Charles Fox shifted the papers sitting in front him slightly as he prepared to address the four other members of the board. He looked at the papers one last time, and then glanced at Jacob Greyson, the senior partner. The man had a medium build, with dark black hair with a light streak running thru the middle. Greyson caught his eye, and nodded,"Please give your report. I trust you're ready?"

"Err…yes," he stuttered despite himself. Even after all this time, Greyson could put the fear of God into him.

"Then get on with it, we haven't all day," a brown haired woman stated. She was Mrs. Fiona Rivera Grayson, Greyson's wife and likely the only person who wasn't scared of him.

"Well, there's not really much to tell. Everything is set to go for our little test. Our little 'Fantastic Four' are in place, along with some backup from our regular enforcers."

"Wait a freakin' minute," Carl Hollister said. He was a large, blond haired muscle bound man who was only a member of the board due to a combination of luck and ruthlessness,"How do we even know these New Warrior punks will even show up? New York's crawling with superfreaks, and the U.N's even got it's own heroes, don't it?"

"We've taken that into consideration, Carl," Mr. Fox said. "We've also been very diligent on keeping tabs on very nearly every superhuman team out there. X-Force is busy elsewhere today, as are Force Works and the Fantastic Four. As for the rest, thanks to a device we recovered from a deceased monarch, combined with the firm's own resources and a little ingenuity, we've all the tools we need to test the Warriors, and only the Warriors."*

* (See the respective titles to see what's happening - David)

"Then, what are we waiting for?" The final board member, Dr. D. Saad asked,"The day isn't getting any younger. It's time to take the plunge."

"Are we all agreed then?" Mr. Greyson asked. The board nodded in agreement. Smiling, Greyson telekinetically lifted his cell phone out of his right breast pocket and dialed an untraceable number,"Let slip the dogs of war," was all he said. He then put his cell phone back in his pocket and looked at the board,"So, what's next on the agenda?"

In a West Virginia coal mine; men and women go about their work, never noticing a box of explosives sitting next to an important support beam. That's because it's disguised as a lunch box. They did notice, however, when the box exploded and collapsed the main tunnel, trapping well over three dozen men and women underground with little air and even less hope.

In Pakistan, the members of a secret Thugee sect begin attacking a military base rumored to hold nuclear weapons. Normally, the Pakistan army would be able to easily repulse such an attack due to the fact that there are only ten Thugee members attacking. But the Thugee members have superpowers and fight with a fury that only the deranged or drugged know.

In Alberta Canada, a natural gas factory suddenly explodes, causing toxic fumes to escape into the air. If not dealt with quickly and correctly, many lives will be lost and the environment will be permanently damaged.

In Australia, the robot monstrosity known as the Tri-Sentinel suddenly appeared ten miles off the coast. It's programming to destroy a nuclear plant in Long Island is submerged. Rather, it's programming now tells it to head inland, and kill everything it sees. It goes without saying that it obeys.

In San Francisco, California, nine Asian men and women suddenly find themselves transported to the Golden Gate Bridge. They are known to the world as Ancestor, Butterfly, Deluge, Turmoil, Sickle, Q'Wake, Old Women, Warfist and Lich. They are known as the Avatars of the Mandarin. They laid waste to Hong Cong before being stopped by the first Force Works, and were eventually killed when the Mandarin's bid for world domination failed. But they don't know that they will be dead soon. Rather, they simply have an overwhelming desire to see the streets run red with the blood of westerners. And they are very poor at impulse control.

The United Nations Building

"And down there is the General Assembly blah blah blah blah…"

The words of the tour guide started to melt into one in the mind of Cristal Lemieux. She had come the U.N building and taken the tour at the suggestion of her father. She had agreed not because she had always wanted to see the U.N building, but because she literally had nothing else to do other than homework. All her friends were far, far away and the enormity of New York somewhat frightened her. But this tour was simply boring her to death. Her eyes drifted to the back of the group, where no one was looking and what she saw surprised her. Men dressed in black, carrying automatic weapons and darting down an adjacent hall, to where the tour would soon lead. Cristal almost considered raising an alarm before she saw four large wrap around the edge of the wall. They were large, silver fingers and combined were bigger than the size of her head. She certainly didn't want to run into the person it belonged too. The group started to move again, but Cristal cautiously moved to the back, and careful to make sure no one was watching, ducked into an empty office room. If she had to defend herself, she could do it now without revealing that she was a mutant.

