Hells Kitchen

"You're not Daredevil no," Mr. Hyde sneered, "but you'll do. My thirst for violence being what it is, well, you'll just have to do."

The man beast know as Mr. Hyde leaped forward at the young heroes, intent on barreling them over and thus making them easy prey. Thankfully for the Warriors, Ultra Girl possessed more courage than even she knew. Without a second thought for her own safety, the Kree Hybrid shot forward like a bullet and smashed into Hyde. Hyde easily possessed greater strength, but he had foolishly deprived himself of any possible leverage. Suzy knocked the behemoth out of the make shift drug lab and out into the street.

"Rico, Hornet, come on! Ultra Girl's gonna need help!" Turbo snapped. With Night Thrasher down, command instinctively fell upon her shoulders, "Crux, stay here and see if you can snap Spiderwoman and Bolt out of their nightmares!"

"But you need me with you!" Crux protested.

"Do as I say!" Turbo barked before she flew off. The order was more to protect Crux, the least experienced Warrior, than to help either Bolt or Spiderwoman, and both ladies knew it.

Turbo, Ricochet and Hornet rushed out the hole Ultra Girl created when she smashed Hyde out of his hideout. Suzy was busy dodging debris turned projectiles by Mr. Hyde. Thankfully, Hyde's great size meant that Suzy could see everything he threw at her coming a mile away.

"I hope you guys got an idea about how to stop this hygiene nightmare," Suzy said as she dodged a trashcan Hyde threw at her.

"Just one, hit him with everything we have!" Turbo exclaimed. The air powered heroine blasted Hyde with two hundred mile per hour winds. Hornet peppered the villain's right side with laser fire while Ricochet nailed the left with his stun discs. Hyde, for his part, spread his arms out wide, taking the assault in stride, and laughed a deep glutinous laugh. It was laughter that could only come from the mind of the truly depraved.

"We have so got to start coming up with better plans," Ricochet muttered

"Please tell me this isn't you at your finest, Warriors," the sick scientist said sincerely. Hyde, while still under fire, walked over to an SUV that he, like most of America, had purchased for one depraved purpose. As easily as some men push their hands thru water, Hyde plunged his hand into the hood and grabbed the engine block.

"Guys! We need to st…" Was as far as Hornet got before Hyde spun around, and using the SUV as a boxing glove slash baseball bat, swatted the young hero away like the insect he took his name from.

"Hornet!" The three Warriors screamed in unison as their friend was thrown thru the air and out of sight. Their concern for their friends plight distracted them from stopping Mr. Hyde from grabbing another SUV and repeating the same process.

"Your friend was the lucky one," Hyde snorted as he lightly tapped the SUV attached to his fists together. With a bestial roar, Hyde charged the three Warriors. The three back peddled as quickly as possible while still dodging Hyde's blows. Hyde swung his weapons like a mad man (for indeed, that's what he was). Whereas Turbo and Ultra Girl managed to get out range, but Ricochet wasn't quite so lucky.

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead."

That thought echoed thru Ricochet's mind while two of the world's most popular automobiles tried to decapitate him. Ricochet ducked under a strike that would have broken every bone in his body, and leaped over another swing that would have turned him into a red smear. Fear was racing thru Ricochet's mind, but surprisingly it didn't hinder his performance one bit. He was beyond that now. Ricochet ducked under another swing and then dove between Hyde's legs, trying to buy himself some time.

"Mickey, we gotta do something!" Ultra Girl declared as she and Turbo watched Hyde and Ricochet clash. Both women had been all but forgotten in this super hero remake of David and Goliath.

"I know. Suzy, use that move Thrash taught you on Hyde. I'll grab Rico," Turbo ordered.

"Yeah, take the easy job why don't you?" Suzy muttered. The two women swooped down with Ultra Girl in the lead. She landed on Hyde's shoulder and smashed her hands over his ears. The hulking scientist screamed in pain, and dropped to one knee. Suzy flew straight up, and Turbo quickly air lifted Ricochet out of the way.

"Thanks ladies, but I think you just pissed him off," Ricochet stated. The Warriors were about twenty feet away from Hyde, trying to think what to do next. Even at that distance though, the young heroes could almost feel his breath on their face.

"Like he liked us to begin with." Ultra Girl waved a hand dismissively, "Hello! He's trying to kill us!"

Almost on cue, Hyde stood up, shook his head and looked at the Warriors.

"Looks like it's time for round two," Ricochet muttered as Hyde again charged. This time though, a laser appeared from seemingly nowhere and struck Hyde near his left eye, causing him to stumble back.

