Bishop looked out through the bushes to see what kind of defenses the compound they had been assigned to penetrate had. After taking a brief look he turned back to his teammates, Maverick and Lydia del Ruiz. Holding his permanent icy stare he went over the bases' defenses, "We have five armored cars each holding four people. One person in every car has a rocket launcher. Surrounding the cars in a perimeter are heavily armored men carrying a large amount of grenades. Over the roof of the compound are seven helicopters all with double machine gun mounts. Two tanks are on each side of the building and they look to be in pretty good condition."

"So basically there is no way we're getting into that compound," Lydia summed up.

"Never say never," Bishop replied as he pointed upwards. Three unidentified jets zoomed overhead raining down experimental scatter missiles on the compound's defenses. Bishop had put in the call about an hour ago and was hoping that things could have been easily resolved. Black Tarantula didn't seem up for an easy resolution.

"You called in air support. Nice," Maverick complimented as carnage rained down on Tarantula's base.

Bishop nodded, "We work for SHIELD. We should use the resources available to us."

"Yea, but muscle works just as well sometimes!" Lydia exclaimed rolling up her sleeves and running headlong into the congregation of confused thugs. Four of them turned and fired their weapons at her. She didn't give a damn as she simply dodged them and moved towards one of the burning cars.

"I do believe she's lost her mind," Maverick commented staring at how fast Lydia ran under the gunfire and made her way to whatever her target was.

"She might have. Doesn't mean we don't help her!" Bishop proclaimed as he ran from the bushes and began to suppress what thugs that weren't firing at Lydia with heavy plasma blasts.

"That's all fine and dandy, but I don't care to expose myself," Maverick replied staying behind the bushes and becoming sniper protection for both Bishop and Lydia. Whenever someone got close to them Maverick took them out with a quick shot to the head.

Observing del Ruiz, North saw that she was running full sprint towards the direction of a burning car. It didn't make one lick of sense and Maverick became mesmerized by the nonsensical actions of Lydia. She threw one arm into the searing flames and gripped the bumper tightly. Hoisting the burning object into the air she hurled it into the perimeter electric fence surrounding the base. A large explosion tore through the air and killed whatever thugs were unfortunate enough to be in the way.

Shooting down the last of the Tarantula's enforcers, Maverick stepped from the bushes, "Damn Lydia! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'd like to know the same thing," Bishop added.

Lydia found it hard to give a reasonable explanation. It was just some rage that overcame her. She was thinking about Peter and the condition he was in. The words of Maverick and Bishop along with the jets dropping their bombs were all a mumbling blur to Lydia. She remembered saying something and then taking off in a fit. Had Wisdom's current condition really messed her up that much? Looking down at her hand Lydia didn't even notice the slight burns she had. She was quite fortunate her hand hadn't been charred.

"I don't know what came over me. I just went for it I guess," Lydia murmured.

Bishop was about to lecture her about the lives that were needlessly lost, but stopped before a word eeked out of his mouth. He had killed far too many in his time to criticize Lydia and besides he had already created enough tension between Siryn and Marcus. He didn't need any more people gunning out for him. Maverick was of the same mind as Bishop. He had killed too many to criticize Lydia's act of rage.

"Lets just get in this base and take care of business before any backup shows up for these guys," Maverick groaned as he walked to the hole that Lydia had created when she threw a car like a discus.

"Indeed. We need no more vehicles being hurled," Bishop commented as he put his plasma guns into black holsters at his waist.

"Lets not make an issue of it. Alright?" Lydia said as she stomped off ahead of the two men towards whatever possible dangers lied in the base.

"You just love rubbing it in don't you?" Maverick accused harshly.

"I only state the facts. Now lets go before she gets herself into more trouble."

Katherine Pryde moved Marcus through the thick steel wall like it was a thin piece of paper. She had already phased in Shard who was standing guard for the two of them. Kitty sincerely hoped that Shard hadn't encountered any resistance while she was snatching Marcus into the base. She would have taken them both in at the same time, but Marcus was keeping all the base's guards distracted with his telepathy. It gave her and Shard time to make a small assessment of the interior of the base.

"You and Wisdom must have skipped out on restaurant checks all the time with your abilities," Marcus joked a little louder than he probably should have as they stepped through the steel wall.

"I'm sure we owe this one place enough to help them build a new facility," Kitty replied with a wink.