New York, The Crash Pad

Dwayne Taylor, otherwise known as the superhero Night Thrasher made the final adjust to the controls before looking down from the control booth to the members of his team.

"I think they're ready, Dwayne," Mickey" Muashi, also known as Turbo, stated.

"I know. I'm just making some final adjustment. And it's Night Thrasher here," He replied, "Okay boys and girls, the point of this exercise is to see how well you work together as a team. All you have to do is make it to the other side of the room. Remember, you're supposed to get there as a team."

"How come Turbo doesn't have to jump thru hoops?" Ricochet asked.

"Because I said so," Night Thrasher said. "Also, because I already know what to expect from her." He then started the simulation, and dozens of robots of all shapes and sizes came out from panels in the wall. As the team reacted to this, Night Thrasher kept his eyes on Bolt.

"Okay guys, let's do it!" Ricochet yelled to his teammates,"Hornet, you, Spider-Girl and Ultra Girl go airborne and keep all that flying stuff off our backs."

"That's Spider-Woman!" Mattie Franklin scowled as she flew into the air along with Ultra Girl and Hornet. She unleashed a barrage of venom bolts at the robots that could fly while Hornet used his wrist laser to destroy the ones that Mattie missed. Finally Suzy Sherman, otherwise known as Ultra Girl, used her superstrength to smash any robots that Hornet or Spider-Woman missed.

"This isn't so hard!" Mattie boasted.

Below them Bolt and Ricochet were making progress as well. Ricochet used his agility to advantage, moving like greased lightning and hitting the robots just hard enough to slow them down so Bolt could hit them with his electrical bursts.

"We're kickin' decepticon ass!" Ricochet joked.

Night Thrasher heard this from above, and smiled. He then pressed a button on the control panel, executing a special program.

"Don't get cocky, Ricochet," Bolt warned as he blasted robot after robot. He heard a noise behind him, and he whirled around. Placed right behind him was a tennis ball server that he had seen at places like the Y and country clubs. Confronted with such a strange foe, Bolt hesitated for a split second. The 'tennis ball server' didn't. It shot out a powerful stream of water, knocking Bolt several feet back and stunning him. Ricochet saw this and bounded towards his friend.

"Hang on Chris, the Calvary oh shit…" Ricochet realized his mistake at the last second. Bolt had been only stunned, not unconscious. As such, he still had his electrical powers on. Ricochet flailed his arms and legs wildly as he tried not to land in the puddle of water surrounding Bolt. He failed of course, and was knocked unconscious when he struck the pool surrounding Bolt.

"Looks like the others are in trouble," Mattie said, "be right back." She swooped down towards them.

"Wait! We need to stick together!" Hornet warned, but she ignored him. Hornet saw yet another flying missile coming towards them. He tried to hit it with his wrist lasers, and it deftly avoided both him and his laser, and made a beeline towards Ultra Girl. Hornet suddenly realized why.

"Suzy, look out!" Hornet warned.

"I got it, Eddie," she replied casually as she cocked her fist back

"No, you don't understand…!"

Suzy smashed the missile with her fist, but rather than fall to the ground as scrap metal, the missile erupted in a ball of blue mist. Suzy gasped in surprise, the worst thing she could have done considering the situation, and passed out. Hornet moved to catch her, and left himself open. Before he could even move to catch Suzy, another flying pod released several cables at him and ensnared him tightly.

"Don't worry Eddie, I got her," Mattie said as she caught the barely conscious Ultra Girl. "Little Miss Hollywood's fine."

"But you're not," Night Thrasher stated over the intercom. Mattie quickly saw what he meant. Everyone else was restrained in someway, while she was stuck carrying Ultra Girl and surrounded on all sides.

"Crap."

