you use live ammunition in what you tell the trainees is a training exercise.”

The men gasped when they saw what Flashblade was referring too. The pile of bodies the team had created was staining the yellow sands of the desert a deep crimson red. The energy burns; arrows in vital organs and blank stares left little to the imagination.

Two lower soldiers who’d been brought along as bodyguards attempted to aim their pistols, but Goldreign blasted them with a yellow energy that transformed the pair into pure hydrogen. That was more than enough to shock everyone but General Abbas into fear ridden silence.

“What have you done? We gave you safe haven, we have given you more money than you could ever hope to spend, and this is how you thank us?!” the General demanded heatedly, unconcerned with the consequences, “by exterminating our superhumans?!”

“Actually, yeah,” Flashblade stated evenly, “we’re not really former magistrates from Genosha. Those discs we gave you regarding superhuman research? It was largely virus-laden that’ll turn your hard drives into junk by tomorrow morning. We’re deep cover sent in for the express purpose of evaluating and sabotaging your super soldier program. And we’re about three seconds from completion.”

Meteor, Savant, Flashblade and Goldreign raised their arms and released their respective energy powers. The dark Arabian night was lit up like the fourth of July as they cut down the gathered high-ranking militiamen, politicians and clerics as effortlessly and casually as crossing the street. 

“And now we’re done.”     

“Score a few for the revived Defense Force,” Arrowsmith commented as he spun his bow in a single hand, “hey guys, what do you call a bunch of dead Iranian generals and clerics?”

“Somebody smack him,” Flashblade ordered. Goldreign, Savant and Twilight all volunteered.

“This isn’t a game, Jose and those men thought that they were doing what’s best for their people,” Flashblade’s tone was low, but respectful, “just like us. Only they were faith filled bastards warping their religion for their own purposes.”

“That makes them nothing like us,” Meteor observed.

“Yeah well, show respect for the dead,” Flashpoint ordered, “even these guys. It’s a good habit.”

“So what’s next?” asked Savant.

“Home.” grunted ShadowWind.

“We’ll head back to the States for a bit,” Flashblade started, “then our next mission will most likely be our easiest yet.”

---

Metro City, the Work Place, two weeks later

“Our next mission may be our most dangerous one yet.”

“Hey, who needs coffee to wake up in the morning when we have the cheery disposition of Danielle Moonstar?” Speedball asked. He, along with the entirety of Force Works were gathered in their main briefing room. Mirage, Wiz Kid and Nova were standing at the end of the table addressing the team, all business.

“Somebody smack him,” Mirage ordered. Kymaera and Arsenal, sitting on opposite sides of Speedball, thoughtfully complied.

“I’ll start at the beginning,” Wiz Kid began, “I trust everyone here remembers The Undertow?”

Instantly everyone was more attentive than seconds before, Namorita especially. Early in Force Works career, the Undertow came closer than anyone else before or since in defeating the team. The entire team still credited luck with being the main factor as to why they survived.

“Hard to forget an ultra conservative secret military organization that kidnaps and tried to brainwash you,” Speedball commented.

“Agreed, Robbie. So quite naturally, it’s of interest to us when old Undertow bases are suddenly go offline.”

“What!?” Nita shot up like a bullet, “offline? Is the Undertow back?”

Wiz Kid raised his hands in a placating gesture, “No, of that I’m certain. If they were active again, I’ve certain protocols in place that would have informed me.”

“Back up a moment here,” Arsenal interrupted, “you said old Undertow bases were going offline. Why were they ever online, and why are you monitoring them to begin with?”

“Very well. I’ll be short and blunt. When we defeated The Undertow, I was able to copy and decrypt all of their important files. Among… other things, I discovered they had a multitude of bases they were forced to vacate once Namorita was freed from her brainwashing because they feared the bases were compromised. It was decided that it would be best if we kept this information to ourselves, so that we would have ‘bolt holes’ should we ever need them.”

“Paranoid much, Dani?” Speedball asked.

“Actually, it was my idea,” said Nova, “it was supposed to be a safety net.”