Shard was constantly scanning the hallway looking for any sign of trouble. She was holding two hand sized laser cannons and had heat beams attached to her wrist that activated at mental command. Once upon a time she wouldn't have used any weapons since she was a photon based being. Now since having been flesh and blood once more the stakes were higher and she couldn't afford to walk around without any equipment. Marcus and herself were both wearing black Kevlar armor padded underneath with a thin steel mesh.

Ignoring the jesting of Kitty and Marcus, the former XSE reported, "I have yet to see any sign of trouble yet though I'm starting to think someone knows we're here. It's way too quiet and even if we did get the drop on them we should have encountered some resistance by now. Unless Black Tarantula is dumb enough to leave his bases this poorly secured."

"Agreed. Marcus try and scan for any nearby brain wave patterns," Shadowcat ordered.

Placing one hand to his temple Marcus went silent for a few seconds and shook his head, "I'm not getting anything at all. Only the guards outside. Shard's right. Something isn't right here."

A light applause could be heard from the end of the barely lit hallway. All three X-Forcers heads turned to see a deathly pale man wearing an expensive black suit and sunglasses to match. His long white hair was pulled back into a ponytail and his gangly frame betrayed the true power he had underneath. His name was Bloodscream and life for him stretched back to the 16th century.

Only recently had he returned to the employ of Black Tarantula. For a time he was working under the Tan Crime Family in Hong Kong until the Exiles crashed the party and Exodus wiped the entire family out save the patriarch of the bunch who was locked up in prison. It was during that period of time when the woman known as Onset snatched Bloodscream up. She used him as a piece in something called The Dark Zodiac. Once again the Exiles interfered and his life was saved. After that experience he decided to take some time off. It wasn't long though before the criminal life called out to him again. This time around he would have to fly solo under Tarantula as his long time partner, Roughhouse, had been killed fighting against the Shadow King. For a while the necromancer blamed his absence for his partner's death, but now he blamed Logan and there would be a reckoning. For now though he would entertain X-Force.

"So you three aren't as dumb as the rest of SHIELD. I'm impressed though I should have expected that from Xavier's bunch. Or perhaps I should refer to you as Genesis' bunch now?" Bloodscream smiled showing teeth too white for a man of his pale color.

"No!" Marcus exclaimed earning him an awkward stare from Shard and Shadowcat. The two of them didn't know the truth about the leader of SHIELD and Raven had only helped to plant seeds of curiosity in their minds. He wanted to kick himself.

"I see someone is a bit touchy. Guess the wound of the old man's death is still raw," Bloodscream laughed.

"Okay you're so getting an ass whuppin now," Shadowcat replied preparing to put some of her ninja skills into action.

"Don't make a move," Bloodscream warned as gun mounts appeared from the roof and armored guards appeared beside the necromancer. More men came up behind X-Force and kept their guns aimed at lethal portions of the mutants' bodies. Waving a finger of disapproval Bloodscream said, "You might be able to phase Shadowcat, but your other teammates would get ripped to pieces by my weapons. So don't even try."

"Fine. We'll play this your way," Shadowcat said dropping her battle stance.

"Of course we will," the eerie looking necromancer smiled.

"What the hell?!" Marcus exclaimed as blood began to trickle down from three spots across his head.

Shard was experiencing the same phenomena as blood flowed from her eyelids blocking her vision. Kitty was unaffected, but knew what was happening. Bloodscream was using his ability to make blood spontaneously flow. If she didn't act soon the two of them would bleed to death. Being with the Shadow King had bought her power enhancements that hadn't all entirely faded away whether by Katherine's strength of will or otherwise. She had a great deal more control over the effect, localization, and proximity of her powers. It was time that she stopped being afraid to use them.

Concentrating the ground beneath her became intangible and as the effect spread so did her teammates. Holding her concentration on the localized phasing Kitty flipped forward phasing straight through Bloodscream. She sent a phased foot through the heads of the all the guards behind the necromancer.

Marcus smiled as he caught on to what Kitty was doing. She wasn't trying to physically hurt Bloodscream and the guards behind him. She was just taking out their telepathic blockers. Raven reached out with his telepathy and had Bloodscream turn his powers on the guards that were shooting a hail of worthless bullets at himself and Shard. Then he proceeded to take control of the guards behind Bloodscream and had the guards at war with each other.

Shadowcat stopped by a mesmerized Bloodscream and whispered in his ear, "I laid Iron Man flat on his back. You really thought your tech was safe from me?"

