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Issue #49 by Daniel Ingram
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"FALLING SIDEWAYS – PART FIVE
Florida
Jack Slater felt the room around him tremble, metal walls groaning, and a roof that was built to withstand missile strikes cracked above him like an egg.
He could hear his men screaming in fear, firing uselessly at their attackers. They were armed with automatics, but those weapons were as effective as water guns, and his men screamed as they were cut down.
Jack wanted to stand and fight with his men, but he knew it would be hopeless. Such a futile gesture of loyalty would, ironically only hasten his death the second he was caught. Hydra had two unofficial policies for men like him. ‘Better safe than sorry’, immediately followed by ‘dead men tell no tails’.
So while the battle raged, and his men fought with all the valor they had, Slater activated the emergency tunnel underneath his desk, and climbed down in.
It spilled out into a drainage pipe beneath his base, and Jake wasted no time in sprinting towards freedom, as the trembling behind him grew larger and larger. He could hear lightning fall; men cried out and the earth shuddered.
Jack breathed a sigh of relief, but less than a minute later when he stepped out of the mouth of the tunnel, his heart caught in his throat.
Because Nova the Human Rocket, Mirage, Kymaera and X-Treme were already standing there, waiting for him.
“Didn’t think you’d make it this far,” Nova said, “I owe Mirage ten bucks.”
Slater felt his blood run cold. But when several seconds passed, and none of the heroes grabbed him by the collar to give him the usual self righteous speech, Slater found himself dumbstruck.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Slater demanded, “arrest me!”
“What makes you think we’re going to do that?” Mirage said.
Slater glanced at Mirage, “Going to kill me, then? You and my employers are much alike, in that regard.”
“Spare us the passive aggressive insult,” Kymaera said, “you joined Hydra willingly. And you didn’t climb their ranks by being any kind of saint. But that’s not the point at the moment, because we don’t plan to kill or arrest you. In fact, we need you free.”
Slater almost did a double take, “…excuse me?”
“You’re one of Hydra best intelligence officers,” Mirage said, “that’s how you survived so many regime changes, isn’t it? Strucker, Viper, Shadow King, the knowledge and contacts in your head is irreplaceable. But that’s also a problem, isn’t it?”
“We both know it is,” Slater said, “if I was in jail for so much as a parking ticket, I’d be dead before bail.”
“And that’s what makes you useful to us,” Mirage said, “X-Treme?”
Before Slater could so much as blink, X-Treme flicked his hands, and he felt a dark pierce the flesh of his bicep. He slapped it away like a mosquito, but knew it was already too late.
“That was a Shi’ar tracker,” X-Treme said, “you wouldn’t understand the science, but trust me when I say I can find you anywhere on the planet now.”
“So what’s the price of my life?” Slater said, as he tore his eyes away from the wound.
“We want everything Hydra has on The Corporation,” Mirage said, “who runs it, where they get their funding, who their muscle is…everything.”
“The Corporation?” Slater said, “why do you glory hounds want them? I don’t think they have a single A-lister on their pay roll. Hell, I bet the paint is still wet in their offices.”
“That’s our business, not yours. This isn’t a request, and we’re not friends,” Mirage jammed her finger into Slater’s chest, “you have one week to get us good intel, or we sell you out to your bosses. Understand?”
Slater put his hands up in surrender, “Okay, okay, sorry. Anything I can find on the Corporation, one week. That’s a deadline I can…”
Before Slater could finish, X-Treme removed a dagger from his belt, and moved with cat-like grace, slapping the blade against Slater’s throat before another sound escaped.
“Not ‘good’, you diseased pus,” X-Treme hissed, “actionable. Something I can sink my blades into. Or I plant them in your skull, understood?”
Slater just barely nodded.
“Understood.”
Slater didn’t stop looking over his shoulder, the entire time he made his getaway. It wasn’t until he was at his safehouse that he was certain that he hadn’t been followed, certain that Force Works were entirely sincere in their offer.
“What are those kids playing at?”
# # # # #
The Work Place, hangar
“What are you playing at? Are ye bloody insane?” Wolfsbane snapped.
Mirage had waited until the team had returned to headquarters before she fully divulged what had happened following their raid on the Hydra base.
Opinions and tempers flared almost instantly, and Mirage, Nova, X-Treme and Namorita found themselves on the wrong end of some very angry eyes.
“You let the man we were there to arrest walk away?” Charcoal said.
“We didn’t let him go, Rahne,” X-Treme said, “we can find him whenever we want. He’s just more useful out there, helping us, than behind bars.”
“And if he helps us?” Charcoal said, “what, he just gets a pass?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Nova said.
“He’s a bloody terrorist!” Wolfsbane said, “what is there to think about?”
“You think I don’t know that?” Mirage said, “but we’re currently burned, Rahne. No one will talk to us, no one! We were just lucky Hoffman had that favor to call it! Or do you want us to never find Arsenal?!”
“Hey, whoa!” Blink stepped in front of Mirage, “we all want to find Bobby, Dani. But that doesn’t mean we have the right to do as we damn please.”
“One of our own is missing!” Dani was within a hair’s breathe of Blink’s face in an instant, “and we don’t even know how long he’s been gone!”
“Hey, ease up!” Sabre was between the two in an instant, “no one’s saying we shouldn’t rescue Bobby, but I’m kinda with Blink on this. Letting a terrorist go free? Maybe we oughta pull back some.”
“Do we even know if this guy can come through?” Charcoal added, “I mean, we’re betting on a long shot, aren’t he?”
“It’s the only shot we have,” Namorita said, “the intelligence community thinks we’re either in league with the Corporation, or their patsies. No one wants to deal with us. And anyone else still talking to us doesn’t have any information that we can use.”
“Non-spy guy here talking,” Charcoal said, “but this kinda sounds like we’re just groping around in the dark.”
An uncomfortable silence fell.
“So what is Hoffman doing?” Sabre said, “isn’t he supposed to be our major spy guy?”
“He’s working on it,” Namorita said.
“We must implore him to work faster,” Vibraxis said, “we’ve had a week with no results. How long will it take to get the information we need to save our comrade?”
# # # # #
Bruce Hoffman rubbed his chin as he regarded the two creatures Force Works was holding in makeshift cells.
They were a study in contrasts. The robot, self named Dues Ex Monstra, was the very definition of an evil robot, with only it’s upper body was of human proportions, with metal tissue and wires where a human would have muscles and two sets of arms and its lower body ended in a hip-bone, but where there would have been legs on a human being, there were four spider-like legs, with points razor sharp.
Its skull housed only one eye, and the jaw-line of its skeletal mouth was pulled back into a deep frown as it regarded the second prisoner, Matrix.
The man himself was something Bruce Hoffman had never seen, in all his years in intelligence work. Matrix was male and had wings like their missing teammate Arsenal, but that was where all similarities ended. His eyes, his hair, his cheekbones, they all shifted from one day to the next.
At first, Hoffman thought it was a reflexive attempt at disguise, but now he wondered. Matrix was a shape-shifter, but did even he know what he was supposed to look like?
“I’ve asked this before, but I intend to keep asking until I get a satisfactory answer. Would either of you care to tell me where I can find the real Robert Greggs?” Hoffman had asked this question of them twenty times now, and expected to ask it twenty times again. Interrogations like this, dealing with what SHIELD called ‘extra normal’ agents, were often lengthy and unpredictable.