“At any rate,” Taki continued, “over the last twelve hours two of these bases have gone off-line and I’ve detected an intrusion in a third.”

“Is anything illegal happening?” Tarene asked.

“We don’t know,” Danielle admitted, “but we need to find out. The bases were stripped of weapons and important machinery, but were still functional. The infrastructure like computer databanks, communications and hangar bays situated in out of the way places all remain.”

“Sounds like a great springboard for a terrorist group,” Arsenal remarked.

“So this is a fact finding mission?”  X-Treme inquired, “find out who’s doing this?”

“Exactly. Only with no facts whatsoever,” deadpanned Mirage.

“We’ve faced worse,” Wolfsbane said optimistically.

“Lets hope your confidence is well founded, because this is about the extent of our briefing,” Wiz Kid finished.

The room fell into a strange quite as they silently agreed as one that everything that needed to be said had been. Though they one and all recognized they were walking into some unknown danger, there was no true change in their demeanor. Wiz Kid and Speedball shared some clever banter, Wolfsbane, Arsenal and Tarene made small talk while Mirage tried to prepare herself to be ready for anything. To them, this was an everyday matter. Nothing changed as they entered their personal, multi-million dollar aircraft and strapped themselves in. There was nothing the slightest bit odd to them about having their own hangar inside their own personal building. It wasn’t until they were in the air that a few members realized that they weren’t even know where the Undertow base they were investigating was located. But none of that seemed the slightest bit odd to them.

---

Two days earlier, where good men fear to tread

The entire shanty town situated in a third world country was little more than rubble, houses that once criminals and others who wished to do society ill were less than rubble. A wall here or there remained, and more than a few fires burned brightly in the corpses of the homes. The air was perfectly still and silent, but for one man. The man who put this

The man was an oddity to be sure. He wore a sleek blue helmet that his entire head with a ‘Y’ shaped slit for vision. Silver chain male far stronger and lighter than it’s ancestors adhered to his body and was covered by a gray chest plate. He wore an oddly advanced backpack on his back that connected via a steel tube to a sleek silver wristband on his left arm. His pants were a personally designed vibranium micro weave made to look like camouflage and long metal boots that almost reached to the man’s knees. His name was quietly whispered in certain circles as the Huntsman, and he’d just finished a job.

He was casually retrieving his weapons from the battlefield when he received a transmission from his contact.

“Another offer from Langley already?” Huntsman removed a spear from where it’d been embedded in the wall. The body slowly slumped to the floor by the time the mercenary had returned the weapon to storage, “those men boys have already contributed more than their fair share to the cause, albeit in a round about manner.”

“Defense Force?” Huntsman stepped over the dead body of a reptilian man, and removed the sword he’d used earlier from the man’s chest with a –thunk!-, “so they’ve been reactivated? Oh…I see.”

Huntsman strolled over to a group of bodies this time. Limbs and vital organs were scattered around a single man whose arms were solid, ultra sharp jagged steel in the forms of blades. And any idiot could see he’d been responsible for the death of four of his comrades. Huntsman rolled the man over and plucked a small, metallic disc he’d placed there. Huntsman returned the disc to its storage on his left wrist.

“I’m not so sure about this. Interdepartmental warfare like this often comes back to bite everyone on rear. Even for us lowly freelancers.”

Huntsman picked up a bloody, oversized purple gauntlet from the ground. Wiping off the blood, it then disappeared into a compartment in his left wrist, “They’re willing to pay how much? Alright…I’ll take it but only under my terms.”

Huntsman surveyed the carnage and destruction he’d just finished unleashing, “They don’t mind messy, do they?”

---

With the Stealthwing secreted high above the clouds, an ad-hoc plan was formed, that of sending in their skilled member to evaluate the situation and report back.

X-Treme adjusted his headset and absently nodded as Mirage and Wiz Kid explained to him how to do best what he did best. Finally, enough was enough and he raised his hands for them to be silent.

“I may not be the geniuses you two are, but I think I can handle recon. One last question, this place have thick tree cover?”

“Yes, Nova will set you down.” Answered Mirage.

X-Treme turned and opened the pressurized hatch. “No need,” He answered before throwing himself out into the open air.