Jogging back to a phased Marcus and Shard the young woman was grinning from ear to ear at what she had just accomplished, "Lets keep moving. See if we can find some information that'll be useful."

Northern Base

Bishop carefully opened the door to the third floor of the compound. They had encountered little resistance on the first two floors and the three-person team hoped to make it to the top without having to take on too many guns. Waving a hand for everything being clear Lydia and Maverick moved out into the hallway with Bishop.

"Think there are any more noses for us to break?" Lydia asked cracking her knuckles.

"Yep," Maverick replied simply.

"And you know this how?" Lydia asked rolling her eyes jokingly.

"Because I can't move," Maverick said through gritted teeth.

"Ahh shit," Lydia groaned as she realized she had been rendered immobile as well.

Bishop whipped out his guns and had one pointing at each end of the hallway. He was still able to move and would take full advantage of it. He fired off his weapons hoping that he would hit something out of luck.

"Guns are so trite!" a shadow exclaimed as he moved along the side of the wall, avoiding Bishop's blasts, and slamming his feet straight into the former Omega team leader's chest. Bishop went flying through the door and went tumbling down the concrete stairs.

As Bishop rolled and skidded across the stairs he saw his shadow had a form and it was that of the man they had been sent to find. The Black Tarantula had taken first blood and it would be the last strike he had. Bishop finally came to a stop on the midway point between the second floor and third floor. He had landed on his so he had no idea if Tarantula was heading for him. Quickly flipping his body over Bishop saw that indeed Black Tarantula was in mid-air planning to stomp on the future soldier's head.

"Try again," a bruised and bloody Bishop said firing off his plasma guns. The blasts struck the drug lord in the chest and sent him into the concrete wall creating an indent in it. Getting up to his feet Bishop continued the barrage of blasts burying the concrete wall on top of Tarantula.

Relief washed over Bishop as he slid his guns into their holsters. His confidence was short lived as a sudden crash and a heel to the chin sent Bishop bouncing off the wall and straight through the door that led to the second floor. Pain was searing all throughout Bishop's body. He was an XSE though and putting aside pain was as simple as holding one's breath. Getting up to his feet Bishop looked right into the eyes of his foe.

There didn't seem to be a scratch anywhere on Black Tarantula. The pounds of concrete that fell on him might as well have been freshly picked cotton. He couldn't tell, but Bishop could swear that the criminal was smiling underneath his black mask.

"What did you do to the others?" Bishop asked ignoring the fact that he had a concussion and broken ankle. He had been in worse injuries while working for Witness so the pain he was feeling now while agonizing could be put aside.

"I have a few mutants on my staff. I just had one of them put your friends on the fritz. Don't worry I won't hurt them. I just wanted the two of us to have some quality time."

"You have my attention. Make use of it," Bishop remarked.

Black Tarantula charged forward and as Bishop was preparing to fire his guns the drug lord leaped into the air doing a split allowing both of his feet to kick the guns out of Bishop's hands. The metallic weapons went scraping along the ground and out of the reach of their owner.

"Wrong move," Bishop exclaimed as he sent his elbow straight into the genitalia of Black Tarantula, which had been left completely exposed from the mid-air split.

The masked man fell to the ground in a fetal position and struggled to get his breath back. Bishop ran to the fallen body and delivered a kick to the head. Black Tarantula's body snapped back, but as it did the drug lord swiftly kicked Bishop in the back of his knees sending the former XSE falling to the ground headfirst. A loud thump could be heard as Bishop slipped into unconsciousness.

"I'll admit. You were good. Just not on my level yet," Black Tarantula said as he got to his feet and lifted Bishop's body into the air by the hard plastic collar of his suit.

"This fight isn't over!" Bishop yelled as he unleashed a kinetic blast from his hands powerful enough to propel Black Tarantula down the hall and out of the window at the end of it. Following the flying body Bishop jumped out of the window as well and went into freefall. Aiming right at the disoriented body of Black Tarantula the M branded mutant let loose all that remained of his energy.

The blast was large enough to engulf Black Tarantula's body and create a crater for him to land in. Bishop landed on the ground a few feet away from the crater with the grace of a cat despite his broken ankle. Any other normal person would have passed out from the pain, but Bishop was far from normal. Even so, he had hoped that his combined energy reserves would have been enough to put down the drug lord. He was wrong.