"Be thankful, Mattie. If this were the real world, you'd be dead. And so would everyone who depended on you," Night Thrasher explained over the intercom, as he turned the program off. He then shut off the com. link, and leaned back in his chair. He rapped his fingers on the consul thoughtfully for a few seconds before Turbo broke the silence.

"They didn't do that bad. I mean, it's not like the first Warriors…"

"The first team of Warriors were all experienced fighters who had some training and or experience in using their powers. They knew how to fight as individuals, and only needed a little coaxing as a team," Night Thrasher said as he stood up and watched towards the door leading to the training room, "Still, I knew these guys weren't the old team when I agreed to lead them."

Night Thrasher activated his boot gets and slowly lowered himself into the room, followed by Turbo.

"So…uh how'd we do?" Ricochet asked.

"Poorly. You seem to have utterly forgotten the point of the exercise. You fought to disable your foes, not to get past them. Ricochet, you should have looked before you leaped," Night Thrasher turned towards Hornet and Ultra Girl. "And Hornet, you shouldn't have dropped your guard like that."

"Are you saying I should have just let Suzy fall?"

"Yes, she would have been fine," he said nonchalantly.

"Gee, thanks," Suzy muttered as she tried to clear her head.

"I think what Thrash is saying is that you guys are just a little rough around the edges. You'll get better," Turbo volunteered.

"Oh good, because all I heard was pure malice," Ricochet quipped.

"At any rate, it's not important right now," Night Thrasher explained. "I'd like you to meet the final member to the pit crew." Night Thrasher activated his comm. unit. "Come on it, Carlton."

A door to the room opened, revealed a short brown haired freckled face teenager wearing a red and yellow costume. He was carrying a box under his left arm.

"Who the heck is this guy?" Bolt asked.

"I'm Carlton LeForye. Pleasure to meet you," he said as he extended his hand. "Thrash said you guys needed someone to keep this place in order."

"Uhh, nice to meet you, too," Hornet said as he shook Carlton's hand. "Are you an old member?"

"Kinda. I basically did all the crap that's beneath the real heroes."

"Well, someone's gotta do it," Ricochet said as introduced himself, "Maybe you can give us some pointers on how to deal with Darth Vader here."

"Night Thrasher? Ahh, he's not so bad. I mean old D…"

"Carlton!" Night Thrasher shouted, cutting him off.

"Wait a minute, hold up," Mattie said, pointing an accusing finger at Carlton. "He knows! He knows your I.D and you won't tell the rest of us! What the hell!"

"You know what you need to know," Night Thrasher said sternly. "You can leave at any time if you have a problem with that."

The room was unnaturally quite for a few seconds, before Carlton spoke up. "Anyways, I come bearing gifts." He opened the box that had been under his arm to reveal what looked like W shaped key-chains. "The old team used these for communication. Thought you could use them."

"Not exactly the most fashionable thing, is it?" Suzy said under her breath as she took a badge.

"Umm, I won't short this thing out, will I?" Bolt asked.

"Nope, it's made of unstable molecules. It'll be fine."

"Cool. We almost look like a real team," Ricochet said as he affixed the badge to his jacket.

"And like a real team, you're going to do some more training," Night Thrasher said. A collective groan went thru the air. Night Thrasher just scowled, "Look, being a hero isn't easy…"

Just then, the alarms started blaring.

-Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!-

The team rushed out of the room and towards the monitor room (which doubled as the meeting room).

"I see you've gotten to the alarm systems," Turbo said. "Dork."

"What can I say? I love the classics," Carlton replied. The Warriors quickly reached the main computer and Carlton brought up what had set off the alarm. "I wonder why the alarms went off? It's not the perimeter alarm and…ah."

"What is it?" Thrasher asked.

"I'll bring it up on the main monitor."

The team waited patiently as Carlton brought up the news report that set off the alarm. On the monitor a middle-aged man could be seen standing in front of the U.N building. He looked distressed, and behind him were over turned cop cars, some on fire while others were nothing but molten slag.

