Siberia
One Month Earlier

Niles Roman had a large grin on his face. “What's that, Mr. Wisdom? No witty repartee?”

“Maybe it's because I already knew you were working with Interpol,” said Wisdom. “Your boy Suran told me all about it. I just needed to know what exactly you were doing with those organs. And now that I found that out, while the rest of my team has been gathering evidence on Sentinel tech, things are finally coming full circle.”

“...you didn't know,” said Roman. “There's no possible way you knew.”

“That Suran was your liason to Interpol? Oh, I know all about it,” said Wisdom. “In a recent study, nine out of ten nuns agreed that I can be quite persuasive.”

“So what now?” asked Roman. “Do we have a battle here while your teammates are outside fighting their own organization?”

“Not quite,” said Wisdom. “You see, I'm not interested in all this. You're nothing but a small fish in a much bigger pond. I'm after the great white whale, and you're nothing more than a minnow. All you've done is given me more ammo to use against these bastards, and I'm going to bring this operation down around their heads.”

“Do you really think SHIELD is going to let you out of here alive?” asked Roman. “You are going down, Wisdom. And today is the day.”

“No, actually it's not,” said Wisdom. “I'm a resourceful man, Niles old son. And I've got a contingency plan for everything.”

“Hah!” Roman chuckled. “Mr. Wisdom, short of vanishing into thin air, there is no possible escape for you.”

“Funny you should mention that.” Wisdom cracked a smile. “You see, that's exactly how we're getting out of here. But not before I tie up a loose end here.”

“And what loose end would that be?”

“This.” Wisdom raised his finger and a hot knife shot from his tip, firing right through Roman's forehead, killing him instantly. “You may be small game, but that doesn't mean I'm going to leave you around to continue pulling this shit. You've cheated death enough already, Niles.”

Wisdom tapped his earpiece. “It's Pete. We ready for that cover fire?”

{I'm cruising in right now.}

“That's my girl,” said Wisdom. He switched channels. “How about you, Charlie? You in position?”

{Once I get the go-ahead from the Major, I come in blasting.}

“Good lad.” Once more he switched channels. “X-Force, prepare for extraction.”

{What are you talking about, Pete? Where the hell are you, we're on our last legs here!}

“Relax Mav, everything's going according to plan.” He placed a memory stick into Roman's computer, downloading the files. Once the download was complete, he removed it and placed it in a case which he swallowed. “I'll meet you lot at the front door.”

Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents

COLD WAR
Part One

By Dino Pollard

“According to plan? This is a total cluster—”

The words died in Maverick's mouth as a Kamov Ka-52 helicopter gunship flew overhead, laying down fire on the SHIELD agents. X-Force drew off to the side as the gunship went to work, providing a distraction for SHIELD.

A portal appeared and a man dressed in armor emerged from it, laying down some other fire before he turned to X-Force. “Hurry, get in!”

“Who are you?” asked Brass.

“Introductions later, mate,” said Wisdom, emerging from the facility. “Valentina can't hold those agents off forever, so get moving!”

Wisdom leapt into the portal first, followed by Maverick, Dust, Brass and Weapon X. The armored man took one last look up at the sky and saw the gunship beginning to veer off-course into retreat. He followed X-Force into the portal and it closed behind him.

When X-Force emerged from the portal, they found themselves in a bunker of some sort. The entire team turned to Wisdom and Maverick was the one who broke the silence. “Just what is going on here, Pete?”

“Right then, full disclosure time, eh?” asked Pete. “Everyone, meet Charles Little Sky, or Portal as he likes to be called. Charlie, this is Maverick, Brass, Dust and Weapon X.”

“Nice to meet you all,” said Portal.

“Who is he?” asked Brass.

“A mutant, like us. On loan from MUSE,” said Pete. “Figured we'd need a hand getting out of a hot spot, so I dropped our contact there a line.”

“And the gunship?” asked Maverick. “That was a Kamov Ka-52. Those aren't even in mass-production yet.”

“Charlie, make sure Valentina gets back here safe, right?” asked Wisdom. Portal nodded and vanished into his namesake. Pete lit a cigarette and took a seat. “Everyone relax, we've got to wait for Charlie and Val to get back before I go into the details.”

“You've been keeping things from us, haven't you?” asked Dust.

“To be frank, yes,” said Wisdom. “'This is a war that's been fought on multiple fronts and each front only knew of their own mission and that I was the one calling the shots. Now, it's time to pull back the curtain and say hello to the wizard.”

