Pete Wisdom

Nick Fury

Cannonball

Colonel Nicholas Fury, Executive Director of SHIELD* and veteran of three wars, looked at the display panel in front of him. He didn't like what he saw. In the past week, since the events in Madripoor, Hydra's activities had increased. With the Shadow King in charge, it seemed that Hydra had a new lease on life and it worried him.

(* Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistic Directorate - David)

Before Hydra had just been a Nazi revivalist terrorist group, now they were acting much more like a global terrorist organization. They'd started operating smoother, being more effective in what they were doing and they were one step ahead of everything. However, Hydra were just the tip of the iceberg as far as Fury was concerned.

Global crime was on the increase in scales unimaginable. Names like Deus and Deathglare kept coming up, the Hand were making moves against Tony Stark, Captain America wasn't exactly the man he'd once been, according to the reports he'd gotten about the last favour he'd done for SHIELD, and the Avengers as a whole were doing other things.*

(* As seen in the various titles across the Marvel 2000 universe - David)

The X-Men were also in a sorrier state than they had been for a while, as they were still cleaning up after the mess caused by Apocalypse, plus there was the other point that Magneto was in charge of Genosha and that was a powder keg just waiting to go up. Nick sighed, thinking how much things had changed since the Second World War.

"Gotten quicker too in the last few years," said Nick, thinking how much had changed recently. Heroes were called in for crisis management these days and of late it was one crisis after the other. At some point something was going to give and someone was going to have to pay. Then there was something Logan had said to him.

"Don't see you bendin' over backwards to help mutants," he'd said* and Fury knew he was right. Yes, he'd given information and such to the X-Men before, and certainly SHIELD had helped contain the Operation: Zero Tolerance yahoos, but Fury knew that SHIELD hadn't exactly done much to help the racial disturbances. It all came down to politics and Fury hated that. He wasn't a politician, he was a soldier and as a soldier he knew there was something to fight for. The freedom of all people from oppression was something he'd fought for all his life.

(* In M2K's Wolverine #12 - David)

If mutants were normal, the UN would have done something about this long ago, but they hadn't. SHIELD was answerable to the United States and through them to the United Nations, and Fury knew what he was going to do and placed a conference call to a certain mansion in Westchester, New York. He needed to borrow something and the current leader of the X-Men was just the person to ask.

Pete Wisdom was more or less unemployed.

He'd left Excalibur just before the team had broken up, and he certainly wasn't going back to Black Air. They wouldn't take him anyway. That didn't leave many places left. There were no jobs for him in the Weird Happenings Organisation and his connection to Black Air meant it was virtually impossible for him to find work in the rest of the intelligence community.

It wasn't exactly a desperate situation, as he had plenty of cash, but it wasn't going to last forever. He'd been able to get a couple of jobs as a bodyguard and such, but there weren't that many to be found these days. He did other bits and pieces here and there but that wasn't exactly a challenge anymore.

Wisdom had contemplated heading over to the States to see what jobs there were over there. He had quite a few contacts from his old intel days. Plus he'd be able to go visiting some other old friends and perhaps find some old enemies as well. There wasn't anyone trying to kill him or anything these days. It was as if they felt that leaving him alone was the best revenge they could think of and they'd let him fade away in to oblivion.

Yes, the UK wasn't the place it had once been and to be honest he was bored. His bottle of scotch was almost empty anyway and he lit up another cigarette as he watched another repeat of an old show on the TV set. Then there was a knock on the door and Pete looked at his watch. He wasn't expecting anyone, Romany* was out of the country, and unless his watch had stopped he hadn't missed a date or anything. He sighed. Maybe he hadn't renewed the TV licence or something. It was going to break up the day anyway.

(* Pete's sister - David)

"What?" he said as he opened the door of the flat. There were a man and a woman in front of him, dressed in black suits. He almost smiled, as their dress sense was remarkably similar to his own.

"Peter Wisdom?" asked the man, who seemed to be your standard man in black type, with broad shoulders, dimpled chin and immaculate hair, cropped short at the back. His partner was not the standard, however. Her jet-black hair was shoulder length, and hung loosely around her shoulders. Her eyes were a deep green and she was quite pretty, and although she was a tad petite in stature, she was nicely rounded in his opinion.

"Who wants to know?" he said blowing smoke at them. Neither of the people at his door reacted to the smoke but produced badges.

"Agent Cooper and Agent Del Ruiz. SHIELD." No doubt about it, thought Pete as he looked at the badges. They were the genuine articles, and he'd seen enough of the SHIELD badges in his time to know the real deal from the fake.

"SHIELD? What do you want with me?"

"Director Fury would like to speak with you on a matter of some urgency," said the woman.

"Director Fury?" repeated Pete, almost disbelieving. The last time he'd met with SHIELD agents was when they'd borrowed Kitty from Muir and GW Bridge was in charge. Bridge had come across as an uneducated bigot and had nearly gotten a slap from Colossus. Wisdom hadn't exactly been courteous in his description of them either.* Now their real boss was asking for him? He sighed, wondering what the hell was going on. He'd soon know.