Kymaera whistled suggestively, “That’s some man you got there, Rahne.”

“Just a lousy showoff,” Muttered Speedball.

X-Treme allowed himself to enjoy the sensation of freefall, enjoying the sense of freedom and peace it gave him. It also helped that the only sound he heard was the air whipping past him, not Danielle Moonstar’s voice going on and on about how to do something. Even though the entire team knew their roles and knew their roles well, Dani would always be harping on them about how to do their job. It was more than a little irritating. 

Slamming into the ground at high speeds would be equally irritating, Adam realized as the tree-tops finally came into view. He withdrew his sword with his right hand and the instant he was within arm’s length of the first tree top, his sword became a blue of motion. All minor branches and short limbs that obstructed his descent as he plummeted became less than toothpicks. Finally as close to the ground as he wanted to be, his left hand shot out and grabbed a thick branch. The impact was more than enough dislocate the arm of a regular man, X-Treme felt little discomfort as he held on tight and swung himself up and outwards, skillfully avoiding the many other branches in the tree as he bled off his momentum flying through the air in an upwards arc towards another impressive sized tree.

Adam sheathed his sword and withdrew one of his larger knives while he sailed towards the second tree, and readied himself. It at first appeared that Adam had come up short when he had swung for his second target, but in fact this was what he’d planned. Seconds away from missing his mark and falling to the earth below, Adam cocked his hand over his head and embedded the knife into the tree. The impact was a little jarring, but nothing Adam couldn’t handle.

Dangling high above the ground, X-Treme dislodged his dagger from the tall oak with a single kick and fell back towards the earth. Landing in a silent crouch, he studied the area for a moment, feeling a slight unease. He almost, almost felt as if he was being watched, but there was absolutely nothing his trained warrior’s eye could see or detect that would support that suspicion. Even the background noises of this forest seemed perfectly normal. After closely inspecting the surrounding area for a moment, Adam dismissed the thought and made his way towards the secret entrance

But even the most skilled warrior would have been hard-pressed to see Huntsman, who possessed a cloak that kept him invisible from sight even if you knew exactly where he was standing. Huntsman, however, spied X-Treme quite easily with his military binoculars.

“So if was Force Works who’s been monitoring these Undertow bases,” the silver-clad mercenary mused, “this just became interesting. I’ve been meaning to have a word with them…”

Huntsman waited patiently as X-Treme found his way inside, knowing that no matter what happened, Force Works would soon be right behind.

---

X-Treme stalked the dark corridors of the decommissioned base with his senses at high alert. The alien warrior seemed to melt into the shadows. He could hear the electric hum of the walls, indicating that power was freely flowing through it. The think layer of dust that had settled on the ground had obviously been disturbed recently. To X-Treme, the dust was like a neon sign pointing to where he needed to be.

The trail led to a large auditorium where (unknown to him) the Defense Force was piling an assortment of odd weapons, computers and other odd technological components were piled together in the center of the room. Geomaster and Meteor were hauling the larger equipment into the pile while other members were moving smaller equipment and dumping it in the heap. 

X-Treme observed for several long minutes, mindful of the fact that nothing he saw occurring was illegal per say. The point was rendered moot a second later when he ducked underneath the slash of a sword to avoid decapitation. He lashed out with a kick to the assailant he’d sensed only a moment before that was easily blocked, and threw himself forward into the room where the rest of the Defense Force where waiting for him.

ShadowWind cursed the fact that he’d allowed X-Treme to sense him at the last second. His team had officially lost any ability to reclaim the element of surprise.

That thought of course wasn’t on X-Treme’s mind, only survival. Flashblade fired her energy blades wide to his left, Arrowsmith fired wide to his right with Meteor trying to kneecap him. X-Treme could only leap up, and was struck with the full force of a wide angle force beam from one of Savant’s wrist blasters. X-Treme landed hard on his ass, surrounded.

“Oh hell,” Geomaster growled, “it’s X-Treme from…”

Before the sentence could be finished, there was a massive explosion that threw the Defense Force from their feet. Standing in the new side entrance, their body language clearly aggressive, was Force Works. With a smirk and a bound of his powerful legs, X-Treme rejoined the side of his teammates.