"Persistent little brat!" Black Tarantula screamed as he rose from the crater. His mask was ripped in various places and one of his gloves had been incinerated. Smoke billowed off of his body and yet none of this seemed to affect him in the slightest.

"You bought this on yourself. You really thought selling nerve gas wouldn't get SHIELD's attention?" Bishop asked hoping that Black Tarantula's steel resolve would soon fade and save him a world of hurt.

Black Tarantula began to laugh hysterically, "You act like I wouldn't mind sticking to drugs? Go talk to Force Works and tell them that they're blows against the drug trade have forced people like myself to seek other revenue sources. They've paved the way for people like Abyss to step in."

Bishop remembered that name from the confiscated Zeneo Tech. Files, "Who the hell is Abyss?"

"You're asking me like I know. All I know is that he's a monster. He's going to revitalize the drug industry very soon and he's going about oh so cleverly. That's why I picked you to fight. I'd know you'd listen to what I have to say. You're a scrapper sure, but your curiosity will always overwhelm that."

"And you know all this about me how?" Bishop asked feeling a bit of anger rise up in his throat.

"Doesn't matter," Black Tarantula said charging at Bishop again. He punched his opponent in the stomach and latching onto the back of his shirt flung him into the overly green grass.

Bishop kicked out his leg and bought Tarantula to the ground. Then with his other leg he slammed his calf into the drug lord's throat, "What is this Abyss up to?"

Gripping Bishop's thigh with one hand Black Tarantula lifted the X-Forcer into the air and slung him into a nearby tree. Having accumulated some energy Bishop blasted the tree into scrap. Soaring through the air Bishop landed on his broken ankle and let out a cry of pain and fell flat on his back.

Finally having the ability to speak again Tarantula gripped his throat and moved towards Bishop, "Abyss is genetically creating drug addicted humans to push the demand for drugs to a point that there will be a drug boom unseen since the 80s."

Getting up to his feet Bishop snarled at Tarantula, "You're lying!"

"Think what you want," Tarantula laughed holding a handful of miniature black spiders in his hand. Flinging the spiders outward they flew directly towards Bishop.

Bishop knew that the spiders were probably explosives of some type. There was no way he'd be able to dodge them so desperate times called for desperate measures. He was about to try something he had never done before. Unleashing his energy he shaped into the form of shield that protected him from the exploding spiders. While the shield has protected him from the spiders it had blocked his vision. Upon dropping the shield Black Tarantula was on Bishop like a vulture to dead meat.

A right hook to the face. Punch to the gut. Elbow to the temple. A knee to the ribs. Black Tarantula was punishing Bishop and he simply wasn't able to get in a good block or blow with his broken ankle. Finally, Bishop was able to stop a punch to the solar plexus and gave Tarantula a jab to the throat. Quickly throwing back the blocking arm the former XSE unsheathed a knife and stabbed the drug lord in the gut with the weapon.

"I was trying to avoid lethal force, but like I said before. You bought this on yourself," Bishop spat as an electrical surge flew from the knife electrifying Tarantula's innards.

The body of his foe crumpled to the ground and once again smoke was billowing from it. Bishop stepped over the body carefully and began to make his way back to the compound hoping that Maverick and Lydia really were unharmed.

"You're a bastard!" a voice yelled. Bishop turned around in complete shock to see Black Tarantula holding the knife he had been stabbed with in one hand and the other clutching his stomach. Before Bishop could even react Black Tarantula threw the knife and struck Bishop slightly above his heart. Black Tarantula had intended for that to be his mark. He wasn't out to kill Bishop. Besides he knew that his throw had done the trick.

Despite Bishop's better wishes his body gave into complete exhaustion and fell backward. He had simply taken too much punishment and not even XSE training could completely deny the body's wishes.

Dusting his shoulder off Black Tarantula made his way for a helicopter that was suppose to be picking him up. Keeping a firm hand over his stomach Tarantula was not only sure of his victory, but that the fear of Abyss was now in X-Force. He knew that he had lost two of his compounds, but they were hardly important in the long run. Tarantula had been in this game too long to not know to keep his deck stacked.

And as he made his way to the jungle path that would lead to his escape the drug lord left Bishop to wallow in his defeat.

Helicarrier (Two Days Later)

"Our operations in Dallas went smoothly. The XSE operatives proved themselves to be quite effective. I'm impressed," Mystique said though her facial expression hardly showed it.

{{I knew they would impress. I have high hopes for them.}}

"We wired both compounds to explode so Black Tarantula has two less facilities to work with," Shadowcat reported.

