Issue #19 (April 2018)
Written by John Cheese Featuring: Spear
Shockwave
Headhunter
Man Bull
The Enforcer
Chemistro
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"One Night in Madripoor"SANADA COVE
MADRIPOOR The headquarters of the Sanada smuggling ring had a nautical theme too it, one that hinted at the past ventures and their line of work. Today however, there concern wasn't slipping under the noses of the woefully under equipped Madripoor harbour patrol but being excellent hosts to their three guests. To that end both Kono and his sister Sheroke were present to woe their influential visitors. "Our backers thank you for coming to this meeting and assure you that your decision to join the Conspiracy will be well rewarded." Sheroke explained as she looked over the three figures. She knew Juan de la Vega AKA the Tarantula by reputation, as she did the hulking form of the Gladiator. But as formidable as they were it was the hooded figure clad in black who was the most exciting member, the Black Hand was a formidable member of the Hand and claimed to be bringing a number of trained ninja with him. "Yeah, yeah just sign the joining cheque and point me at someone who needs gutting." Tarantula grumbled as he tossed a knife up in the air and caught it again one handed. "Of course." Sheroke hissed through gritted teeth as her brother nodded before touching his ear. "Kono is everything okay?" "That was Bain, apparently Crossfire attacked the Royal Hotel and his goons are fleeing the scene." Kono whispered as he pulled his sister to one side. "She wants security to claim the body while her hired muscle pursues the rest of the crew." "Crossfire is dead?" Sheroke gasped. "Go, I will continue these inductions." Sheroke reassured her brother. Looking one last time at his sister and the killers assembled around her, Kono sighed, pulled his coat on over his overalls and headed downstairs and out onto the street. "Ho Agrippa what does Caesar command us?" The Gladiator asked. "That we keep muddling through." Sheroke sighed as she fished a number of cheques out of her bag. Kono waded through the busy street towards the Madripoor Royal Hotel in the distance. It was the cities busy season, with the Tech Conference on this weekend, the annual Bloodsport competition next weekend followed by a bank holiday the Monday after, and as such that attracted a lot of people. Most were haggling with vendors, admiring the architecture or being conned out of their money by hustlers and confidence trickster. Reaching a busy intersection Kono waded through the crowd unaware as one of the Balinese-esque dancer statues on top of a grand arch shifted, the flute in her hand spinning round as it was bought up to her eye. Kono didn't see any of this, nor did he hear the loud pop that accompanied the stinging sensation biting into his skull. As he fell to the floor, the local scavengers fell on him, stripping everything of value from his body in seconds. Those few who looked up may have seen the dancer walk off, but only the sharpest of hearing would have heard her whisper. "Justice is served." OLD TOWN MEAT PACKING PLANT MADRIPOOR The guard at the gate to the meat packing plant panicked as the minotaur-like figure barrelled through the gate like it was nothing, strands of razor wire flying everywhere. For his credit the guard drew his baton but it was futile, he was down in seconds, KO'd by the flying debris. If he'd remained conscious he would have seen a van pull up and several costumed individuals get out. "Man, it feels great to have the muscle back on the team!" Spear stated as he slipped his quiver over his shoulder. "No offence Sneed." He added sheepishly as Shockwave ran an electrical charge through the fingers of his suit. "None taken I always thought of myself as the skill on this team." Shockwave replied as he scanned the building for any signs of life. "No life signs, no electronic signatures, the place is dead." "Then let's get in and out as fast as we can." Headhunter ordered as she checked the watch like dial on her wrist. "Everyone set your trackers and enable breadcrumbs; this place has a large footprint so we're going to need to split up." She added as she cut through the construction tape baring access into the former abattoir. "This place doesn't look like the set of a horror movie at all." Man Bull sneered in a sarcastic tone as he took a deep sniff of the still blood-soaked air. "Trust me you'll go to worse with this outfit." The Enforcer told him, as he and Chemistro headed for the processing line. "Come on Man Bull you're meant to be tough." Spear joked as he lent against a sign that gave directions to the killing floor. "Daniels shut up and help me look for what we came for!" Shockwave snapped as he grabbed Spear and pulled him through the door onto the 'Killing Floor' leaving Headhunter and Man Bull alone in the loading yard. "Guess it's you and me boss." Man Bull grunted as Headhunter looked round the room. "Where are we headed?" "Storage, according to schematics this facility has below ground refrigerated storage." Headhunter replied as she located the bolted shut door down to the sublevel. "Now would you be a dear and get the door?" Chemistro wandered round the counters on the far side of the room, the smell of blood forever