"Ed…Hornet! You're okay!" Suzy exclaimed. The other armored Warrior descended, looking in far better shaped than his friends had hoped. True, parts of his armor were dented and misshaped and he had a bleeding lip, but he was alive, and that's what mattered.

"We need to focus on his soft parts. If we try to match him muscle for muscle, we'll lose," Hornet snapped

"Understood robo cop," Ricochet said with a raised eyebrow. Eddie was beginning to act different while in the Hornet armor, and it concerned Johnny. However, this was hardly the place to fret about slight personality changes.

"I don't think you'll want to get close to me," Hyde spat. A moment later, he unleashed another telepathic assault, again forcing the Warriors to fear their worst nightmares. This attack was no more powerful than the first, and the Warriors could have fought it off in time.

Mr. Hyde, however, had no intention of giving them that time. He stalked slightly forward, and threw his arms out wide with the SUV's still attached. And then, laughing wildly, Mr. Hyde smashed the two vehicles, and their completely full gas tanks, together.

The subsequent explosion rocked every building in a three-block radius and sent shrapnel flying about like leaves in a hurricane.

Crux heard the explosion, and she went to work trying to bring Spiderwoman back to her senses with an even greater sense of urgency than before. Her new (and pretty much only) friends could be dying right now, and Crux would be damned if she let that happen, even if she had to fight Mr. Hyde by herself.

Sadly though, it was looking more and more like that would be the case. Bolt was generating too much energy to even approach, so that left Spiderwoman, who was blabbering something about 'days of future past', Warsaw and something about a man named Kang.

"Spiderwoman, wake up! We need you!" Crux said desperately as she shook Mattie.

"No need, no difference…no hope," Mattie said, her eyes glazed over. Crux guessed that Mattie was slowly coming back to reality, but in a daze. That was barely a marginal improvement. Crux could only think of one thing to do.

Crux turned off her temperature powers, and pressed her lips to Mattie's passionately. Mattie's eyes flew open, and after a brief pause, she pushed Crux away.

"What…was that?" Mattie demanded.

"Never mind, we have a job to do," a voice wracked with pain stated. The two looked to see Night Thrasher fighting to get to his feet. His armor was cracked all over, the glass visor that protected his eyes shattered and what little flesh the two young women could see was covered in blood. But it was what they saw in his eyes that made them instantly fall into line. Night Thrasher was pissed, and there would hell to pay for anyone that stood against him.

Ricochet groaned as the world started to shift back into focus. The explosion knocked the wind out of him, but luckily no shrapnel impacted him. His jacket and parts of his costume had some black marks and his entire body hurt like a sonofabitch, but he was otherwise fine. Ricochet picked himself up and almost immediately, Ricochet brought his hands up to cover eyes from the huge bonfire that was roaring where Hyde once stood.

"Hey, are you okay kid?" a rough voice asked. Ricochet turned to see an older man in a police uniform approaching with a much younger partner. "What happened here."

"Mr. Hyde happened," Ricochet coughed. "You guys didn't happen to bring the Avengers with you?"

"Dispatch says they're out on a mission, same with…"

"The Fantastic Four," Ricochet finished. "Why do the big guns always choose to save the world when we need them?"

"Got me kid," the officer replied. "Is the area safe yet? You kids put Hyde down?"

"Ricochet looked towards the bonfire grimly, "Probably not. Why don't you guys close this area off? We'll call when we're sure it's okay."

"Understood," the older policeman said.

"Chris, are you sure about this, just letting some punk kid stay here while we stand around with our thumb up our ass?" the younger officer asked as they turned to leave.

"Cory, have you even read the repeat supercriminal offender list? Our dead bodies wouldn't even slow Hyde down," the older officer answered, "If these Warriors think they can stop him, then it's their funeral. We'll be back with bigger guns when Code Blue gets here."

"Wow, guess they actually respect us. Scary," Ricochet muttered as he watched the two police officers leave.

"Ricochet? I could use a hand," a voice weakly called out. Ricochet turned to see Suzy Sherman sitting down, her back propped up against an old abandoned car. Johnny might have been relieved to see his friend were it not for one important detail. In her right calf, a jagged piece of metal was sticking out. Suzy was breathing heavily and sweating like a pig, meaning actually looked better than was, and that was saying something.

"Suzy! Shit! Hold still, I'll get you to the hospital, you'll be okay!" Ricochet exclaimed as he rushed to his friend's side.

