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Issue #50 by Daniel Ingram
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"FALLING SIDEWAYS – CONCLUSION"
The Work Place
“Hello, Sabre.”
Arsenal’s bone claws slid from his knuckles, as a growl escaped his lips.
“Care to welcome me back?”
Sabre looked at her teammate for a moment. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot, with a wild look in them while his breath smelled of chemicals that she couldn’t quickly identify, and his yellow and blue costume torn and threadbare.
Worse than that was the fact that he seemed buddy buddy with the worst villains Force Works had ever fought, the Soldiers of Misfortune.
Her eyes went from one maniac to the other. Cerberus, a super-strong illusionist in jeans and leather cut, the snake-like Serpentina, the four armed but six handed muscle bound idiot Strong Arm, the tree-woman, infested with alien insects known as Colony, the fat energy wielder C-10, the armored sentient energy known as Flashpoint and the feral warrior Mongoose.
All seemingly standing side by side with Arsenal
Sabre had no idea what had been done to her friend, but it was clear as day that right now, whatever friendship or camaraderie they shared was a non issue. The wild, feral look in his eyes said it all, especially when said eyes flooded with crimson energy.
“Ohcrap!”
Sabre ducked to the side and dashed down the hall. Arsenal watched as Sabre disappeared in the span of a single angry breath.
“After her!” Arsenal snapped.
The Soldiers of Misfortune were quick to follow, like a wave of angry and lethal energy.
But they turned the corner, and…
“Hey guys,” Charcoal cracked his knuckles, “welcome to the Work Place. Believe me when I say, it will be our pleasure to kick your ass out.”
The Soldiers of Misfortune stopped instantly, seeing the virtually the whole of Force Works arrayed against them.
“Charcoal, wait,” X-Treme placed his sword in front of his fiery teammate, “Arsenal? Bobby? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to tear apart my old, former friends,” Arsenal said, “with my new best friends. What does it look like?”
X-Treme said nothing. Even from across the room, he could smell the drugs on Arsenal’s breath, see his dilated pupils. The man X-Treme knew was likely buried under Gods only knew how many chemicals and mental manipulation. And X-Treme knew that the Soldiers weren’t about to let him try anything meaningful.
“Hey fleshbags,” Flashpoint hissed. His voice was like an unturned radio, “you do remember that we have a mission, right?”
“TV strike, now!” Namorita shouted.
Vibraxis raised his hands, while Tarene pointed her hammer. Lightning and sonic energy flew forward in a wave, and only Flashpoint, sentient energy in armor, was quick enough to react.
He raised an energy shield, but it shattered like glass and the Soldiers of Misfortune found themselves slammed backwards. The blow knocked them witless for a moment, and when they recovered, they saw Force Works rushing forward, ready for blood.
Tarene flew into Strong Arm, and the two torn through the metal walls as if they were tissue paper. They crashed into an old, unused room, and once she could no longer see her team, Tarene dug her feet into the ground, as Strong Arm continued to soar through the air, before being stopped by a metal wall, leaving a heavy imprint.
“You remember what happened last time we fought?” Strong Arm growled, “I knocked your ass out!”
“You were surrounded by countless civilians,” Tarene channeled her will through her war hammer, and lighting spilled from it like water from a kettle, “so I had to hold back. But you’ve taken and hurt my best friend.”
Strong Arm lunged for Tarene, but she smacked him aside with her hammer as if he were nothing more than a baseball.
“So this will be different.”
Namorita smashed her way past Mongoose and Serpentina, then slamming into Arsenal. She grabbed him by the collar, and pressed him against the wall with enough force to bend steel.
“Bobby, what in Neptune’s name do you think you’re doing?” Namorita demanded.
Arsenal shrugged casually, “Having fun, making new friends. And, oh yeah, getting revenge on the people who left me to die!”
“We never abandoned you!” Namorita said, “these bastards replaced with you an imposter!”
“Maybe you just never knew me all that well,” Arsenal smirked, “after all,…”
-snikt-
“…you seem to have forgotten the bone claws Dr. Sublime gave me.”
The young Princess looked down at her stomach to see six claws embedded in her stomach. The pain struck her mind like a sledgehammer, but only for a moment, before she felt a numbness wash over her, and her legs began to buckle.
Arsenal pulled his claws back, and kicked Namorita away.
“Hey, Flashpoint,” Arsenal called out, “make us some fishsticks, would ya buddy?”
If Flashpoint had an actual flesh and blood face, he would have smiled. But he still felt a great deal of smug satisfaction when he swung his fist towards Kymaera, his hands smoldering with energy.
“No!”
Charcoal pushed past Mongoose and Cerberus, who had double teamed him. The rest of the team was too caught up in their battles, and it had been only sheer luck that Charcoal had seen Arsenal stab his teammate.
His mind was still trying to process what he’d seen, to accept it as reality, but luckily, his body knew what to do.
Seconds before Flashpoint released enough energy to turn Namorita into ash, Charcoal placed his body in front of the onslaught.
“Arrgh!” Charcoal cried out, as the energy slammed into him like a freight train. Charcoal had shifted his density to diamond, but his back burned and he could feel parts of his altered form beginning to chip and crack.
“Thanks for standing in one place,” Flashpoint said, “diamond isn’t so tough when you can control the weak forces of the universe. But feel free to move, I’m sure flesh would stand up to the barrage much better.”
“Don’t count on it!” Charcoal forced himself to turn around, slowly and painfully, keeping in mind to cover Namorita. But his body began to grow slow, and when he willed his arms to stretch out for Flashpoint, they refused to budge.
“Something wrong, carbon bag?” Flashpoint said.
Charcoal tried to summon his flame, but even that was refusing to respond now. The wall exploded outward, and before Flashpoint could turn his head, he found himself thrown backwards through the wall as if it were paper.
Charcoal allowed himself to slump to one knee, as exhaustion overtook him.
“Stand down, buddy,” Nova placed a hand on Charcoal’s shoulder. The Human Rocket then looked over Charlie’s shoulder, and saw Namorita lying in a pool of blood.
“…’Nita,” Rich felt his blood run cold, and was at her side in seconds, “Blink! Get your ass over here! We got wounded!”
“Just a flesh wound,” Namorita chuckled weakly.
“Hang in there, babe,” Nova glanced at the wounds, and scowled, “It was Arsenal, wasn’t it?”
“They did something to him,” Namorita struggled to keep her voice steady, “save him, Rich. He’s still our friend!”
-blink!-
“Oh God,” Clarice Ferguson, Blink, looked at her teammate’s wounds in horror, “hold on guys, next stop, Muir Island!”
Nova watched his teammates disappear into Blink’s teleport effect, and then cracked his knuckles.
“Friend or not I will beat that brainwashing out of him if I have to,” Nova growled.
“X-Treme, down!”
Wolfsbane leapt over her boyfriend as Adam ducked, her foot slamming into the face of Serpentina.
“Thanks,” X-Treme plucked three blades from his belt and sent then flying at Mongoose. The animalistic warrior didn’t even blink as the blades sank into his flesh, but they slowed him down enough for X-Treme to meet the man’s charge with a right hook.
“Let me, luv,” Wolfsbane lunged for Mongoose’s side while the man was focused on X-Treme, slashing the man’s right leg.
“Bitch!” Mongoose swept his claws for Wolfsbane, but he missed by inches, and X-Treme kicked him in the stomach seconds later.
“This is not how a warrior fights!” Mongoose snarled, “fight with honor!”
“This isn’t about honor, you ass,” X-Treme said, “this is about winning.”
“Fair enough,” Serpentina lunged at X-Treme from behind, but Wolfsbane stopped her with a right hook.
“Ye know what’s sad?” Wolfsbane flexed her claws, as Serpentina wiped the blood from her mouth and began circling around for another attack, “this is the closest thing we’ve had to a date in weeks.”
“We’ll settle up, Rahne, I promise,” X-Treme said, “right after I gut the people who took Bobby.”
“Cowboys and Indians, cowboys and Indians!”
Mirage gritted her teeth as she tried to get a bead on Wild Jack with her pyshic arrows. The madman was wearing brown cowboy pants, a ten gallon hat along with two revolvers, and nothing else, and he moved like greased lightning.
He stopped for a moment, and Mirage was about to let her arrow fly when she saw that Vibraxis, who had his own hands full with the Soldier known as C-10 was sure to be struck if she missed.
“Love this game!” Wild Jack leveled his revolvers at Mirage. He squeezed the triggers until the guns ran dry, and watched in shock as Mirage was still standing.
Without a word or a quip, Mirage, standing behind Wild Jack but cloaked by her illusions, smashed him upside the head with her bow. The first blow startled Wild Jack, but the second one knocked him on his ass, and then a kick to the head to ensure he was unconscious.
“Fun game,” Mirage said.
“You can be so brutal in a fight.”
Mirage turned to face Arsenal. She readied a psychic arrow, and leveled it at him.
“I prefer to think of it as pragmatic,” replied Mirage, “you’re my friend Bobby and I love you like a brother, but you won’t get any mercy from me right now. I’m going to kick your ass, and then fix your brain. In that order.”
“What, make me normal?” Arsenal laughed, “do you even know what they would look like? Every single member of your team has been fighting since they were teenagers. You only want to unscramble my brain to get your weapon back, nothing more.”
Arsenal’s words were like a knife to Dani’s heart, but she had long since learned to fight past the emotional pain.
She knew from bitter experience that if she didn’t focus on the here and now, there wouldn’t be a future.
“It’s funny though,” Arsenal said, “you and the army taught me one thing.”
Arsenal opened his palm to reveal a small devise, no bigger than a remote, with a single button.
“Fair fights are for suckers.”
Mirage let her arrow loose only a second after Arsenal tapped the remote, but even then it was too late. There was a flash of light a second before the arrow would have struck him, and then Arsenal, along with the other Soldiers of Misfortune, were gone just as quickly as they had appeared.
“They ran,” Technocrat said, the blood draining from his face, “why would they run?”
“Sabre!” Moonstar shouted, before a terrible force tore through the air.
Outside
Arsenal craned his head upwards towards the tower that had once been his home, now awash in orange flames.
“Wish I could have saved my laptop,” Arsenal said, “it had my best porn on it.”
“There’s always more,” replied Strong Arm.
“Flesh is flesh, it’s all the same,” Flashpoint said dismissively, “the only thing that matters is that it burns.”
“Can’t say I agree,” said Strong Arm, “but I don’t think these matches have burned quite yet.”
There was a sound much like a whistle for a split second, and then the ground in front of the Soldiers exploded in dust and shrapnel.
“It’ll take a bigger bomb than that to even scratch my helmet,” said Nova.
“I’ll be honest,” Arsenal said. He pointed to the sky above, “we mostly wanted to able to pick your teammates off from the air.”
Arsenal swore he could hear Nova’s teeth grind.
“You seem to have forgotten, I know team SOP too,” Arsenal winked, “Flashpoint, if you would…?”
Nova smashed into Flashpoint at mach-one, slamming the energy being down the street as the two tussled.
“Overly dramatic much?” Arsenal said. He glanced up, and could see Mirage, X-Treme, Vibraxis and Wolfsbane falling like amateur sky-divers. Only Technocrat, who’d created two miniature rockets from his tech-pak, wasn’t in freefall but descending at a controlled pace.
But Arsenal remembered their training. Technocrat had insisted, time and again, that his teck-pak wasn’t strong enough to carry his teammates, something about energy consumption. Not that Arsenal cared about that now.
All he cared about now was that he had several easy targets.
“C-10?” said Arsenal, “lets deal with some skeet, shall we?”
The overweight Soldier of Misfortune smirked at he aimed his hands at Force Works, and unleashed his power just as Arsenal’s optic blasts sliced through the air.
Both bursts of energy passed harmlessly through their targets.
“Mirage,” Arsenal chuckled, despite himself.
“Yeah,” said a voice behind the Soldiers of Misfortune, “me.”
“Actually, villains…”
A wave of seismic energy slammed the criminals, sending them stumbling.
“Us.”
Mirage pulled her bow taut.
“Force Works, no quarter,” Mirage said, “we’ll sort out Arsenal’s head after we cave it in.”
Arsenal chuckled to himself.
“You never were any good with pillow talk, Dani.”