“Explanations! Now!” Moonstar’s tone left no argument.

“We’re shutting down abandoned but still functional Undertow bases,” Flashblade explained as she picked herself up, “is that a problem?”

Moonstar sized up Flashblade for a moment before answering, “Depends why you’re doing it.”

“Needs to be done.”

The statement hung in the air for a moment. Danielle was keenly aware that technically, whoever these people were, they weren’t exactly committing any crime. But only an idiot didn’t realize that there was more going on here than she realized, and Danielle never liked being the dark.

Flashblade wracked her brain to come up with a believable lie that Moonstar would swallow. Flashblade had read Moonstar’s dossier, which meant she knew that she was an intelligent and skilled leader who wasn’t the least bit gullible. Worse, Moonstar had spent some time serving in SHIELD. With her intelligence background, she was liable to sniff them out on her own.

Huntsman, still invisible, watched this Mexican standoff with annoyance. The two teams should be tearing into one another by now, at least that’s what he expected. Didn’t hero teams always fight when they met? Granted, these weren’t exactly hero teams, but the principle was still the same.

Huntsman quickly realized something simply had to be done, and quickly. He made a selection from his weapon storage, took aim, and fired.

A red beam of energy lanced past Defense Force and slammed into the man called Nova, sending him to his knees.

“…The hell?” The Defense Force looked among themselves to see who’d fired the first shot while Force Works moved to Nova’s aid.

“Who fired? I didn’t give the order, God Damn it!” Flashblade barked.

“Good shot,” The Human Rocket growled as he filled his pupils with emerald energy, “now try one of mine!”

Nova’s optic blast shot out, and would have struck Flashblade full force had Meteor not stepped in front, taking the energy to the chest.

“If you young punks want to play it like that, then fine!” Meteor shot forward and connected with a powerful haymaker to Nova’s jaw that knocked the man’s head sideways.

And it was on.

Goldreign transformed his body to iron and tackled Arsenal to the ground. Raising his fist to slam into his foe’s head, Goldreign found himself flung through the air when Namorita grabbed him by his ankles and pitched him into the nearest wall. Kymaera flew into the air and readied for another attack when a beam of solid light knocked her aside. Twilight quickly placed himself between his teammate and Force Works, hands smoldering. Wolfsbane rushed the man, bobbing and weaving between energy blasts until she was close enough to leap into the air and slam her feet into Twilight’s chest. The energy manipulator fell to the ground, but as Wolfsbane flipped backwards he managed to raise a forcefeild around himself, warding her off.

Elsewhere, Geomaster and Tarene traded punches that resounded like bombshells, neither giving an inch. Both were too stubborn to consider any other tactics nor rarely did they need it with their power.

Wiz Kid fought to contain Savant, his wrist cannons failing to hit her time and again. Savant reached into one of her pouches and removed two silver disks, flinging them at the boy genius. Taki barely ducked in time to avoid being sliced, and aimed his cannons again. It was then he noticed the two discs had separated into six more. Taking quick action, he blasted the discs out of the air in less than three seconds. But before he could turn his attention back towards Savant, he felt a powerful blow to his exposed back and was sent sprawling to the floor. He rolled over to see Savant standing above him spinning a pair of what looked to be electrified nun-chucks. The technomorph barely created a shield in time before they would have connected with his head. Thinking fast, Taki charged his shield with an energy on exactly the same frequency as used by his foe. Savant screamed as she was thrown back, and by the time she had collected herself Taki was back on his feet.

Arrowsmith carefully selected the perfect arrow to deal with Speedball, aimed and fired in the blink of an eye. The arrow struck the Masked Marvel and a white foam expanded outwards, encapsulating the bouncing hero in less than thirty seconds. But before Arrowsmith could even begin to pat himself on the back for his victory, cracks began to form in the foam. Speedball swung his arms outwards as he expanded his kinetic forcefeild to break the foam. Speedball then pointed his fingers at Arrowsmith and fired a blast of pure kinetic energy that the archer barely avoided. The two continued to trade fire back and forth with little success.