Hoffman knew from the start it would be a challenge. These two were created in a lab, bred for one purpose that they followed because it was all they knew. They’d stay loyal to their creators because they were family, and in some ways, their entire world.
“We have nothing to say,” Matrix started.
“How did it feel, acting as Robert?” Hoffman said, “must have been nice, I imagine. He had friends who liked him, public respect. What did it feel like, walking in his shoes, while being invisible yourself?”
Matrix was silent.
“I imagine it was overwhelming,” Hoffman said, “Taki tells me you were bred in a lab, and given a functional personality, and then on top of that, a shadow personality implant of Robert himself. You really have nothing that belongs to you, do you?”
“Shut up,” Dues Ex Monstra growled, “you have no idea what we are, what we’re capable of.”
“I do,” Hoffman said, “you’re nothing more than lambs. Sent to bloody Force Works’ nose, nothing more. Your entire lives, what little there is of them, had been a waste.”
“I’ve heard this all before…” Matrix said.
“And you’ll hear it again, and again,” Hoffman said, “until it sinks in. Until you understand how you’re wasting your time for a pointless cause.”
“…you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Matrix said, “Nero told me about you, how you’ve been trailing after him for years.”
“Matrix, enough!” Dues Ex Monstra snapped, but it was too late.
They saw Hoffman’s smile.
“So you do know the big man,” Hoffman spun on his heel, “we’ll talk later.”
The cell door slammed shut behind Hoffman, who was immediately met by Nova, Technocrat and Mirage.
“So after all this time, that’s all you’ve gotten?” Mirage said.
“With freaks like this, it takes time,” Hoffman said, “and you’re in luck. I know their boss.”
“Care to tell us?” Nova said.
“Nero Blood,” Hoffman said, “he’s a shadow I’ve been chasing my entire life. The things he’s done…”
“Wait, stop,” Mirage raised her hands, “sorry Captain Ahab, I don’t want to hear how long you’ve been after this guy, or what he may have done. You would not believe how many bull shit rumors I’ve heard over the years. Summarize, okay?”
“You’re one to talk about being Ahab,” Hoffman said.
“Just get on with it,” Mirage said through clenched teeth.
“Fine,” Hoffman grinded his teeth, “What I know about him is that he’s scary smart, been around for decades and loves proxies. And this is the first time in the last decade that he’s really stuck his head up, and he’s already got his hands in three different pies.”
“Three?” Nova said.
“Yeah, three,” Hoffman said, “remember how I told you the Corporation stepped up to fill all those vacancies we helped create?”
“One, we only helped make one,” Mirage said, “and we were ambushed, remember? Guy was already dead. And of course I remember them, we’ve been trying to get a line on them for a week now.”
“The Corporation, this syndicate, is a part of all this,” Hoffman said, “I’d bet my last dollar Nero gave them start up money and resources. And they have even deeper pockets now.”
“They weren’t exactly poor to begin with,” Nova said, “they were the ones who funded a Tri-Sentinel to attack Israel. Thank God we had the Wackos to help us out.*”
*You remember the infamous Force Works/WCA team up? Foot-note Dan
“They’re rich enough and insane enough to start a world war in one move,” Hoffman said, “the Soldiers of Misfortune, those sociopaths you tangled with a while back? That’s when Arsenal was replaced, with means they were colluding. That makes two.”
“And our dynamic duo in there makes three,” Mirage said.
“That’s right,” said Hoffman, “Nero created an artificial life-form that can mimic dozens of super powers, implanted a false personality, and then later created another artificial life-form out of your training room. On a scale of Dr. Doom to the Wizard, how smart do you think that makes him?”
“He’d have to be at least as good as Beast with genetics,” Mirage said
“So I’ll level with you. I don’t know much about Nero Blood, nothing I could prove until today. But now? I know for a fact that he’s smart enough to have come after us with three assets, the Corporation for infrastructure, the Soldiers of Misfortune as point-men and those two as infiltrators. He’s managed to plant one of his men on our team for weeks, manipulate us into doing his bidding, all before we ever had any idea he existed.”
Nova pinched the bridge of his nose, “God, I hate new players.”
“Nero’s not new, he’s old,” said Hoffman, “you just never heard of him before today.”
“In our business, there’s no real difference. Take a break, Hoffman,” Mirage said, “lets come back fresh tomorrow.”
“I always need a stiff drink after interrogation,” Hoffman said, “I’ll start early tomorrow. Later, kids.”
Nova waited until Hoffman was out of earshot before he turned to Mirage.
“He wasn’t wrong with that Ahab comment, chief,” Nova said, “how far over the line we are is up for debate, but there’s no question that we stepped over it a long time ago. I’m kinda shocked that you’re not water-boarding those two.”
Mirage said nothing.
“Not just letting Slater go like that,” Nova said, “keeping those two prisoners here, do we have a plan for what to do with them when we find Arsenal?”
“…no,” Mirage said, “we’re playing this by ear, Rich. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“So make it up as we go along?”
Mirage shrugged, and gave a bitter laugh, “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing this entire time?”
“Yeah, and that’s why I have gray hairs at my age,” Nova said, “why don’t you turn in, and I’ll check in with our resident, insufferable genius?”
“There any reason why you think I can’t do it?” Mirage demanded.
“No, you could,” Nova said, “but I think you’ve pissed enough people for today, and Taki does that every day, just by breathing. Day like today, last thing we need is a bunch of gas hugging fire.”
“Fair enough,” Mirage said, “I doubt he has anything for us anyways. We’d have heard by now if he made a break through.”
# # # # #
Later
Nova tapped on the door to Technocrat’s lab.
“She was right, you know. If I had anything, I’d have informed you immediately.”
Nova sighed as he stepped inside.
“Just for the record, you better only be eavesdropping in the hallways,” Rich said, “I catch even a whiff of you doin’ otherwise, and I’ll throw you into orbit.”
“Of course,” Technocrat never looked away from his consul, “there’s no point to listening into private discussions that don’t address the matters at hand, and would be a waste of time.”
“And an invasion of privacy,” Nova added.
“Yes. And that would be wrong,” Technocrat never bothered to look at the Human Rocket, “at any rate, as I said, I have no progress to report. I’ve examined the DNA of Matrix against all known mimics, and came up empty. Using a false identity, I’ve submitted his DNA to several top researchers. They all agree that it’s some of the best genetic engineering that they’ve seen in years.”
“Great,” Nova sighed, “so our mystery bad guy, Nero Blood, should get a bad guy Nobel prize.”
“Two,” Technocrat said, “the second creature, Dues Ex Monstra, her coding is amazing, the nano-bots tasked to make her chassis are next generation and her personality matrix is almost completely unhackable. You couldn’t ask for a better tool.”
“…how do you know that?” Nova said, then stopped to think, “no, don’t answer that. Just remember that we’re the good guys here, and we don’t mess with people’s mind, no matter how they were born or created.”
“You can fly, you don’t need a high horse,” Technocrat said, “anyways, I’ll keep looking.”
“One last thing,” said Nova, “did you turn up anything on Nero Blood?”