"I don't… need a hospital. Just for you to hold down the leg," Suzy gasped in a low tone as Ricochet knelt down beside her, "I'll pull it out myself."

"Are you crazy? We need a doctor to fix this, not someone who plays one on T.V!"

Suzy grabbed Ricochet by the collar and brought him to eye level, "Let me explain something. I heal…really… fast. Bullets bounce off my skin. I won't make it to a doctor before this thing becomes a permanent part of me. So please, hold. Down. The. Leg."

Ricochet looked at the wound, and could already see it sealing. Nodding, Ricochet put his hands on Suzy's leg and pushed down. Suzy gripped the metal, and after saying a prayer to gods she barely knew, pulled with all her strength.

Suzy let out a silent scream as the metal became dislodged from her flesh and bone. The wound spurted blood for a moment before dying down and sealing closed. Suzy slumped back against the car she was using to prop herself up against, fighting unconsciousness.

"Ricochet, are you alright?" Hornet asked as he and Turbo returned. "We were blown away by the explosion."

"And it looks like we missed all the fun," Crux stated as she, Spiderwoman and a heavily damaged Night Thrasher descended. Spiderwoman was towards the back of the group, looking away. Before anything else could be said, laughter filled the air.

"Over? Over! Hyde hasn't even started," a voice boomed. The team looked towards the raging fire Hyde had created, and saw the demented scientist standing at the edge of the raging fire with a flaming club hung over his shoulder, "Are you kiddies ready for round two?"

"I've got a plan guys, but I need Ricochet and Night Thrasher to hold off Hyde while I explain it," Hornet whispered, "I don't think Hyde will just let us stand here and confer."

"They'll need my help," Suzy said as she forced herself up. Ricochet was about to protest, but Hyde let out another roar that left no room for debate. Night Thrasher's eyes met with Ultra Girl, and a plan of action was instantly agreed upon.

Night Thrasher activated his boot jets, and he and Ultra Girl streaked towards Hyde at a furious speed. Hyde pulled his club back to do his best impersonation of Sammy Sosa, but he was far too slow. The two human missiles collided into him and sent him flying backwards. Suzy broke off the charge after several seconds, but Night Thrasher kept pushing his armor, determined to make Hyde pay for humbling him like he did. If he were in his regular armor, Night Thrasher would have had a plethora of passive aggressive weapons, like gasses and sonics, among others, to deal with Hyde. But there was no room for that in this armor. A more powerful armor ironically seemed to make him less powerful, less effective…

So caught up in cursing his decision to upgrade, Night Thrasher didn't see the tell tale signs of Hyde preparing a powerful haymaker until it was too late. Hyde's meaty fist smashed into Night Thrasher's armored chest sending the urban hero smashing into a nearby building. Thrasher struck the front wall and slumped to the ground. He didn't get up.

"You Warriors are pathetic!" Hyde sneer as he waved his club in the air, "Why, I bet mutant turtles could give me more of a challenge!"

"Go to hell, you twisted bastard," Ricochet spat as he leaped at Hyde. As far as he was concerned, any possible humor had left the situation. The man who almost got a friend raped was cutting a swath thru all his other friends, possibly maiming them with barely a care. And no matter what it took, that ended here.

"Twisted? I hope you're not just now realizing that," Hyde laughed as he swung his club at Ricochet. Johnny fluidly ducked under the weapon and struck Hyde in the crotch with all his strength. Hyde only laughed as he brought his club up, and then smashing down to where Ricochet had been only moments before.

"No, not really. I bet the only reason you made those roofies was because you're a sick freak," Ricochet stated as he nailed Hyde with a roundhouse kick to the center of his chest.

"Ah, an educated gambler," Hyde sighed with a stained toothy smile as he lashed out at Ricochet. Like always, Hyde was too slow by a large margin, "the little money that venture brought in paled in comparison to the joy it brought me knowing that I had helped so many young women… loosen up a bit," Hyde explained conversationally.

Ricochet fought an incredible battle for self control for a split second. He knew getting enraged would be his death, and that his role in Hyde's defeat was only to be a distraction. Ricochet leaped back, tucked his legs into his chest, and let fly two stun discs in opposite directions. The two discs ricocheted off nearby buildings and struck Hyde in his eyes at over two hundred miles per hour. Hyde screamed in pain and dropped his club, and clutched his face like a wounded child.

"You'll pay for that, you little bastard!" Hyde shouted. After several long seconds, Hyde uncovered his face, his vision restored. The first thing he saw amused him greatly.