"I'll get my coat."

(* As seen in Marvel's Kitty Pryde: Agent of SHIELD #1 - David)

Half an hour later they were aboard the Helicarrier, which was floating just over the Irish Sea. Wisdom was issued a security pass and escorted through the corridors of the vessel until they got to a door with Fury's name on it. Wisdom had kept his eyes open as he moved through the vessel, wondering if he'd run in to Pryde at all. It had been a long time since he'd spoken with her, and he wasn't sure how to react.

He'd gotten over her a while back, but things like that were never easy. The agent who was escorting him pressed the door chime and a voice came through on the intercom.

"Come in." The agent nodded to Pete who did as he was instructed. "So you're Wisdom?" said Fury as he entered the room. "Welcome to SHIELD."

"And you're Nick Fury. What do you want?"

"I see your attitude hasn't improved since your last meeting with SHIELD, and yes I do know about that. How was it you described us?" and he pressed a button on the console before him and a holographic image of Pete's head appeared.

"An international ring of over-armed control freaks who are suffering from a deficiency in childhood toilet training."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," said Wisdom non-apologetically. "Are you here to chew me out or what, because I do have things to do."

"No, you don't," said Fury, lighting up a cigar. "Been doin' some checkin' on ya. Yer unemployed, ya ain't got many friends left and the jobs yer takin' lately ain't exactly somethin' fer a man of yer talents."

"I actually meant Eastenders," said Pete. "Watch it with half a bottle of whiskey in yer guts it becomes much more interesting, so cut to the chase."

"I'm offerin' ya a job. At SHIELD." It was all Pete could do not to snort at the suggestion.

"Doing what?"

"Ya've heard of X-Factor?"

"American government's pet mutant project."

"Yeah, well I'm creating one fer SHIELD. I want you ta head up the team."

"Let me get this straight," said Pete, taking out a cigarette and lighting it up. "You want me to head up your mutant division at SHIELD?"

"Yup. Not exactly a division, though."

"How many?"

"So far? You and Agent Del Ruiz."

"The skirt that came to my place?" Pete definitely remembered her.

"The same. Ya get to choose a few other mutants fer yer strike force. Each of 'em has to be approved by me."

"Who do I answer to, and what kind of autonomy do I have?"

"Ya answer direct to me or anyone I tell you in my absence, and yer autonomy will be on operations only. When yer onboard the Helicarrier, you'll fall in like everyone else. As for ranks and such, you'll have an operatin' rank o' Commander."

"What about the other details? My official status isn't exactly great."

"Don't worry about it. You agree and all your other problems'll disappear."

"I get to name my choices?"

"Yup. However you're only going to get three choices... don't start, that was the best I could do for now. Remember this'll be a highly experimental thing, an' high profile to boot. Your team will be codenamed X-Force."

"You asked Xavier's lot if you could have their name?"

"Yeah, first thing I did when I had the idea. Spoke to Sam Guthrie at their mansion an' he agreed in principle, but he was gonna check it with the other X-Men. X-Force was his old team and according to Wolverine they disbanded the team earlier this year, around the same time Katherine Pryde took a leave of absence from SHIELD."

"Really?" said Pete. There was relief in his voice and Fury noted it. He knew the situation between the two of them, and that Pryde's feeling's for the former X-Man Colossus had resurfaced. Romantic complications were something he didn't want on his Helicarrier.

"Yeah, she went to Egypt on a SHIELD mission during that Apocalypse business that was on the news. It was bad and she ain't been back since. I think she's hooked up with the X-Men again, ta be honest. At some point I'll find out, but they need her more'n I do. So what do you say?"

"Yeah," said Wisdom after a moment. "Why not? Where do I sign up?"

"I'll sort the details out. Ya'll need to get yerself a battle suit from the quartermaster's store on Deck 13 and then I'll brief ya on what exactly SHIELD does these days."

"Fair enough," said Pete. "And I want access to your files as well. I got a few ideas as to who I want on the team."

"Subject to approval," reminded Fury and extended his arm, offering Wisdom his hand, which Pete accepted. "Welcome to SHIELD."

"Guthrie," said Fury as he answered the call he'd just been informed of. The X-Men had gotten back to him over use of the name X-Force. While it wasn't copyrighted, he doubted the X-Men would like just anyone to claim it. "What can I do ya for?"

"Ah've spoken with the rest of the team," said Cannonball, his country accent coming through, "an' they're happy for you to use the name of X-Force, on one condition."

"Go on," said Fury, not best pleased about this but he could always say no and name the team something else.

"We want one of the X-Men on your team."

"Okay, I'll recall Pryde..."

"Kitty's busy, Colonel Fury, sir," said Cannonball. "However we do have someone for you. Siryn."

"Cassidy's daughter?" said Fury, thinking back to how Sean Cassidy had been one of Interpol's top agents, something that may or may not have been down to his sonic abilities. Including his daughter Teresa had possibilities.

