Squall:

~Whoooo~

The Alarm buzzed, pulsating red lights issuing form the panel lighting in the ceiling of Lance Wilkin's bedroom, which I was being bunked in until my things arrived from New Orleans.

"You know the red lights really bring out the auburn in your hair," Whisper said, jumping up from his bed, and heading toward the entry to the room we were staying in.

Jumping after him, I raised an eye brow in his direction. He was an odd bird, and that's saying something considering that most people consider me strange because of my mutant gifts. But Lance here has powers too, apparently something to do with gravity control, as I found out first hand a couple weeks back.*

* (Issue 2- Frank)

"So the ladies tell me. What's going on anyway?"

"Either a training simulation, or we're going to go bust some heads. Either way, should be fun to see what you can do when you're not getting taken on by five at once," Lance said, his icey pale blue eyes staring toward me with a bit of a mischievous gleam, I was guessing that he was the troublemaker of this little operation I'd fallen in with, and probably the one I'd get along with best. That is of course, if they aren't the people who killed my parents and godfather, which was still a possibility.

"Riiiight. So, do I get a spiffy leather costume like the ones you guys were wearing when you collectively beat my ass?" I say, giving the story a bit of a stretch. Really, it was Whisper here, with Madelyne's guidance, who took me down single-handedly.

"I hope so. Wouldn't want your pajamas getting torn up, and that's about all you have other then a hoodie, isn't it?" Lance asked in response. Which caused me to look over the sleeping pants and wife beater I was wearing with my slippers. He was right, without my clothes from home, or one of the Soldier-X workout uniforms, I was basically possessionless at the moment. I would have to remember to have them bring my things from back home.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that one, believe me," I responded. I followed Lance down the hallway as he slowly draped his black leather cuirass-like armored coat over his chest, zipping it tight. As we headed down the corridor of steel doors. Apparently, we were headed toward the command center of this installation, which I still hadn't seen. As I had been in a cell until about eight hours ago when I was released by the head of the HMRD.

I smiled and shook my head nonchalantly, as I looked back upon the recent events of my life. I had just lost my godfather to who knows what people, though I have my suspects, and my reasons for them. I'd been forced against my will to come with these Soldier-X people who claim to want to help me find my godfather's killers, in return for me joining their operation against mutant terrorrism. And then, to top it all off, just last night, I find out that this whole mess could revolve around the manipulations of a group of people who've existed for thousands of years, who I always believed were a myth, the Illuminati.

"So this is it, huh?" I said, as we stepped up to the large sliding metal doors with the "X" and circle insignia I had come to see upon so many collected items in this complex. As the doors slid steadily apart and my eyes scanned from side to side I took in the many figures surrounding me on all sides; bustling from desks to tables, to computer terminals to phones, each one like a drone bee, with one standing at their center.

Madelyne Pryor, the Captain of the Soldier-X operation stood amongst some 23 people buzzing back and forth around the room that had been dubbed "War Room" by the plaque above its door. Her emerald green eyes were flickering with evident energy as her telepathic powers absorbed information from the minds of all those surrounding her, and when she entered my own mind I froze.

Her hand lifted up as if to make us stop, and she beckoned for us to sit. "Over there, gentlemen. I'll be right with you. You're the first to arrive."

Madelyne, or as the others had informed me she liked to be called, Maddy, ordered, her delicate motions bringing with them an heir of respectability. "She really is a piece of work isn't she..."

I heard Lance whisper to my left, taking on his name sake in description and prowess for one moment, as I smiled, taking my seat next to him. Leaning over a few inches as not to be over head I gave my answer, "Yeah, but personally, her eyes scare the daylights out of me."

I answered, to which Lance responded with a chuckle, the doors having just opened again to our left, where Kevin Malik, and Marria Villanueva both entered. Maria, the Phillipina girl who had been saved from the gang in the bars last night by a possible lead on my parent's killers, and Whisper, was still blushing in embarrassment.

The cold air in the sterile chamber was chilling my skin. My arm hairs standing on end ever so slightly, cold was one thing my mutant body was not enhanced to repel better, as it did with so many other elements. My own deep indigo hued occulars scanning the horizon, I came to notice the presence of the three NSA operatives who had assissted in my capture those recent couple weeks ago.