"…Terrorists took the U.N building only minutes ago. The men were disguised as construction workers who were supposed to be repairing the damage caused when Dr. Doom stormed the U.N. They are supported by the villains known as the U-Foes, and have demanded a million dollars ransom each for everyone trapped in the building within two hours or they will kill everyone. Police have been pushed back, and have placed a barricade around the U.N building. The situation looks grim, and so far no other heroes have been reached…"

"I thought the U-Foes were all in a coma," Mattie said under her breath.

"Come on, let's saddle up!" Ricochet yelled as he started to break towards the War Copter. Night Thrasher grabbed him by the arm before he got two feet.

"We're not going."

Everyone, including Turbo, was taken back by that statement.

"What?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"What do you mean?" Suzy demanded. "Someone's got to do something!"

"The report said that the U-Foes were there backing up the terrorists. The same U-Foes who have taken on the Hulk and Avengers. They're are simply out of our league," Night Thrasher explained, "we'll have to let someone else deal with it."

"Umm, Thrash?" Carlton said weakly. "There…there is no one else."

"Excuse me?"

Carlton typed in a few commands, and brought up several other reports, "Just what I said, there is no one else. The Avengers are dealing with a coal mine that collapsed in West Virginia, Excalibur is dealing with a flare up in Pakistan, Alpha Flight is dealing with a natural gas factory that exploded earlier this morning and the West Coast Avengers are dealing with a terrorist attack at the Golden Gate bridge. The FF are out of touch, and so are Force Works. They're both likely out on missions."

"Cripes, it's like all hell broke loose today," Bolt commented.

"And it looks like we'll have to do what we can to reign it in," Night Thrasher said grimly. "Let's roll."

"Road trip!" Ricochet shouted as he leaped in the War Chopper. Night Thrasher and Hornet took their place in the pilot's seat.

"Umm, Night Thrasher? About the U-Foes, did you mean what you said about them being out of our league?" Hornet asked.

"Yes."

"Umm, okay."

"Don't worry, Hornet, we'll find a way to win," Bolt said confidently.

"Who, me worry?" Hornet replied nervously.

United Nations Building

"God damn it, where the hell are those spandex yahoos when ya need 'em?" Sergeant Tork remarked behind an overturned police car. Guarding the entrance to the building were three heavily armed men, using A.I.M designed laser pistols to keep the police back.

"Don't look now, Tork, but I think you just got your wish," a uniform officer said. They could hear the distinctive whup-whup-whup of a helicopter. The three armed men preventing the police from entering heard it as well, and started looking for the source. But before they could find it, the men were struck with a venom bolt.

"All clear!" Mattie said into her Warrior's badge. Night Thrasher set the War Chopper down directly in front of the U.N building, and the Warriors disembarked.

"What's the plan, man?" Ricochet asked

"In order for them to secure the building, the terrorists likely had to split their forces between watching the hostages and patrolling the building. So we split up. Hornet, you're with Turbo. Ultra Girl, you're with Spider-Woman. Ricochet, you're with Bolt. Watch your back. All of you." Turbo caught that veiled statement, if Bolt didn't. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, what are you going to be doing?" Ricochet asked.

"The terrorists are holding their hostages in the General Assembly room. I'm going to secure it."

"And you know this all how?" Mattie asked

"Because it's what I would do."

"And if we see the U-Foes?" Suzy asked

"We'll wing it," Bolt said as he started to run towards the building. "Come on, lives are in danger!"

Bolt and Ricochet

"Here, terrorists, terrorists, terrorists, come out where Uncle Rico can beat you dowwwwn," Ricochet said softy as he stalked the halls of the U.N building. Suddenly, his danger sense activated. Ricochet looked around, trying to find the source.

"What's *cough*wrong?" Bolt asked, his voice suddenly very raspy.

"Something's wrong. I ken feel it in me bones!" Ricochet replied, doing his best Scotty impersonation.

"You don't know the half of it," Bolt said. Or rather, someone inside his mouth did. Bolt started coughing and hacking, like he was about to lose a lung as a white mist started to come out of his mouth and took the shape of a brown haired woman in a green jump suit.

"I'm Vapor, punk. And you're Ricochet," the woman said, "I don't know why they're interested in you. Any last requests?"