"It seems though that we've found a culprit for why Black Tarantula turned to selling nerve gas," Lydia added leaning back in her chair a bit trying to keep from smiling at Bishop.

Siryn was seated at the other end of the table and wasn't smiling only because she had run out of laughter the night before. Bishop had gotten his ass handed to him and all he had been doing since was pouting. Even his sister couldn't approach him without getting her head bit off. Of course she bit his off right back.

Bishop ignored the two women and growled the name of the suspects under his breath, "Force Works."

"Someone needs to give those kids a lesson good ol mutant style," Maverick said. Force Works had overstepped their bounds on more than one occasion and were slaves to the media. No more so than the Avengers or Fantastic Four, but you could trust those teams not to make matters worse.

"Before you get all gung ho remember these guys held their own against the Avengers West Coast team. They're nothing close to pushovers," Lydia reminded.

{{Besides Force Works is another matter for another day. We have more pressing issues.}}

"Like…" Siryn asked letting her voice trail off.

"My home coming isn't good enough news?" Pete Wisdom asked as he stepped through the door in a black leather jacket and a yellow collar around his neck.

"Nice piece of jewelry you got on you Wisdom," Katherine joked as she stood up and Peter gave her a hug. It did not go unnoticed by Lydia that Kitty was the first one that Peter had really greeted.

"This bloody thing is a power dampener that keeps my damn abilities in check until the sods on Muir Island can figure out how to help me," Peter said tugging at the device. The all around specifics were that Moira wasn't sure if she had eliminated all of Shadow King's "boobie" traps so the power dampeners were a precaution at the moment.

{{Good to have you back Wisdom. I'll let your team update you.}}

Later that Night…

{{This is Trish Tibly. A group calling themselves the Avatars of Mandarin has conducted a massive terrorist attack against France today. The UN immediately dispatched Excalibur to neutralize the group. No word yet on the success of the team or the extent of the damage. One thing is certain. This country has been devastated.}}

All of X-Force had heard that report only an hour ago and each had taken it their own way. Lydia at the moment was packing her bags. She was off to check on her Aunt Petunia and as such resigning from X-Force.

"You're really leaving huh?" Maverick asked as he walked into the room where Lydia was furiously packing the essentials.

"Yea. I got to David. My Aunt is out there and I don't know what shape she's in. I gotta go there and if it means leaving X-Force that's what I gotta do."

Maverick, "Fine. I'm coming with you."

Lydia smiled. She knew better than argue with David. She couldn't guess at his reasons for wanting to come, but she was sure it had something to do with Kitty. That was part of the reason she was leaving as well. Wisdom and her had been over with a long time ago. She needed to get away from him.

"Fine lets blow this place. The Eiffel Tower awaits!" Lydia exclaimed.

"I've seen it, but I'm sure seeing it one more time couldn't hurt," Maverick grinned.

The two of them hated leaving so suddenly, but it had to be done. Too many goodbyes and they would end up staying. They needed a clean break and this was the only way they were ever going to get it.

Elsewhere on the Helicarrier… (Interlude 1)

Genesis had summoned Bryson Bale, Mastodon, and Kamal and he had one message to give them.

{{The full realization of the XSE program is at hand.}}

Monaco

"I should have known you would be here eventually," Black Tarantula said turning his wine cup that was half filled, "Though honestly I was expecting Vortigen Walker."

"He's busy with other affairs for Abyss at the moment. Where is the Book of Omens?" Charon asked waddling to the furnished seat that the drug lord had seated himself in.

"I'll have Bloodscream bring it to you. He should be down momentarily. Now what would you need this book for?" Black Tarantula asked.

"Its not my place to ask questions. Though I have something to deliver to you," Charon said pulling out a letter and handing it to the skilled warrior.

My Dear Tarantula,
I trust everything went according to plan. I have confidence in your abilities. Now I need something of you. The Book of Omens is in your possession and I desire the ancient Mayan text. In exchange for this book you will be freed from my service and I'll give you a parting gift. A powerful new synthetic drug I've devised called Abysmal. This letter has the instructions on how to create this drug hidden in invisible ink. If you wish to follow through with this deal simply give Charon the Book of Omens.

Dearest wishes,
Abyss

Black Tarantula read the letter and smiled. Sliding it into the pocket of his shirt the crime lord turned his chair and said, "I think we've come to an understanding Charon."