"One an' the same, sir. She was on the old X-Force team, an' she'll be the connection to the new."

"Okay, I'll agree to your terms. Guess she'll be reporting back to ya at regular intervals."

"Only if there's somethin' she thinks we need to hear," said Sam, honestly. "An', to be fair, sir, it ain't like she'd be the first SHIELD agent to pass the X-Men information."

"Point taken, kid. Send her ta the Citicorp building in Manhattan. Get her ta pick out a pair of stonewashed jeans and take them in ta fitting room twelve."

"Yes, sir," said Sam and Fury cut the link. They'd be in America soon enough and now he had to go and break the news to Wisdom that his choices for the strike force were down to two.

"Great," said Pete as he looked at Fury, having heard about his new addition to the team. "That's just fan-bloody-tastic."

"It's just tough," said Fury. "Live with it."

"Not a lot of choice n the matter," muttered Pete, though he had to admit the battlesuit was quite comfortable. It was similar in feel to the stuff the X-Men had their uniforms made of, the unstable molecule stuff. It seemed to simply mould itself to his body and he was able to fire his hot knives through the gauntlets without damaging them, which was fair enough.

"So who ya got then?" asked Fury.

"Couple of people," said Wisdom. "We need someone with military experience, for the covert stuff. Playin' it sly and sneaky, as they say. Got this bloke. David North, AKA Maverick. Absorbs and rechannels kinetic impact. Mostly as force through his fists for strength, but there's energy to them as well. Produces heat too, and there've been a couple of occasions when he's actually channeled it as a concussive blast." Pete blew a smoke ring, then continued. "He had the Legacy Virus, but that was resolved when they found the cure. However, he is missing an eye."

"No problem with that," said Fury, with a half smile. "Seems a good choice. Think ya can get him to join?"

"Oh yeah," said Pete. "Bits and pieces in the file. He'll come on board."

"Who's yer second?"

"Chap named Marcus Raven. Quite a powerful psion whose powers include telepathy, telekinesis and the ability to psionically charge the air, which causes his eye. The psionic powers he has somehow decelerate his ageing." He looked at Fury and gave a sardonic smile. "Almost as old as you, and in the same kind of condition. Has worked for the FBI for a few years now on their anti-terrorism squad. It's not widely known he's a mutant, but he was asked to join the X-Men a few years back. Just before the Magneto thing where you lot engaged the Magneto Protocols. I only know of him because MacTaggert had a file on him on Muir Isle."

"Why didn't he join the X-Men?"

"World fears and hates mutants anyway. Wasn't interested in becoming a high profile one."

"He's a good choice fer the team, but what makes ya think he'll change his mind?"

"Because I'm going to out him."

"That ain't nice."

"Not supposed to be. I want him to work with me not be my bosom buddy. He in?"

"Yeah, if you can get him in," said Fury. He wasn't happy about the way Wisdom was going to go about it, but he'd done some questionable things like that before so he wasn't about to query someone else. "Now I hope ya've been readin' up on yer other team member?"

"Special Agent Lydia Del Ruiz? Oh, yeah," said Pete. "And more than her vital statistics as well."

"Captain," warned Fury, "we're still subject to the same sexual discrimination suits in SHIELD that there are elsewhere. You might want to consider that."

"Fair enough," said Pete. "Anyhow, she's got an intriguing bio. Also known as the Shadow, for her detective skills and she worked for Interpol for several years. Her power to absorb solar energy, which builds up the strength of her muscles, is a nice little tool. Makes her fast, strong, clever which are all neat attributes in any line of work, not just this one. Her father is, known only as Del Ruiz, is currently in Genosha, and it conveniently doesn't say what he's doing there. Is he for or against Magneto?"

"We don't know. All we know is he shipped his daughter out of Genosha when Magnus took over. He was however a spiritual man, and we don't know if Magneto has room for them in his new regime."

"Either way, it provides us with a nice little 'in' for Genosha should it come to that."

"Maybe," said Fury. "Orders are to leave them to their own devices, though. Except now they've cured Legacy, Magneto doesn't have half the problems he had when they gave him the place. Orders can change."

"Great," said Pete. "Everyone of us has our own little talents. How Siryn is going to fit into this is another matter."

"Make her fit. She's played with the X-Men for long enough, so she's adaptable. Who was your third choice anyway?"

"Doesn't matter," said Wisdom.

"Pryde, by chance?" asked Fury and Wisdom didn't answer. "Would have said no anyway, Wisdom. There's too much of a history between the two of yer."

"Fair enough," said Pete. "When are we picking up Cassidy?"

"About an hour or so," replied Fury. "You an' Agent Del Ruiz oughta get acquainted, so ya can both welcome her aboard."

"Fury, the X-Men know about me?" Fury shook his head. "Oh, good. Should be interesting to see their faces."

"I don't doubt it," said Fury and made his exit, as Pete made a call to the FBI and then went to find Lydia Del Ruiz. This was going to be an interesting team.

Next Issue: The final three members of X-Force come aboard