"Actually, I just have a question," Ricochet said, thinking fast. "You can turn your body to mist, right?"

"Right," Vapor replied with a cocked eyebrow.

"Then why don't you make your boobs look bigger? Cause I mean you're…you're kinda flat," Ricochet said conversationally. Vapor was taken back by that statement, and involuntarily looked down.

"Yoink!" Ricochet dashed forward, grabbed Bolt, threw him over his shoulder and did his best impersonation of the French Army during every major world conflict. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"You just made your last mistake punk!" Vapor snarled as she flew after him.

"Wouldn't be the first time!" Ricochet yelled as he dashed thru the halls.

"Rico…stop…" Bolt said weakly

"Sorry, Bolt my man. I believe in stand in fight as much as the next white haired, silver tongued yellow belly mutant, but not when you can't touch what you're supposed to be standing and fighting. Gotta find the others, maybe Turbo can…" Ricochet explained as he turned down another hall.

Into a dead end.

"But then again, there is something nobly heroic about lost causes and certain death…" Ricochet said as he set Bolt down. He unclipped two of his throwing disks and held them at the ready, though he knew they wouldn't do him any good.

"Ready to die, you pig!" Vapor yelled as she turned the hall.

"I don't supposed you'll forgive me if I tell you you have a wonderful personality?" Ricochet asked.

"I think I'll melt your lungs slowly, maybe use mustard gas and watch you go blind as you die."

"So…that's a no?"

"That's not going to happen," Bolt as softly as he pointed his fist towards Vapor, cackling with power. "Please surrender."

"Or what? You can't hurt me, I'm pure gas!"

Of all the times to be without a one liner! Ricochet thought

"I know," Bolt said releasing an electrical blast at her. Vapor's smug demeanor disappeared and she screamed in pain. She passed out only seconds later and simply floated in the air, limp.

"Whoa, what'd you do?" Ricochet asked as he helped Bolt up.

"She may have been pure gas, but she needed some kind of energy to hold her together, I could sense it. Electro magnetic, I think. I just disrupted that," Bolt explained. "That's one down and umm… how many U-Foes are there anyways?"

"You know, we really should have thought to ask that before we started."

Spider-Woman and Ultra Girl

"Okay, Miss Hollywood, I think I hear something up ahead," Spider-Woman whispered to Ultra Girl. They were both hovering in the air, backs almost touching to ceiling.

"Then let's go, and stop calling me Hollywood," Suzy replied. They flew quietly over a nest of terrorists who were searching for any stragglers. The two young women descended quickly, and disabled the men.

"Well, that wasn't so hard," Mattie said. Before she could take another step, the wall behind her exploded with a large metal giant on par with the Hulk the epicenter. The iron behemoth, fitly known as Iron Clad, picked up Ultra Girl by her collar like a rag doll and smashed her into the floor. With incredible ease, he then threw her away, sending her careening thru four steel enforced wall before she came to a stop.

"Eat venom bolt, tin man!" Mattie shouted as she unleashed her most powerful blast at Iron Clad. He barely noticed it as he turned back towards Mattie.

"Needs salt," he smiled as he advanced on her. Mattie changed tactics and unleashed her psychic webbing at Iron Clad, turning him into a nine-foot mummy. Iron Clad flexed his muscles and ripped thru the webs without breaking stride.

"Anymore tricks?" he asked as he reached for her. But before he could make another move, his head became engulfed in flames.

"Huh?" Mattie stared for a moment. Being the superhero groupie that she was, she knew all about the U-Foes including Iron Clad. And as far as she knew, Iron Clad had no flame abilities. Iron Clad looked just as confused as Mattie. He turned around to see a young blacked woman projecting flame towards his head.

"You can't breathe flame, no?" she said, with a slight trace of a French accent. Iron Clad didn't reply. He turned around and started to advance on the young woman, who stopped projecting flame at him. She instead pointed to his feet and froze the floor below his feet. Iron Clad's feet flew out from under him, and he landed hard on his back. Then, to the surprise of all, he laughed.

"Cute trick, girlie, but does the ice mean you can't do both at the same time?"