High above Meteor and Nova grappled with each other, finding to their annoyance that they were equals in many ways, including strength and toughness. Directly below ShadowWind and X-Treme engaged in a battle that would have been legendary elsewhere, each combatant pushing themselves to the edge for an advantage. X-Treme brought his sword slashing downwards towards ShadowWind’s head. The military ninja brought his sword up to block, leaving his open to a punch to the face from Adam Sol. ShadowWind rolled with the punch and let loose a round house kick that struck the alien warrior in the side of the head, but before he could follow through X-Treme let fly a half dozen razor sharp throwing blades. ShadowWind blocked five, the sixth slicing into his side. The wounded warrior launched himself at X-Treme again, determined not to allow the man a second to breathe and thus bring his power to bear. 

And outside it all, Flashblade and Moonstar sized each other up.

“You seemed damn shocked,” Moonstar observed.

“I was.”

Moonstar found to her surprise that she trusted the blond woman, at least in regards to her team, “Okay, on the count of three. One…two…

“ALRIGHT! KNOCK IT THE HELL OFF!”

Warriors froze in mid punch, jarred into inaction by their respective commanders. Though both sides were confused to see their leaders standing side by side, none thought to question it. Both respected and feared their leaders enough to stop dead in their tracks.

“Uh, why’d we stop?” Nova asked, his fist cocked back to slam Meteor in the face.

“The…” Dani paused, “Who are you guys again?”

“Defense Force,” Flashblade answered, but quickly regretted it. She was canny enough to know she’d just been tricked, however minor.

“Right. The Defense Force didn’t fire that shot. None of their energy signatures are red, and they were just as surprised as us,” Mirage explained, “which means…”

ShadowWind swept his sword out menacingly, but not at anyone they could see, “There’s someone else here with us.”

There was a quick applaud as Huntsman deactivated his cloak and stepped forward, “You’re quite right, ShadowWind. You always were the quickest member of your unit.”

“Huntsman…” Flashblade’s statement was barely above a whisper, “Meteor, front and center! Contain pattern three!”

Meteor dove at the mercenary like a bullet, but he wasn’t nearly fast enough. Huntsman easily avoided the lunge and tackled Arsenal, the closest opponent. Arsenal unsheathed his bone claws and the two rolled across the floor as they wrestled. Meteor, who’d come back around this time with Nova, grabbed the armored man by his wrists and slammed him into the wall.

“That wasn’t so tough!” Nova boasted. Arsenal ran to the three and lashed out with a powerful kick to Huntsman’s face that drove the man’s head into the metal wall before anyone realized what had happened.

“No, it wasn’t,” Arsenal said, but with Huntsman’s voice. The two heroes barely got over the shock before two round discs were slapped on the backs of their neck, and Arsenal’s image became that of Huntsman. Turning to face his remaining foes, he smiled as he said, “Image inducers and discs of the late Controller. Boys?”

Nova and Meteor, their expressions totally blank, moved towards their teammates. Namorita placed herself in the path of the Human Rocket while Goldreign transformed his body into pure diamond to contain his electrical teammate. The two opposing teams slammed into one another, and Huntsman rushed forward past the struggle to deal the remainder.

“I got him!” Arrowsmith barely had to aim as he fired an arrowhead of 440 surgical steel right at Huntsman’s head. Which was caught and snapped. Another arrow met the same fate, and before a third could be launched Huntsman was almost atop the archer. Arrowsmith, skilled with his fists, swung a right at Huntsman that the man easily ducked under. Huntsman swung his arm hard against Arrowsmith’s back, snapping virtually all the arrows in the man’s quiver. Huntsman didn’t spare the man another glance as he eyed further prey.

A sword appeared suddenly in his hand, and Huntsman just barely managed to block X-Treme from slicing his stomach oven. Huntsman countered with a quick duck, and bubbles of pure kinetic energy slammed into the alien swordsman.

“Oops.” Sppedball said weakly.