“Yeah, but I’m great with violence,” Mirage said, “Force Works, lets do what we do.”
Force Works and the Soldiers of Misfortune threw themselves at one another
Several blocks away
Danny Galo could feel the ground shake beneath his feet, and he listened in amusement as his fellow Starbucks patrons seems to struggle to decide what to do.
“Force Works, got to be…”
“...city even better?”
“Don’t mind mutants, but them…”
“How many times will this happen?”
Danny leaned back in his chair. He’d been making the rounds with his contacts, and their assessment was much the same.
Metro City had changed under Force Works, but it was still at a precarious tipping point.
And that suited Danny just fine.
Tarene raised her war hammer, and brought a crash of lightning down upon herself.
With her weapon overflowing with power, Tarene slammed it on the ground, and electricity spilled forth like a tidal wave at the Soldiers.
C-10, acting on reflex, unleashed his own explosive energies at the attack, and when the two met, they exploded in a blinding white light that could be seen for miles.
“Shake it off,” Arsenal snapped, “they’ll be on us in seconds.”
“No,”
A boot slammed into Arsenal’s face.
“Now.”
“Well,” Arsenal wiped the blood from his face. He looked up at X-Treme, “should have seen this one coming.”
“Imitation,” Mongoose lunged at Tarene, “I’ve fought the real Thunder God!”
Tarene swung her mallet, but Mongoose ducked underneath it as if she were standing still, and raked his claws against her stomach.
Tarene didn’t cry out, though she wanted to. The wound wasn’t deep, but the hybrid still drew blood.
“I’ll gut you like a fish, and then show your blond teammate your head,” Mongoose growled.
He leapt at Tarene again, but Mongoose felt something pulling at him from behind, and to his horror, he felt as if he were hovering in midair.
“You’re quick,” Sabre said, racing around Mongoose. Within the span of a few seconds, she pushed him up in the air from a thousand different angles like an oversized beach-ball, “but once you’re in the air, you’re just mass. Tarene?”
Tarene snarled as she pulled her mallet back, and smashed Mongoose as if he were a baseball, dislodging teeth and pitching him in an arc through the air.
“Thanks,” Tarene said.
“No problem, though I did have an ulterior motive,” Sabre said. She pointed behind Tarene, at Colony, “care to act as a bug zapper for me?”
“My children will eat you alive!” The Tree woman, her body swarmed with alien insects, marched towards the two.
“Tree never beats lightning,” Tarene aimed her mallet, and unleashed her power, splitting Colony in two, “it won’t start now.”
“Whoa,” Sabre said, “that was a little much.”
“Or not enough.”
Roots, moving like snakes from both halves of Colony’s split form, reached out to one another, intertwining with one another. With a sudden –crack!-, Colony’s two sides were slapped together. Her wooden form cracked down the middle and scorched, as she regarded the two stunned members of Force Works.
“My babies will eat you alive,” Colony said, as the insects that called her form home swarmed around her arms.
“Unlikely.”
A burst of energy struck Colony from behind, and the tree woman stumbled.
Technocrat, his tech-pak sealed around his entire body, slammed into the tree woman again, and then turned to his teammates.
“Tarene, you need to handle Strong Arm,” Technocrat said, “Sabre, back up Vibraxis, let me handle Colony.”
“On it,” Tarene and Sabre were off without a second thought. Technocrat almost felt guilty about abusing their trust.
Almost.
“You think that metal shell will protect you?” Colony said, “my babies can secret acid that can melt steel. We’ll crack you like a lobster and devour your flesh.”
“I don’t doubt it,” said Technocrat, “my scanners tell me the insects that infest your body have some amazing abilities. But you know what else my scanners tell me?”
“What?”
“The sub-sonic frequency they use to communicate,” Taki said. He willed a special sonic pulse through his suit, and felt some gratification when Colony doubled-over in pain.
“I’m sorry, did that pulse hurt your friends?” Technocrat said, “or did it turn the alien bugs on you?”
“Go to hell!”
Technocrat unleashed the sonic pulse for a moment longer, seconds really, but when he was done, Colony was shaking.
“…what do you want?”
“I want to know everything about Nero Blood you do,” Technocrat replied, “and don’t tell me you know nothing. I’ve little doubt that you used those insects of yours for all sorts of spying. You’ve no doubt crafted some sort of exit strategy. Give it to me, and I’ll let you escape. Otherwise, I’ll have your insects devour you alive.”
“Meet me fairly in battle, and I will crush you,” Vibraxis shouted.
“Yeah right!” Strong Arm kept punching at Vibraxis, even though his fists phased through him harmlessly.
C-10, the overweight energy projector, hung back. Vibraxis was well aware that if he tried to take out Strong Arm, C-10 would blow him to hell.
“Why would we fight fair?” asked C-10, “your teammates are occupied, and you’re alone.”
“That was true.”
C-10 felt his head snap to the side, before he felt the blow.
Strong Arm looked back, but not up, and thus missed Tarene as she came crashing down from the sky, and swung her mallet in the perfect arc, smashing Strong Arm into the ground.
“Lucky…shot,” Strong Arm grunted.
“Perhaps,” Vibraxis pressed his hands against Strong Arm’s head, and unleashed his powers.
Strong Arm would have screamed, if had realized what was happening, as Vibraxis’ powers literally bounced his brain around in his skull.
But, luckily, the brain itself had no pain receptors. So instead, Strong Arm simply felt a strong urge to close his eyes, and fell asleep.
“See, Vibey?” Sabre came up from behind Vibraxis and rested an elbow on his shoulder, “who needs a fair fight when you have teammates?”
“Fair point,” Vibraxis said, “but this battle is not yet won. We need to teach the remaining Soldiers the value of teamwork.”
C-10 swallowed hard, as three members of Force Works turned their attention on him.
“Well, well, well.”
Mirage stood on the balls of her feet, her oldest friend Wolfsbane crouched at her side. The two were ready to move, as the three Soldiers of Misfortune, the muscle bound Cerberus, the snake woman Serpentina and the crazy man-child Wild Jack, bared down on them.
“You’re missing the heavyweights here, chief, just you and the team pet,” Cerberus observed.
“I’m no bloody pet,” Wolfsbane snapped, and then smiled, “and unlike ye, I can count.”
“Count, what does that mean?”
Cerberus felt something slash against his back, and he cried out in pain.
“It means that I’m back, asshole,” said Blink.
Cerberus backpedaled quickly, trying to get away from Blink, as is Wild Jack moved towards Wolfsbane and Serpentina targeted Mirage.
“Play, play, play!” Wild Jack smiled, as he swung his fist for Wolfsbane’s head.
Wolfsbane ducked the attack, and slashed Wild Jack across the chest.
“Owie, no fair, no fair!”
Wolfsbane saw Wild Jack clutch his wound, but she also saw how he set his feet and how his legs were braced. He was ready to move, to attack.
“Not bloody sorry,” Wolfsbane hit Wild Jack with an left upper cut that slammed into the man’s jaw, “I still remember how cruel kids can be.”
Serpentina rushed towards Mirage, and slashed at the mutant.
Her arms passed through harmlessly, and Serpentina never even saw where boot that slammed into her head came from.
“Hiding?” Serpentina hissed, “coward!”
“Yeah.”
Serpentina’s head snapped back as she took a blow to the jaw.
“Play into your strengths, that’s not how I’ve survived this long.”
“Burn, you disgusting bag of flesh!”
Flashpoint aimed his gauntlets at Nova, and unleashed enough power to light Vegas for a year.
The Human Rocket bobbed around the attack, and flew at Flashpoint like an arrow. His fist smashed into Flashpoint’s faceplate, and the follow up blow sent Flashpoint flying backwards.
“Ya know, there was a time I lost my powers,” Nova said, “would have given anything to get my powers back.”
“I don’t care,” Flashpoint said.
“Not asking you to,” Nova said, “just that, looking at you, nothing but power, I see everything I was overlooking, things I shoulda cherished but never did.”
Flashpoint felt anger unlike anything he’d felt before. His suit smoldered with energy, and if he had a face he would have given Nova a look of pure hatred.
“Shut up and bring it!”
“I just wanted to say thanks,” Nova said, “right before I beat all new kinds of color outta of you.”
Flashpoint wanted to say something snarky, but Nova crashed into his chest with both fists, and sent him hurtling towards the ground.
“I’m sorry, Bobby,” X-Treme’s fist smashed across Arsenal’s jaw.
“Feels like it,” Arsenal wiped the blood from his mouth. His eyes blazed, but as he unleashed his energy, X-Treme’s boot struck his chin and sent the energy flying harmlessly into the air.
“I should have known you were taken,” X-Treme said. The Shi’ar warrior unleashed two quick punches that sent Arsenal reeling, “this on me, buddy.”
“Just shut up and fight!” Arsenal spat, slashing his claws at his old friend.
“Fine,” X-Treme clenched his fists, “we’ll pick this up later.”
A boot connected with Arsenal’s gut, and when Arsenal bent forward from the blow, X-Treme threw his weight to the side as he lashed out with his other leg, catching his friend upside the head with his boot.
The blow staggered Arsenal, and nearly knocked him to his knees, but Arsenal reached a hand out for balance and caught himself just in time.
“Not going to be that easy,” Arsenal growled.
“Not that hard, either.”
X-Treme leapt head over heels, and brought his boot heel down on Arsenal’s shoulder, causing a hairline fracture in the bone even through Arsenal’s steel skin.
The pain caused Arsenal to hesitate for a split second, but that was all the opening Adam needed.
He slammed his left knee into Arsenal’s gut, boxed the man’s ears, and then swung his right elbow into arsenal’s steel jaw.
His vision blurring, Arsenal never saw X-Treme chop his throat, or bring his left elbow down on his head, or the flurry of blows that followed quickly after. In fact, it was over so quickly, Arsenal barely felt any of those before he fell unconscious.
“I’ll make this right, brother,” X-Treme said, “I swear it.”
“I’m going to enjoy the feeling of crushing your skull with my bare hands,” Cerberus leered at Blink.
“Please,” Blink rolled her eyes as she teleported out of the way of Cerebrus’ punch. She reappeared behind Cerberus. She slashed the man across the back with her javelins, and then teleported away.
“I’ve heard trash talk from Sabretooth, you’re second rate compared to him.” Blink said. She examined the area that she’d cut, and saw no blood. Playing a hunch, she said, “so tell me, why the bravado? What are you hiding?”
Cerberus stopped dead, “What are you talking about?”
“Hey, banter has a flavor,” Blink shrugged, “yours says weak, spineless.”
“Shut! Up!” Cerberus’ hands shifted into blades, “you’re not the only one with blades!”
“Neat trick,” Blink observed, “just what are your powers again?”
“Killing you,” Cerberus spat.
“I think you just create a false energy shell around yourself,” Blink said, “know what that means?”
Cerberus flinched.
“It means that I don’t have to hold back.”
It started first with Nova.
His first connected with Flashpoint’s helmet, and the blow sent the energy creature hurtling to the ground.
The impact destroyed the servos that allowed Flashpoint movement, and what was his body became his prison.
Flashpoint, through a supreme force of effort, rose to his feet and managed to aim his hand at the Human Rocket, before his armor sparked, and his servos let out a grinding noise before they melted into slag.
Seeing that Technocrat had Colony in hand, Nova scanned the battlefield, and saw Tarene tangling with Strong Arm.
Nova was as silent as a bullet as he flew at Strong Arm, and slammed his shoulder into the villain’s back.
“Hey, I could handle him!” Tarene snapped.
“Doesn’t matter, and playing fair only helps them,” Nova observed, “now, ready to crack some skulls?”
Tarene smacked her hammer in her hand, “Always.”
Nova put down Cerberus with a sucker punch.
Sabre overwhelmed Serpentina with a hundred blows in a blink.
Blink teleported Mongoose above Vibraxis’ head, and the Wakandian Warrior blasted the man-beast with enough energy to demolish a city.
And on it went, until there was only one.
Arsenal could feel the weight of his teammate’s eyes on him, as X-Treme took a step back.
“This isn’t over,” Arsenal turned to face his teammates, a look of smug satisfaction on his face, “this is just the latest battle in a war you never realized you were fighting.”