"Like it matters," Mattie declared as she jumped on Iron Clad's chest. Before he could react, she stuck her hand in his mouth and unleashed her most powerful venom blast. Iron Clad's eye's rolled back, and his head slumped to the ground.

"That was soooo gross," Mattie said as she took her out of Iron Clad's mouth and shook it off. "Who the heck are you?" Mattie asked as she turned towards Cristal.

Cristal didn't reply at first. While Spider-Woman didn't recognize her, Cristal most certainly recognized her. She knew that Mattie was a member of the New Warriors, heroes whom her father in part used to help destroy Armor Oil's reputation. But she also recognized them as something else, Spider-Woman in particular.

"Well," she said with a raised eyebrow and a smile, "that depends…"

Turbo and Hornet

"Looks like we got lucky," Hornet whispered to Turbo as they peered around the corner and saw the U-Foes known as X-Ray patrolling with a small group of terrorists. "What's the plan?"

"I'm not sure," Turbo answered, "I think…"

"Psst! Turbo! How many U-Foes are there?" Ricochet asked via the Warrior's badge. Despite the fact that he whispered, the badge broadcasted his voice loud and clear. So loud and clear in fact, that the terrorists down the hall heard them.

"Nuts," Turbo said flatly. "Come on, Hornet!" She activated the turbines on her feet and flew forward, smashing into the men and bowling them over. X-Ray calmly floated to the side, observing as Hornet unleashed his sedative stingers at the men and as Turbo's winds disabled the few men that remained. In moments, only X-Ray, Hornet and Turbo were left standing.

"Impressive," X-Ray commented as he unleashed a 360 degrees blast, knocking Hornet and Turbo into the far wall. "I see why they want you alive."

"Who wants us alive?" Hornet asked as he stood up.

"None of your damn business," X-Ray answered. Hornet pressed a button on his gauntlet, activating a new weapon he'd designed. From the laser ports on his wrist gauntlets, two yellow beams one and a half feet emerged. They were Hornet's latest weapons, his 'stingers'.

"It takes more than special effects to impress me," X-Ray smirked. Hornet didn't reply. He simply lashed out with his stingers. Unfortunately, they simply passed thru X-Ray without doing the slightest bit of harm. After a few seconds of simply standing there while Hornet futilely tried to harm him with his stingers, the weapons fizzled out,"What's the matter, can't keep it up?" X-Ray asked as he blasted Hornet away.

"Stay down, I've got your back, Hornet!" Turbo shouted as she jumped in front of Eddie and activated her turbines. A column of wind shot forth at X-Ray. X-Ray, for his part, simply ignored it and walked forward.

"I'm made of energy, baby, wind isn't goin' to do nothin' to me," X-Ray laughed.

"You mean you're made of radiation," Turbo corrected.

"Whatever."

"Too bad for you my suit disperses radiation, isn't it?" Turbo smiled. Before X-Ray could realize the implications of this, Turbo flew at him. Hornet saw this happening, and covered his eyes as the two were consumed in a bright red flash. When he opened his eyes again, all he saw was Turbo on her hands and knees, shaking her head in an attempt to clear the fog.

"Mickey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," She said as she stood up. "That was one gamble I didn't think would work. Do you think I killed him?"

"Probably not. He's pure energy, so he'll likely reform."

"Good. Think Ricochet's head'll reform when I rip it off his shoulders?"

Vector

Simon Utrecht, known to the world at large as Vector, paced back in forth inside the General Assembly room. He hadn't heard from his team in ten minutes, and it worried him.

"Something amiss?" the secretary general asked, in a calm and collected tone that still somehow managed to convey seething hatred. Vector shuddered despite himself, recognizing something the man's gaze that he had only seen in another man, despite Vector's experience with evil with both the Master of the World and the Leader. It was a malevolence, all knowing stare that he had seen first in Jacob Greyson, and now the secretary general.