Tarene and Geomaster both charged Huntsman, assured by their power. But using Geomaster’s head as a springboard, Huntsman smoothly flipped over the man and as he came down, slapped a red devise upon Tarene’s head. The young woman froze, her eyes blank.

“Lemuirian brain-mine.” Huntsman looked towards the remaining heroes, “I’ve barely tapped my storage banks, boys and girls. I know the answer, but care to make this easy upon yourselves?”

Mirage, Flashblade, Wolfsbane, Twilight, X-Treme and ShadowWind formed a line. The answer was obvious.

“That’s what I thought,” Huntsman then pressed a knob on his left wrist, and seemingly disappeared. But when Twilight felt a very real punch to his jaw that rattled his teeth, it became obvious that Huntsman hadn’t left at all.

Mirage felt a kick to her stomach, Wolfsbane a chop to the back of the neck and on it went. Even though invisible, Huntsman felt no need to waste that advantage, moving swiftly. Geomaster rushed to his friend’s aid, but Huntsman threw a purple disc that sealed itself onto the albino’s chest and increased his personal gravity until the man struggled to raise his chest just to breathe. But no matter how many times he knocked his foes back down, they got right back up, and he didn’t dare stay in one place too long to finish them off.

“Master?”

Huntsman looked to see Nova and Meteor, their foes seemingly slumped at their feet.

“Now!”

Meteor clapped his hands together and produced a blinding white light. Though everyone present had precautions that prevented blindness, Huntsman had nothing that prevented his shadow from being seen. Nova blasted forward and struck the man dead center in the chest, propelling the man into the steel walls of the complex.

“How…?” Huntsman asked through gritted teeth.

“I had a few arrows left and put them to good use,” Arrowsmith boasted with a cocky grin.

“Now it’s our turn,” Wiz Kid finished. Huntsman clenched his teeth so hard they nearly shattered as an electrical current flowed through his body.

“Your armor, I’ve figured out its secrets. Weapons of former villains shrunk down by Pym particles and stored on both your back and wrist. But integrating all those weapons systems leaves some system holes that can be exploited by myself.”

Savant coughed.

“Okay, fine. Us,” Huntsman felt another surge of electricity.

“Now, are you ready to take your beating like a man?” Speedball asked. By now, the entirety of both teams had gathered around the downed merc.

“Actually…” Huntsman reached into a back pocket and removed a round devise with a big red button in the center, “I think it’s time for plan B. When it doubt…”

Huntsman pressed the button, that activated both the bombs and a separate emergency teleporter. All at once, over a dozen explosions rocked the complex. The metal floor cracked like fine China, separating the group of heroes and even those who hovered in the air felt their teeth rattled by the explosion. But even once the explosions had faded, the complex continued to rumble and heave, groaning loudly as it died.

“…blow shit up.”

“The entire complex is coming down!” Savant shouted, as if anyone missed it.

Arrowsmith, Savant, Shadow Wing, Speedball, Mirage, Flashblade and Wolfsbane had been separated from their teammates and the only real exit by the chasm in the floor that now spanned fifteen. With desperate speed, the first four heroes jumped the distance and made it to the other side with ease. Mirage had been stopped by falling shrapnel, but before she could try again…she quickly realized something.

She couldn’t feel the psi-link with Rahne in her mind.

Danielle looked behind her and saw Rahne unconscious, her limp form supported by Flashblade. A look up revealed a heavy piece of machinery had been revealed by the explosion and was lurching dangerously forward.

“Dani!” Arsenal saw Mirage dive forward towards Flashblade and Wolfsbane as a dadly chunk of metal fell from above. Arsenal saw the slab of a machine then slam into the earth where Mirage had once been. Whether or not it struck the Cheyenne mutant, he couldn’t say.

He, and everyone else blessed with flight, were about to investigate when another explosion, this time from bombs set on a delayed timer in an adjacent room, exploded furiously, covering the slab with metric tons of dirt, more than enough to crush a normal human body.

And then, perhaps fittingly, there was silence…

---

Next issue: Defense Force and Force Works are forced to put aside their differences and work together for the sake of their leaders. But just who are these strange paramilitary men and women anyways?