Technocrat shook his head, “Nothing solid. He’s the intelligence community’s version of the boogey man, with mentions as far back as the Cold War. Numerous people have claimed the identity or claimed to be the original, only to later be disproven.”
“So we’re chasing a shadow now,” Nova said.
“Look at the bright side,” Taki said, “it’s better than what we were doing yesterday.”
Technocrat turned back to his computers, and suddenly Rich felt as if he were intruding.
He knew better than to order Technocrat to take a break. The look on his eyes, the wounded pride, though Taki said nothing, Nova knew the scars were there.
Mirage, he and Nova all shared the same wound. They’d been infiltrated on their watch, during their command. But as best Rich could see, both Mirage and Technocrat were allowing the wound to fester, beating themselves up rather than focusing on the here and now, moving forward.
But like too many other things, that had to wait. Their friend was kidnapped and they were only recently finding this out.. Now more than ever, they needed Taki focused.
“If you find anything, let me know immediately,” Nova said, “good night, Taki. Try not to break more than a dozen laws before I get up tomorrow.”
When the door closed behind the Human Rocket, Bruce Hoffman stepped out of a shadowed corner.
“That kid’s still a little green,” Hoffman said, “especially if he thinks we’d only break a dozen laws before tomorrow.”
# # # # #
Elsewhere
Adam Sol moved through his kata faster than the eye could see, as he battered the steel dummy, smashing palm, elbow and foot into it a dozen. He’d been at it for hours now, sweat dripping down his brow, having gone through every form he knew twice over.
His fists ached, his muscles burned and were the dummy not make of solid steel, would have been destroyed three times over.
X-Treme gave no thought to how long he’d spent training, until he heard Rahne enter the room
“Ye should come to bed,” Rahne said softly.
Adam said nothing, simply collapsing against the practice dummy.
“You know I want Bobby back, what I said in there…”
“Five,” said X-Treme
“Umm, sorry?”
“I was trained by the finest Shi’ar espionage masters,” Adam said, “I know five different methods of recognizing Skrull body language. I can tap a hardened Kree comm.. center in two minutes, and recognize a Brood infection at thirty paces.”
“What does that…?”
Adam slammed his fist into the practice dummy, and sent it flying backwards a dozen yards.
“All that damn training, and I couldn’t even see that my best friend was replaced!”
Rahne placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder.
“None o’ us knew. I didn’t smell it, Taki didn’t realize it…we all made a mistake.”
“Because you’re all normal people,” X-Treme said.
“Normal? Rahne scoffed, “my own bloody father tried to burn me at the stake. Rich fought in an alien war and hell, Namorita’s an underwater princess!”
“Well, okay, maybe normal is stretching it,” X-Treme said, with a reluctant smile, “but I was raised on an alien planet to be a living weapon, the tip of the spear for a madman. What’s my excuse for not seeing this?”
# # # # #
Later
Technocrat pinched the bridge of his nose and then fell back in his chair with a sigh.
He’d just spent six hours, examining everything from the day Arsenal had been replaced. He looked over the imposter’s internet history, to the last known sightings of the Soldiers of Misfortune and even the information that the imposter had smuggled out.
Technocrat had literally been over it a dozen times, and yet he found himself completely unable to find anything that might give them a hint to where their friend had been taken.
Technocrat steepled his hands, and reflected, “I must have missed something…”
“Far from it, young Takashi Matsuya,” said a new voice, “I’m simply that good.”
Technocrat spun around, his tech-pack creating a dozen different lasers, torches and mini-missile launchers, all of which he aimed at the voice.
Technocrat had no idea what to expect, but he had some preconceptions. Alien armor, perhaps, or an enchanted weapon or some other clear evidence of enhancement, something, anything that indicated superhuman abilities in the man who’d just appeared out of nowhere in his lab.
Instead, what Techncrat found was what looked to be a young man, no older than twenty, with a white shirt, black sweater vest and brown slacks. The man wore round glasses, had brown hair, but carried himself in a way that screamed predator to even the most untrained observer.
“Not what you expected, am I?” the man smiled, “trust me, I’m older than I look. Nero Blood, at your service.”
Technocrat crooked his head to the side, trying to wrap around the idea that the man they’d been looking for, the man who had almost effortlessly infiltrated their team, had in fact just strolled into his lab as if it were a Starbucks.
“Don’t believe me?” he said, “you’ve examined Monstra’s code, did you find the binary logic trap the first time around, or the second?”
“First,” Technocrat said, though in truth it had been the third time, “I’m sorry, you’re right, I do have trouble believing you. Because this is the first time I’ve seen a villain in a sweater vest.”
Nero Blood smirked, and gave a guilty glance downward, “I know, most think it’s ugly, but it was very fashionable in my day. I’ve always had a preference for it. I suppose I’m the first villain you’ve met with a weakness for sweater vests, eh?”
“I suggest changing with the times,” Technocrat willed his weapons away, “I’m not going to bother to threaten you. You wouldn’t have come in here without a dozen ways out. Not the least of which is threatening the life of my teammate, Arsenal.”
“You wound me,” Nero Blood placed a hand over his heart, and feigned offense, “I need not rely on something that crude. Someone as intelligent as you should know how dangerous I am. I’ve been inside your systems for weeks. You would know better than anyone, the damage I could do.”
Technocrat clenched his fists, but said nothing. Because Nero Blood was absolutely right. Dumping the security protocols was one of the first things Technocrat did when he learned that Arsenal had been replaced, but he hadn’t the time to check half the systems that he wanted to, to ensure that the Work Place had been made completely safe.
In all likelihood, Nero Blood was safer here than he was in his own bed.
“Fine, speak your piece,” Technocrat said, “the world is waiting to hear your brilliance.”
“Oh, I’m not here to gloat,” Nero said, “well, not just that. I’m just here to make an offer. I’d like to trade your friend, Arsenal, for Matrix and Monstra.”
Technocrat raised an eyebrow.
“Why?” Taki asked, “I can’t imagine that it’s beyond your ability to take them.”
Nero Blood smiled like a shark, “No, no it is not. But I don’t want to take them. I’d much rather you give them back to me.”
“So this is all about ego, is it?” Technocrat said with disgust, “you kidnapped our friend, attacked us, all so you could see us on bended knee!?”
“Oh, young Mr. Matsuya, if only your teammates could see you now, being forced to swallow your pride, to admit how you’re not the smartest person in the room,” Nero Blood said, “but yes. Give me my people, and I’ll give you yours. No strings attached. That’s my offer. You have my word that I will return Arsenal to you, not that you’ve any reason to take me at my word.”
“…I’ll bring it to my team,” Technocrat said. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears, and struggled to keep himself from lunging for Nero’s throat.
“See that you do,” Nero reached into his pocket, and removed a watch, “old Shield teleport beacon. If you agree to my deal, activate it. Instructions will follow. If not…”
“We’ll never see Arsenal again,” Technocrat finished, “not our first rodeo.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d see him. But not before you’ve been forced to deal with my proxies, and that could take you years,” Nero said, “your inability to handle the Soldiers of Misfortune landed you in this situation, and the Corporation are far from pushovers. And I assure you, those are not my only tools. Were I you, I’d avoid going up against the full weight of all that just yet.”
Technocrat said nothing.
“I’ll leave you to it. And tell old man Hoffman I said hello, won’t you?” Nero’s smile was like that of a lion, “we’ll catch up later.”