Standing not ten feet away from him was Turbo, her arms straight out and her atomic powered fans pointing directly at him.

"Surrender Hyde. We won't ask again," Turbo stated. Hyde only laughed.

"Okay, you asked for it," She said, "I hope like hell this works," Turbo thought to herself. She activated her fans full force at Hyde. Hyde again began laughing (the idea that these rookies thought they could take him down to begin with was incredibly amusing to Hyde), but quickly stopped when he realized he couldn't breath. Turbo's winds were blowing the air by too fast

"Spiderwoman! Now!" Hornet shouted. Spiderwoman, standing next to Turbo, unleashed a barrage of psi webbing at Hyde's face. Within moments, Hyde's head was encased in the sticky psychic substance.

"Crux! …"

"I know what to do!" the elemental mutant shouted as she froze Hyde's head. Hyde was swooning back in forth in the street, the lack of oxygen making it extremely difficult to bring his incredible strength to bear. But everyone present knew he only needed a fraction of that strength to start this mad drama all over again.

"Spiderwoman? He's all yours," Hornet smiled.

"With pleasure," Mattie landed one Hyde's shoulders and unleashed the most powerful venom bolt she ever created. Gritting her teeth, she pored it on, drowning Hyde's head in the emerald energy. Mattie didn't stop firing for a good two minutes before she finally let Hyde kneel over. The man brute collapsed like a sack of bricks on the street. The Warriors tensed, half suspecting Hyde was merely lulling them into a false sense of security. However, after a few minutes, the Warriors realized that their sense of security was indeed very real.

"Okay, spill Bill Nigh. What did we just do to Hyde?" Mattie asked.

"I suspected that Hyde's new found telepathy increased his vulnerability to electricity due to his increased use of his gray matter," Hornet explained. "Using Spiderwoman's both psi webs as a medium and the water of Crux's ice combined with oxygen deprivation, your venom bolts managed to pierce Hyde's thick…umm…hide and stun his brain."

As Hornet finished explaining, a hoard of police cars swarmed the area, along with a several guardsmen.

"Don't know about you guys, but I'm too tired right now to play twenty questions," Ricochet said. "So how about we make like Zorro and scram?"

"Sounds good to me," Turbo stated. "Thrasher's already slipped away to lick his wounds, and we should do the same. Just one question, though."

"What's that?" Crux asked

"Where's Bolt?"

The team quickly did an extensive search for their electrical teammate, but said search turned up empty.

Later that night

Chris Bradley stumbled down the empty street, his face red with tears and a meager, discarded trench coat hiding his Bolt costume. The images kept playing thru his mind. Men, women and children, their bodies quaking as electricity pored thru their body, the smell as their bowels released during death and stench of burned flesh. The images, the memories kept playing thru his mind like a broken record, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. And no so deep down, he wondered if he should stop it. Maybe he deserved to suffer, deserved to be tortured…

"Chris!"

Bolt turned to see the last person he wanted to see. The person, ironically, he was head over heels for. Gina Stockbridge, his high school mentor.

"Go away Gina!" Chris shouted. He tried to run, or even jog away but the tears in his eyes made him unable to do anything other than walk just a little quicker. Gina closed the distance between her and Bolt in seconds.

"Chris, what's wrong?" Gina asked, making no attempt to hide her concern as she saw Chris' face. She gingerly put her hand under Chris' chin, but the electrical mutant roughly pulled away.

"Get away from me Gina, you don't know what I've done!" Chris shouted as he started to back away.

"You mean Seattle?"

Chris felt the air rush out of his body, shock written all over his face. Gina was standing several feet away, but to Bolt, she was right in his face.

"I was there, Chris, and I saw you and the others," Gina took a step towards Chris, "I was visiting my aunt at the time." Another step. "I saw the Dark Riders kill hundreds. I saw an electrical monster kill children." Another step. "I saw everything," Another step, "I know the truth." Another step, and now Gina was face to face with Bolt. Chris, for his was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Gina gently took the dumbstruck mutant's hand and pressed it to her cheek.

"What truth is that?" Bolt stammered out

"That you were forced to do what you did. I don't see that monster I saw that day in Seattle today. I didn't see that monster yesterday, or the day before. I can see it in your eyes, Chris; you're a good man who was forced to do horrible things. Nothing more."

"You're…"

"Wrong? Then kill me, Chris," Gina said, still holding Chris' hand to her face. Chris only then realized that all he would need to do was manifest his powers slightly to strike her down, "if you're so sure you're a monster, then prove it."

