The Triskelion
100 Miles Southwest of Block Island
Today

[[ Peter Winston Wisdom. ]]

"That's my name," said Wisdom. "If you need to confirm that innoculous piece of information, you lot aren't too good at your job, are you?"

[[ Just a formality, Mr. Wisdom. ]]

"How's this for a formality?" asked Wisdom, sticking his middle finger in front of the camera. He sat in a cold, metal chair. The room was empty save for a surveillance camcorder in the corner of the darkened room and an intercom provided the voice of the speaker. The only light came from a lamp which hung from the ceiling, rocking slightly, swinging the spotlight to and fro. 

[[ Very mature, Mr. Wisdom. ]]

"Look, I was hired to do a job an' I'd rather get back to it, if you don't mind. This is a waste of my time and yours. These investigations do absolutely nothing except make the public feel better about where their tax dollars are going to."

[[ And is that what you're suggesting, Mr. Wisdom? That we just let you go about your business? ]]

Wisdom produced a cigarette from a pack labeled Silk Cuts. He looked inside the now empty pack and crushed it in his palm before dropping it on the ground. "Mind getting me some fags?"

[[ Depends on how much you're willing to cooperate with us. ]]

"A bottle of scotch, too--nothing younger than twelve years," said Wisdom. Heat rose from the tip of his finger as he lit his cigarette. "And do hurry, or I'll just have them send over another waitress."

[[ Do you find this funny, Mr. Wisdom? ]]

"No," said Wisdom. "I find it bloody hysterical."

[[ After what happened, we must pursue all avenues available to us. Our first order of business is to question the CO of the unit being investigated, which is you. Are you or are you not the commanding officer of the X-Force unit? ]]

"X-Force doesn't exist, love," said Wisdom. "It was dismantled after that bit of nastiness with General Mayer, or did you forget?"

[[ We're well aware of that situation, it's in the op reports. What we need now is to talk about what happened next. We are aware of the employment of you and several other mutant operatives within SHIELD. ]]

"Big whoop, SHIELD has mutants on its payroll, since when is this news?"

[[ Since those mutants attempted to stage a coup in Genosha as cover for releasing a known criminal from prison, a criminal who just so happened to be the father of the late Lydia Del Ruiz. ]]

"The Resistants were hardly a stable bunch," said Wisdom. "They once worked for Magneto and they were reduced to low-level positions. They had motive and opportunity, so they took it. There's absolutely no evidence linking either SHIELD, myself, nor anyone who worked under me to that incident."

[[ And what about illegally invading the Union of Myanmar and releasing hundreds of mutants from a Burmese prison? ]]

"The cyclone caused lots of problems in that region, easy enough for something like this to happen during a natural disaster," said Wisdom. "Especially when you're talking about a place like Burma. I doubt they've got Stark Enterprises providing them with the same technology the Vault gets. Making it even easier for prisoners with powers to break out."

[[ And the Niles Roman affair? ]]

"Look, you're barking up the wrong tree, whoever you are," said Wisdom. "I don't even know who that is."

Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents

ASK DNA
Part One

By Dino Pollard

Panorama Hotel
Mae Hong Son, Thailand
One Month Earlier

[[ SHIELD's getting reports from Laos, Thailand and China that mutants are crossing the border from Burma. ]]

"That's to be expected when you shut down a prison," said Wisdom, a cigarette dangling from two fingers, a glass of scotch in the other hand. Before him sat an open laptop with the image of Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, staring back at him via webcam.

[[ Any leads on the tech you found in Burma? ]]

"Not much," said Wisdom. "Word is it came from somewhere in Africa. Only one place I know of that's likely to have Sentinel tech stockpiled away somewhere."

[[ Genosha. ]]

"Right under Glorious Leader Magneto's nose I bet, too," said Wisdom. "If this gets out, it could cause a massive international incident."

[[ Don't even think about it, Wisdom. ]]

"What do you mean? Magneto gets pissed and starts searching for the culprits, basically doing our work for us, pressure is put on Burma by the international community, and mutant rights get thrust into the spotlight."

[[ Kinda like Darfur's been thrust into the spotlight? ]] asked Fury. [[ Think about it, Wisdom--rest of the world doesn't give a damn about human rights violations anymore, especially not when it comes to mutants. Tipping Magneto to this could set off a powderkeg in Genosha and that's the last thing we need. And when Burma's confronted with something on a national scale, they have a tendency to shut down outside access completely then brutalize their own people. And since those people need humanitarian aid right now, that's not a risk I'm willing to take. ]]

Wisdom sighed and took a drag on his cigarette. "Hey Nicky... you remember when we could tell the good guys from the bad? Back when the world was black and white?"

[[ Who the hell are you kidding, Pete? The world was never black and white. There were never any easy choices. Where are you now? ]]

"Thailand, Mae Hong Son province," said Wisdom. 

[[ Lay low for a bit, take a little vacation. If any questions come up about the mutant refugees, we'll blame it on fallout from the cyclone. Fury out. ]]

"Right," said Wisdom. He heard a knock on the door, and pointed his finger at it, prepared for an attack. "Come in."

The door opened and a young Afghani woman stood in the frame. Pete relaxed his body and took a sip from his scotch. "Something you need, Dust? Shouldn't you be out on the town with Mav and Brass?"

"We don't share the idea of a good time," said Dust. 

"Right, 'course you don't," said Wisdom. "So what are you doing in my room?" He raised his glass and cigarette. "I clearly don't share your idea of a good time."

"How much longer are we here?" she asked.

"Bit surprised to find you wanting to return Stateside."

"No, just interested in finding our brethren and helping them," she said. "Those refugees are going to need someone to guide them or else they may end up in another prison."