“And when you get your head on straight, I think we’d all like to hear about that,” Nova said. With a blur of speed, he grabbed Arsenal by the wrists, and then slammed head-butted his wayward teammate unconscious.
“We won,” Tarene said, as if trying to convince herself.
“It was hard fought and bitter,” Vibraxis said, hoping to raise his friend’s spirits, “but we overcame our greatest enemies, and our friend was returned to us, so that we might make him whole. This is a good day, in the end.”
Danielle Moonstar stood over Arsenal, her face inscrutable.
“We have the police inbound,” Technocrat said, as he dropped Colony on the pile of defeated enemies.
“Technocrat, liaison with them,” Mirage rubbed her forehead, “let them know what the situation is, get the Soldiers secured. Nova, X-Treme, secure Arsenal, and let’s bring him inside.”
“Wait, are you really leaving Technocrat in charge?” said Sabre.
Mirage looked at Sabre coldly, “Do you really think today is the day to give me more of your crap, Sabre?”
“Uhh do we have an actual plan for what we’re gonna do with our brainwashed friend?” Sabre said, “because I don’t think we can just splash a bucket of water in his face and call it a day.”
“We have contingences,” Dani said, “you should pay better attention Kim. Ending up brain washed and insane…”
Mirage stared at Arsenal for a moment.
“That’s not too uncommon in our profession.” Mirage said, “Now lets get him inside. Taki, try not to offend the cops too much, okay?”
Later
Though they had established protocols, delivering a drugged and brainwashed teammate to possible indefinite confinement wasn’t as easy as snapping your fingers. Especially when you had just dropped two teammates off in need of dire medical attention.
“Namorita’s in stable condition,” said Moira, “yuir girl Blink gave my people quite the fright, but they recovered nicely. She lost more blood than I’m comfortable wit’, but I expect her to wake up in a few hours. Your young man, Charcoal, is fine. His alternate form jus’ needed some time to heal. Ye can pick him up anytime.”
“Already getting on your nerves?” asked Mirage.
“Aye, he keeps wandering into restricted areas out of boredom,” Moira replied.
“Well, I should have him out of your hair soon, Moira,” Mirage said, “and, unfortunately, have another one lined up to replace him.”
“We’ll be ready ta receive him in a bit,” said Moira, “say hello to Rahne for me, and get some bloody sleep, ye look terrible.”
“I’ve had better days,” Mirage rubbed the bridge of her nose, “thank you, Moira.”
The call ended, and Danielle flopped back in her chair, exhausted.
When they were hunting for Arsenal, Dani told herself that once they rescued him, it would all be fine. That the compromises and lines they crossed, the chances they took, the damage that was caused, would all be worth it to have Arsenal back.
But what they had back was barely the man they knew. And now, he lay beyond their ability to help. Now they had to entrust his care to professionals, far away. It was like he had barely returned at all.
All in all, Danielle wondered if today still counted as a victory.
Mirage was pulled out of her reflections when she heard someone tapping on the wall.
“That was Dr. Mactaggert, right?” Rich said, “how’s my girl doing? And Charcoal, I guess.”
“Moira expects ‘Nita to pull through, and should be home in a day or two,” Danielle replied, “Charcoal is already back to being a pain.”
“Good, because we need to talk,” said Rich, “you really stumbled on the post game here, Dani. We tore up a big part of the street facing one of our own, and several international criminals. Taki barely held off the cops and the media, and you still haven’t met with the team after we just had a founder try to attack and kill us.”
“Excuse me?” Dani said, “I needed a damn minute here! You think this is easy for me?”
“Honestly, no,” Nova said, “I think since we learned that Bobby was kidnapped, you’ve been putting twice the weight of the world on your shoulders, and it’s starting to crack. I think we need to figure out something out, before you break.”
“You…,” Dani pointed an accusing finger at Rich, before his words struck her ears, “that’s actually a fair point.”
Dani leaned back in her chair.
“Leading this team is like riding a hurricane,” Danielle said, “dealing with the media, picking our targets, sifting through intelligence, all that makes the actual fighting seem like relaxation.”
“You saying you want to quit?” Rich said, shocked.
“What? Hell no,” Dani said, “I’ve made a life for myself here, but you’re right. Something has to give.”
“You thought about scaling back any?” Nova said, “because I’ll be honest, I think we need to restructure how we do things.”
“What do you suggest?”
Clarice Ferguson stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, reflecting on the day’s events.
A mole revealed, a teammate turning on them. A battle in the street that, ultimately, meant nothing more than public destruction.
It was a familiar cycle to the young mutant, and it was one she had hoped to break.
“Staring at the ceiling isn’t going to make this any easier,” Clarice said. She swung her legs off her bed and activated her powers.
-blink!-
Clarice found Mirage sitting across from Arsenal, hands steepled together. For a moment, Blink wondered if her entrance had even registered.
“Uh, Dani?” said Blink, “you got a sec? We need to talk.”
“Hmm?” Danielle tore her eyes away from Arsenal, “sorry, Clarice, I’ve been in a reflective mood lately. What’s up?”
“There’s no easy way to say this,” Blink said, “so I’m just going to say it, I’m quitting the team.”
Danielle did a double take.
“Sorry.”
Dani shook her head and stood up, “Don’t be. You have to live your life, especially with all the crazy stuff that gets thrown at us. Can I ask why you’re leaving, though?”
“When I joined Force Works, I did so because I thought it would be different, better,” Blink sighed, “and I was proud of the work we did. But as things have gone on, it’s begun to feel as if we’re being bogged down in a quagmire, like what happened in North Korea. And the fight with Soldiers felt just like so many fights before.”
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Danielle replied, “these past few weeks seem to have stretched on forever. Well, I hope you find what you’re looking for, Clarice.”
Danielle glanced at Arsenal’s suspended form.
“Though, could I get a few teleports out of you before you go?”
Later
Richard looked at Danielle.
“Ready to do this?”
“I think so,” Dani said. She was surprised at how calm she was, right now.
The two leaders of Force Works stepped through the door to their conference room together.
Before officially resigning and saying her goodbyes, Blink had been kind enough to return Namorita and Charcoal to the Work Place.
The entire team, minus one, was gathered in their briefing room, and Dani was grateful for that. She didn’t want to have to repeat herself, and what she was about t announce affected everyone.
“Hey boss lady,” said Charcoal, “can we save the debrief thing for later? Because I’m all kinds of beat.”
“This shouldn’t take too long,” Mirage said, “I know today was hard. We had a friend maimed and turned against us, and our home attacked by our worst enemies. We all need some R and R, we need to make some changes and we’ll get to that. I just need to make an announcement.”
“I’m stepping down as team leader.”
Nearly every jaw dropped, and for a moment, everyone was dumbstruck.
“Not it,” Charcoal said, breaking the silence.
“What do you mean, not it?” said Nova, “we wouldn’t follow you to an ice cream store, Charlie.”
“Well, if Dani’s leaving, who’s taking over?”
“I’m not leaving,” Dani said, “I’m just stepping down, and pulling back a little.”
“I’m taking over as leader,” said Nova, “we’re just swapping roles for a little bit.”
“Not exactly too progressive there, bucket head,” said Sabre.
“Maybe you’re right,” replied Rich, “in terms of seniority then, our next leader should be Taki then.”
“Nova for leader,” said Rahne quickly, “motion carries unanimously.”
“Agreed,” said all but one.
“You people don’t deserve my genius,” Technocrat crossed his arms.
“I have a question,” said Tarene.
“Bobby’s on Muir Island,” Dani said, “they dosed him with a heavy chemical cocktail, but they have the specialists there to treat him.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Tarene said, “but that wasn’t my question. I was going to ask, what are we changing?”
“We’re going to change how we choose our targets,” said Nova, “instead of just Dani, me and Taki, we’re gonna start working together on our targets. We’re all going back on the offensive, and we’re going to do a whole lot more than just punch out enemies in the face.”
“We’ll still punch them in the face though, right?” said Charcoal.
“Oh, most definitely.”
Later
Richard Rider stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He made his way towards the sink, and took a moment to stare at his reflection.
Since he was a teenager, Richard had been in more battles than he could remember. His career as Nova, as a superhero, felt so very small compared to his career as Nova, soldier to Xandar, even though he’d long since left those conflicts behind.
Looking back, with his responsibilities now, what Rich remembered most was taking orders. Following the lead of men and women more gifted than him when it came to tactics and decisions.
Now things were different. Now the lives of his friends, his family, rested on his shoulders. Rich prided himself on recognizing a good leader. Dwayne, Vance, Dani, Richard never gave a second thought to following their orders in the field.
But giving orders and taking them were like night and day, and Rich knew that he couldn’t get by simply asking himself ‘What would Dani/Dwayne/Vance do?’
“Hey Rich,” Technocrat voice called out from the intercom, “could you join me for a second?”
Rich sighed inwardly, as he realized that reigning in Taki now fell on his shoulders.
“Can’t it wait?” Rich said, “bring whatever it is up at breakfast or the next meeting.”
Rich heard a tap on the door.
“Get dressed and follow the drone, please.”
Rich muttered as he got dressed, throwing on some jeans and an old T-shirt. He found Taki’s little drone, a gray little thing not much larger than a baseball, floating outside the door.
This late at night, Rich did his best to walk silently. He didn’t want to wake his friends up, though he doubted there was little chance of that this late (or this early).
Rich followed, growing more annoyed by the minute. He didn’t like the idea of his tenure as leader starting off by being summoned by the team jack ass (also, tech expert, but Taki was an ass first and expert second), and by the time the drone led him to the room in question, Rich was determined to put that little troll in his place.
But the words died in his mouth, when he stepped into the room, and found his teammate X-Treme, his girlfriend Namorita and their ‘security consultant’ Bruce Hoffman all waiting for him, alongside Taki.
“Why does this feel like an intervention?” Rich said.
“Think of it as a small planning session,” said Taki.
“Just the five of us?” Rich said, “late at night. Babe, unless you’re into some kinky stuff I don’t know about, and ‘planning session’ is code for something dirty, I don’t want to have any part of what’s going on here. Not when I just proposed group sourcing our bad guys.”
“Honey, just hear them out,” said Namorita.
“I’m barely one day into this leadership thing and already I gotta deal with a damn coup,” Rich pointed an accusing finger at Namorita, “from my own damn girlfriend, no less!”
“This ain’t a coup,” Hoffman said.
“If it was, you’d never see me coming,” X-Treme said.
“Your bad-ass one liners don’t impress me,” Nova replied, “tank beats dart every time.”
“We’ve been fighting Nero Blood and his people for months now,” Taki said, “and we’re only just now realizing it. Does that impress you?”
Nova was silent for a moment.
“Explain.”
“The equipment the Soldiers of Misfortune were using, had coding in common with tech used by Pulsar,” Taki explained, “I interrogated one of the Soldiers, Colony. She has a host of alien insects at her command, perfect for infiltrating and gathering intel. And even she had no idea the extent of Nero Blood’s resources.
Remember that debacle in Washington with the Pantheon? One of the strike teams trying to get that list used the same tech, and the same is true of the Tri-Sentinel. I don’t think Nero is like villains we’ve dealt with in the past.”
“How so?”
“He don’t have his finger in just one pie,” Hoffman said, “The Soldiers of Misfortune, the Corporation, Deus Ex Monstra, Matrix, and God only knows what else and that’s just recently. He’s pulling more strings than we can count.”
“It’s us versus all that,” Namorita said, “Dani’s problem was that she was too tactical. She made us able to handle any fight or threat, but we’re still on the defensive against these people. We need to be more surgical and more consistent. That’s not going to happen if we group source our missions.”
“I’m guessing you guys have some ideas about what to do, then?” said Nova.
“We do, Rich,” Namorita replied.
“Ideas we’re not going to share with the others?”
“That too,” said X-Treme, “right now, for this, it needs to be a closed circle. Only us. Consider yourself lucky, Rider. Your girlfriend’s in on the secret.”
“We don’t need to fight harder,” said Taki, “we need to fight smarter. But to do this at all, we need you. So what do you say?”
“Yeah,” Nova clenched his fist, “yeah, okay.”
Taki and Namorita began what was clearly a planned presentation. Nova did his best to pay attention, but he couldn’t banish one thought from his mind.