A whistle fired my way from the door, that ended with my name being called brought my attention to the next two occupants of the chamber, one of which was already dressed in his full uniform, as Lance finished snapping on his boots. The team's field operations commander Vector, and the attractive French girl that had turned in to stone and punched me through a wall only days ago came walking through the sliding metallic doors, the girl smiling toward me. "How's it going, so your name's William huh?"

The girl asked, only to be shot a silencing glance by agent Papavich as he stood to address the lot of us. His eyes swiftly moved from the girl, then to me, to insure that I was giving him my full attention, which wasn't a problem, as the presence of the gun at his hip assured my attentiveness. Bullets were one thing I wasn't sure I was invulnerable to, and I didn't want to find out if a sudden movement made this guy think I was going to try to make a run for it.

"Everyone, our first mission instructions have just arrived from headquarters in Washington DC," Papavich spoke, looking over the lot of us patiently. "According to information gathered CIA Intelligence that has been shared with the NSA, the Tsar, a suspected member of the Illuminati, has been seen in Russia."

The word Illuminati caused me to move to my feet at speeds I wasn't aware I could travel, but Agents Harris and Tenku hands placed their hands on my shoulders, and guided me back to my seat. I nodded understanding the sittuation. While these men were the suspected murderers of my family, for now I had to remain calm and hear out the briefing with the others.

"Thus far, we have surmised that he is using some sort of mechanical enhancements to improve his power output, and has begun an assault on urban areas in the northern most areas of Russia," Papavich continued, looking toward me to insure that I didn't rise to my feet again. "And on request of the Director of the HMRD, the Soldier-X team will be sent to investigate this information and stop the Tsar from threatening all of Russia."

"Furthermore, we will be acting in stealth, as the general public of the world is not have privy to the existence of the Soldier-X program. It is of the utmost importance that none of you be identified, and that we try to watch for any civilian or military surveilance equipment during the mission, is that clear?" Maddy asked, stepping up next to Papavich and gesturing for him to take his seat As Mari made a stifled sigh of admiration to my left.

"As Crystal," I heard Lance say, as he stood up, along with the other members of the team, I personally stumbled more then stood myself, embarrased that I'd missed the cue.

"Move to the X-Traction, and prepare for lift off in 2.03 hours, all preflights must be finished with in that time, and William, please use one of the emergency personell uniforms on board the vessel." Madelyne ordered, and I nodded, following the others out of the room as we approached the vehicle launch bay. I'd not seen this X-Traction vessel thus far, having only flown in it once while being unconcious myself, but I was sure it was problably impressive, as all the other technology in this building was.

I'm Standing here presently with one thought running through my head, over and over again. Why didn't I see this coming.

Its my job to see the bigger picture in the grand shceme of things surrounding our enemies and their actions. I'm supposed to predict their next moves and order my team to take care of things accordingly. My team is not supposed to be rounded up from their beds in the middle of the night in to a mission that could quite possibly mean suicide for the mostly untrained members.

Bourne might not have a problem in this sittuation do to his martial arts training and the extremely high density of his body, but most of the others were untrained civilians. Vector was the only sure bet for this mission, the only one I was confident could do his job effectively, the only one that I was sure could kill the Tsar if he had to.

You see I've discovered through a series of in depth research and analysis of all files in our computers regarding the Tsar, and the Illuminati, that they all lead back to William Bourne's father. The elder Bourne, who had been a scientist well in to the design of a type of medical nanotechnology that was meant to create artifical limbs or organs, had funded his research with grants from Sebastian Shaw. Whom later research would reveal was the former Rex Illuminous, knowledge I could have used two weeks ago when my team first attempted to recruit Bourne.

It turns out that upon his recent death, Sebastian Shaw, whom was also the Black King of the Hellfire Club's inner circle, had in an act of succesion, named the Tsar as his replacement. Furthermore, he informed the Tsar of the nature of the murders of William Bourne's parents by Illuminati agents, and had also informed him that Bourne's Godfather possessed the plans for the nanotechnology. Believing that the technology could increase the gifts of mutants and superhumans, Shaw had originally planned to steal it for his own, until Bourne's Godfather Wufei had escaped with William out of Hong Kong.