My ears are burning A voice said telepathically to Vector

"Mr…"Vector said, but was cut off in mid sentence. He realized that Mr. Greyson had telepathically turned off his vocal cords

Now, now Vector, we mustn't reveal everything to these fine men and women. I'm here because your mission is finished. Mr. Greyson explained telepathically The Warriors have defeated your friends and the thugs we sent to assist them. Night Thrasher has disabled all of the men you have posted outside of this very room, and the Warriors are preparing to storm the assembly room as we 'speak'.

Then what are your orders?

Surrender to them peacefully, and you will have repaid me.

Understood. Vector replied, and was then returned to his own mind. He looked at the secretary general whom he thought he heard mutter 'finally' for a moment and turned to the main entrance to the assembly. His men had already lowered their weapons and placed them on the ground.

"Move it Warriors!" Night Thrasher shouted as he burst thru the door, followed by the rest of his team. Hornet and Turbo flew to the right of Vector while Ultra Girl and Spider-Woman flew to the left. "Get to them before they can take any hostages!"

"No need. We surrender," Vector said as he raised his hands above his head.

"Just like that?" Night Thrasher asked suspiciously.

"Yes," Vector said calmly as he turned around and placed his arms behind his back. His men followed suit. "Just like that. Is that a problem?"

The Warriors looked at Night Thrasher, who just shrugged. "No. But try anything funny…"

"Yes, yes, you'll make me regret it. Hurry up and get the boys in blue in here, I haven't eaten lunch and I'm hungry."

"…scene as the young heroes known as the New Warriors defeated the villains known as the U-Foes, who had taken the United Nations building hostage. When asked for a comment, all Night Thrasher, the leader of these young heroes had to say was 'The New Warriors are back in business' before leaving without further comment. In other news…"

-Clik-

"Aw, they were getting to the best part!" Ricochet complained as Night Thrasher turned the T.V off.

"You guys did good today, I have to admit," Night thrasher stated.

"Good, we kicked ass!" Ricochet interrupted as he leaned back in his chair with his feet on the table. A powerful gust of wind nailed him on the chest, knocking him on his back, "Oof! But we mustn't forget that we can always do better."

"I just want to go home and take a shower," Suzy said. She was still sore from the beating Iron Clad had given her, despite the fact that he hadn't laid a direct hand on her.

"There'll be time for that later. I think we need to run a few more practice exercises…"

Again, there was a collective groan. Night Thrasher opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted

Fire in the sky! Fire in the sky! The alarms shouted

"Carlton, what the hell's going on?" Night Thrasher yelled above the alarm

"An unknown superhuman of unknown intent is bussing the Crash Pad," he explained

"How do you know that?"

"Because if it was something else, a different alarm would sound."

"Don't worry, I got this," Spider-Woman said as she flew out of her chair and to the sky light controls, followed by her teammates. She shut off the alarm and opened the skylight. After she had done that, a female form of fire descended from the sky and touched down. The flames were extinguished to reveal a short, petite raven-haired young woman.

"Umm, 'ello," Cristal said softly.

"Spider-Woman, care to explain?" Night Thrasher demanded.

"Everyone, this is Cristal Lemieux. She's a mutant with control over ice and flame," Mattie explained. "She helped me out against Iron Clad."

"I'd like to be a hero!" Cristal said unconvincingly. Before Night Thrasher could respond, Ricochet spoke up.

"Hey, I recognize you! You were that chick who helped us out at Cairo!"

"And saved my life," Bolt said as he stepped forward to shake her hand. "Thanks, by the way."

"So, can she join?" Spider-Woman asked. Night Thrasher was about to respond when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It belonged to Turbo, and her face had a don't be a stuck up ass look on it. It was something every New Warrior had seemed to perfect around him. Night Thrasher sighed, and decide for once just to go with it. After all, he already knew the young woman's name, and more importantly recognized who her father was. Night Thrasher knew Mr. Lemieux as Dwayne Taylor, and knew the man was more cowardly than evil. What's more, she was French and didn't run away from two threats, that had to count for something.

"Alright, she can join, but she's the last one," Night Thrasher said. The team let out a collective cheer, most likely originating from 'beating Thrasher'.

"Looks like you're in!" Spider-Woman said. "You got a name in mind for what you want to call yourself?"

"Yes, I think I'll call myself Crux, I like how it sounds."