This wasn’t something Vance or Dani would agree to.
Elsewhere
Colonel-General Valentin Shatalov whistled a tune from his childhood as he walked through the office complex, empty at this time of night.
On paper, the building belonged a small, internet research firm. On paper, it was one of hundreds, perhaps even thousands, like it. No one would have given it a second glance.
But Valentin knew better. A man forged in the battles of both national intelligence and office politics, there was little that escaped his attention.
Valentin found the door he was looking for, and allowed himself in despite several locks that should have stayed his way, and found the gentlemen he was searching for.
“Mr. Mycroft,” Valentin called out, “do you have a second?”
Mycroft on his back, resting a platform specially designed for him. He had two modified electrodes connected to the front of his forehead, designed to connect to the cybernetics inside of his skull.
“I have all the time in the world, and none of it,” replied Mycroft, “I’m currently reviewing our holdings. Even for a genius like myself, this takes some focus. What do you have to say, that can’t wait?”
“Not much,” Valentin said, “I just wanted to let you know that Force Works survived our attack. The element of surprise has been lost.”
“Unfortunate,” said Mycroft, “but we knew this was a possibility going in. We have contingencies in place.”
“Yes we do,” Valentin mused, “I can’t help but wonder if we’d needed to waste the time and energy on those, if we had simply steered clear of them?”
“You read my threat analysis,” Mycoft said, defensive, “you all agreed with my proposal.”
“Well, most of us,” said Valentin, “but we took your assessment to heart. We assumed that you discussed it with our benefactor.”
Mycroft gritted his teeth, “We did. And you know what else we discussed? Why partners should never be together in the same room.”
“I remember,” Valentin said, “I just wanted to look you in the eye and see if you still thought it was wise, making an enemy of these people.”
“It was,” Mycroft snapped, “though I think it is a moot point now. Now, it’s us or them.”
“Yes, yes it is,” Valentin said, with a heavy sigh, “I’ll leave you to your machines.”
“You should see to your people,” said Mycroft, “they’ll be in a war soon.”
“Yes, won’t we all.”
Elsewhere
Jafari pressed himself against the concrete wall of the supposed ‘safe house’. His skin was smooth, solid steel, but despite that, the teenager never felt more terrified in his life.
The ground shook from the force of an explosion outside, and when silence followed, the young teenager knew that his fate had been decided.
“Young man, why are hiding from me? I only want to help you.”
A man stepped through the door, straightening his collar. He offered Jafari his hand, though the teenager knew better than to take it. He’d see what had happened to his friends.
“My name is Reverend Norman Oswald Days, and I’m here to save your soul.”
Calling the Past
Green blood splashed on the ground, fires burned across the pink horizon, while the ground was littered with limbs and bodies.
Richard Rider snapped awake, his forehead damp with sweat. He blinked several times, trying to control his breathing.
He glanced at his side, and saw that his lover, Namorita was still sound asleep. The wounds she sustained weren’t life threatening, but she still needed her rest, and he didn’t want to wake her.
He summoned his powers, raising off the bed without a sound. He left the room silently, and unable to sleep, decided just to wonder until he thought of something to do.
He strolled past the comm. room, and was surprised to see that it was occupied.
Wolfsbane was sitting in front of a consul, wearing a oversized T-shirt and sweat pants, and drumming her fingers.
“Hey,” Rich leaned against the door, “what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”
“Hey Rich,” Rahne yawned, “I could ask ye the same thing.”
“Bad dreams,” Rich said, “your turn.”
“Someone I love has been resurrected,” Rahne said.
“Hmm, got me beat. Guessin’ it’s not Jesus?”
Rahne scowled.
“Nae funny,” Rahne replied, “it’s an old teammate, Doug Ramsey.”
Rich observed how Rahne looked away for a moment.
“Just a teammate?” Rich said.
Rahne blushed, “Maybe, he could have been. But he died before we could…I guess define who we were.”
“Is that what they’re calling it?”
Rahne kicked Rich’s shins.
“Losing him was one o’ the hardest things in my life,” Rahne said, “it took a lot to accept, especially wit’ the strange stuff that happens in our life.”
“Strange like coming back to life?”
Rahne thought back to Douglock, the techno organic creature that, for a time thought he was Doug returned. Strange was perhaps an understatement, even in their lifestyle.
“Aye, strange like that,” Rahne said, “I don’ know if I want to go through that again, if it really is him.”
“I guess what we went through with Arsenal would make someone a little gun shy regarding imposters,” said Nova.
“I just don’t want ta rip open that wound,” Rahne said, “not what I’m still dealin’ wit’ my father, Adam and everythin’ else. But then, what if it’s really him?”
“There’s no harm in being careful,” Rich said, “give him a call, and go from there. I know you, Red, you don’t reach out now and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Aye, yuir right,” Rahne sighed, “but, on the other hand, that’s already a long list, what’s one more?”
“You know, if you’d like I could call him,” Rich said, “What’d you say his name was again?”
“Don’t you bloody dare!” Rahne laughed as she gave Rich a good natured push, “aye, I guess yuir right. Better deal with it sooner than later.”
“Our pasts either come for us, or we come for it,” Rich said.
“Aye, that it does,” Rahne replied, “thanks fer the talk, Rich. Ye might make a good leader yet.”
Nova thought back to his meeting earlier, with Adam,
“Lets hope so.”
Roll Call
“Okay, I’m done.”
Charlie Burlingham, Charcoal tossed his pencil on the table and leaned back in his chair, mentally exhausted.
“I don’t know about you, Tarene, but I’m wiped,” Charlie rubbed his eyes, “Call of Duty, God of War, anything but more history homework. Care to join me in butchering minions?”
“Hmm,” Tarene said, never looking u from her laptop.
“Well, your loss,” Charlie said, “how’s history class going, by the way. I swear to God, that Mrs. Brubaker is trying to kill our minds.”
“Hmm,” Tarene said.
“Red Skull is attacking the Tower.”
“Hmm,” said Tarene.
“Okay, what’s so interesting that you can only talk in ‘hmm’?” Charlie walked over to Tarene, and scrutinized her laptop screen. What he saw turned his stomach, “God, what are you looking at that stuff for? I’m sure your brain has enough material for nightmares already.”
“Nova said he was going to let us all plan missions, remember?” said Tarene, “I’m just researching possible missions.”
“Why?” Charlie said, “it doesn’t really matter.”
“Of course it does!” Tarene snapped, “we help people, how can you say that doesn’t matter?”
“Whoa, that’s not what I’m saying,” Charcoal replied, “but there’s always going to be jerks in the world, guys for us to punch in the face. Why not leave the decision making to Richie, ‘Nita and the rest?”
“Because we’re fighting too,” Tarene said, “we should have a say!”
“Well, I say it doesn’t matter,” Charlie said, “I’d rather kill zombies, Nazis or Nazi zombies. You do you, girl.”
“It does matter,” Tarene said to herself, softly, “it does.”
X-Treme balanced a dagger at the end of his index finger and just stared into his own reflection.
He had secreted himself away in the private armory he’d built for himself in the Work Place. He’d built it first out of necessity, unable to rely on standard earth tools. A few calls to some Kree smugglers he knew, and Adam had his own workshop to maintain his weapons.
But today, he couldn’t bring himself to work on a single thing.
All he could think of, was his failure.
Arsenal had been his friend. His first, after his memories and past had been returned to him.
And Adam couldn’t think of a greater way to fail a friend.
“Never again,” Adam swore to himself.
Force Works was more than just his family, they were all he had in this entire world.
“Never again,” said Adam, “and not one more inch.”
Namorita Prentiss moved slowly as she sat down at her desk. The wounds Arsenal had given her were deep and even though she’d received expert treatment, they were still raw and aching.
Luckily, for what she needed to do, she didn’t need her muscles.
The Atlantean Princess suspected that Rich would want some distance, at least for now. He was probably upset that they’d ambushed him like that, so soon after Dani had handed him the reigns.
But Richard could be too much like her cousin, at times. Thinking every problem could be solved with a punch or use of force.
Few rarely saw that unless properly applied, violence only rippled out into greater problems.
That was why when Hoffman and Taki reached out to her, she agreed. Hell, it had been her who thought to bring in X-Treme.
What they would be doing, fighting the Corporation would require precision, cunning, and intelligence.
They had to know where to who, who to hit and likely, who not and when.
With that in mind, Namorita pulled up a folder she had created several weeks back on her laptop. It contained a dozen reports regarding the movement of raw material, twice as many SHIELD reports about the Soldiers of Misfortune and more than a few interesting news articles that had caught her eye.
Hidden somewhere inside of all these reports and articles was a hint at how to get at The Corporation. Namorita knew that the best she could hope for was a single needle in a field of hay.
But she ran a multi-national company. She had graduated Empire State Magna Cum Laude. And ‘Nita knew that she was ready for this.
Yes, she could crush a tank with her bare hands without chipping a nail, but the most dangerous muscle was the one between her pointed ears.
“Time to flex some muscles.”
Rahne examined herself in the mirror. She had chosen an old yellow sunflower dress, after examining countless other possibilities, to wear for today’s appointment.
It wasn’t a dress she was especially fond of, but looking through her clothes bought her some time to procrastinate.
With a weary sigh, Rahne picked up her purse and left.
Fifteen minutes later, she had reached her destination when she heard it.
“I’m jus’ bloody saying, if mutants were just more accommodating, we wouldn’t be havin’ issues like these.”
Rahne stepped behind a corner, and said a little prayer, asking the lord for strength.
Though she would have never thought it possible, Reverend Craig had caused her more trouble, more turmoil trying to be a positive influence in her life, than he ever was as a negative one.
“I’m jus’ tryin’ to say,” Reverend Craig began, as he had so many times before, “is that mutants needn’t draw so much attention to themselves. It’s just askin’ for trouble.”
Rahne knew that her father had changed. That he was trying to be a better man.
But she couldn’t help but wonder, would he ever change enough?
“I’m not gonna lie,” Kim flopped back down on her bed, “you were every bit as good as I thought you’d be.”
“I am glad the master of vibration satisfies,” said N’Kano.
“I still can’t believe you still say that with a straight face,” Sabre laughed.
“I’m a Wakandian warrior,” N’Kano said, “stoic comes natural.”
“Among other things,” Kim smiled, “so what’s on your mind? You usually turn down my post battle relax offers.”
“I…simply thought it impolite to do it so many times,” N’Kano said quickly.
“Stoic, but a crappy liar,” Kim said, “fine, you don’t want to talk, that’s fine with me. Not a requirement.”
“I was just thinking…”
Kim rolled her eyes. Apparently, she wasn’t fast enough to dodge this bullet.
“What was done to Arsenal was terrible…”
“Understatement…”
“…but we allowed it to happen.”
“Wait, what now?” Kim sat up and glared at N’Kano, “that wasn’t our fault!”
“Wasn’t it?” N’kano said, “we fight for noble causes, but we never finish our enemies the way we should. Had we simply run the Soldiers of Misfortune to ground, they never would have hurt Bobby as they did.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Sabre scowled.
“I know it would be hard,” N’Kano said, “but look what we do instead, we flitter from battle to battle. What more could we accomplish if we simply saw one matter through?”
“Yeah, and think of the crap we’d miss in the meantime,” Sabre said.
“Perhaps, but would it compare to the good we would accomplish?”
Mirage couldn’t believe the weight that she felt lifted off her shoulders, as she practiced with her bow.
Running Force Works, fashioning them into a team and into a force to be reckoned with was utterly exhausting. It was work worth doing, but carrying such a weight took its toll, over time.
Dani wondered what she would do now with her (relative) freedom. Maybe look up some old friends?
Taki rolled into his private office. The Work Place was never short of space, so Technocrat decided that he needed a private chamber. So he altered the floor plans that were on record, put up some false walls and that was that. All anyone knew was that the building had a spare storage room.
Technocrat activated several monitors, and called up a single image.
If Taki was being honest with himself, the man’s image was utterly unremarkable. If Taki passed the man on the street, he never would have given him a second thought.
But the power Nero Blood had at his command was anything but subtle. The Soldiers of Misfortune. The Corporation. Pulsar, and God only knew what else.
And all Taki had in his corner was a team of young, idealistic superhumans.