This had lead to the murder of Wufei in New Orleans two weeks ago, and the discovery of the technology the Tsar was presently using to enhance his own mutant powers, that seemed also to be driving him mad. He will destroy the world if my team doesn't stop him, and I did not have the foresight to see where everything was going.

Now I stood in front of my desk pacing, waiting for reports to come in from Harris, Tenku, and Papavich regarding the team's preparation. I held a collapsed silver rod in my hand that could be extended at a moments notice in to a stave with a blade of electronic particles extended from its tip. Though I wore a suit, and hid behind a mask, I had been in this fight, between humans and mutants for too long to go with out my weapon.

I had once believed that all mutants were threats to the world, and that one way or another they need to be brought in. But in more recent years I'd changed that belief, and come to a different decision. Mutants, just like humans, were only a threat to other people if they made the choice, and conciously did harm to others, and with guidance, those who wished to protect others with gifts like their own, or those who were not born with said abilities, could be the catalyst.

That is what Soldier-X was created for, and now we would see, if I'd been right. Now we would see if a select few mutants could protect the world that hated and feared them from terror and persecution, by either half of the human species.

As a beeping issued from my Fax Machine I turned toward it, and watched as the report printed through, detailing the briefing Papavich had just given the team. Apparently the briefing had ended five minutes earlier and the team was preparing for combat, with Bourne along for the ride, as I read this.

I had given my consent to release Bourne only the night before from his cell, and as I stand here now, I can only hope, it was the right thing to do.

As the trucks circling the Kremlin begin constructing their perimeter I stand here, alone, the cold air beating against the steel shell that I call my second home, reminding me just how alone I am. I wastch as the military personnel and equipment buzz by in helicopters, and various ground transports, and I hold each fist to one side. Slowly stalking forward through the snow my heavy foot falls create a long series of tracks in my wake.

My breath grows shorter from the cold behind my mask, my optical slots working double time to stay unfogged by using their self heating systems, my muscles growing weary of the snow as well. It is funny how this country which I swear to protect will never know my name, and will never know me as anything more then simply a military official, all the masses of my comrades looking upon me as some shining beacon of Russia's ingenuity.

But I, Valetin Shatlov, know different. I am a man who was once an oppressor of my own people, a Communist officer who meant only to increase his own wealth and power, but I have learned through years in my own self imposed armored exile that I was wrong. I have learned that the strong fight for beliefs, and freedom, not just for themselves, but for their people, and though I've been broken, and betrayed, bloodied, and discarded, many a time, these people have always shown me respect. These people have always considered me...

...One of them.

As my sensors read the proximity of the electro magnetic disturbance being created by the Tsar's powers growing ever closer, I take to the skies, mental commands giving my armor's circuitry the push it needs. My boot thrusters level out and swith to hover sustainment mode when I reach 3,503 feet above the city's highest buildings. I'm along up here, at least for a moment, and looking down at the city, thinking of all those people in the buildings below that trust me, I can't help but wonder if I deserve that trust.

"I have been a monster for our government, now I will be redeemed as a hero for my people." I speak un to the growing winds, and that is when I see him.

He floats aloft in a shell of stone, armored by it as if it were a part of his very skin, like the shell of a crab, a natural extension of his own limbs. The color of his eyes flickers with electricity, and I watch as his hand raises in to the skies, he has begun the storm, the winds are increasing, causing the micro-servos in my armor's joints to begin to freeze.

"So you are the man who manipulated Stark." I say, speaking of this same man's escape from the Vault through manipulation of Tony Stark, the man otherwise known as the Invincible Iron Man. "Well, it is time someone told you Tsar, Russia no longer belongs to Nobles and Communists."

I let loose in to the wind, my boot thrusters increasing their output, even against the oncoming bolts of electrical energy strumming my chest plate from the Tsar's eyes. His elemental mutant powers are being enhanced by some sort of nanyte technology according to the read outs I'm recieving through my sensors, and for now, I can only hope that he doesn't crush my armor like a soda pop around me.