In the blink of an eye, Nero Blood was gone, and Technocrat wondered if in fact, he’d ever physically been here. His own scanners told him nothing, leaving Taki only with conjecture. A hologram projected, phase shifted from another reality, there were any number of ways Nero Blood could have gained entrance, and Taki couldn’t confirm anyone of them.
In the end, Technocrat had to clench his fists to keep them from shaking.
# # # # #
Later
“You have to be insane,” Mirage said, “we can’t just give up our best leads to finding Arsenal, to the man who has him!”
“Come on, Taki,” said Nova, “you’re our team genius, you have to have something on this guy.”
Technocrat took a moment to find the words, to explain how many systems he’d hacked in an attempt to track Nero down, the countless methods in which he used in the struggle to find a single clue, but then…
“He’s got nothing,” Bruce Hoffman said, “because Nero is smart, and he’s experienced. He wouldn’t have stepped into the tower if he thought for a single minute he couldn’t get back out.”
“Ye have experience with this man, then?” X-Treme said.
“Before today, I could count on one hand the number of people who believed that Nero Blood was a person and not a title,” Hoffman said, “welcome to the club, kids.”
“Fine club,” Blink muttered, “do we have an assurances this Nero Blood will keep his word?”
“None,” Hoffman said, “honestly this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to him before.”
“He wants us to bow in submission,” Vibraxis huffed. He slammed his fist into the table, “we should not even honor him with the breath it takes to debate this!”
“He’ll do it,” Namorita said. She steepled her hands together, “don’t you see what he’s done? He’s living up to his namesake, and playing us like a fiddle. We’re illegally holding two super-humans downstairs, who only know what their master programmed into them. Neptune only knows what charges we’d be facing if we handed them over to the authorities. He’ll give us back Arsenal just to rub salt in the wound.”
“I suspect that Namorita’s right,” Technocrat said, “even with my limited interaction with him, I could almost feel the arrogance coming off him.”
Technocrat saw the look in his teammate’s eyes.
“Yes, I know, I know,” Technocrat said, “lets move on, shall we?”
“So what do we do?” Tarene said, “we have to get Bobby back!”
“We should put it to a vote,” Sabre said, “I mean, this goes wrong, we’re all responsible.”
“No vote,” Mirage growled, “we’re not letting those two get away. They’re still our best chance at finding Bobby.”
“I only wish,” Technocrat said, “I’ve gone over them from every angle. They only know what Nero wants them to, and nothing more.”
“You have to figure that Nero would know they would be compromised,” Hoffman said, “we couldn’t trust anything they told us, even if they gave up intel willingly.”
“We are not bending over for this bastard!” Mirage snarled, “that’s final!”
An uncomfortable silence fell in the conference room.
Richard Rider cleared his throat.
“Guys, why don’t you give us the room?”
“I hate it when mom and dad fight,” Sabre said under her breath, as the team filed out.
“What did you want to say to me that you couldn’t say in front of the others?” Mirage demanded.
“We’re giving Nero Blood back his people,” Nova said, “because we pushed this too far, and because of that, we’re out of options.”
“We have options,” Moonstar said.
“Like?” Replied Nova, “Shield and XSE are pissed at us. And even if we had better relations with the X-teams or the Avengers, they’d still be no help, because we’d be wasting time just bringing them up to speed!”
“So you want to just give up?” Dani said, “I can’t believe you!”
“Think of it as a hostage exchange,” said Nova, “and before you even say it, I know. We have no way of making this Nero guy keep his word. But if he’s half the smug bastard Taki thinks he is, he’ll return Bobby.”
“And if he isn’t?”
“Then all we lose is two distractions he could have used against us at any time,” Nova said, “look, I may not have done the spy crap you and Hoffman did, but I was a soldier at one time, and I know a trap when I recognize one. If we don’t hand those two over, all he has to do is call the media and tell the damn truth.”
Mirage rubbed the bridge of her nose. That was always a fear that ate at her, the entire time they had the two prisoners. Though the law with regards to superhumans was always fluid, Moonstar also knew that there were some areas where there was no wiggle room.
Keeping secret prisoners was one of them.
“You’re right,” Mirage sighed, “how did it come to this? Taking prisoners? Bending over for some sociopath?”
“Let’s worry about that after we get our man back,” Nova said, “after we get Bobby back, and right before we take these assholes apart.”
# # # # #
Later
The meet was set a hundred miles away, at an old, dilapidated dock in some small town that Nova never bothered to learn the name of. Nero politely demanded an escort of only three, and it was decided that Nova, Mirage and Blink would accompany Matrix and Dues Ex Monstra.
When they arrived, they found Nero Blood at the end of a dock, alone, hands in his pocket.
Despite the fact that three of the most skilled and powerful members of Force Works were standing across from him, Nero Blood never stopped looking smug.
“Master!” Matrix tried to run to Nero, though he didn’t make it far. Both he and Dues Ex Monstra were contained in a stasis field that shimmered gold. Neither of them could make it five feet before they were shunted back.
“Thank you for returning my property,” Nero said, “if you’d just turn those stasis fields off, we’d be on our way.”
“Not just yet,” Mirage said, “where’s Arsenal?”
“I told you I would return Robert Greggs to your custody, and I will,” Nero said, “simply release my people.”
“Mirage, do it,” Blink said, “if he tries to renege, I’ll kill him faster than my namesake.”
Mirage clicked a button on her belt, and the force fields around Matrix and Dues Ex Monstra fell.
For a moment, the three members of Force Works felt a flash of fear that the two creatures who’d given their entire team a run for their money might turn on them now.
But instead, both constructs rushed towards Nero Blood’s side like lost children finally reunited
“Thank you,” Nero said, his face plastered with a smug grin that they all wanted to remove by hand, “your friend has already been returned. I’ll stop jamming your radios, to allow you to verify…”
# # # # #
Minutes earlier, the Work Place
“So how long is this supposed to take?” Charcoal, in his human form, slumped in the beanbag chair.
The team had retreated to their rec room, waiting in reserve. Mirage had argued for them to wait in the jet, but Namorita nixed that as both too stressful and boring.
So, instead, everyone was bored, stressed and anxious in the rec room.
Tarene, Wolfsbane, and Vibraxis were watching TV, Sabre was listening to music, X-Treme sharpening his weapons, Namorita read and Technocrat devoted himself to examining the security systems inch by inch.
The quiet, nervous tension shattered like glass when the main alarm began blaring.
Technocrat formed the braces around his legs and shot up.
“Someone’s using Arsenal’s access codes,” Technocrat said, “they’re at the hangar.”
“I’ll go check it out,” Sabre said, and before anyone could yell at her to wait, she was gone.
Sabre was at the hangar in the span of a heartbeat, and what she saw terrified her.
The four armed muscle man known as Strong Arm. The animalistic warrior known as Mongoose. The alien tree like creature known as Colony. The armored energy being known as Flashpoint, and more.
The Soldiers of Misfortune, the most brutal enemies Fore Works had ever encountered, were standing inside their base.
But even worse than that was the man at the lead, his eyes blazing with energy.
“Hello, Sabre.”
Arsenal extended his claws, as a growl escaped his lips.
“Care to welcome me back?”