“Let the games begin…”
Never the end!
“Hello, Sabre.”
Arsenal’s bone claws slid from his knuckles, as a growl escaped his lips.
“Care to welcome me back?”
Sabre looked at her teammate for a moment. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot, with a wild look in them while his breath smelled of chemicals that she couldn’t quickly identify, and his yellow and blue costume torn and threadbare.
Worse than that was the fact that he seemed buddy buddy with the worst villains Force Works had ever fought, the Soldiers of Misfortune.
Her eyes went from one maniac to the other. Cerberus, a super-strong illusionist in jeans and leather cut, the snake-like Serpentina, the four armed but six handed muscle bound idiot Strong Arm, the tree-woman, infested with alien insects known as Colony, the fat energy wielder C-10, the armored sentient energy known as Flashpoint and the feral warrior Mongoose.
All seemingly standing side by side with Arsenal
Sabre had no idea what had been done to her friend, but it was clear as day that right now, whatever friendship or camaraderie they shared was a non issue. The wild, feral look in his eyes said it all, especially when said eyes flooded with crimson energy.
“Ohcrap!”
Sabre ducked to the side and dashed down the hall. Arsenal watched as Sabre disappeared in the span of a single angry breath.
“After her!” Arsenal snapped.
The Soldiers of Misfortune were quick to follow, like a wave of angry and lethal energy.
But they turned the corner, and…
“Hey guys,” Charcoal cracked his knuckles, “welcome to the Work Place. Believe me when I say, it will be our pleasure to kick your ass out.”
The Soldiers of Misfortune stopped instantly, seeing the virtually the whole of Force Works arrayed against them.
“Charcoal, wait,” X-Treme placed his sword in front of his fiery teammate, “Arsenal? Bobby? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to tear apart my old, former friends,” Arsenal said, “with my new best friends. What does it look like?”
X-Treme said nothing. Even from across the room, he could smell the drugs on Arsenal’s breath, see his dilated pupils. The man X-Treme knew was likely buried under Gods only knew how many chemicals and mental manipulation. And X-Treme knew that the Soldiers weren’t about to let him try anything meaningful.
“Hey fleshbags,” Flashpoint hissed. His voice was like an unturned radio, “you do remember that we have a mission, right?”
“TV strike, now!” Namorita shouted.
Vibraxis raised his hands, while Tarene pointed her hammer. Lightning and sonic energy flew forward in a wave, and only Flashpoint, sentient energy in armor, was quick enough to react.
He raised an energy shield, but it shattered like glass and the Soldiers of Misfortune found themselves slammed backwards. The blow knocked them witless for a moment, and when they recovered, they saw Force Works rushing forward, ready for blood.
Tarene flew into Strong Arm, and the two torn through the metal walls as if they were tissue paper. They crashed into an old, unused room, and once she could no longer see her team, Tarene dug her feet into the ground, as Strong Arm continued to soar through the air, before being stopped by a metal wall, leaving a heavy imprint.
“You remember what happened last time we fought?” Strong Arm growled, “I knocked your ass out!”
“You were surrounded by countless civilians,” Tarene channeled her will through her war hammer, and lighting spilled from it like water from a kettle, “so I had to hold back. But you’ve taken and hurt my best friend.”
Strong Arm lunged for Tarene, but she smacked him aside with her hammer as if he were nothing more than a baseball.
“So this will be different.”
Namorita smashed her way past Mongoose and Serpentina, then slamming into Arsenal. She grabbed him by the collar, and pressed him against the wall with enough force to bend steel.
“Bobby, what in Neptune’s name do you think you’re doing?” Namorita demanded.
Arsenal shrugged casually, “Having fun, making new friends. And, oh yeah, getting revenge on the people who left me to die!”
“We never abandoned you!” Namorita said, “these bastards replaced with you an imposter!”
“Maybe you just never knew me all that well,” Arsenal smirked, “after all,…”
-snikt-
“…you seem to have forgotten the bone claws Dr. Sublime gave me.”
The young Princess looked down at her stomach to see six claws embedded in her stomach. The pain struck her mind like a sledgehammer, but only for a moment, before she felt a numbness wash over her, and her legs began to buckle.
Arsenal pulled his claws back, and kicked Namorita away.
“Hey, Flashpoint,” Arsenal called out, “make us some fishsticks, would ya buddy?”
If Flashpoint had an actual flesh and blood face, he would have smiled. But he still felt a great deal of smug satisfaction when he swung his fist towards Kymaera, his hands smoldering with energy.
“No!”
Charcoal pushed past Mongoose and Cerberus, who had double teamed him. The rest of the team was too caught up in their battles, and it had been only sheer luck that Charcoal had seen Arsenal stab his teammate.
His mind was still trying to process what he’d seen, to accept it as reality, but luckily, his body knew what to do.
Seconds before Flashpoint released enough energy to turn Namorita into ash, Charcoal placed his body in front of the onslaught.
“Arrgh!” Charcoal cried out, as the energy slammed into him like a freight train. Charcoal had shifted his density to diamond, but his back burned and he could feel parts of his altered form beginning to chip and crack.
“Thanks for standing in one place,” Flashpoint said, “diamond isn’t so tough when you can control the weak forces of the universe. But feel free to move, I’m sure flesh would stand up to the barrage much better.”
“Don’t count on it!” Charcoal forced himself to turn around, slowly and painfully, keeping in mind to cover Namorita. But his body began to grow slow, and when he willed his arms to stretch out for Flashpoint, they refused to budge.
“Something wrong, carbon bag?” Flashpoint said.
Charcoal tried to summon his flame, but even that was refusing to respond now. The wall exploded outward, and before Flashpoint could turn his head, he found himself thrown backwards through the wall as if it were paper.
Charcoal allowed himself to slump to one knee, as exhaustion overtook him.
“Stand down, buddy,” Nova placed a hand on Charcoal’s shoulder. The Human Rocket then looked over Charlie’s shoulder, and saw Namorita lying in a pool of blood.
“…’Nita,” Rich felt his blood run cold, and was at her side in seconds, “Blink! Get your ass over here! We got wounded!”
“Just a flesh wound,” Namorita chuckled weakly.
“Hang in there, babe,” Nova glanced at the wounds, and scowled, “It was Arsenal, wasn’t it?”
“They did something to him,” Namorita struggled to keep her voice steady, “save him, Rich. He’s still our friend!”
-blink!-
“Oh God,” Clarice Ferguson, Blink, looked at her teammate’s wounds in horror, “hold on guys, next stop, Muir Island!”
Nova watched his teammates disappear into Blink’s teleport effect, and then cracked his knuckles.
“Friend or not I will beat that brainwashing out of him if I have to,” Nova growled.
“X-Treme, down!”
Wolfsbane leapt over her boyfriend as Adam ducked, her foot slamming into the face of Serpentina.
“Thanks,” X-Treme plucked three blades from his belt and sent then flying at Mongoose. The animalistic warrior didn’t even blink as the blades sank into his flesh, but they slowed him down enough for X-Treme to meet the man’s charge with a right hook.
“Let me, luv,” Wolfsbane lunged for Mongoose’s side while the man was focused on X-Treme, slashing the man’s right leg.
“Bitch!” Mongoose swept his claws for Wolfsbane, but he missed by inches, and X-Treme kicked him in the stomach seconds later.
“This is not how a warrior fights!” Mongoose snarled, “fight with honor!”
“This isn’t about honor, you ass,” X-Treme said, “this is about winning.”
“Fair enough,” Serpentina lunged at X-Treme from behind, but Wolfsbane stopped her with a right hook.
“Ye know what’s sad?” Wolfsbane flexed her claws, as Serpentina wiped the blood from her mouth and began circling around for another attack, “this is the closest thing we’ve had to a date in weeks.”
“We’ll settle up, Rahne, I promise,” X-Treme said, “right after I gut the people who took Bobby.”
“Cowboys and Indians, cowboys and Indians!”
Mirage gritted her teeth as she tried to get a bead on Wild Jack with her pyshic arrows. The madman was wearing brown cowboy pants, a ten gallon hat along with two revolvers, and nothing else, and he moved like greased lightning.
He stopped for a moment, and Mirage was about to let her arrow fly when she saw that Vibraxis, who had his own hands full with the Soldier known as C-10 was sure to be struck if she missed.
“Love this game!” Wild Jack leveled his revolvers at Mirage. He squeezed the triggers until the guns ran dry, and watched in shock as Mirage was still standing.
Without a word or a quip, Mirage, standing behind Wild Jack but cloaked by her illusions, smashed him upside the head with her bow. The first blow startled Wild Jack, but the second one knocked him on his ass, and then a kick to the head to ensure he was unconscious.
“Fun game,” Mirage said.
“You can be so brutal in a fight.”
Mirage turned to face Arsenal. She readied a psychic arrow, and leveled it at him.
“I prefer to think of it as pragmatic,” replied Mirage, “you’re my friend Bobby and I love you like a brother, but you won’t get any mercy from me right now. I’m going to kick your ass, and then fix your brain. In that order.”
“What, make me normal?” Arsenal laughed, “do you even know what they would look like? Every single member of your team has been fighting since they were teenagers. You only want to unscramble my brain to get your weapon back, nothing more.”
Arsenal’s words were like a knife to Dani’s heart, but she had long since learned to fight past the emotional pain.
She knew from bitter experience that if she didn’t focus on the here and now, there wouldn’t be a future.
“It’s funny though,” Arsenal said, “you and the army taught me one thing.”
Arsenal opened his palm to reveal a small devise, no bigger than a remote, with a single button.
“Fair fights are for suckers.”
Mirage let her arrow loose only a second after Arsenal tapped the remote, but even then it was too late. There was a flash of light a second before the arrow would have struck him, and then Arsenal, along with the other Soldiers of Misfortune, were gone just as quickly as they had appeared.
“They ran,” Technocrat said, the blood draining from his face, “why would they run?”
“Sabre!” Moonstar shouted, before a terrible force tore through the air.
Outside
Arsenal craned his head upwards towards the tower that had once been his home, now awash in orange flames.
“Wish I could have saved my laptop,” Arsenal said, “it had my best porn on it.”
“There’s always more,” replied Strong Arm.
“Flesh is flesh, it’s all the same,” Flashpoint said dismissively, “the only thing that matters is that it burns.”
“Can’t say I agree,” said Strong Arm, “but I don’t think these matches have burned quite yet.”
There was a sound much like a whistle for a split second, and then the ground in front of the Soldiers exploded in dust and shrapnel.
“It’ll take a bigger bomb than that to even scratch my helmet,” said Nova.
“I’ll be honest,” Arsenal said. He pointed to the sky above, “we mostly wanted to able to pick your teammates off from the air.”
Arsenal swore he could hear Nova’s teeth grind.
“You seem to have forgotten, I know team SOP too,” Arsenal winked, “Flashpoint, if you would…?”
Nova smashed into Flashpoint at mach-one, slamming the energy being down the street as the two tussled.
“Overly dramatic much?” Arsenal said. He glanced up, and could see Mirage, X-Treme, Vibraxis and Wolfsbane falling like amateur sky-divers. Only Technocrat, who’d created two miniature rockets from his tech-pak, wasn’t in freefall but descending at a controlled pace.
But Arsenal remembered their training. Technocrat had insisted, time and again, that his teck-pak wasn’t strong enough to carry his teammates, something about energy consumption. Not that Arsenal cared about that now.
All he cared about now was that he had several easy targets.
“C-10?” said Arsenal, “lets deal with some skeet, shall we?”
The overweight Soldier of Misfortune smirked at he aimed his hands at Force Works, and unleashed his power just as Arsenal’s optic blasts sliced through the air.
Both bursts of energy passed harmlessly through their targets.
“Mirage,” Arsenal chuckled, despite himself.
“Yeah,” said a voice behind the Soldiers of Misfortune, “me.”
“Actually, villains…”
A wave of seismic energy slammed the criminals, sending them stumbling.
“Us.”
Mirage pulled her bow taut.
“Force Works, no quarter,” Mirage said, “we’ll sort out Arsenal’s head after we cave it in.”
Arsenal chuckled to himself.
“You never were any good with pillow talk, Dani.”