"Dos Vedanya, Comrade." Spoke his hollowed voice, as though all sanity had left the man's mind, and as my body collided with his chest, I felt myself frozen, my blood stream ceasing its motion. Gravity suddenly became all too familiar a notion as I began to plummet, my body convulsing in the armor, my blood flow restored, but now my nervous system acting as though it was a virus infected CPU. It had to be his powers over electricity manipulating my nerve synapses, but if he could do this to my armor and body, how was I to stop him?

Whisper~The X-Traction Mid-flight to Moscow:

I sit for the first time in the cockpit of the transport directly to the left of Agent Harris. As Brian describes all of the functions that the main joy stick like controls for the vessel command, I intently followed his instructions for the preparation of the landing gear. As the vessel began its descent and the main struts which were connected to the landing gear tires extended from the bottom of the plane's canopy and engine banks, I smiled, proud of my accomplishment.

"How was that?" I asked, looking toward Agent Harris who nodded his approval in my direction. As he smiled approvingly back in my direction the Human Mutant Relations Division officer tapped the controls in response to my question.

"Maybe on the way home I'll let you take a turn at the controls." He said, to my surprise, causing my own beeming to continue unabated. However I was soon to return to my senses as the X-Traction vessel came to a full and complete stop in the middle of what could only be called a war zone. Tanks were upturned and on fire, chaos was everywhere, and you could distinctly see frozen limbs extending from the snow in some places. It was a horrible sight, how any man could do this to a city of his own people was beyond me, the military blockade that I assumed had been set up to stop the Tsar was a total mess, upturned trucks. Even Tank cannons torn from their bases, fires burning along the street that refused to go out regardless of the heavy snow.

That was the first time since all this had begun that I realized just how dangerous mutants could be. I admit the sight in William's home where his godfather's blood had washed the walls was horrible, but it was nothing compared to the carnage I saw through the cockpit's main view panels.

As we made our way down the exit ramp of the vessel and in to the snow, I noticed Maria's eyes wide in shock as she looked all around, shivering, regardless of the fact that our suits were made to keep the body at a comfortable temperature even in zero degree and lower temperatures. "Hey, Enigma, you okay?"

I heard a voice say from near bye, looking over my shoulder I saw Kevin Malik, also known as Velocity, his bald shaven dark brown skinned head catching the light like a billiard ball, questiong the young woman. Maria, an attractive Phillipina girl whom I had come to be friends with responded with a cold stair shot Velocity's way which caught me off guard. Enigma, as she was called in the field, was problably the nicest person I'd met since I was out here, other then, surprisingly enough, the guy I knocked out a few days back, William Bourne, and so her maddened look was surprising.

I could understand though, as the surroundings might have caught her off guard stepping from the plane in to this chaos. According to her file she'd seen this kind of mayhem before in the Phillipines during battles between the Abusayaf rebels and the government, so maybe that wasn't the reason why she shot Kevin that glance. As we continued along on our way, cautiously moving forward, followed in short pursuit by the three armed NSA operatives, Harris, Tenku, and Papavich, their field commanding officer, and heralded forward by Madelyne who levitated herself telekinetically just before Vector and Galatea who were in the lead.

A few feet behind me was William, my temporary roomy until they had his things in from N'awlins that is. For now I was fine with the sittuation, and he seemed to be a nice enough guy, but you never know when he might flip out and start attacking us again thinking we murdered his godfather, which I truthfully can't tell you Soldier-X operatives didn't do.

Yeah, I mean, I'm a mutant operative for the actual Soldier-X field task force but I'm not provided with every detail of the unit's operations, and considering some of the things they'd said would happen to me if I didn't join the team, I'm not sure if they aren't capable of murder. However, at the same time, I trust Maddy, and Harris and the others too, and although I might not get along with him, I even trust Papavich, the hard nosed NSA op's commander who reports only to Captain Pryor, and the Director himself.

Now there was another mystery in my life as a Soldier-X operative, a man who I've only met three times in the last month or two of my employment for his agency, who's face I've never seen, do to an ever present mask. Yeah, Director-H is, as far as I know, just another man out to make a difference in human-mutant relations, and protect both sides from any and all threats they could pose eachother, or themselves, and yet, for all I know he could be Magneto underneath his mask.