stained into the concrete by decades of meat processing. As he reached the end of the room and the conveyer belt that brought carcasses up from the 'Killing Floor' the tracker on his wrist chimed, something was moving not too far from him. "Hey I got movement!" He yelled as he shone a light into the mouth of the conveyor belt. "You're picking up me." The Enforcer replied in an annoyed tone, his words echoing as he stalked round past the chute that lead down to the storage level. "Nah man, this is closer than you." Chemistro stated as the Enforcer looked down at his own tracker briefly. "There's nothing registering..." He began to say as cold talon like hands stabbed into his shoulders and dragged him back towards the shaft. Turning to try and pick up the rest of the Enforcer's words, Chemistro had enough time to see the convulsing head and torso of his teammate, his mouth foaming, be dragged down the shaft. "Shit!" Chemistro barked as he crossed the floor and shone his light into the shaft. While the tiny torch barely illuminated the space, he saw a side shaft split off part way down. Stepping away, he saw the tracker chime as it tracked something pass him, most likely under his feet. Shockwave boosted Spear up onto the upper gantries in order to allow the marksman to play to his strength. Stalking along the bottom floor Shockwave walked the length of the conveyor belt, before vaulting over to the other side. "Guys can you hear me?" Chemistro asked over the radio, as the pair of villains made a circuit round the massive chamber. "We got you Calvin, what is it?" Spear asked as he bent down next to a crate and rubbed the layer of dust and dirt off the label. "It's the Enforcer, he's gone!" Chemistro announced. "Gone how?" The Headhunter asked over the radio, as up on the 'Killing Floor' Shockwave walked under the conveyor belt, cables dangling from the gutted machine like thick jungle vines. "Something took him!" Chemistro spat. "It dragged him into the vent and carried him off!" "What the...Daniels!" Shockwave yelled as one of the vines coiled round his neck, the armour plating in his suit buckling under the pressure. Skidding down the conveyor and ducking down to where tiny sparks of lightning was arching, Spear saw Shockwave's struggling form being lifted into a void in the conveyor. "Oh no you don't!" Spear hissed as he opened fire on the attacker, the spear fired from his launcher hitting home, thick black blood washing over Shockwave as he was dropped to the floor. "You okay man?" Spear asked as the armour plating on Shockwave's left arm burst into flame. "What do you think?!" Shockwave snapped as he jettisoned the ignited armour piece and struggled to his feet, his armour screeching as the crushed joints rubbed against each other. He was answered by a female scream over the radio link. "I think we should check that out." Spear answered as he shot to the door, Shockwave limping in his wake. With a grunt Man Bull ripped the door off the storage room and looked around briefly, before letting Headhunter stalk in, her knife drawn and ready to strike. "Let's make this quick." Headhunter ordered, her words creating puffs of smoke due to the coldness of the air. "I thought this place was out of commission." Man Bull grunted as he walked over to a hunk if meat strung up on a hook in a bag. "It's meant to be." Headhunter whispered as she walked over and sliced the seal open before retching at what she had found inside. The piece of 'meat' inside was dressed in a RAID uniform from head to mid torso, his legs ripped off by his attack. A mixture of the cold and some unknown chemical had caused his skin to liquify and rot. "Let's find those warheads." Headhunter whispered as Man Bull tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at one of the body bags, this one twitching and writhing. Nodding Headhunter shone her torch on the bag, a coiled almost embryonic reptilian silhouette briefly illuminated against the gloom. "I got it." Man Bull grunted as he walked up to the bag and ripped the fabric open, before recoiling with a snort, the barbed tail of the embryo striking him in the face and blinding him. Staggering backwards, Headhunter felt two plates on either side of her head. Looking up she screamed as she realised that her head was in her attacker’s mouth. Rallying on the scream, Man Bull charged only for the 'embryo' to leap onto him, hooked talons and barbed tail tripping him and sending him thudding to the floor. As his vision cleared, he saw Headhunter thrashing as scaled hands worked in tandem with the hideous fanged maw to carry her into the darkness. "Come back and..." Man Bull stopped as he vomited blood all over the storage room floor before blacking out for a few long seconds. By the time he came round, everyone else in the room was gone. "We need to get them back!" Spear yelled as he looked at the remaining villains. Both he and Chemistro were fine but freaked but Shockwave was limited in the speed he could muster and Man Bull still seemed to be purging the venom that had affected him. "We need to find them first." Chemistro added. "Not the easiest of tasks." "What if we could track the person they take next?" Man Bull suggested before coughing up a bola of phlegm. "Say by the electrical discharge he