“Yeah, but I’m great with violence,” Mirage said, “Force Works, lets do what we do.”
Force Works and the Soldiers of Misfortune threw themselves at one another
Several blocks away
Danny Galo could feel the ground shake beneath his feet, and he listened in amusement as his fellow Starbucks patrons seems to struggle to decide what to do.
“Force Works, got to be…”
“...city even better?”
“Don’t mind mutants, but them…”
“How many times will this happen?”
Danny leaned back in his chair. He’d been making the rounds with his contacts, and their assessment was much the same.
Metro City had changed under Force Works, but it was still at a precarious tipping point.
And that suited Danny just fine.
Tarene raised her war hammer, and brought a crash of lightning down upon herself.
With her weapon overflowing with power, Tarene slammed it on the ground, and electricity spilled forth like a tidal wave at the Soldiers.
C-10, acting on reflex, unleashed his own explosive energies at the attack, and when the two met, they exploded in a blinding white light that could be seen for miles.
“Shake it off,” Arsenal snapped, “they’ll be on us in seconds.”
“No,”
A boot slammed into Arsenal’s face.
“Now.”
“Well,” Arsenal wiped the blood from his face. He looked up at X-Treme, “should have seen this one coming.”
“Imitation,” Mongoose lunged at Tarene, “I’ve fought the real Thunder God!”
Tarene swung her mallet, but Mongoose ducked underneath it as if she were standing still, and raked his claws against her stomach.
Tarene didn’t cry out, though she wanted to. The wound wasn’t deep, but the hybrid still drew blood.
“I’ll gut you like a fish, and then show your blond teammate your head,” Mongoose growled.
He leapt at Tarene again, but Mongoose felt something pulling at him from behind, and to his horror, he felt as if he were hovering in midair.
“You’re quick,” Sabre said, racing around Mongoose. Within the span of a few seconds, she pushed him up in the air from a thousand different angles like an oversized beach-ball, “but once you’re in the air, you’re just mass. Tarene?”
Tarene snarled as she pulled her mallet back, and smashed Mongoose as if he were a baseball, dislodging teeth and pitching him in an arc through the air.
“Thanks,” Tarene said.
“No problem, though I did have an ulterior motive,” Sabre said. She pointed behind Tarene, at Colony, “care to act as a bug zapper for me?”
“My children will eat you alive!” The Tree woman, her body swarmed with alien insects, marched towards the two.
“Tree never beats lightning,” Tarene aimed her mallet, and unleashed her power, splitting Colony in two, “it won’t start now.”
“Whoa,” Sabre said, “that was a little much.”
“Or not enough.”
Roots, moving like snakes from both halves of Colony’s split form, reached out to one another, intertwining with one another. With a sudden –crack!-, Colony’s two sides were slapped together. Her wooden form cracked down the middle and scorched, as she regarded the two stunned members of Force Works.
“My babies will eat you alive,” Colony said, as the insects that called her form home swarmed around her arms.
“Unlikely.”
A burst of energy struck Colony from behind, and the tree woman stumbled.
Technocrat, his tech-pak sealed around his entire body, slammed into the tree woman again, and then turned to his teammates.
“Tarene, you need to handle Strong Arm,” Technocrat said, “Sabre, back up Vibraxis, let me handle Colony.”
“On it,” Tarene and Sabre were off without a second thought. Technocrat almost felt guilty about abusing their trust.
Almost.
“You think that metal shell will protect you?” Colony said, “my babies can secret acid that can melt steel. We’ll crack you like a lobster and devour your flesh.”
“I don’t doubt it,” said Technocrat, “my scanners tell me the insects that infest your body have some amazing abilities. But you know what else my scanners tell me?”
“What?”
“The sub-sonic frequency they use to communicate,” Taki said. He willed a special sonic pulse through his suit, and felt some gratification when Colony doubled-over in pain.
“I’m sorry, did that pulse hurt your friends?” Technocrat said, “or did it turn the alien bugs on you?”
“Go to hell!”
Technocrat unleashed the sonic pulse for a moment longer, seconds really, but when he was done, Colony was shaking.
“…what do you want?”
“I want to know everything about Nero Blood you do,” Technocrat replied, “and don’t tell me you know nothing. I’ve little doubt that you used those insects of yours for all sorts of spying. You’ve no doubt crafted some sort of exit strategy. Give it to me, and I’ll let you escape. Otherwise, I’ll have your insects devour you alive.”
“Meet me fairly in battle, and I will crush you,” Vibraxis shouted.
“Yeah right!” Strong Arm kept punching at Vibraxis, even though his fists phased through him harmlessly.
C-10, the overweight energy projector, hung back. Vibraxis was well aware that if he tried to take out Strong Arm, C-10 would blow him to hell.
“Why would we fight fair?” asked C-10, “your teammates are occupied, and you’re alone.”
“That was true.”
C-10 felt his head snap to the side, before he felt the blow.
Strong Arm looked back, but not up, and thus missed Tarene as she came crashing down from the sky, and swung her mallet in the perfect arc, smashing Strong Arm into the ground.
“Lucky…shot,” Strong Arm grunted.
“Perhaps,” Vibraxis pressed his hands against Strong Arm’s head, and unleashed his powers.
Strong Arm would have screamed, if had realized what was happening, as Vibraxis’ powers literally bounced his brain around in his skull.
But, luckily, the brain itself had no pain receptors. So instead, Strong Arm simply felt a strong urge to close his eyes, and fell asleep.
“See, Vibey?” Sabre came up from behind Vibraxis and rested an elbow on his shoulder, “who needs a fair fight when you have teammates?”
“Fair point,” Vibraxis said, “but this battle is not yet won. We need to teach the remaining Soldiers the value of teamwork.”
C-10 swallowed hard, as three members of Force Works turned their attention on him.
“Well, well, well.”
Mirage stood on the balls of her feet, her oldest friend Wolfsbane crouched at her side. The two were ready to move, as the three Soldiers of Misfortune, the muscle bound Cerberus, the snake woman Serpentina and the crazy man-child Wild Jack, bared down on them.
“You’re missing the heavyweights here, chief, just you and the team pet,” Cerberus observed.
“I’m no bloody pet,” Wolfsbane snapped, and then smiled, “and unlike ye, I can count.”
“Count, what does that mean?”
Cerberus felt something slash against his back, and he cried out in pain.
“It means that I’m back, asshole,” said Blink.
Cerberus backpedaled quickly, trying to get away from Blink, as is Wild Jack moved towards Wolfsbane and Serpentina targeted Mirage.
“Play, play, play!” Wild Jack smiled, as he swung his fist for Wolfsbane’s head.
Wolfsbane ducked the attack, and slashed Wild Jack across the chest.
“Owie, no fair, no fair!”
Wolfsbane saw Wild Jack clutch his wound, but she also saw how he set his feet and how his legs were braced. He was ready to move, to attack.
“Not bloody sorry,” Wolfsbane hit Wild Jack with an left upper cut that slammed into the man’s jaw, “I still remember how cruel kids can be.”
Serpentina rushed towards Mirage, and slashed at the mutant.
Her arms passed through harmlessly, and Serpentina never even saw where boot that slammed into her head came from.
“Hiding?” Serpentina hissed, “coward!”
“Yeah.”
Serpentina’s head snapped back as she took a blow to the jaw.
“Play into your strengths, that’s not how I’ve survived this long.”
“Burn, you disgusting bag of flesh!”
Flashpoint aimed his gauntlets at Nova, and unleashed enough power to light Vegas for a year.
The Human Rocket bobbed around the attack, and flew at Flashpoint like an arrow. His fist smashed into Flashpoint’s faceplate, and the follow up blow sent Flashpoint flying backwards.
“Ya know, there was a time I lost my powers,” Nova said, “would have given anything to get my powers back.”
“I don’t care,” Flashpoint said.
“Not asking you to,” Nova said, “just that, looking at you, nothing but power, I see everything I was overlooking, things I shoulda cherished but never did.”
Flashpoint felt anger unlike anything he’d felt before. His suit smoldered with energy, and if he had a face he would have given Nova a look of pure hatred.
“Shut up and bring it!”
“I just wanted to say thanks,” Nova said, “right before I beat all new kinds of color outta of you.”
Flashpoint wanted to say something snarky, but Nova crashed into his chest with both fists, and sent him hurtling towards the ground.
“I’m sorry, Bobby,” X-Treme’s fist smashed across Arsenal’s jaw.
“Feels like it,” Arsenal wiped the blood from his mouth. His eyes blazed, but as he unleashed his energy, X-Treme’s boot struck his chin and sent the energy flying harmlessly into the air.
“I should have known you were taken,” X-Treme said. The Shi’ar warrior unleashed two quick punches that sent Arsenal reeling, “this on me, buddy.”
“Just shut up and fight!” Arsenal spat, slashing his claws at his old friend.
“Fine,” X-Treme clenched his fists, “we’ll pick this up later.”
A boot connected with Arsenal’s gut, and when Arsenal bent forward from the blow, X-Treme threw his weight to the side as he lashed out with his other leg, catching his friend upside the head with his boot.
The blow staggered Arsenal, and nearly knocked him to his knees, but Arsenal reached a hand out for balance and caught himself just in time.
“Not going to be that easy,” Arsenal growled.
“Not that hard, either.”
X-Treme leapt head over heels, and brought his boot heel down on Arsenal’s shoulder, causing a hairline fracture in the bone even through Arsenal’s steel skin.
The pain caused Arsenal to hesitate for a split second, but that was all the opening Adam needed.
He slammed his left knee into Arsenal’s gut, boxed the man’s ears, and then swung his right elbow into arsenal’s steel jaw.
His vision blurring, Arsenal never saw X-Treme chop his throat, or bring his left elbow down on his head, or the flurry of blows that followed quickly after. In fact, it was over so quickly, Arsenal barely felt any of those before he fell unconscious.
“I’ll make this right, brother,” X-Treme said, “I swear it.”
“I’m going to enjoy the feeling of crushing your skull with my bare hands,” Cerberus leered at Blink.
“Please,” Blink rolled her eyes as she teleported out of the way of Cerebrus’ punch. She reappeared behind Cerberus. She slashed the man across the back with her javelins, and then teleported away.
“I’ve heard trash talk from Sabretooth, you’re second rate compared to him.” Blink said. She examined the area that she’d cut, and saw no blood. Playing a hunch, she said, “so tell me, why the bravado? What are you hiding?”
Cerberus stopped dead, “What are you talking about?”
“Hey, banter has a flavor,” Blink shrugged, “yours says weak, spineless.”
“Shut! Up!” Cerberus’ hands shifted into blades, “you’re not the only one with blades!”
“Neat trick,” Blink observed, “just what are your powers again?”
“Killing you,” Cerberus spat.
“I think you just create a false energy shell around yourself,” Blink said, “know what that means?”
Cerberus flinched.
“It means that I don’t have to hold back.”
It started first with Nova.
His first connected with Flashpoint’s helmet, and the blow sent the energy creature hurtling to the ground.
The impact destroyed the servos that allowed Flashpoint movement, and what was his body became his prison.
Flashpoint, through a supreme force of effort, rose to his feet and managed to aim his hand at the Human Rocket, before his armor sparked, and his servos let out a grinding noise before they melted into slag.
Seeing that Technocrat had Colony in hand, Nova scanned the battlefield, and saw Tarene tangling with Strong Arm.
Nova was as silent as a bullet as he flew at Strong Arm, and slammed his shoulder into the villain’s back.
“Hey, I could handle him!” Tarene snapped.
“Doesn’t matter, and playing fair only helps them,” Nova observed, “now, ready to crack some skulls?”
Tarene smacked her hammer in her hand, “Always.”
Nova put down Cerberus with a sucker punch.
Sabre overwhelmed Serpentina with a hundred blows in a blink.
Blink teleported Mongoose above Vibraxis’ head, and the Wakandian Warrior blasted the man-beast with enough energy to demolish a city.
And on it went, until there was only one.
Arsenal could feel the weight of his teammate’s eyes on him, as X-Treme took a step back.
“This isn’t over,” Arsenal turned to face his teammates, a look of smug satisfaction on his face, “this is just the latest battle in a war you never realized you were fighting.”