Admittedly though, I would have to say that I trust the Director as well. He believes that the group of us together can stop a madman who's increasing his powers and an alarming rate using some sort of machine. Even though only one of our super powered operatives is military trained, he seems to be rather nonplussed about sending minors in to combat. Yet, there's still some voice in the back of my head that tells me I can trust him.

Explosions far off in to the distance of the snow encrusted city streets heralded the presence of our target in the vicinity, and as a few orders were barked over the roar of the flames tickling the air around them, the team was off. "Vector, lead them in on the ground, Whisper, see what you can pick up from the air, and Galatea, you and Mr. Bourne can take the subway, we'll try to lead him toward the Kremlin's security out post where all of the team can converge, and remember, stealth."

Papavich barked out, to a nod in response from the french girl I'd met at the airport in San Diego a couple weeks ago, the one called Galatea. "Enigma will be keeping you all in communication using a telepathic link system, and Velocity will be our eyes, using his speed he can cover the most ground around our enemy the fastest, allowing us the strategic high ground in the sittuation." Madelyne said, taking over for agent Papavich as the rest of us began our missions.

My body was soon rising in to the air upon a platform of blue energy particles that projected themselves from my feet, a pair of disc like anti gravitational fields in a sense, lifting me away from the earth as my eyes searched the horizon for any sign of the Tsar. Soon after reaching a height of about five hundred feet, the highest I had ever lifted myself or another human being before, my eyes locked on to what seemed like a swirling mass of fire and electricity. The image soon dissipitated however in to the body of a man, who's skin was covered in silver platelettes of mechanics and circuitry, leading me to believe that I had found our target.

The energy diskettes below my feet exploded as I caused the anti-gravitational fields to stretch and implode, rocketing me forward at high speeds until I was with in twenty yards of my target. I saw as the man with his shoulder length black hair and pale grey eyes laughed hysterically at the top of his lungs, in one seemed like a mechanical tone, as if he'd lost all human emotion, and hammered his fists in to the side of a large brick building, causing it to shake violently to the foundation.

I sent myself rushing forward, using my powers to project myself at high speed toward the other mutant, in an attempt to cease his assault on the building with a tackle, or at lest a jarring push, but I failed. The other man seemed to see me coming, and as if my own powers were stolen from me, he f lashed those grey eyes in my direction, causing my chest to feel as though it were exploding from the inside. I knew the Tsar's powers allowed him control over the very forces of nature, but I didn't know he could make the air in my lungs expand and increase its speed as he just had, causing blood to start flowing from my innards.

"Be gone child, I have no need of thee." Said the mutant powerhouse who still hovered ominously next to that building.

I was falling know, clutching my chest as my body shook spazmodically, when something clutched me, something from below my arms grabbed me and lifted me away from the ever nearing ground. For a moment I thought it was an angel, then I saw its red and black steel face, and after a moment, lost all conciousness.

Many men stood in the chamber of the Illuminati high council over the last two millenia who could be considered schoundrels, and villains, and thieves, and murderers, but always they were the most noble of such villains. The Nefaria family, The Tong family of the Chinese Triad, Nero Cesar, many great blood lines who were not only of noble lineage, but of vicious and stalwart power, indefeatable on the battle field.

Now these great families were lead by the Shaw bloodline. Shinobi, son of Sebastian Shaw, was now the Rex Illuminous, the King of the Light, the man who lead over all of these others, and this was just how the man liked it. He had attempted to take his father's position in past years before Sebastian's death, and had failed, always delegated to the menial tasks of Sebastian's Hellfire Club, and left out of the circle of the world's greatest criminal cartel.

This most supreme of Syndicates was now under Shinobi's control however, and he planned to keep it that way. As the youngest Rex Illuminous for over a millenia, Shinobi's concepts of treachery and government manipulation had been seen as brilliant by the high council, and thus the hand picked successor of his father, the Tsar, had been dethroned.

That is why I'm here. My name is Melisel A. Black, and I have been returned to the Palace of the Light in Paris, so that I may recieve my next contract as the chief assassin of the Illuminati, the Rapier Illumina, or Sword of Light, as the Mandarin, my recruiter, had dubbed me. All I knew of this organization is that they had been in business with my mother and father when they were murdered by American NSA agents, simply for the development of technology that was later put in to development by a medical contracter named Bourne, who was also murdered. For now that meant that the Soldier-X command personnel, the apparent murderers of Bourne and his wife, were the primary targets.