Next issue: Force Works vs. the Soldiers of Misfortune, led by their missin teammate!
Jack Slater felt the room around him tremble, metal walls groaning, and a roof that was built to withstand missile strikes cracked above him like an egg.
He could hear his men screaming in fear, firing uselessly at their attackers. They were armed with automatics, but those weapons were as effective as water guns, and his men screamed as they were cut down.
Jack wanted to stand and fight with his men, but he knew it would be hopeless. Such a futile gesture of loyalty would, ironically only hasten his death the second he was caught. Hydra had two unofficial policies for men like him. ‘Better safe than sorry’, immediately followed by ‘dead men tell no tails’.
So while the battle raged, and his men fought with all the valor they had, Slater activated the emergency tunnel underneath his desk, and climbed down in.
It spilled out into a drainage pipe beneath his base, and Jake wasted no time in sprinting towards freedom, as the trembling behind him grew larger and larger. He could hear lightning fall; men cried out and the earth shuddered.
Jack breathed a sigh of relief, but less than a minute later when he stepped out of the mouth of the tunnel, his heart caught in his throat.
Because Nova the Human Rocket, Mirage, Kymaera and X-Treme were already standing there, waiting for him.
“Didn’t think you’d make it this far,” Nova said, “I owe Mirage ten bucks.”
Slater felt his blood run cold. But when several seconds passed, and none of the heroes grabbed him by the collar to give him the usual self righteous speech, Slater found himself dumbstruck.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Slater demanded, “arrest me!”
“What makes you think we’re going to do that?” Mirage said.
Slater glanced at Mirage, “Going to kill me, then? You and my employers are much alike, in that regard.”
“Spare us the passive aggressive insult,” Kymaera said, “you joined Hydra willingly. And you didn’t climb their ranks by being any kind of saint. But that’s not the point at the moment, because we don’t plan to kill or arrest you. In fact, we need you free.”
Slater almost did a double take, “…excuse me?”
“You’re one of Hydra best intelligence officers,” Mirage said, “that’s how you survived so many regime changes, isn’t it? Strucker, Viper, Shadow King, the knowledge and contacts in your head is irreplaceable. But that’s also a problem, isn’t it?”
“We both know it is,” Slater said, “if I was in jail for so much as a parking ticket, I’d be dead before bail.”
“And that’s what makes you useful to us,” Mirage said, “X-Treme?”
Before Slater could so much as blink, X-Treme flicked his hands, and he felt a dark pierce the flesh of his bicep. He slapped it away like a mosquito, but knew it was already too late.
“That was a Shi’ar tracker,” X-Treme said, “you wouldn’t understand the science, but trust me when I say I can find you anywhere on the planet now.”
“So what’s the price of my life?” Slater said, as he tore his eyes away from the wound.
“We want everything Hydra has on The Corporation,” Mirage said, “who runs it, where they get their funding, who their muscle is…everything.”
“The Corporation?” Slater said, “why do you glory hounds want them? I don’t think they have a single A-lister on their pay roll. Hell, I bet the paint is still wet in their offices.”
“That’s our business, not yours. This isn’t a request, and we’re not friends,” Mirage jammed her finger into Slater’s chest, “you have one week to get us good intel, or we sell you out to your bosses. Understand?”
Slater put his hands up in surrender, “Okay, okay, sorry. Anything I can find on the Corporation, one week. That’s a deadline I can…”
Before Slater could finish, X-Treme removed a dagger from his belt, and moved with cat-like grace, slapping the blade against Slater’s throat before another sound escaped.
“Not ‘good’, you diseased pus,” X-Treme hissed, “actionable. Something I can sink my blades into. Or I plant them in your skull, understood?”
Slater just barely nodded.
“Understood.”
Slater didn’t stop looking over his shoulder, the entire time he made his getaway. It wasn’t until he was at his safehouse that he was certain that he hadn’t been followed, certain that Force Works were entirely sincere in their offer.
“What are those kids playing at?”
# # # # #
The Work Place, hangar
“What are you playing at? Are ye bloody insane?” Wolfsbane snapped.
Mirage had waited until the team had returned to headquarters before she fully divulged what had happened following their raid on the Hydra base.
Opinions and tempers flared almost instantly, and Mirage, Nova, X-Treme and Namorita found themselves on the wrong end of some very angry eyes.
“You let the man we were there to arrest walk away?” Charcoal said.
“We didn’t let him go, Rahne,” X-Treme said, “we can find him whenever we want. He’s just more useful out there, helping us, than behind bars.”
“And if he helps us?” Charcoal said, “what, he just gets a pass?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Nova said.
“He’s a bloody terrorist!” Wolfsbane said, “what is there to think about?”
“You think I don’t know that?” Mirage said, “but we’re currently burned, Rahne. No one will talk to us, no one! We were just lucky Hoffman had that favor to call it! Or do you want us to never find Arsenal?!”
“Hey, whoa!” Blink stepped in front of Mirage, “we all want to find Bobby, Dani. But that doesn’t mean we have the right to do as we damn please.”
“One of our own is missing!” Dani was within a hair’s breathe of Blink’s face in an instant, “and we don’t even know how long he’s been gone!”
“Hey, ease up!” Sabre was between the two in an instant, “no one’s saying we shouldn’t rescue Bobby, but I’m kinda with Blink on this. Letting a terrorist go free? Maybe we oughta pull back some.”
“Do we even know if this guy can come through?” Charcoal added, “I mean, we’re betting on a long shot, aren’t he?”
“It’s the only shot we have,” Namorita said, “the intelligence community thinks we’re either in league with the Corporation, or their patsies. No one wants to deal with us. And anyone else still talking to us doesn’t have any information that we can use.”
“Non-spy guy here talking,” Charcoal said, “but this kinda sounds like we’re just groping around in the dark.”
An uncomfortable silence fell.
“So what is Hoffman doing?” Sabre said, “isn’t he supposed to be our major spy guy?”
“He’s working on it,” Namorita said.
“We must implore him to work faster,” Vibraxis said, “we’ve had a week with no results. How long will it take to get the information we need to save our comrade?”
# # # # #
Bruce Hoffman rubbed his chin as he regarded the two creatures Force Works was holding in makeshift cells.
They were a study in contrasts. The robot, self named Dues Ex Monstra, was the very definition of an evil robot, with only it’s upper body was of human proportions, with metal tissue and wires where a human would have muscles and two sets of arms and its lower body ended in a hip-bone, but where there would have been legs on a human being, there were four spider-like legs, with points razor sharp.
Its skull housed only one eye, and the jaw-line of its skeletal mouth was pulled back into a deep frown as it regarded the second prisoner, Matrix.
The man himself was something Bruce Hoffman had never seen, in all his years in intelligence work. Matrix was male and had wings like their missing teammate Arsenal, but that was where all similarities ended. His eyes, his hair, his cheekbones, they all shifted from one day to the next.
At first, Hoffman thought it was a reflexive attempt at disguise, but now he wondered. Matrix was a shape-shifter, but did even he know what he was supposed to look like?
“I’ve asked this before, but I intend to keep asking until I get a satisfactory answer. Would either of you care to tell me where I can find the real Robert Greggs?” Hoffman had asked this question of them twenty times now, and expected to ask it twenty times again. Interrogations like this, dealing with what SHIELD called ‘extra normal’ agents, were often lengthy and unpredictable.