“And when you get your head on straight, I think we’d all like to hear about that,” Nova said. With a blur of speed, he grabbed Arsenal by the wrists, and then slammed head-butted his wayward teammate unconscious.
“We won,” Tarene said, as if trying to convince herself.
“It was hard fought and bitter,” Vibraxis said, hoping to raise his friend’s spirits, “but we overcame our greatest enemies, and our friend was returned to us, so that we might make him whole. This is a good day, in the end.”
Danielle Moonstar stood over Arsenal, her face inscrutable.
“We have the police inbound,” Technocrat said, as he dropped Colony on the pile of defeated enemies.
“Technocrat, liaison with them,” Mirage rubbed her forehead, “let them know what the situation is, get the Soldiers secured. Nova, X-Treme, secure Arsenal, and let’s bring him inside.”
“Wait, are you really leaving Technocrat in charge?” said Sabre.
Mirage looked at Sabre coldly, “Do you really think today is the day to give me more of your crap, Sabre?”
“Uhh do we have an actual plan for what we’re gonna do with our brainwashed friend?” Sabre said, “because I don’t think we can just splash a bucket of water in his face and call it a day.”
“We have contingences,” Dani said, “you should pay better attention Kim. Ending up brain washed and insane…”
Mirage stared at Arsenal for a moment.
“That’s not too uncommon in our profession.” Mirage said, “Now lets get him inside. Taki, try not to offend the cops too much, okay?”
Later
Though they had established protocols, delivering a drugged and brainwashed teammate to possible indefinite confinement wasn’t as easy as snapping your fingers. Especially when you had just dropped two teammates off in need of dire medical attention.
“Namorita’s in stable condition,” said Moira, “yuir girl Blink gave my people quite the fright, but they recovered nicely. She lost more blood than I’m comfortable wit’, but I expect her to wake up in a few hours. Your young man, Charcoal, is fine. His alternate form jus’ needed some time to heal. Ye can pick him up anytime.”
“Already getting on your nerves?” asked Mirage.
“Aye, he keeps wandering into restricted areas out of boredom,” Moira replied.
“Well, I should have him out of your hair soon, Moira,” Mirage said, “and, unfortunately, have another one lined up to replace him.”
“We’ll be ready ta receive him in a bit,” said Moira, “say hello to Rahne for me, and get some bloody sleep, ye look terrible.”
“I’ve had better days,” Mirage rubbed the bridge of her nose, “thank you, Moira.”
The call ended, and Danielle flopped back in her chair, exhausted.
When they were hunting for Arsenal, Dani told herself that once they rescued him, it would all be fine. That the compromises and lines they crossed, the chances they took, the damage that was caused, would all be worth it to have Arsenal back.
But what they had back was barely the man they knew. And now, he lay beyond their ability to help. Now they had to entrust his care to professionals, far away. It was like he had barely returned at all.
All in all, Danielle wondered if today still counted as a victory.
Mirage was pulled out of her reflections when she heard someone tapping on the wall.
“That was Dr. Mactaggert, right?” Rich said, “how’s my girl doing? And Charcoal, I guess.”
“Moira expects ‘Nita to pull through, and should be home in a day or two,” Danielle replied, “Charcoal is already back to being a pain.”
“Good, because we need to talk,” said Rich, “you really stumbled on the post game here, Dani. We tore up a big part of the street facing one of our own, and several international criminals. Taki barely held off the cops and the media, and you still haven’t met with the team after we just had a founder try to attack and kill us.”
“Excuse me?” Dani said, “I needed a damn minute here! You think this is easy for me?”
“Honestly, no,” Nova said, “I think since we learned that Bobby was kidnapped, you’ve been putting twice the weight of the world on your shoulders, and it’s starting to crack. I think we need to figure out something out, before you break.”
“You…,” Dani pointed an accusing finger at Rich, before his words struck her ears, “that’s actually a fair point.”
Dani leaned back in her chair.
“Leading this team is like riding a hurricane,” Danielle said, “dealing with the media, picking our targets, sifting through intelligence, all that makes the actual fighting seem like relaxation.”
“You saying you want to quit?” Rich said, shocked.
“What? Hell no,” Dani said, “I’ve made a life for myself here, but you’re right. Something has to give.”
“You thought about scaling back any?” Nova said, “because I’ll be honest, I think we need to restructure how we do things.”
“What do you suggest?”
Clarice Ferguson stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, reflecting on the day’s events.
A mole revealed, a teammate turning on them. A battle in the street that, ultimately, meant nothing more than public destruction.
It was a familiar cycle to the young mutant, and it was one she had hoped to break.
“Staring at the ceiling isn’t going to make this any easier,” Clarice said. She swung her legs off her bed and activated her powers.
-blink!-
Clarice found Mirage sitting across from Arsenal, hands steepled together. For a moment, Blink wondered if her entrance had even registered.
“Uh, Dani?” said Blink, “you got a sec? We need to talk.”
“Hmm?” Danielle tore her eyes away from Arsenal, “sorry, Clarice, I’ve been in a reflective mood lately. What’s up?”
“There’s no easy way to say this,” Blink said, “so I’m just going to say it, I’m quitting the team.”
Danielle did a double take.
“Sorry.”
Dani shook her head and stood up, “Don’t be. You have to live your life, especially with all the crazy stuff that gets thrown at us. Can I ask why you’re leaving, though?”
“When I joined Force Works, I did so because I thought it would be different, better,” Blink sighed, “and I was proud of the work we did. But as things have gone on, it’s begun to feel as if we’re being bogged down in a quagmire, like what happened in North Korea. And the fight with Soldiers felt just like so many fights before.”
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Danielle replied, “these past few weeks seem to have stretched on forever. Well, I hope you find what you’re looking for, Clarice.”
Danielle glanced at Arsenal’s suspended form.
“Though, could I get a few teleports out of you before you go?”
Later
Richard looked at Danielle.
“Ready to do this?”
“I think so,” Dani said. She was surprised at how calm she was, right now.
The two leaders of Force Works stepped through the door to their conference room together.
Before officially resigning and saying her goodbyes, Blink had been kind enough to return Namorita and Charcoal to the Work Place.
The entire team, minus one, was gathered in their briefing room, and Dani was grateful for that. She didn’t want to have to repeat herself, and what she was about t announce affected everyone.
“Hey boss lady,” said Charcoal, “can we save the debrief thing for later? Because I’m all kinds of beat.”
“This shouldn’t take too long,” Mirage said, “I know today was hard. We had a friend maimed and turned against us, and our home attacked by our worst enemies. We all need some R and R, we need to make some changes and we’ll get to that. I just need to make an announcement.”
“I’m stepping down as team leader.”
Nearly every jaw dropped, and for a moment, everyone was dumbstruck.
“Not it,” Charcoal said, breaking the silence.
“What do you mean, not it?” said Nova, “we wouldn’t follow you to an ice cream store, Charlie.”
“Well, if Dani’s leaving, who’s taking over?”
“I’m not leaving,” Dani said, “I’m just stepping down, and pulling back a little.”
“I’m taking over as leader,” said Nova, “we’re just swapping roles for a little bit.”
“Not exactly too progressive there, bucket head,” said Sabre.
“Maybe you’re right,” replied Rich, “in terms of seniority then, our next leader should be Taki then.”
“Nova for leader,” said Rahne quickly, “motion carries unanimously.”
“Agreed,” said all but one.
“You people don’t deserve my genius,” Technocrat crossed his arms.
“I have a question,” said Tarene.
“Bobby’s on Muir Island,” Dani said, “they dosed him with a heavy chemical cocktail, but they have the specialists there to treat him.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Tarene said, “but that wasn’t my question. I was going to ask, what are we changing?”
“We’re going to change how we choose our targets,” said Nova, “instead of just Dani, me and Taki, we’re gonna start working together on our targets. We’re all going back on the offensive, and we’re going to do a whole lot more than just punch out enemies in the face.”
“We’ll still punch them in the face though, right?” said Charcoal.
“Oh, most definitely.”
Later
Richard Rider stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He made his way towards the sink, and took a moment to stare at his reflection.
Since he was a teenager, Richard had been in more battles than he could remember. His career as Nova, as a superhero, felt so very small compared to his career as Nova, soldier to Xandar, even though he’d long since left those conflicts behind.
Looking back, with his responsibilities now, what Rich remembered most was taking orders. Following the lead of men and women more gifted than him when it came to tactics and decisions.
Now things were different. Now the lives of his friends, his family, rested on his shoulders. Rich prided himself on recognizing a good leader. Dwayne, Vance, Dani, Richard never gave a second thought to following their orders in the field.
But giving orders and taking them were like night and day, and Rich knew that he couldn’t get by simply asking himself ‘What would Dani/Dwayne/Vance do?’
“Hey Rich,” Technocrat voice called out from the intercom, “could you join me for a second?”
Rich sighed inwardly, as he realized that reigning in Taki now fell on his shoulders.
“Can’t it wait?” Rich said, “bring whatever it is up at breakfast or the next meeting.”
Rich heard a tap on the door.
“Get dressed and follow the drone, please.”
Rich muttered as he got dressed, throwing on some jeans and an old T-shirt. He found Taki’s little drone, a gray little thing not much larger than a baseball, floating outside the door.
This late at night, Rich did his best to walk silently. He didn’t want to wake his friends up, though he doubted there was little chance of that this late (or this early).
Rich followed, growing more annoyed by the minute. He didn’t like the idea of his tenure as leader starting off by being summoned by the team jack ass (also, tech expert, but Taki was an ass first and expert second), and by the time the drone led him to the room in question, Rich was determined to put that little troll in his place.
But the words died in his mouth, when he stepped into the room, and found his teammate X-Treme, his girlfriend Namorita and their ‘security consultant’ Bruce Hoffman all waiting for him, alongside Taki.
“Why does this feel like an intervention?” Rich said.
“Think of it as a small planning session,” said Taki.
“Just the five of us?” Rich said, “late at night. Babe, unless you’re into some kinky stuff I don’t know about, and ‘planning session’ is code for something dirty, I don’t want to have any part of what’s going on here. Not when I just proposed group sourcing our bad guys.”
“Honey, just hear them out,” said Namorita.
“I’m barely one day into this leadership thing and already I gotta deal with a damn coup,” Rich pointed an accusing finger at Namorita, “from my own damn girlfriend, no less!”
“This ain’t a coup,” Hoffman said.
“If it was, you’d never see me coming,” X-Treme said.
“Your bad-ass one liners don’t impress me,” Nova replied, “tank beats dart every time.”
“We’ve been fighting Nero Blood and his people for months now,” Taki said, “and we’re only just now realizing it. Does that impress you?”
Nova was silent for a moment.
“Explain.”
“The equipment the Soldiers of Misfortune were using, had coding in common with tech used by Pulsar,” Taki explained, “I interrogated one of the Soldiers, Colony. She has a host of alien insects at her command, perfect for infiltrating and gathering intel. And even she had no idea the extent of Nero Blood’s resources.
Remember that debacle in Washington with the Pantheon? One of the strike teams trying to get that list used the same tech, and the same is true of the Tri-Sentinel. I don’t think Nero is like villains we’ve dealt with in the past.”
“How so?”
“He don’t have his finger in just one pie,” Hoffman said, “The Soldiers of Misfortune, the Corporation, Deus Ex Monstra, Matrix, and God only knows what else and that’s just recently. He’s pulling more strings than we can count.”
“It’s us versus all that,” Namorita said, “Dani’s problem was that she was too tactical. She made us able to handle any fight or threat, but we’re still on the defensive against these people. We need to be more surgical and more consistent. That’s not going to happen if we group source our missions.”
“I’m guessing you guys have some ideas about what to do, then?” said Nova.
“We do, Rich,” Namorita replied.
“Ideas we’re not going to share with the others?”
“That too,” said X-Treme, “right now, for this, it needs to be a closed circle. Only us. Consider yourself lucky, Rider. Your girlfriend’s in on the secret.”
“We don’t need to fight harder,” said Taki, “we need to fight smarter. But to do this at all, we need you. So what do you say?”
“Yeah,” Nova clenched his fist, “yeah, okay.”
Taki and Namorita began what was clearly a planned presentation. Nova did his best to pay attention, but he couldn’t banish one thought from his mind.
This wasn’t something Vance or Dani would agree to.