That is also why I have been assigned to eliminate the former Rex Illuminous, the Russian elemnatal named the Tsar, do to his apparent involvement in the deaths of Bourne's family, and possibly my own. The Illuminati does not allow traitors, and anyone who harms my family is a target for me, the fact that I'm being paid for this just makes the revenge all the sweeter.

I'm presently strapping on my black kevlar mesh armor over my green leather jumper, a collapsible sniper rifle with shell catcher and Thermal heat Scope strapped on to my left him, and a fancily etched Kaatana with no hilt, called a Ko Dachi, strung over my back. On either side of my chest I had a side arm, .50 Desert Eagle, modified for fully auto fire with extended shaft, shell catchers, and increased load clips, but all of this was just icing on the cake.

You see, there's a reason I'm the ultimate assassin of the Illuminati. Even without weapons I am one of the most deadly people on the planet. Removing my right glove I reveal a tattooed japanese kanji for life upon my palm, as I remove a knife from my left calve, short handled with no hilt, built for throwing. Watching one of the Illuminati agents guarding the door to the equipment depot, I launch the knife with extreme accuracy, the precision of my throw to with in a 10th of a milimeter of my desired target, though I'm not Bullseye, I hardly ever miss.

The guard goes down hard, blood spraying from the severed capilaries in his throat, while blood from his arteries simply gurgles through the wound around the lodged blade. Leaping forward, my right palm raises and comes down on the man's throat, as he looks at me in horror, his eyes begging for a reason. "Don't worry love, just practice."

I respond, removing the knife with a quick pull, and healing the wound with my ungloved hand, a faint bluish glow emanating from my palm in the same shape as the said tatoo. While I do this, I look to the other guard, who's backed away toward the wall in fear, and I shoot him a mischievous smile, before waltzing out of the room, leaving the healed guard staring up at the roof in shock.

My feet have soon carried me to the holding cells in the dungeon near the transport launch bay, and I turn toward one said cell where an NSA agent sits, the real Christopher Manning, not the Life Model Decoy which I shot to "death" in New Orleans, shaking fearfully in a corner. Though unshaven and thinning he still had a sort of respectablity that stood out from him, although his fearful demeanor did cause it to lose some of the luster.

Removing my left glove this time I revealed a pale red tattoo, this one reading Death in the same Japanese Kanji writing, and springing forward across the floor of the dungeon, I clasped the gate to Manning's cage. I had been informed that he was one of the spies who'd murdered Bourne's parents, and thus problably had a connection to my own parent's murders, and so as I torqued my body in to a side ways sommersault, I easily passed through two bars of the man's cell.

Landing in front of the chained agent I bent to one knee, and lifted my tattooed hand to his jaw, lifting his face to my own. "Officer Manning, its good to see you havn't died yet, prepare to meet my parents in the afterlife," I said with a grim smile, kissing Manning just as my tattooed hand released its fatal power. The lifeforce consuming energy passed through my body and in to Mannings, eradicating every sign of life from his body with in moments of release, and as I stood, spinning on one heel, I smiled.

"Justice is served."

I stand in the center of this old warehouse with my eyes closed behind black lensed Ray Bans. A Black versaci suit shields my body from the chili air that seeps through the old dust invested ventilation system. My favorite gray trench coat hangs loosely around my body, and my dark red chinese silk tie catches a glint from one of the few and far between lights hanging upon the roof above.

Many people have come to know me as Director-H in the last year or so, but I have have other names, and some of them I am not proud of, do to the stigma they carry. Standing here, with my eyes now open, holding back the tears that I wish I could release in memories of what I did when I was still the owner of the things that surrounded me, their caretaker, I shiver at my own past actions.

My own memories of the Neurostun Gauntlet, the Psi Lance, and the Laser Sword which I used on so many occasions, envelop me. My phasing technology, and my exoskelletal armor, including its visual cloaking device, grappling claws, and self proppulsion boot thrusters, all of which gave me such a power trip when I still used them. All of those things had managed to do to things, rob me of my humanity, and turn me in to something I now fight to prevent being repeated, a monster who hunts down mutants with extreme prejudice.