A portal opened and Little Sky stepped out with a Russian woman dressed in military fatigues who had short, dark hair. She smiled when she saw Pete. “Good to see you're still alive,” she spoke with her accent.

“You too, love. Any trouble getting out?”

“I had to abandon the Kamov,” she said. “By the way, Colonel Vazhin wanted me to tell you you're welcome and you owe him a new gunship.”

“Tell Alexei we're even after that little episode in '95,” said Wisdom.

“Now that we're all here, can we begin with the disclosure?” asked Maverick.

“Right you are, Davey,” said Wisdom, sitting down as he exhaled smoke. “Like I said, we've been operating on three fronts. After Burma, we knew Sentinel tech was being sold on the black market. I sent Charlie over here to Russia to meet with Major Valentina Rychenko and had the two of them monitor that aspect of it.”

“Except no Sentinel technology was missing, none that we could find,” said Valentina.

“So I also had another agent of ours in Genosha keep an eye on things down there—Mystique.”

“So we're working with terrorists?” asked Brass.

“Not up on current events, are you?” asked Maverick. “Mystique has been working with SHIELD for a while.”

“Right, so I had Mystique investigate as well as two other agents in Africa—Prudence Leighton, whom you've all met and...”

Wisdom paused as he looked at Maverick. “What?” asked the German spy. “Why are you looking at me?”

“The other agent is Victor Creed.”

“Jesus Christ, Wisdom...” muttered Maverick.

“He's under control.”

“That's what everyone says before he snaps and starts tearing out entrails.”

“Anyway, let's continue,” said Wisdom. “The three of them discovered Sentinel tech was indeed being smuggled out of Genosha, although I haven't heard back from them yet, so I don't know what they've discovered.”

“And then there's us,” said Dust.

“It wasn't chance that we stumbled on Roman's operation, I knew the area he operated in and that was going to be our next mission. Weapon X discovered something going on before I had the chance, though. And when I cornered Suran and interrogated him, he told me what was really going on—or at least a part of it.”

“Which is?” asked Brass.

“Mutant organ harvesting is just one small part of Roman's operation. Suran is an Interpol agent.”

“Undercover?”

“Liason.”

“So you're saying Interpol is working with Roman?” asked Brass.

“Something like that, yeah,” said Wisdom. “This is all connected to genetic warfare. Bio-engineered super soldiers infusing a combination of Sentinel technology with mutant organs. We have to stop this now or else we're going to have a brand new Cold War on our hands.”

“What about SHIELD?” asked Brass. “Am I to assume we're going rogue?”

“Someone tipped off Internal Affairs to our existence,” said Wisdom. “And given that a lot of countries are working with Roman, that means the heat is on.”

“Who would have tipped them off?” asked Maverick.

“Burma seems like the most-likely suspect,” said Wisdom.

“So what do we do about Roman now?” asked Brass.

“Nothing, I killed him. Our concern now is getting to the heart of this matter and taking out the big dog.”

“And who might that be?” asked Dust.

“The Hellfire Club.”

The group looked at the door. Mystique stood there with Prudence by her side and Sabretooth towering behind the pair. “We found Tessa and Astra at the drop site along with HFC guards.”

“Shaw?” asked Wisdom.

“I think they're working alone,” said Mystique. “We interrogated Shinobi, he knows nothing of this.”

“You're sure he wasn't lying?” asked Dust.

“Positive,” said Prudence. “If he lied, I would have known about it.”

“So what do we do now?” asked Valentina.

“Osaka,” said Mystique. “We found out that the parts are shipped there first before being distributed across the world as—get this—prosthetics.”

“Okay, here's our plan,” said Wisdom. “Val, I want you to stay here, talk with Vazhin, see what sort of ins you can get us with Interpol. And have Vazhin contact Fury, let him know the story. Charlie, get back to MUSE, keep Fixx in the loop on this. We may need back-up. Pru, I want you back in Seychelles, keep an eye on things in Port Victoria, see what you can do about blocking any other shipments from Genosha.”

“And what about me and Raven?” asked Sabretooth.

“You two are with us, we're going to Japan,” said Wisdom. “Once we're there, we split off. Raven and Dust, you two are with me, there's a contact there we have to meet with. Mav, you take Creed, Brass and Weapon X and you find out where Tessa and Astra are hiding out.”