gives off." "The trackers could be configured to track electrical discharges." Shockwave answered cautiously. "But I don't like what you are insinuating." "Don't worry mate." Spear chuckled. "Nobody said you had to be inside the armour." Headhunter came around screaming as her memories of her abduction flooding back into her memory. Placing fear to one side and looking round the room she was in, she saw what she had come for, two massive crates of intangible warheads. But perched on the edge of the crate, dressed in gold, her pale blonde hair blown slightly was Coachwhip, a deadly member of the Serpent Society. "Coachwhip." Headhunter groaned as the woman looked at her and another shape shifted in the gloom. "If I were you, I'd get off my intangible warheads, get the rest of your snaky pals and leave." Coachwhip laughed, as did the man dressed in ballistic armour who had just stepped out of the shadows. Stopping himself, the man whispered something into Coachwhip's ear, her smile growing ever wider. "Taipan has just informed me that Bushmaster did more damage to Shockwave's armour then we first thought." Coachwhip cackled as Taipan wandered back into the darkness. "Cottonmouth is just dragging him in now." She added as the mottled muscular form of Cottonmouth dragged Shockwave's armour into the room. Turning he flashed a sabre tooth smile at Headhunter, his teeth dripping venom. Shuddering Gillette realised that her head had been inside that mouth only minutes earlier. "The others will come for us!" Headhunter yelled as she heard a moan off to the left and near her feet. Tracking the sound, she saw the Enforcer convulsing, blood and foam spilling out of his mouth, and crouching over him, like some predatory raptor claiming its prey, was Death Adder. "You were saying?" Coachwhip snorted as she walked over to Shockwave's armour and gave it a kick. "Death Adder tagged Man Bull too, but we couldn't find him, likely he wandered off to die somewhere." She added, as the Shockwave armour began to glow before detonating in a shower of plasma, the heat and discharge stunning Cottonmouth and Death Adder and knocking out Coachwhip. "You were saying?" Headhunter mused as Taipan's body went flying across the room and landed heavily against the wall. Shaking themselves, the three serpents got to their feet as the remains of Headhunter's crew came storming in and engaging Bushmaster and Fer de Lance who'd been further away from the blast. Sneaking forward Chemistro blasted the chains restraining Headhunter with his alchemy pistol. Helping her up, he handed her Coachwhip's dropped weapon, the long-electrified whip humming slightly, even as the sounds of battle raged around them. "Nice to see you again boss!" He exclaimed as Man Bull shook off Bushmaster's snake like body. "Not as much as I'm glad to see you." Headhunter replied as Cottonmouth disengaged from the action and stalked towards them. "Help the Enforcer, I have unfinished business with this one!" She snarled "The only business you have is with the pit of my stomach!" Cottonmouth hissed as he lunged forward, only to be repelled by a sudden crack of Headhunter's whip. "If that's so you'll regret it!" Headhunter hissed as Cottonmouth came to strike again, this time receiving an energised lash across the face. Spitting and snarling Cottonmouth weathered the blow before grabbing Headhunter's arm, and with a remarkable amount of effort wrapped the whip round his enemies’ arm, electricity convulsing through the pair of them. With a scream Headhunter removed her hand from the handle before dropping to the floor, her legs numbed and no longer able to support her. "Big talk from a little girl!" Cottonmouth sneered as he unhinged his jaw and bent down. Scrabbling for anything to put between her and her reptilian assailant, before finding the hilt of something metal near her. Swinging her ad-hoc weapon, a small rusty meat cleaver directly at Cottonmouth she heard the blade shatter and the villain scream. Daring to look up she saw Cottonmouth holding his jaw, the cracked fang visible through his splayed scaly fingers. Gillette would have considered this a win if she could feel her legs. Shockwave dodged deftly as Fer de Lance swung at him, even as he lamented on how this was the second fight in just over a fortnight he'd been in without his armour. Memories of his bout with Blackwing came flooding back and he barely dodged the follow-up blow his opponent threw at him. "You're nothing without you're armour." Fer de Lance hissed as Shockwave feinted towards her before following it up with a leg sweep, the lithe villainess dodging them both. "Blackwing told us how easy he beat you, looks like I'll have my own story to tell tomorrow, maybe even a trophy too." She added as she landed a glancing blow on Shockwave's shoulder. While the words were meant to sap morale, Shockwave saw the metaphorical red mist lower and in a single swift action grabbed Fer de Lance by the neck and squeezed, her mocking replaced by coughing and spluttering. It was only when she stopped thrashing that he shook the rage off and dropped her spasming body to the floor. It had been a while since he felt like that, Fer de Lance would be fine after some bed rest, she'd been lucky, far luckier than the last person who'd