"Well, we'll have to get you a costume," Suzy said, "I think I have some ideas."

Night Thrasher watched at the team greeted to new arrival, and decided that the meeting was adjourned. Unnoticed to all, Night Thrasher quietly left the meeting via the side door, activated his boot jets and flew to the roof of a nearby building (empty thanks to Dwayne Taylor). He had a hunch he needed to play out, and using his computer's internet connection, he could run a back ground check Ms. Lemieux at the same time. And so he waited.

The Business Offices of Power Brokers' Inc

"All in all, Greyson, everything went according to plan," Mr. Fox explained to the board. "Our distractions were successful, and all the 'free lance' help we recruited can't be traced back to us. The scanners that were secretly placed on our men gave us all the information we could ever want on the Warriors."

"Then phase one of our plan was successful?" Greyson asked

"Yes sir, and the Warriors don't even know it."

Greyson clasped his hands together and smiled. "They will in time, trust me on that."

New York, Central Park

Chris walked thru the park, looking around but careful not to raise any suspicions. He didn't want to look like a mugger, after all. All he wanted was a small, out of the way area to go to spend the night. A small collection of bushes caught his eye, and looking around to make sure no one was around and went over to examine it. It was out of the way, where no one would see him and a pile of dead leaves had collected in the area, softening it up.

"Looks good enough," he mused aloud. Suddenly, he heard a snap behind him. He spun and activated his electrical powers, which illuminated a familiar red and black armor.

"Night Thrasher! What are you doing here?"

"Please forgive the intrusion, Bolt," he said calmly, "I would have knocked, but there's no door."

"Umm, well it's a funny story…"

Night Thrasher ignored that statement and continued. "You've been living on the streets for a while, haven't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, that stops today. You're going to be living in the Crash Pad as long as you're living in New York and a member of the New Warriors," Night Thrasher said in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Umm, okay."

"There are quarters in the subbasement. Go to the third one on the right, and under the mattress is fourteen hundred dollars. Tomorrow, you're going shopping for some decent cloths. I'll also be by tomorrow with some documents as well. As I understand it, you haven't finished high school, have you Chris?"

"No, sir," Bolt said softly. He didn't think to ask how Night Thrasher knew that

"Well, you're going to."

"Thank you, sir, but why are you going thru all this trouble?"

"Because I don't want to have to worry about where the hell my teammates are," Night Thrasher replied as he activated his boot jets. "Now get going, Bolt. You'll have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

THE BEGINNING

Next Issue: Come back as the Warriors get settled in and Mattie makes a mistake that could affect her for the rest of her life. Be here next issue as part one of Hyde and Seek begins.

Notes

The U.N Building was damaged by Dr. Doom in Fantastic Four 35

The U-Foes were placed in a coma by the Master of the World in Heroes for Hire 4. This is their first M2K appearance

Cristal helped the Warriors out in issue 5

War Declaration

Hey, this is David Ingram(duh). Most of you out there likely know about me from my work on Force Works, another series at M2K that has more than a few old Warriors. As fate would have it, what is now Force Works was actually going to be a New Warriors series. But it got shelved for a long time, and gradually evolved into something else. When I finally pitched what is now Force Works at M2K, it had moved so far from what the first Warriors represented that it really didn't make any sense to call them the New Warriors. It helped that Russ and Mike already had a new team too ;)

At first, I wasn't interested in the M2K New Warriors, to tell the truth. But, several plots seemed to infect my mind, and I just couldn't get them out. They were/are good plots, and I thought only the Warriors could carry them out. So I researched Russ' Warriors, and as time went on, I came to love them. More and more plots came to me, more and more ideas did as well. So I gave a proposal to David and crossed my fingers, and here I am.

So what does the future hold for the Warriors? More Power Brokers, Inc, and more the mysterious Greyson and his interest in the Warriors, drugs, unexpected romances, an updated villain or two, one of the most brutal battles in M2K and a camp where American citizens are held without due process(not what you think), and that's just the tip of the ice berg. So sit back and enjoy as I try my best to do justice to Russ' Warriors while making them mine.

-David