The Triskelion
100 Miles Southwest of Block Island
Today

“You wanna run that by me again?” asked Fury.

Wisdom put the Pall Mall cigarette between his lips, While staring directly at Fury, he took a very long, very slow, very deliberate drag on the cigarette. Once he was satisfied with the amount of smoke filtering into his mouth, he pulled the cigarette away, carefully parted his lips, and let the smoke trail out at a leisurely pace.

“Ahh...” he said, holding the cigarette up. “This, Nick old son, is what keeps me going in the morning.”

“Just get on with your story,” said Fury. “You're wastin' my time, Wisdom.”

“It's just like I told you, Suran was just an underling,” said Wisdom. “Sure, he was an Interpol agent, but he wasn't working undercover, despite what Interpol may have told you. No, Suran was there as a liaison between Interpol and Roman.”

“How did you come about that information?” asked Fury.

“I can be very... convincing,” said Wisdom.

“So we can add assaulting an agent of law enforcement to your laundry list of sins now, can't we?” asked Fury.

“It's all part of the game, Nick,” said Wisdom. “You do whatever you can to win, because you can't afford to lose. You knew that when you hired me. You knew that when you made X-Force your own secret unit. You knew all along that we couldn't afford to appear on SHIELD's payroll, there couldn't be any record of us. You did all that because you knew the kind of jobs we would be taking, the kind of tactics we would be using. It's a dark world and it gets darker every day. I don't like what I do, but I do it anyway—I do it because it's very, very necessary.”

“Don't give me none'a that greater good bullshit, Wisdom. I've been to all the dark places you have and a good many more, but I always knew my place. I knew there was a line we do not cross. Except for you, there is no line. You'll do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

“You're bloody right I would,” said Wisdom. “And here's something else, Fury—I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.”

Fury produced a cigar from his belt and lit it with a wood match. Once he extinguished the match, he looked down at Wisdom.

“Okay, you ambushed Suran in Bangkok,” he said. “What then?”

Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents

ASK DNA
Part Three

By Dino Pollard

Bangkok, Thailand
One Month Earlier

Weapon X's fist connected with Suran's jaw, backed with the strength of his forcefield. Suran's head snapped to the side from the force of the blow, spitting out a tooth. Weapon X stepped to the side. Suran sat in a small, metal folding chair, his arms bound behind him, his feet tied to the legs. Across from him was Pete Wisdom, sitting backwards in a similar chair. His arms rested on the chair's back as he puffed on a Silk Cut cigarette. Maverick, Brass and Dust all stood by his side and watched Suran with blank faces.

“Do you know who we are?” asked Wisdom.

Suran shook his head.

“Good,” said Wisdom. He stood from the chair and slowly approached his prisoner. “Do you know who I am?”

Suran looked up into Wisdom's face. He looked the man up and down, racking his brain for some memory but he could find none. He shook his head once more.

“Well, the name's Pete Wisdom, lad,” he began. “Does that ring any bells?”

Again, Suran shook his head. Wisdom knelt down in front of him, blowing smoke in his face. Suran turned his head to try and avoid it, but that just made Wisdom smile and continue.

“That's good, too. And do you know why?”

Suran sighed and for what seemed like the umpteenth time, shook his head.

“Because that means you don't know what to expect,” said Wisdom. He stood and slowly circled Suran as his team just glared at the prisoner. “You see... you don't know whether I'll be a good cop... or a bad cop.”

He motioned to Weapon X with a jerk of his thumb. “And you don't know how crazy this right old bastard is.” He moved his finger to Brass. “Or how crazy the bloke with the knife is. Or the girl with the hood. Or the guy with the gold mask. You've got no idea how any of them will react.”

Wisdom bent over Suran's shoulder, whispering into his ear. “Isn't anticipation fun? Like a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney so he can open up his presents.

“But I will tell you this, mate. All of us here? There are two things we have in common. The first is, we're all mutants. And the second is, we all love torturing people who harm mutants.

“So I think it's safe to say, you are in a world of shit, mate.”

