“Everyone just please stand back,” the male EMT said. He and his female partner had moved in swiftly once the ambulance came to a halt outside the front entrance of the building. “Ma’am? Excuse me, ma’am? We were called in about a seizure victim?”

The receptionist looked up, just now noticing the emergency medical technicians that had busted into the building and forced their crash cart into the lobby. She jumped up from her chair and put on her best professional face. “Sorry…yes, Mr. Jensen was taken by our part-time medical staff up to the fifth floor.”

“You have a medical team on staff?” the female EMT asked curiously.

“Yes, but don’t worry,” she responded. “I’ve been given clearance to allow you up there. The lift is on your right just passed that pillar.” She motioned to the elevators and nodded to a pair of security guards who immediately approached the EMT’s. “These gentlemen will show you the way.”

The female technician angled the gurney toward the elevator from behind while the security guards led them across the lobby. Most of the bystanders had moved out of their path at this point, with questions and assumptions still buzzing among them. The large stainless steel doors swept open and the four people piled into the spacious elevator, soft music playing overhead to welcome them.

“Oy,” the male EMT nodded to one of the security guards. “You have a light?”

“This is a smoke-free building, sir,” the bulky guard responded gruffly.

“Bloody hell…everywhere you go these days…ah, well.”

With swift precision, the EMT’s both dropped their equipment on the gurney and lunged for the guard closest to them. The male technician wrapped his arm around his guard, choking him. Two quick jabs to his kidneys forced the built up air out of his lungs, quickening the journey to unconsciousness. Simultaneously, the female EMT palmed the back of her guard’s head, thrusting it forward into the steel wall of the elevator. With a loud crack and quick yelp of surprise, the guard fell to the floor in a lump, motionless.

“My eyes are up here, asshole,” she mumbled to the knocked-out guard while pointing to her pupils. “There really are no gentlemen left in this world.”

“Can you blame him, luv?” the male chimed in, a devilish smile resting on his face. “You’re packing a nice set. I should know.”

The woman grumbled something else vulgar before beginning the process of undressing. The man followed suit, quickly discarding his medical technician hat, shirt, and pants. Underneath their EMT uniforms were the tight-fitting, black fatigues they were more accustomed to as part of X-Force. Where two nondescript members of the medical profession once stood were now the wanted felons Peter Wisdom and Lydia Del Ruiz.

“I think you’re losing your touch, Mr. Leader,” Lydia snapped playfully. “First Maverick saves our bacon back on Doral’s Point, now Raven’s come up with an idea to infiltrate one of the Byron Agency’s intelligence routing complexes.”

“He ripped it off some HBO movie we were watching the other night,” Wisdom replied, obviously irritated. “Just go let the others in while I track down the central mainframe.”

The elevator came to a halt on the fifth floor and Wisdom leaned over to place a kiss on Lydia’s cheek. He gave her a wink as he slipped through the doors and bolted down the hallway, while she sighed and smacked the button to send the elevator down to the parking garage.

“Men,” she said, looking down at the guards. “You all think a peck on the cheek is all a girl needs to feel like a princess.”

As he stalked through the corridors on the fifth floor of the routing complex and headed for the mainframe, Wisdom realized that it was strangely quiet. He hadn’t encountered a single person in his search thus far, leaving him to think the floor was deserted. It was entirely possible since the level only housed machinery that required minimal maintenance, but still…

{{ Sparrow to Big Bird, }} squawked Peter’s comlink. It was Lydia. {{ Raven is heading to the security center and we’re almost in position on the upper floors; over. }}

“Roger,” he whispered back.

{{ I’ll cover your sweet ass from up here while the others coordinate with Raven. Once we get word, we’ll move out to escape plan alpha. And you’re supposed to say “over” when you’re finished talking; over. }}

“Right, I’ll be sure to remember that,” he replied, rolling his eyes and reaching for a cigarette. “Over-dover.”

{{ Don’t roll your eyes, either; over. }}

Peter smiled, as only a few people on the planet could read him like Lydia. After all of this mess was cleaned up and they were able to sip martinis in front of any law enforcement agency on the planet, he would be sure to take her someplace nice. She deserved that.

“Just give me a call if anything changes, luv. Over.”

Ending the coded transmission, Wisdom headed further down the hallway, keeping his guard up despite the lack of interference. The last thing he needed was to be caught with his pants down inside the Bryon’s house.

The last door in the corridor crept into his field of view, ominously standing like a monolith. This was the last place to check out before giving up and moving to another floor. He needed to breathe in smoke and would kill for a match right about now.

“Bloody woman, stealing my lighter…”

KRA-KOOOOW!

The wall to his immediate left exploded out, tossing him against the opposite wall with a loud thud! knocking the wind out of him. Bits of concrete rained down all around him as he sat up, rubbing his head cautiously. The smoke from the explosion filled his nostrils, irritating the hairs in his nose. His vision was blurred slightly, the impact of hitting the wall jarring most of his senses. Staring at the fresh opening he could make out a lone figure, however.

“Piss off,” Wisdom said in his best macho voice. “Who might you be then?”

“I’m the guy that’s going to kick your nuts into your throat if you get back up,” the tall, black man said as he stepped out of the hole. His skin was dark and his eyes were cold, a tattoo covering one partially. He leveled a handgun at Wisdom that he had never seen before, but it was fairly intimidating nonetheless.

Things had just gotten out of hand.

Outside the building, more specifically on the streets surrounding it, several dozen British police officers combined with the Byron Agency’s personal guard were busy blocking off intersections to keep traffic away. It would be impossible for an unauthorized person to get in or not of the vicinity, regardless of size or stature.

All-terrain vehicles, black vans, and even tanks had pulled up in front of the building, housing troops with familiar SHIELD crests on their uniforms beginning to pile out of them. Some were wearing full riot gear and charged with keeping the general crowd out of harm’s way. Others were carrying more advanced artillery, waiting for the order to storm the complex. Each man and woman had their basic orders but no one would enter the building without a direct order from one of the men quickly approaching the location.

A black helicopter swept down from the night sky, birthed out from between a pair of dark clouds. Air rushed and swirled along the ground as the large transport slowly touched down in the center of the street, the propellers whipping around at deadly speeds. The aircraft was barely on the ground before the side hatch opened up and a man hopped down onto the worn asphalt.

Nick Fury, cigar freshly lit in his mouth, stepped forward. He ignored the chopper’s blades, standing tall upon exiting the craft when so many ducked down as a reflex. The commanding officer ran up to Fury, preparing his initial report but immediately stopped as soon as he saw a second man step down from the helicopter.

The second man, General Meyer, walked up to and passed Fury, a smug look on his face. “Are we in lockdown, Commander?” he asked the stalwart man who had ran over to them.

“Yes, sir,” he replied after glancing at Nick Fury. “Most of the civilians and other personnel have been evacuated and X-Force is currently confined inside the complex, sir.”

Meyer grinned like most men in his position would. He had been ordered to bring in X-Force dead or alive, and right now it looked like the morgue would be getting a call from him very soon. He had no doubt in the world that this was it for the rogue mutant team.