I hadn't just become an enemy to mutants. I'd become an enemy of my own laws. I had become the X-Cutioner of Homo-Superior, I Carl Denti, had become a nightmare. These memories, these mistakes, are all I have left of those days, reminders of what I was, and of what I now fight to protect others from. I am now the Director of the Human Mutant Relations Divison of the National Security Agency, and as such the commander in chief of the world's most secret Mutant Taskforce, the Soldier-X Program.

Today my new found ideals of human mutant peace will be tested, when one megalomaniac mutant faces the force I have gathered, and I see who's side is in the right. On the battle field I will see if I have made the right choice, if humans and mutants can work together to maintain peace, or if my own decision to leave the X-Cutioner behind, buried in this warehouse was the right choice.

Turning in an about face I head toward the nearest door, when my cellphone rings in my chest pocket. I know who it is, he's been trying to contact me for days in an attempt to convince me to disband the Soldier-X program. The CSA's chief of Vault Security Henry Gyrich. A man I once looked up to when I was the X-Cutioner, and now, someone I can't stand.

I continue walking toward the H2 that waits for me with Agent Pike in the driver's seat. My ear piece radio rings with the messages from command center that are being sattelite relayed to myself, and to Madelyne all the way in Moscow. It seems Shinobi Shaw wants to make a truce with the Soldier-X Program. "Patch me through," I command in to my own reciever, which is pinned to the inside of my shirt collar.

"This is Director-H, of the Soldier-X Program, Shaw, you'd better have some important information for me, cause I don't deal with Terrorrists."

~"Ah, Director, yes, I have some very helpful information for you, I believe you've sent your operatives to stop the Tsar, and while I can not transmit the codes to freeze his Nanyte enhancements, and stop his own body, I'm rather sure your Sattelites can."~ Shinobi responded from the other end of the line with a thin smile having pursed his lips.

"Alright, keep talking Shaw," I responded, looking down at the wrist mounted direct sattelite relay control mounted on my wrist, it was time to give my boys some help.

I move as fast as my genetically enhanced legs will carry me, having phased my body in to a semi ghost like state so that it makes it easier for me to pass through the rising snow. I've located a battle in the air that seems to be taking place between Whisper, and some circuit laden powerhouse, and an armored Red figure, which I can only guess is Russia's super soldier the Crimson Dynamo.

My feet sink through the snow every few inches as I watch the battle, no matter how close one of the Dynamo's plasma bursts gets to the Tsar, it is repelled by some sort of invisible force, which I'm guessing is an electro magnetic field created by his elemental powers. I greatly increase the muscle density of my calves and leap, sending myself flying in to the air about eighty feet, before my muscle mass returns to normal levels. The ability to control my own atomic particle speed coming in handy in this case, I allow the snow to pass right through my phased body, before landing on a roof top only feet from the Tsar's floating figure.

I rush forward from the roof, launching myself upward with another enhanced musculature push. Attempting to hammer the Tsar in the back with a blow from my fists, which I hold in an Axe Handle grip behind his back, I am suddenly tossed away. Apparently he can sense anything traveling through the wind with in a certain range of his body, as the anti gravitational blast he just released sends me rocketing away at high velocities, comically enough consdering my code name.

That's when I heard it. From below a command was howled through the communications piece of Whisper who was floating ten feet below the Tsar, and fifteen yards to his right. Both of Lance's arms rose in to a forward battering ram like position, and tendrils of blue energy, which I had noticed were the physical manifestation of Wilkins' gravitational manipulation powers extended from Lance's fists, grasping the Tsar who suddenly froze in his tracks. From below, a mighty volcanoe of energy ripped the streets apart and the ambient heat released from the explosion seemed to be drawn back as I saw a glowing male figure levetating from the earth.

William had arrived, and send blast after blast of highly focused plasma from his own extended Palms, battering the force field which surrounded the Tsar along with Lance's own Gravity pile driver blows. "Thank's for the assisst Bourne."