Elsewhere
Colonel-General Valentin Shatalov whistled a tune from his childhood as he walked through the office complex, empty at this time of night.
On paper, the building belonged a small, internet research firm. On paper, it was one of hundreds, perhaps even thousands, like it. No one would have given it a second glance.
But Valentin knew better. A man forged in the battles of both national intelligence and office politics, there was little that escaped his attention.
Valentin found the door he was looking for, and allowed himself in despite several locks that should have stayed his way, and found the gentlemen he was searching for.
“Mr. Mycroft,” Valentin called out, “do you have a second?”
Mycroft on his back, resting a platform specially designed for him. He had two modified electrodes connected to the front of his forehead, designed to connect to the cybernetics inside of his skull.
“I have all the time in the world, and none of it,” replied Mycroft, “I’m currently reviewing our holdings. Even for a genius like myself, this takes some focus. What do you have to say, that can’t wait?”
“Not much,” Valentin said, “I just wanted to let you know that Force Works survived our attack. The element of surprise has been lost.”
“Unfortunate,” said Mycroft, “but we knew this was a possibility going in. We have contingencies in place.”
“Yes we do,” Valentin mused, “I can’t help but wonder if we’d needed to waste the time and energy on those, if we had simply steered clear of them?”
“You read my threat analysis,” Mycoft said, defensive, “you all agreed with my proposal.”
“Well, most of us,” said Valentin, “but we took your assessment to heart. We assumed that you discussed it with our benefactor.”
Mycroft gritted his teeth, “We did. And you know what else we discussed? Why partners should never be together in the same room.”
“I remember,” Valentin said, “I just wanted to look you in the eye and see if you still thought it was wise, making an enemy of these people.”
“It was,” Mycroft snapped, “though I think it is a moot point now. Now, it’s us or them.”
“Yes, yes it is,” Valentin said, with a heavy sigh, “I’ll leave you to your machines.”
“You should see to your people,” said Mycroft, “they’ll be in a war soon.”
“Yes, won’t we all.”
Elsewhere
Jafari pressed himself against the concrete wall of the supposed ‘safe house’. His skin was smooth, solid steel, but despite that, the teenager never felt more terrified in his life.
The ground shook from the force of an explosion outside, and when silence followed, the young teenager knew that his fate had been decided.
“Young man, why are hiding from me? I only want to help you.”
A man stepped through the door, straightening his collar. He offered Jafari his hand, though the teenager knew better than to take it. He’d see what had happened to his friends.
“My name is Reverend Norman Oswald Days, and I’m here to save your soul.”
Calling the Past
Green blood splashed on the ground, fires burned across the pink horizon, while the ground was littered with limbs and bodies.
Richard Rider snapped awake, his forehead damp with sweat. He blinked several times, trying to control his breathing.
He glanced at his side, and saw that his lover, Namorita was still sound asleep. The wounds she sustained weren’t life threatening, but she still needed her rest, and he didn’t want to wake her.
He summoned his powers, raising off the bed without a sound. He left the room silently, and unable to sleep, decided just to wonder until he thought of something to do.
He strolled past the comm. room, and was surprised to see that it was occupied.
Wolfsbane was sitting in front of a consul, wearing a oversized T-shirt and sweat pants, and drumming her fingers.
“Hey,” Rich leaned against the door, “what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”
“Hey Rich,” Rahne yawned, “I could ask ye the same thing.”
“Bad dreams,” Rich said, “your turn.”
“Someone I love has been resurrected,” Rahne said.
“Hmm, got me beat. Guessin’ it’s not Jesus?”
Rahne scowled.
“Nae funny,” Rahne replied, “it’s an old teammate, Doug Ramsey.”
Rich observed how Rahne looked away for a moment.
“Just a teammate?” Rich said.
Rahne blushed, “Maybe, he could have been. But he died before we could…I guess define who we were.”
“Is that what they’re calling it?”
Rahne kicked Rich’s shins.
“Losing him was one o’ the hardest things in my life,” Rahne said, “it took a lot to accept, especially wit’ the strange stuff that happens in our life.”
“Strange like coming back to life?”
Rahne thought back to Douglock, the techno organic creature that, for a time thought he was Doug returned. Strange was perhaps an understatement, even in their lifestyle.
“Aye, strange like that,” Rahne said, “I don’ know if I want to go through that again, if it really is him.”
“I guess what we went through with Arsenal would make someone a little gun shy regarding imposters,” said Nova.
“I just don’t want ta rip open that wound,” Rahne said, “not what I’m still dealin’ wit’ my father, Adam and everythin’ else. But then, what if it’s really him?”
“There’s no harm in being careful,” Rich said, “give him a call, and go from there. I know you, Red, you don’t reach out now and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
“Aye, yuir right,” Rahne sighed, “but, on the other hand, that’s already a long list, what’s one more?”
“You know, if you’d like I could call him,” Rich said, “What’d you say his name was again?”
“Don’t you bloody dare!” Rahne laughed as she gave Rich a good natured push, “aye, I guess yuir right. Better deal with it sooner than later.”
“Our pasts either come for us, or we come for it,” Rich said.
“Aye, that it does,” Rahne replied, “thanks fer the talk, Rich. Ye might make a good leader yet.”
Nova thought back to his meeting earlier, with Adam,
“Lets hope so.”
Roll Call
“Okay, I’m done.”
Charlie Burlingham, Charcoal tossed his pencil on the table and leaned back in his chair, mentally exhausted.
“I don’t know about you, Tarene, but I’m wiped,” Charlie rubbed his eyes, “Call of Duty, God of War, anything but more history homework. Care to join me in butchering minions?”
“Hmm,” Tarene said, never looking u from her laptop.
“Well, your loss,” Charlie said, “how’s history class going, by the way. I swear to God, that Mrs. Brubaker is trying to kill our minds.”
“Hmm,” Tarene said.
“Red Skull is attacking the Tower.”
“Hmm,” said Tarene.
“Okay, what’s so interesting that you can only talk in ‘hmm’?” Charlie walked over to Tarene, and scrutinized her laptop screen. What he saw turned his stomach, “God, what are you looking at that stuff for? I’m sure your brain has enough material for nightmares already.”
“Nova said he was going to let us all plan missions, remember?” said Tarene, “I’m just researching possible missions.”
“Why?” Charlie said, “it doesn’t really matter.”
“Of course it does!” Tarene snapped, “we help people, how can you say that doesn’t matter?”
“Whoa, that’s not what I’m saying,” Charcoal replied, “but there’s always going to be jerks in the world, guys for us to punch in the face. Why not leave the decision making to Richie, ‘Nita and the rest?”
“Because we’re fighting too,” Tarene said, “we should have a say!”
“Well, I say it doesn’t matter,” Charlie said, “I’d rather kill zombies, Nazis or Nazi zombies. You do you, girl.”
“It does matter,” Tarene said to herself, softly, “it does.”
X-Treme balanced a dagger at the end of his index finger and just stared into his own reflection.
He had secreted himself away in the private armory he’d built for himself in the Work Place. He’d built it first out of necessity, unable to rely on standard earth tools. A few calls to some Kree smugglers he knew, and Adam had his own workshop to maintain his weapons.
But today, he couldn’t bring himself to work on a single thing.
All he could think of, was his failure.
Arsenal had been his friend. His first, after his memories and past had been returned to him.
And Adam couldn’t think of a greater way to fail a friend.
“Never again,” Adam swore to himself.
Force Works was more than just his family, they were all he had in this entire world.
“Never again,” said Adam, “and not one more inch.”
Namorita Prentiss moved slowly as she sat down at her desk. The wounds Arsenal had given her were deep and even though she’d received expert treatment, they were still raw and aching.
Luckily, for what she needed to do, she didn’t need her muscles.
The Atlantean Princess suspected that Rich would want some distance, at least for now. He was probably upset that they’d ambushed him like that, so soon after Dani had handed him the reigns.
But Richard could be too much like her cousin, at times. Thinking every problem could be solved with a punch or use of force.
Few rarely saw that unless properly applied, violence only rippled out into greater problems.
That was why when Hoffman and Taki reached out to her, she agreed. Hell, it had been her who thought to bring in X-Treme.
What they would be doing, fighting the Corporation would require precision, cunning, and intelligence.
They had to know where to who, who to hit and likely, who not and when.
With that in mind, Namorita pulled up a folder she had created several weeks back on her laptop. It contained a dozen reports regarding the movement of raw material, twice as many SHIELD reports about the Soldiers of Misfortune and more than a few interesting news articles that had caught her eye.
Hidden somewhere inside of all these reports and articles was a hint at how to get at The Corporation. Namorita knew that the best she could hope for was a single needle in a field of hay.
But she ran a multi-national company. She had graduated Empire State Magna Cum Laude. And ‘Nita knew that she was ready for this.
Yes, she could crush a tank with her bare hands without chipping a nail, but the most dangerous muscle was the one between her pointed ears.
“Time to flex some muscles.”
Rahne examined herself in the mirror. She had chosen an old yellow sunflower dress, after examining countless other possibilities, to wear for today’s appointment.
It wasn’t a dress she was especially fond of, but looking through her clothes bought her some time to procrastinate.
With a weary sigh, Rahne picked up her purse and left.
Fifteen minutes later, she had reached her destination when she heard it.
“I’m jus’ bloody saying, if mutants were just more accommodating, we wouldn’t be havin’ issues like these.”
Rahne stepped behind a corner, and said a little prayer, asking the lord for strength.
Though she would have never thought it possible, Reverend Craig had caused her more trouble, more turmoil trying to be a positive influence in her life, than he ever was as a negative one.
“I’m jus’ tryin’ to say,” Reverend Craig began, as he had so many times before, “is that mutants needn’t draw so much attention to themselves. It’s just askin’ for trouble.”
Rahne knew that her father had changed. That he was trying to be a better man.
But she couldn’t help but wonder, would he ever change enough?
“I’m not gonna lie,” Kim flopped back down on her bed, “you were every bit as good as I thought you’d be.”
“I am glad the master of vibration satisfies,” said N’Kano.
“I still can’t believe you still say that with a straight face,” Sabre laughed.
“I’m a Wakandian warrior,” N’Kano said, “stoic comes natural.”
“Among other things,” Kim smiled, “so what’s on your mind? You usually turn down my post battle relax offers.”
“I…simply thought it impolite to do it so many times,” N’Kano said quickly.
“Stoic, but a crappy liar,” Kim said, “fine, you don’t want to talk, that’s fine with me. Not a requirement.”
“I was just thinking…”
Kim rolled her eyes. Apparently, she wasn’t fast enough to dodge this bullet.
“What was done to Arsenal was terrible…”
“Understatement…”
“…but we allowed it to happen.”
“Wait, what now?” Kim sat up and glared at N’Kano, “that wasn’t our fault!”
“Wasn’t it?” N’kano said, “we fight for noble causes, but we never finish our enemies the way we should. Had we simply run the Soldiers of Misfortune to ground, they never would have hurt Bobby as they did.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Sabre scowled.
“I know it would be hard,” N’Kano said, “but look what we do instead, we flitter from battle to battle. What more could we accomplish if we simply saw one matter through?”
“Yeah, and think of the crap we’d miss in the meantime,” Sabre said.
“Perhaps, but would it compare to the good we would accomplish?”
Mirage couldn’t believe the weight that she felt lifted off her shoulders, as she practiced with her bow.
Running Force Works, fashioning them into a team and into a force to be reckoned with was utterly exhausting. It was work worth doing, but carrying such a weight took its toll, over time.
Dani wondered what she would do now with her (relative) freedom. Maybe look up some old friends?
Taki rolled into his private office. The Work Place was never short of space, so Technocrat decided that he needed a private chamber. So he altered the floor plans that were on record, put up some false walls and that was that. All anyone knew was that the building had a spare storage room.
Technocrat activated several monitors, and called up a single image.
If Taki was being honest with himself, the man’s image was utterly unremarkable. If Taki passed the man on the street, he never would have given him a second thought.
But the power Nero Blood had at his command was anything but subtle. The Soldiers of Misfortune. The Corporation. Pulsar, and God only knew what else.
And all Taki had in his corner was a team of young, idealistic superhumans.
“Let the games begin…”
Never the end!