Maverick drew his Glock and aimed it at Suran. Almost instinctively, Wisdom held up his hand to Maverick, indicating he should holster it. David North complied with the order. Wisdom looked to Suran. “See what I mean? That one's got an itchy trigger finger.”

“What do you want?” asked Suran.

“I want to know why you're harvesting mutant organs and I want to know who you're working for,” said Wisdom. “But more importantly, I want to know where I can find the bastard, so I can give him a taste of what it feels like when a mutant harvests his organs.”

Suran began to laugh. “Do you really think I'm going to give him up for you? You think you come anywhere near his level? You're nothing, Mr. Wisdom. A big, fat nobody. You think you're someone scary, you don't know shit.”

“Right then,” said Wisdom. He looked at the rest of X-Force. “Take a walk, children. Uncle Pete needs to have a private chit-chat with Mr. Suran here.”

Magda Square, Genosha
Five Weeks Earlier

“It's dangerous for you to have an open line like this,” she said.

{Think I don't know that, love? But time's running short. I need your help and I need it now.}

Raven Darkholme stretched out on her bed, her indigo-colored body clothed by a black tank top and red, leather pants that matched her hair. She watched Pete Wisdom with yellow eyes through the video chat on her laptop.

“Last I heard, you wanted me to keep an eye on Magneto for you while you're off having all the fun.”

{Plans change. We just had a run-in with a mutant prison in Burma. One of the interesting things about this prison? They were using Sentinel technology.}

“And?” asked Mystique. “That technology is all over the black market. The Russians used to have quite an anti-mutant program set up and ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's become an arms dealer's playground.”

{This stuff isn't from Russia. In fact, it comes from somewhere a bit closer to home. For you, anyway.}

Mystique sat upright on the bed. “You can't be serious...”

Wisdom lit a cigarette on his end. {'Fraid so, love. That technology is being smuggled out from Genosha and it's up to you to find it.}

“Do I have anything else to go on?” asked Mystique.

{Yeah, don't look for a direct line from Genosha to Asia. It goes through Africa first. Obviously not Wakanda, but focus on unstable nations. Warlords, that sort of thing. People who would have no use for the stuff but have no qualms about selling it and letting it go for cheap.}

“And I assume I'll be on my own in this,” said Mystique.

{For now. But if the time comes when you need help, you'll have it.}

“You'll be my knight in shining armor, Wisdom?”

Pete offered a sly grin. {Who said anything about me?}

The line went dead with that last word. Mystique sighed and her hand went under her pillow to draw out a Desert Eagle. She checked the magazine before sliding it back in.

Bangkok, Thailand
One Month Earlier

Suran cried out in pain as Wisdom slow sliced off another bit of his pinkie with one of his mutant hot knives. Wisdom raised the hot knife to his lips and said, “shh...” Tears welled up in Suran's eyes instead.

“It's okay, it's okay,” said Wisdom. He took Suran's hand in his own and held up the pinkie for Suran to see. “Look, no blood. It's all fine.”

Suran's eyes looked at Wisdom. “You... you sick bastard!”

“Of course, mate,” said Wisdom. “But what did you expect? What, did you think I was making idle threats when I told you I would torture you?”

The hot knife emerged once again and Wisdom waved it in front of Suran's face. “So mate... what's next?”

He grabbed Suran's hand. The prisoner tried to struggle, tried to pull away, but Wisdom held firm and began to slowly cut into the pinkie again. And once again, Suran screamed from the pain.

“So what's it gonna be, lad? You still want to play the role of tough guy?”

“You... you don't understand,” said Suran. “If you go after Roman, you are entering... a world of shit.”

“That's just the way I like it,” said Wisdom. “Idle threats don't scare me, mate.”

Suran began to laugh.

“Something funny?”

“Yeah... I'm laughing because you have no idea what you're getting yourself into,” said Suran. “So sure, I'll tell you who's behind this.”

“I'm all ears.”

“His name's... Niles Roman,” said Suran. “And I'm telling you right now, there is nothing that can prepare you for what you're about to get involved with. You are fucking with some very powerful people, Mr. Wisdom. People you do not want to get mixed up with.”

“We'll see about that,” said Wisdom. “Where is he?”