Whisper hollared down to the oncoming fly boy, who's body had begun losing the glow it had gained from the absorbed fire and electrical particles, but was still moving at high speeds, dodging lightning tendrils that jolted from the sky to attempt to smote him. "Oh pissed now are we?" Asked another voice, as the Crimson Dynamo returned from the ground carrying a Stone formed Galatea toward the battle field. Flipping forward and springing off the chest of the Dynamo's armor, Kelly laughed, just as she'd done in the club last night, and brought her knee up in to the Tsar's jaw.

"This is impossible, why, why can't I move, I am the Tsar, I am a god!" Screamed the russian through a bleeding mouth, spraying his life's fluid every where, as Galatea landed another blow, this time to his midsection, actually standing upon his frozen knee. I looked toward the left and saw that Madeline, Vector, and Enigma had all arrived, onlooking the aerial fight with as much awe as I was. Though more surprisingly was that I noticed the nanotech circuitry begining to retract from the Tsar's skin, as the flames and hale storms he continually produced using his enhanced powers seemed to die out.

"You've been betrayed," Yelled the Dynamo, who's arm launchers released another payload of plasma bursts, along with those of William below.

"Your former alloys have revealed the truth about your plans to use Bourne's technology Tsar, you've been outted. William knows it was you." Maddy called from the sidelines as the battle continued, causing me to blink in surprise. Was it true, had the Illuminati betrayed one of their own? That wasn't a good sign as far as I was concerned.

"If you wanted to keep me off of your trail, maybe you should have stopped when you killed my parents Tsar." William screamed, his eyes flickering with red energy as he continued to drift through the sky. "If you want to hide behind assumed names, and aliases, then two can play at that game. When you die Tsar, just remember something, Squall was the man who destroyed you," William finished his speech, as he rose one hand in to the air, leveling it off in the direction of the Tsar's chest, his palm glowing with an inate crimson hue.

"So that bastard Shaw found the safety lock programs after all..." The Tsar said in a weakened voice, his body floating limply in the air before the collection of my teammates and the three NSA Agents, as well as the Dynamo. I drew my own body taut, ready to attack at any moment, the Tsar had made so many mistakes in the last few weeks, ever since the Illuminati had freed him from Prison in fact, by delivering the Invincible Iron Man directly to his feet. I knew that the telepaths amongst us had been searching through my mind and found a dark curtain through which they could not pass, and I was glad for that psionic defense, given me by the Illuminati's technology, for if my so called "team mates" knew of my true alleigance to Shinobi Shaw, all would be lost.

For now Shinobi wished me to hide and watch over the operation in silence, attempting to form false friendships and learn the weaknesses of the enemy, in case his attempts at Diplomatic manipulation should fail. I am a spy for my master, feeding him the neccesary information for him to act the Diplomat with our enemies, and use them to his own advantage, of course while they might be defeating a terrorrist threat to their nation, they might also be murdering enemies of the Illuminati. Diplomacy, and politics, the perfect form of manipulation.

I watched as the dark haired giant of a man before me floated their lifeless, his body thinning, and becoming almost lifeless as the dying Nanytes now bonded to his brain stem and nervous system ate away at his own nerve synapses. That is when I heard it...

Also in Russia, 250 yards north, north east of the Tsar's floating position:

...I heard the scream as the phase-type bullet punctured the mutilated skin of the cybernetically enhanced Tsar. This man, who had been a murderrer, and a thief, I took pleasure in killing as my bullet punctured his lung, and passed upward through his heart. I smiled to myself, long strands of black locks hanging loose in front of my vision. The Tsar would no longer use anyone, including me, as his agent, he would no longer manipulate, and kill his way to the top of the organized criminal world.

While I may not agree with many of their choices and motives, the Illuminati has raised me since my family was murdered by this man, and Shinobi has helped to train me as the ultimate weapon, during his father's reign as the Rex Illuminous, and that of the Tsar. I will remain loyal as long as I remain safe, and I will remain safe as long as I remain loyal, interesting the way the world goes round in the modern day.

Next Issue: The war on the Illuminati continues when Soldier-X discovers a international government conspiracy being manipulated by the Rex Illuminous himself, Shinobi Shaw. Come back next month and find out if the Tsar has truly lost this time, after his survival of Wolverine's assault, will he survive the shutdown of the nano-technology that now infects his nervous system? And can he survive the bullet lodged in his heart? Find out in our next installment of Soldier-X! ~Frank!