Hoffman knew from the start it would be a challenge. These two were created in a lab, bred for one purpose that they followed because it was all they knew. They’d stay loyal to their creators because they were family, and in some ways, their entire world.
“We have nothing to say,” Matrix started.
“How did it feel, acting as Robert?” Hoffman said, “must have been nice, I imagine. He had friends who liked him, public respect. What did it feel like, walking in his shoes, while being invisible yourself?”
Matrix was silent.
“I imagine it was overwhelming,” Hoffman said, “Taki tells me you were bred in a lab, and given a functional personality, and then on top of that, a shadow personality implant of Robert himself. You really have nothing that belongs to you, do you?”
“Shut up,” Dues Ex Monstra growled, “you have no idea what we are, what we’re capable of.”
“I do,” Hoffman said, “you’re nothing more than lambs. Sent to bloody Force Works’ nose, nothing more. Your entire lives, what little there is of them, had been a waste.”
“I’ve heard this all before…” Matrix said.
“And you’ll hear it again, and again,” Hoffman said, “until it sinks in. Until you understand how you’re wasting your time for a pointless cause.”
“…you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Matrix said, “Nero told me about you, how you’ve been trailing after him for years.”
“Matrix, enough!” Dues Ex Monstra snapped, but it was too late.
They saw Hoffman’s smile.
“So you do know the big man,” Hoffman spun on his heel, “we’ll talk later.”
The cell door slammed shut behind Hoffman, who was immediately met by Nova, Technocrat and Mirage.
“So after all this time, that’s all you’ve gotten?” Mirage said.
“With freaks like this, it takes time,” Hoffman said, “and you’re in luck. I know their boss.”
“Care to tell us?” Nova said.
“Nero Blood,” Hoffman said, “he’s a shadow I’ve been chasing my entire life. The things he’s done…”
“Wait, stop,” Mirage raised her hands, “sorry Captain Ahab, I don’t want to hear how long you’ve been after this guy, or what he may have done. You would not believe how many bull shit rumors I’ve heard over the years. Summarize, okay?”
“You’re one to talk about being Ahab,” Hoffman said.
“Just get on with it,” Mirage said through clenched teeth.
“Fine,” Hoffman grinded his teeth, “What I know about him is that he’s scary smart, been around for decades and loves proxies. And this is the first time in the last decade that he’s really stuck his head up, and he’s already got his hands in three different pies.”
“Three?” Nova said.
“Yeah, three,” Hoffman said, “remember how I told you the Corporation stepped up to fill all those vacancies we helped create?”
“One, we only helped make one,” Mirage said, “and we were ambushed, remember? Guy was already dead. And of course I remember them, we’ve been trying to get a line on them for a week now.”
“The Corporation, this syndicate, is a part of all this,” Hoffman said, “I’d bet my last dollar Nero gave them start up money and resources. And they have even deeper pockets now.”
“They weren’t exactly poor to begin with,” Nova said, “they were the ones who funded a Tri-Sentinel to attack Israel. Thank God we had the Wackos to help us out.*”
*You remember the infamous Force Works/WCA team up? Foot-note Dan
“They’re rich enough and insane enough to start a world war in one move,” Hoffman said, “the Soldiers of Misfortune, those sociopaths you tangled with a while back? That’s when Arsenal was replaced, with means they were colluding. That makes two.”
“And our dynamic duo in there makes three,” Mirage said.
“That’s right,” said Hoffman, “Nero created an artificial life-form that can mimic dozens of super powers, implanted a false personality, and then later created another artificial life-form out of your training room. On a scale of Dr. Doom to the Wizard, how smart do you think that makes him?”
“He’d have to be at least as good as Beast with genetics,” Mirage said
“So I’ll level with you. I don’t know much about Nero Blood, nothing I could prove until today. But now? I know for a fact that he’s smart enough to have come after us with three assets, the Corporation for infrastructure, the Soldiers of Misfortune as point-men and those two as infiltrators. He’s managed to plant one of his men on our team for weeks, manipulate us into doing his bidding, all before we ever had any idea he existed.”
Nova pinched the bridge of his nose, “God, I hate new players.”
“Nero’s not new, he’s old,” said Hoffman, “you just never heard of him before today.”
“In our business, there’s no real difference. Take a break, Hoffman,” Mirage said, “lets come back fresh tomorrow.”
“I always need a stiff drink after interrogation,” Hoffman said, “I’ll start early tomorrow. Later, kids.”
Nova waited until Hoffman was out of earshot before he turned to Mirage.
“He wasn’t wrong with that Ahab comment, chief,” Nova said, “how far over the line we are is up for debate, but there’s no question that we stepped over it a long time ago. I’m kinda shocked that you’re not water-boarding those two.”
Mirage said nothing.
“Not just letting Slater go like that,” Nova said, “keeping those two prisoners here, do we have a plan for what to do with them when we find Arsenal?”
“…no,” Mirage said, “we’re playing this by ear, Rich. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“So make it up as we go along?”
Mirage shrugged, and gave a bitter laugh, “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing this entire time?”
“Yeah, and that’s why I have gray hairs at my age,” Nova said, “why don’t you turn in, and I’ll check in with our resident, insufferable genius?”
“There any reason why you think I can’t do it?” Mirage demanded.
“No, you could,” Nova said, “but I think you’ve pissed enough people for today, and Taki does that every day, just by breathing. Day like today, last thing we need is a bunch of gas hugging fire.”
“Fair enough,” Mirage said, “I doubt he has anything for us anyways. We’d have heard by now if he made a break through.”
# # # # #
Later
Nova tapped on the door to Technocrat’s lab.
“She was right, you know. If I had anything, I’d have informed you immediately.”
Nova sighed as he stepped inside.
“Just for the record, you better only be eavesdropping in the hallways,” Rich said, “I catch even a whiff of you doin’ otherwise, and I’ll throw you into orbit.”
“Of course,” Technocrat never looked away from his consul, “there’s no point to listening into private discussions that don’t address the matters at hand, and would be a waste of time.”
“And an invasion of privacy,” Nova added.
“Yes. And that would be wrong,” Technocrat never bothered to look at the Human Rocket, “at any rate, as I said, I have no progress to report. I’ve examined the DNA of Matrix against all known mimics, and came up empty. Using a false identity, I’ve submitted his DNA to several top researchers. They all agree that it’s some of the best genetic engineering that they’ve seen in years.”
“Great,” Nova sighed, “so our mystery bad guy, Nero Blood, should get a bad guy Nobel prize.”
“Two,” Technocrat said, “the second creature, Dues Ex Monstra, her coding is amazing, the nano-bots tasked to make her chassis are next generation and her personality matrix is almost completely unhackable. You couldn’t ask for a better tool.”
“…how do you know that?” Nova said, then stopped to think, “no, don’t answer that. Just remember that we’re the good guys here, and we don’t mess with people’s mind, no matter how they were born or created.”
“You can fly, you don’t need a high horse,” Technocrat said, “anyways, I’ll keep looking.”
“One last thing,” said Nova, “did you turn up anything on Nero Blood?”
Technocrat shook his head, “Nothing solid. He’s the intelligence community’s version of the boogey man, with mentions as far back as the Cold War. Numerous people have claimed the identity or claimed to be the original, only to later be disproven.”