experienced that side of him. Death Adder sneered down at Man Bull as he slammed Bushmaster into the wall and into unconsciousness. Dropping silently down, he aborted landing short as a spear shot past him. Looking hurt, first at Spear as he loaded another bolt into his launcher, and then at Taipan, he sprang into action this time against the marksman. Firing his current payload, Spear had enough time to block the attack with his launcher, Death Adder's talons cutting through the weapon, the compressed gas cylinder venting a freezing fountain over the combatants. "You're spoopy xenomorph shit is the spoopiest no doubt!" Spear announced as Death Adder pinned him to the floor talons scratching across the surface of his armour. Tapping his thumb to the palm of his hand, Spear watched as the micro - flachette launchers in the sleeves of his suit fired, the tiny darts stabbing into Death Adder's chest and forcing him back momentarily. Reaching for his trident, Spear grabbed the weapon and slammed it across the serpent’s head, not having the time to fully extend it as Death Adder counter attacked. Stunned Death Adder watched as another overhead strike sailed towards him before intercepting the blow. Smiling behind his mask Spear extended his trident, the barbed tip slashing a good four inch cut along Adder's tail, thick black hydraulic fluid dripping onto the floor. "Tails you lose!" Spear remarked as he levered Death Adder onto his back and stomped on the struggling villain's hand, the hollow bones breaking with an audible crack. Walking over to the box of warheads, some already socketed into launchers, Spear removed one before yelling, "We've got the loot, let's go guys!" "And I got this!" Taipan hissed in an Australian accent, a large bush knife pressed against the Enforcer's throat. "So, put that down, all of you drop your weapons!" He ordered as Coachwhip began to come around. Doing as he said, all the remaining villains placed their weapons on the floor. All except Spear. "I said all the weapons!" Taipan yelled as Spear opened fire, much to the surprise of everyone still standing. Flying through the air, the warhead thudded into the Enforcer's breast plate before the main casing thudded to the floor. "You maniac!!" The Enforcer yelled as he shuddered, the convulsion causing everyone to stare at him. "Daniels are you mad!?" Headhunter screeched as Spear but down the launcher. "Desp..." Taipan began to say before the phased warhead detonated in his gut, blood showering across the room, the Enforcer taking the brunt of the spray. "Yep, mad like a fox." Spear snickered as the Enforcer, his face pallid went to grab him, only for Shockwave to restrain him. "Okay Coachwhip." Headhunter announced as she staggered forward, her legs aching. "I want you to deliver a message to Sidewinder and Cobra and whoever else runs your twisted snake nest. We let you live, well most of you anyway. We're professionals like you, and we will stay out of your future businesses if you stay out of ours." "And what if we don't?" Coachwhip asked. "Then Taipan will have company in hell." Headhunter answered as Man Bull grabbed the first crate of warheads. HOUSE OF TWISTED ROSES CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA Gillette sat in her chair, her hands on her knees, her head held low. While RAID had indeed upheld their end of the bargain, and despite the ambush by the Serpent Society everyone had survived, but not without cost. Some of it was financial, Sneed and Daniels had both lost equipment, and Nero was still recovering from the effect of Death Adder’s venom, but it was her temporary paralysis that worried her the most. Somehow the discharge from Coachwhip’s lash had mimicked Electro’s ability to drain lifeforce and had paralysed her once again. And while it had worn off, and she’d walked out of the meatpacking plant, she had to wonder if she’d received permanent nerve damage in the team’s previous mission to Arizona. And of course, there was Crossfire. She still didn’t know what to think about the attack in the bar, had it been a simple copycat strike, or had it been directed from beyond the grave. She was jolted out of her musing as Man Bull and Chemistro walked into the room, the former clutching a roll of A2 paper. “Looks like Wild Bill here has a perfect memory.” Calvin stated as Man Bull rolled the paper flat to reveal three concentric circles. “While he didn’t know all the players he knew how the Conspiracy tiers its organisation. He also came up with an interesting name for us.” “What name?” Gillette asked. “Stewart Cadwell AKA Thundersword.” Man Bull grunted. “He’s mid-tier, sought of a field commander type.” “Thundersword is also the bodyguard for Sunset Bain.” Calvin announced as he pointed to the centre ring and Bain’s name followed with a question mark. “As in the Bain we just ripped off and the one who hired a mercenary team to guard her stolen booty.” “We can’t speculate.” Gillette sighed as she looked at a few of the other names Man Bull had tentatively placed in rings. “We need to find out. And to do that we’re going to need two things.” She stopped and smiled as she got to her feet, the sensation of standing despite her worries charging through her like adrenaline. “And they are my rolodex and some formal wear.” |