Chris whipped his hand away, "I killed innocent people! I…"

"And you're every bit as much a victim as those people, Chris! Don't torture yourself!"

"What else can I do?" Chris said weakly

"Heal, move on. I'll help you every step of the way, Chris, but don't let the monster who forced you to become a monster claim another victim."

"I…I don't know if I'm that strong," Chris said, his eyes cast to the ground. Gina took his hands into hers,

"Maybe, maybe not. But we are."

Dwayne Taylor put away the directional mike he had been using to spy on Chris for half the night. He was convinced now that Bolt, for all his troubles, didn't represent a threat of betraying the team, and was a genuine victim of brainwashing. The guilt Chris carried obviously had to be dealt with, and from what Thrash could tell, it would be. If Chris wanted more help, then all he would have to do is ask. But at the moment, there were more pressing concerns. Night Thrasher pulled out a small, disposable camera that he had tucked away on his person for emergencies. Before heading back to the Crash Pad to dump off his damaged armor and track down Bolt, he'd gone back to Hyde's lab to gather evidence. Hyde obviously had a backer, and Thrash was going to run them to ground.

Several days later, The Business Offices of Power Brokers, Inc

"…And due to a terrorist attack on the E.U, our expansion into Europe have slowed somewhat, but are expected to pick back up." Jacob Greyson informed the other four members of the board of Power Brokers, Inc. Greyson paused for a moment, as though he were privy to a sudden burst of information only he could perceive. "On a note closer to home, our long expected guests have finally arrive."

No sooner had Greyson said that than the oak doors of the boardroom flew open, revealing the New Warriors with Night Thrasher, his armor fully repaired, at the lead.

"We'd like to have a word with you about Robert Louis Stevenson," Night Thrasher snarled.

"I'm told he's a wonderful writer," Greyson smirked. The rest of the board chuckled, "in fact, I did a report about him in college. The cliff notes don't do him justice."

"That's the name Calvin Zabo used when applying for a research grant from your company," Night Thrasher continued, ignoring the smart remark, "thing is, he still used his real social security number and provide no other references."

Greyson shrugged dismissively. He glanced at his wife, Fiona Greyson before looking back at Night Thrasher. "Like I told the police, our back ground check failed to turn up anything. We've fired the company that provided the check, of course. Is that the only reason why you're here? Hyde?"

"Is there another reason to be here?" Turbo demanded

"Well, we did provide a biological weapon and a considerable arsenal to the Sons of the Serpent, and sold teleporters to the terrorist organization known as Ultimatum, and The Church of Humanity," Greyson said matter of factly. The Warriors looked at each other in confusion, stunned that Greyson would confess so readily.

"Greyson! Have you lost your mind!" Charles Fox demanded. Fox, a stocky man who looked more like a professional football player than a business man, stood up in outrage, "Do you realize what you've done! You…"

"Sit," Greyson said calmly, waving down with his hand and Fox obeyed. He fidgeted, like some invisible force was holding him in place.

"You've just made the mistake of a life time." Night Thrasher hissed.

"Oh have I? If you'll check your armor, you'll find that all recording devices have been shut off," Greyson grinned. He wasn't the least bit afraid of the collection of heroes standing not twenty feet away. And why should he be? He was easily more powerful than all of them combined. "If you have no more heroic declarations, I'll thank you to leave, post haste."

"This isn't over, Greyson. We'll stop you. I'll drag you down myself!" Night Thrasher warned, before leading his team out. Greyson leaned back in his plush leather chair and chuckled. No, it wasn't over yet by any means. In fact, it had just begun.

Interlude

Danny Hunter and Lorna Kangston waited at the Metro Station anxiously. Their escape had been a very near thing indeed. After damaging his negator collar so that it no longer functioned, Danny managed to surprise and overpower the staff member on guard during the night. This allowed him and Lorna to flee, and maybe find help. As the bus marked New York pulled up, Danny let out a sigh of relief. He was one step closer to success.

Notes

Well, in my defense, all I can say is that I tried. When I started out as the writer for Warriors, I had great plans. But as time went on, I came to realize that I was more concerned about the ideas, like establishing Power Brokers, Inc and the concept that shows up in the next arc, than the characters. That's okay for some series, but not for New Warriors. Never for New Warriors. Every issue was a struggle. So, after much soul searching, I decided to burden someone else :P I'll still be here for one last arc, but it'll be scripted by the should be or possibly already is famous Nate Charles. Thanks for reading, and you'll be able to find me on Force Works and an upcoming Muse mini series.

-David