"Relax, we shut down Tun Aung's operation and right now the cyclone is the junta's main concern," said Wisdom. "So it'll be some time before he can cause any more headaches. Assuming those prisoners even left him breathing."

"And you think that was the only mutant prison in Asia?"

Wisdom raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

Dust scoffed. "Cambodia. Vietnam. Afghanistan. Pakistan. China. All of them have prisons, all of them imprison mutants."

"Oh wow, I'm so shocked. You've completely opened my eyes. I had no idea mutants were so persecuted around the world." Wisdom rolled his eyes. "How long you think I've been doing this, girl? I was at some of those prisons, so was North. We know all about it."

"How can you be so callous to your own kind?" asked Dust. She turned but Wisdom grabbed her wrist.

"Let me tell you something, and I'm going to be very clear on this," he began. "There are few people who have worked harder and more thanklessly for mutant rights than me. I know what lurks in those shadows. I know how scary the world really is. This is the kind of stuff Xavier's lot never even dreamed of. Yes, mutant rights violations happen every day and I've got news for you--it's not just Asia. It happens on every continent in every country across the world, just like human rights violations do. Changing the world is a noble goal and I know we're all told from birth that one man can make a difference, but the truth is it's all bollocks. We'll never stop it. For every prison we shut down, ten more pop up. For every mass-murderer we kill, a thousand others are ready to pick up his sword. That's just the way of the world and it's been like that since the dawn of man."

"So why do we bother?" asked Dust.

"Because we do what we can," said Wisdom. "Even though we can't stop it, we can slow it down and that's better than nothing.

Brass threw back his whiskey in one gulp and slammed it on the counter, the glass clinking as he did. "Another," he said.

"Think you ought to take it easy," said Maverick, sipping his own drink. 

"After the nastiness we saw in Burma, I'm entitled to a bit of hard drinking," said Brass. "Barkeep! Another!"

"It's part of the job," said Maverick.

"And what about that masked lunatic slashing open throats and cutting off heads?" asked Brass. "Never seen something so brutal. When I saw that, I wondered why Wisdom would bring someone like that onboard. And then Pete goes and tortures that soldier. Is all that part of the job?"

Maverick paused and took a sip of his whiskey. He calmly set the glass down and looked at his new teammate and said only one word: "Yes."

"What?" asked Brass.

"It's all part of the job," said Maverick. "Every dirty aspect of it. We play a very dangerous game, Sean. We move people where we want to further our goal. We manipulate them and we sacrifice them when necessary and it's all because we have to capture the king. It's one massive game of chess. We play dirty because we can't afford to play nice. Let Captain America be the shining beacon for hope in the world, we've got a role to play that's more important."

"That's disgusting," said Brass.

"That's black ops," said Maverick. "If you don't like it, you can go back to crowd control with SHIELD."

"And what would Fury think of these methods?" asked Brass.

At this, Maverick started to laugh.

"Did I say something funny?" asked Brass.

"What would Fury think of these methods?" asked Maverick, repeating his teammate's words. "Nick Fury was in World War II. He was there when the Cold War started. He fought in 'Nam. He watched as the Berlin Wall fell and he stayed in the game to see another Cold War begin. My friend, no one knows this world better than Nick Fury--he wrote the book on good guys doing bad things. He might smile and shake hands with Tony Stark and Reed Richards but if they had even the slightest inkling of the things he's done, they probably wouldn't be so friendly with him."

"What have I gotten myself into?" asked Brass.

Maverick slapped a hand on Sean's shoulder. "It's a question we all spend a lot of time asking ourselves at first."

"Does it get easier?" 

"Why do you think spies drink so much?"

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Weapon X's eyes snapped open. The dream was vivid, almost too vivid to be just that. 

He leapt out of bed and went to the window, shoving his elbow through it to shatter the glass. Quickly he climbed out and moved to the next window over. Breaking through it, he crawled inside and saw three men standing over a bleeding man. The men each held scalpels and there was a large cooler sitting on the floor. Inside the cooler were the man's kidneys.

The three turned to their new arrival and brandished their scalpels. Weapon X stood defiant and naked before them. He didn't have time to slip on his bodysuit, but he also didn't need it to take on thugs like this.

One lunged forward with the scalpel. Weapon X sidestepped and grabbed his arm, using the attacker's own momentum to throw him against the ground. He shot his foot out at another one who advanced, his heel catching the man in the solar plexus. The third grabbed the cooler and started to go towards the door but Weapon X picked up one of the discarded scalpels and threw it with precision aiming and it struck the man directly in the back of his neck. 

The man tried to make off with the cooler still, but the momentary distraction was all Weapon X needed to pounce on the guy's back, causing his face to smash against the floor. With the three incapacitated, Weapon X went to the body of the young man they were attacking. The former assassin picked up the man's thoughts in his dream as they gagged him and began to harvest his organs. 

Weapon X entered the man's mind. "It's okay now. They won't hurt you anymore."

"Cold... so cold..."

Weapon X sighed. The man lost a lot of blood. By the time paramedics got here, he would most-likely be dead. Instead of letting the poor man suffer, Weapon X laid his palm against the man's head.

"I'll take the pain."

The Triskelion
100 Miles Southwest of Block Island
Today

"For the last time, X-Force doesn't exist," said Wisdom.

The door to the room opened and a man walked in dressed in a navy-blue uniform with white trim. His hair was gray at the temples, the only indication of his age, and a patch covered his left eye. A cigar sat between his lips, surrounded by beard stubble on his chin.

"What's going on here?" asked Wisdom.

"Just answer the questions, Pete," said Fury. "Full disclosure time. I can't protect you anymore."