“So we’re chasing a shadow now,” Nova said.
“Look at the bright side,” Taki said, “it’s better than what we were doing yesterday.”
Technocrat turned back to his computers, and suddenly Rich felt as if he were intruding.
He knew better than to order Technocrat to take a break. The look on his eyes, the wounded pride, though Taki said nothing, Nova knew the scars were there.
Mirage, he and Nova all shared the same wound. They’d been infiltrated on their watch, during their command. But as best Rich could see, both Mirage and Technocrat were allowing the wound to fester, beating themselves up rather than focusing on the here and now, moving forward.
But like too many other things, that had to wait. Their friend was kidnapped and they were only recently finding this out.. Now more than ever, they needed Taki focused.
“If you find anything, let me know immediately,” Nova said, “good night, Taki. Try not to break more than a dozen laws before I get up tomorrow.”
When the door closed behind the Human Rocket, Bruce Hoffman stepped out of a shadowed corner.
“That kid’s still a little green,” Hoffman said, “especially if he thinks we’d only break a dozen laws before tomorrow.”
# # # # #
Elsewhere
Adam Sol moved through his kata faster than the eye could see, as he battered the steel dummy, smashing palm, elbow and foot into it a dozen. He’d been at it for hours now, sweat dripping down his brow, having gone through every form he knew twice over.
His fists ached, his muscles burned and were the dummy not make of solid steel, would have been destroyed three times over.
X-Treme gave no thought to how long he’d spent training, until he heard Rahne enter the room
“Ye should come to bed,” Rahne said softly.
Adam said nothing, simply collapsing against the practice dummy.
“You know I want Bobby back, what I said in there…”
“Five,” said X-Treme
“Umm, sorry?”
“I was trained by the finest Shi’ar espionage masters,” Adam said, “I know five different methods of recognizing Skrull body language. I can tap a hardened Kree comm.. center in two minutes, and recognize a Brood infection at thirty paces.”
“What does that…?”
Adam slammed his fist into the practice dummy, and sent it flying backwards a dozen yards.
“All that damn training, and I couldn’t even see that my best friend was replaced!”
Rahne placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder.
“None o’ us knew. I didn’t smell it, Taki didn’t realize it…we all made a mistake.”
“Because you’re all normal people,” X-Treme said.
“Normal? Rahne scoffed, “my own bloody father tried to burn me at the stake. Rich fought in an alien war and hell, Namorita’s an underwater princess!”
“Well, okay, maybe normal is stretching it,” X-Treme said, with a reluctant smile, “but I was raised on an alien planet to be a living weapon, the tip of the spear for a madman. What’s my excuse for not seeing this?”
# # # # #
Later
Technocrat pinched the bridge of his nose and then fell back in his chair with a sigh.
He’d just spent six hours, examining everything from the day Arsenal had been replaced. He looked over the imposter’s internet history, to the last known sightings of the Soldiers of Misfortune and even the information that the imposter had smuggled out.
Technocrat had literally been over it a dozen times, and yet he found himself completely unable to find anything that might give them a hint to where their friend had been taken.
Technocrat steepled his hands, and reflected, “I must have missed something…”
“Far from it, young Takashi Matsuya,” said a new voice, “I’m simply that good.”
Technocrat spun around, his tech-pack creating a dozen different lasers, torches and mini-missile launchers, all of which he aimed at the voice.
Technocrat had no idea what to expect, but he had some preconceptions. Alien armor, perhaps, or an enchanted weapon or some other clear evidence of enhancement, something, anything that indicated superhuman abilities in the man who’d just appeared out of nowhere in his lab.
Instead, what Techncrat found was what looked to be a young man, no older than twenty, with a white shirt, black sweater vest and brown slacks. The man wore round glasses, had brown hair, but carried himself in a way that screamed predator to even the most untrained observer.
“Not what you expected, am I?” the man smiled, “trust me, I’m older than I look. Nero Blood, at your service.”
Technocrat crooked his head to the side, trying to wrap around the idea that the man they’d been looking for, the man who had almost effortlessly infiltrated their team, had in fact just strolled into his lab as if it were a Starbucks.
“Don’t believe me?” he said, “you’ve examined Monstra’s code, did you find the binary logic trap the first time around, or the second?”
“First,” Technocrat said, though in truth it had been the third time, “I’m sorry, you’re right, I do have trouble believing you. Because this is the first time I’ve seen a villain in a sweater vest.”
Nero Blood smirked, and gave a guilty glance downward, “I know, most think it’s ugly, but it was very fashionable in my day. I’ve always had a preference for it. I suppose I’m the first villain you’ve met with a weakness for sweater vests, eh?”
“I suggest changing with the times,” Technocrat willed his weapons away, “I’m not going to bother to threaten you. You wouldn’t have come in here without a dozen ways out. Not the least of which is threatening the life of my teammate, Arsenal.”
“You wound me,” Nero Blood placed a hand over his heart, and feigned offense, “I need not rely on something that crude. Someone as intelligent as you should know how dangerous I am. I’ve been inside your systems for weeks. You would know better than anyone, the damage I could do.”
Technocrat clenched his fists, but said nothing. Because Nero Blood was absolutely right. Dumping the security protocols was one of the first things Technocrat did when he learned that Arsenal had been replaced, but he hadn’t the time to check half the systems that he wanted to, to ensure that the Work Place had been made completely safe.
In all likelihood, Nero Blood was safer here than he was in his own bed.
“Fine, speak your piece,” Technocrat said, “the world is waiting to hear your brilliance.”
“Oh, I’m not here to gloat,” Nero said, “well, not just that. I’m just here to make an offer. I’d like to trade your friend, Arsenal, for Matrix and Monstra.”
Technocrat raised an eyebrow.
“Why?” Taki asked, “I can’t imagine that it’s beyond your ability to take them.”
Nero Blood smiled like a shark, “No, no it is not. But I don’t want to take them. I’d much rather you give them back to me.”
“So this is all about ego, is it?” Technocrat said with disgust, “you kidnapped our friend, attacked us, all so you could see us on bended knee!?”
“Oh, young Mr. Matsuya, if only your teammates could see you now, being forced to swallow your pride, to admit how you’re not the smartest person in the room,” Nero Blood said, “but yes. Give me my people, and I’ll give you yours. No strings attached. That’s my offer. You have my word that I will return Arsenal to you, not that you’ve any reason to take me at my word.”
“…I’ll bring it to my team,” Technocrat said. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears, and struggled to keep himself from lunging for Nero’s throat.
“See that you do,” Nero reached into his pocket, and removed a watch, “old Shield teleport beacon. If you agree to my deal, activate it. Instructions will follow. If not…”
“We’ll never see Arsenal again,” Technocrat finished, “not our first rodeo.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d see him. But not before you’ve been forced to deal with my proxies, and that could take you years,” Nero said, “your inability to handle the Soldiers of Misfortune landed you in this situation, and the Corporation are far from pushovers. And I assure you, those are not my only tools. Were I you, I’d avoid going up against the full weight of all that just yet.”
Technocrat said nothing.
“I’ll leave you to it. And tell old man Hoffman I said hello, won’t you?” Nero’s smile was like that of a lion, “we’ll catch up later.”