“Everyone understand their job?” he asked. Nods of approval followed. “Good. Charlie, if you'd be so kind...?”

SHIELD Helicarrier
Three Weeks Ago

Commander Abigail Brand stormed into Fury's office, overriding the access code to the door. Fury immediately rose from behind his desk, his face contorted with rage. “Just what the hell do you think you're doing?”

“My job, something you might want to consider, Colonel,” said Brand. She tossed a memory stick to Fury. He looked at it for a few moments then plugged it into his desk. A hologram appeared, showing the video from Brand's team and their recent battle with X-Force.

“You attacked SHIELD agents?” asked Fury.

“We gave them a chance to surrender and they refused,” said Brand.

“You went over my head.”

“I had to. You weren't being straight with me, but it gets better.”

That was when the Kamov piloted by Valentina flew into the scene, laying down fire and allowing X-Force to make their escape. “We couldn't find a trace of them. The Kamov was abandoned a few clicks away with the pilot nowhere to be seen. They're working with a teleporter.”

“Who is?” asked Fury.

“Don't play dumb with me, Fury. Your little covert mutant team.”

“We've been over this, X-Force doesn't exist.”

“On paper, maybe,” said Brand. “Yet three of our agents and one incarcerated prisoner are unaccounted for. All four of them along with another masked operative have been identified in this video.”

The video changed, this time to the interrogation of Suran in Thailand. “Recognition software positively identified all of them. Three of them are SHIELD agents, two of those agents have past associations with X-Force, one of them is our missing terrorist and the fourth is a mutant assassin who was part of the unsanctioned X-Force.”

“What do you want for all this, a medal?” asked Fury.

“No, I want you to give me full disclosure.”

“How about you tell me some things, Brand?” asked Fury. “Such as, why the hell were they at an abandoned gulag anyway? Who was this guy they were interrogating?”

“An investigation into the gulag has been blocked by the UN Security Council,” said Brand. “As for the victim, his name's Suran, an undercover Interpol agent. Wisdom tortured him.”

“Wisdom wouldn't torture an Interpol agent.”

“But he would torture a suspect, wouldn't he?” asked Brand. “We can add violation of the Geneva Conventions to his list of crimes then, can't we?”

She handed Fury a piece of paper and he took it from her. “What's this?”

“That is a resolution adopted by the Security Council stating that I have full authority to use any and all SHIELD resources to bring in Wisdom and his accomplices,” said Brand. “As of this moment, I am acting Director of SHIELD.”

“You've gotta be shittin' me...”

“You've proven yourself unable to fulfill your duties, so this is the way it has to be,” said Brand. “I'm sorry, Colonel. I'll be assembling a team to clean up your mess.”

It took only a few short hours to assemble the team Brand planned to use against Wisdom. Two of them were not on assignment and the third had left SHIELD but Brand was able to convince her to return.

“I'd like to thank you for agreeing to meet with me. As you all know, this is a matter of dire global security and the UNSC has granted me full authority to act to bring this matter to justice.”

On the monitor appeared the images of their targets. “Now, I know you recognize some of these targets and I understand the mixed emotions. However, they have crossed a line and we need to bring them in. I hope we can all be professionals about this.”

“This is a dangerous game you're playing, Commander. None of these are lightweights. They could cause significant trouble.”

“I understand that. But I also know that you are well-qualified and you wouldn't shirk your duties. Would you, Agent Bishop?”

The former X-Man shook his head. “No ma'am, I will not.”

“Agent Shard, Agent Rourke, have you anything to add?”

Shard shook her head. Theresa Rourke, however, felt the need to voice her opinion. “I wanna be clear on one thing, Brand. I'm doing this because Pete and David are me friends, understand? An' the last thing I wanna do is see them gunned down by your agents.”

“Whatever gets you on my team, Agent,” said Brand. “I have a contact within Wisdom's unit who has informed me they're in Osaka. I've spoken to the Japanese government and one of their heroes will assist you in the capture.”

“You have someone inside X-Force?” asked Shard. “Who is it?”

“I'm not at liberty to say at the moment,” said Brand.

“We need to know who's on our side, Commander,” said Bishop.

“No, you don't. Just bring them all in alive and I'll take it from there.”

“An' who are we meeting?” asked Siryn.

“Shiro Yoshida. Goes by the name Sunfire.”

“Perfect...” muttered Bishop.