“Siberia... an old gulag,” said Suran.

“Why mutant organs?”

“Universal donors... high value on the black market...” said Suran. “But as far as why does Roman do it? It's to fund his other experiments. Ones that his powerful friends need his help with.”

Port Victoria
Republic of Seychelles
One Month Earlier

Raven Darkholme emerged from the ship's hull, aiding with the unloading of the shipment. Her mutant powers of shapeshifting enabled her to look just like one of the crew. After some investigating, she determined that the only shipment route from Hammer Bay to Africa was through Port Victoria, which made it the first place to check.

Her task was to simply unload the crates into the warehouse, then she was to board the ship and head back to Hammer Bay. Apparently, they used a different crew to move the shipments from Port Victoria to Asia. But where that crew was, she had no idea.

While watching her crewmates board the ship, Raven slipped away, morphing as she went, continuously changing her disguise in order to throw off anyone who may have spotted her.

She heard voices and pressed herself against the wall. She morphed again, her body taking on the color and texture of the wall. Had anyone looked closer, they may have spotted her. But just passing by, she was easy to miss. Once they passed by, Raven followed them. She peered around the corner and watched as they entered the warehouse. Raven looked down at her hand and it morphed into a suction-like claw that allowed her to climb the side of the building.

As soon as she reached an appropriate vantage point, she peered through a window. A limousine approached from outside and the doors opened for it. Once inside, two armed guards in suits and wearing white masks stepped out of the front. Out of the back came two more. The white masks had slits for the eyes and mouth and there was a familiarity about them. One of the guards held the door open and a woman stepped out. Her appearance caused Raven's eyes to widen in shock.

The woman had pale skin, a sharp contrast from her jet-black hair which was pulled into a bun, save for bangs that framed her face. Beneath each eye was a sort of facial tattoo, almost like a scar. She wore a form-fitting leather bodice. Mystique knew where she recognized the masks from—they were the masks worn by guards of the Hellfire Club. And the woman who was with them was a woman who should have been dead.

A woman named Tessa.

“It took you long enough, my dear,” came a voice. Tessa looked to see another woman approach from the darkness. She wore green and blue armor and had short, dark hair.

“We need to get this next shipment out immediately, Astra,” said Tessa. “You know how Mr. Shaw feels about delays.”

Shaw! Mystique's blood began to boil. Shinobi Shaw, that sniveling little turncoat. She should have guessed the head of Shaw Industries was selling Sentinel technology on the black market. Doing it legally was no longer an option, especially with him working for Magneto. But illegally? Under the table? That was another matter entirely.

“Child's play, my dear,” said Astra. She waved her hands and the crates began to vanish, one by one, from the storage facility. Transported to their destination, wherever that may be. Most-likely a government hostile to mutants.

Mystique was tempted to leap into the fray and kill both Tessa and Astra right here and right now, but she knew that would be a suicide mission. No, she would report back to Wisdom on what she found.

“Excuse me.”

Mystique jerked her head around. Standing on the ground were two Hellfire Club guards, both of them with machine guns trained on her. They opened fire.

Wisdom untied Suran's legs and his other hand, then pulled the chair out from under him, letting him fall to the ground.

“Get out of here,” said Wisdom.

Suran moved for the door but he saw his gun sitting on a table. He rushed for it and Wisdom brandished his hot knives. “Easy mate, one of these will go through your head before you've pulled the trigger.”

“Who said I was going for you?” asked Suran with a smile. He put the gun against his chin and fired.

The door opened again and the rest of X-Force poured inside. “What was that?” asked Maverick.

“Suran,” said Wisdom. “He gave me what we needed to know, so I let him go.”

“Just to shoot him?” asked Brass.

“No,” said Wisdom. “He did that to himself.”

Maverick nodded. “Okay then.”

“You believe that?” asked Brass.

“Even if I don't, it hardly matters now, does it?” asked Maverick.

“What did you find out?” asked Dust.

“The man in charge is Niles Roman, he's operating out of an old gulag in Siberia,” said Wisdom. “Which means his operation stretches past Thailand. We're going to Russia.”