In the blink of an eye, Nero Blood was gone, and Technocrat wondered if in fact, he’d ever physically been here. His own scanners told him nothing, leaving Taki only with conjecture. A hologram projected, phase shifted from another reality, there were any number of ways Nero Blood could have gained entrance, and Taki couldn’t confirm anyone of them.
In the end, Technocrat had to clench his fists to keep them from shaking.
# # # # #
Later
“You have to be insane,” Mirage said, “we can’t just give up our best leads to finding Arsenal, to the man who has him!”
“Come on, Taki,” said Nova, “you’re our team genius, you have to have something on this guy.”
Technocrat took a moment to find the words, to explain how many systems he’d hacked in an attempt to track Nero down, the countless methods in which he used in the struggle to find a single clue, but then…
“He’s got nothing,” Bruce Hoffman said, “because Nero is smart, and he’s experienced. He wouldn’t have stepped into the tower if he thought for a single minute he couldn’t get back out.”
“Ye have experience with this man, then?” X-Treme said.
“Before today, I could count on one hand the number of people who believed that Nero Blood was a person and not a title,” Hoffman said, “welcome to the club, kids.”
“Fine club,” Blink muttered, “do we have an assurances this Nero Blood will keep his word?”
“None,” Hoffman said, “honestly this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to him before.”
“He wants us to bow in submission,” Vibraxis huffed. He slammed his fist into the table, “we should not even honor him with the breath it takes to debate this!”
“He’ll do it,” Namorita said. She steepled her hands together, “don’t you see what he’s done? He’s living up to his namesake, and playing us like a fiddle. We’re illegally holding two super-humans downstairs, who only know what their master programmed into them. Neptune only knows what charges we’d be facing if we handed them over to the authorities. He’ll give us back Arsenal just to rub salt in the wound.”
“I suspect that Namorita’s right,” Technocrat said, “even with my limited interaction with him, I could almost feel the arrogance coming off him.”
Technocrat saw the look in his teammate’s eyes.
“Yes, I know, I know,” Technocrat said, “lets move on, shall we?”
“So what do we do?” Tarene said, “we have to get Bobby back!”
“We should put it to a vote,” Sabre said, “I mean, this goes wrong, we’re all responsible.”
“No vote,” Mirage growled, “we’re not letting those two get away. They’re still our best chance at finding Bobby.”
“I only wish,” Technocrat said, “I’ve gone over them from every angle. They only know what Nero wants them to, and nothing more.”
“You have to figure that Nero would know they would be compromised,” Hoffman said, “we couldn’t trust anything they told us, even if they gave up intel willingly.”
“We are not bending over for this bastard!” Mirage snarled, “that’s final!”
An uncomfortable silence fell in the conference room.
Richard Rider cleared his throat.
“Guys, why don’t you give us the room?”
“I hate it when mom and dad fight,” Sabre said under her breath, as the team filed out.
“What did you want to say to me that you couldn’t say in front of the others?” Mirage demanded.
“We’re giving Nero Blood back his people,” Nova said, “because we pushed this too far, and because of that, we’re out of options.”
“We have options,” Moonstar said.
“Like?” Replied Nova, “Shield and XSE are pissed at us. And even if we had better relations with the X-teams or the Avengers, they’d still be no help, because we’d be wasting time just bringing them up to speed!”
“So you want to just give up?” Dani said, “I can’t believe you!”
“Think of it as a hostage exchange,” said Nova, “and before you even say it, I know. We have no way of making this Nero guy keep his word. But if he’s half the smug bastard Taki thinks he is, he’ll return Bobby.”
“And if he isn’t?”
“Then all we lose is two distractions he could have used against us at any time,” Nova said, “look, I may not have done the spy crap you and Hoffman did, but I was a soldier at one time, and I know a trap when I recognize one. If we don’t hand those two over, all he has to do is call the media and tell the damn truth.”
Mirage rubbed the bridge of her nose. That was always a fear that ate at her, the entire time they had the two prisoners. Though the law with regards to superhumans was always fluid, Moonstar also knew that there were some areas where there was no wiggle room.
Keeping secret prisoners was one of them.
“You’re right,” Mirage sighed, “how did it come to this? Taking prisoners? Bending over for some sociopath?”
“Let’s worry about that after we get our man back,” Nova said, “after we get Bobby back, and right before we take these assholes apart.”
# # # # #
Later
The meet was set a hundred miles away, at an old, dilapidated dock in some small town that Nova never bothered to learn the name of. Nero politely demanded an escort of only three, and it was decided that Nova, Mirage and Blink would accompany Matrix and Dues Ex Monstra.
When they arrived, they found Nero Blood at the end of a dock, alone, hands in his pocket.
Despite the fact that three of the most skilled and powerful members of Force Works were standing across from him, Nero Blood never stopped looking smug.
“Master!” Matrix tried to run to Nero, though he didn’t make it far. Both he and Dues Ex Monstra were contained in a stasis field that shimmered gold. Neither of them could make it five feet before they were shunted back.
“Thank you for returning my property,” Nero said, “if you’d just turn those stasis fields off, we’d be on our way.”
“Not just yet,” Mirage said, “where’s Arsenal?”
“I told you I would return Robert Greggs to your custody, and I will,” Nero said, “simply release my people.”
“Mirage, do it,” Blink said, “if he tries to renege, I’ll kill him faster than my namesake.”
Mirage clicked a button on her belt, and the force fields around Matrix and Dues Ex Monstra fell.
For a moment, the three members of Force Works felt a flash of fear that the two creatures who’d given their entire team a run for their money might turn on them now.
But instead, both constructs rushed towards Nero Blood’s side like lost children finally reunited
“Thank you,” Nero said, his face plastered with a smug grin that they all wanted to remove by hand, “your friend has already been returned. I’ll stop jamming your radios, to allow you to verify…”
# # # # #
Minutes earlier, the Work Place
“So how long is this supposed to take?” Charcoal, in his human form, slumped in the beanbag chair.
The team had retreated to their rec room, waiting in reserve. Mirage had argued for them to wait in the jet, but Namorita nixed that as both too stressful and boring.
So, instead, everyone was bored, stressed and anxious in the rec room.
Tarene, Wolfsbane, and Vibraxis were watching TV, Sabre was listening to music, X-Treme sharpening his weapons, Namorita read and Technocrat devoted himself to examining the security systems inch by inch.
The quiet, nervous tension shattered like glass when the main alarm began blaring.
Technocrat formed the braces around his legs and shot up.
“Someone’s using Arsenal’s access codes,” Technocrat said, “they’re at the hangar.”
“I’ll go check it out,” Sabre said, and before anyone could yell at her to wait, she was gone.
Sabre was at the hangar in the span of a heartbeat, and what she saw terrified her.
The four armed muscle man known as Strong Arm. The animalistic warrior known as Mongoose. The alien tree like creature known as Colony. The armored energy being known as Flashpoint, and more.
The Soldiers of Misfortune, the most brutal enemies Fore Works had ever encountered, were standing inside their base.
But even worse than that was the man at the lead, his eyes blazing with energy.
“Hello, Sabre.”
Arsenal extended his claws, as a growl escaped his lips.
“Care to welcome me back?”
Next issue: Force Works vs. the Soldiers of Misfortune, led by their missin teammate!