Camp Hammond, Connecticut - 04:59AM
On the bed-side table the clock flickered from 4:49 to 5:00 and the radio alarm activated sending the sounds of some forgotten seventies rock group. The man stirred and slammed his hand down on the clock turning the music off. Stretching he got up and dressed quickly before leaving the room and heading out into the corridor. This early morning sneaking had become a ritual for a man now more then ever who couldn't show weakness. He knew the way to his location all too well crossing the large training field before coming to what the residents called 'The Wall of the Dead'. The man knew all of the faces all to well but it was the last most recent section of the wall he was most interested in. Numerous Security and Support staff had been killed as had nine of the people he had been directly responsible for. The Taskmaster his face covered with a white skull like mask touched the portraits of the dead; Asp, Omicron, Asylum, Melee, Puff Adder, Crossfire, The Answer and The Human Cannonball would all be missed but it was Violet who really drew him down here. Her's was the only portrait he wouldn't touch, it just seemed wrong, in the brief time he had known her she had become a valuable assistant and the closest thing he had to a friend.
"Sorry Violet," he said to himself, "I should never have dragged you into this." From down the hall the sound of clicking boots could be heard and Tony reached for his sidearm, past experience told him that the Initiative had more enemies after it's separation from HAMMER then it had before. Stepping into the half light of the bewitched candles that floated around the board was the formally seductive from of Tanya Sealy. Like him she had let herself go over the attack, it had been over a month ago and while most physical injuries had healed it was clear that a lot of people were still carrying mental ones.
"Can I sit here?" she asked. Tony nodded and watched as she stared at the portrait of Asp, the former B.A.D girl had been laughing when the photo taken.
"I'm the last one left." Black Mamba told Tony, "Cleo died here and if what Songbird said was true then Rachel's dead as well. Do you know the funny thing, the day Cleo died was her birthday, we were leaving with Man Killer to celebrate when they killed her. I saw them sitting in the darkness and I did F all to mak esure she was safe. This is the first time I've been able to come down and face her since then."
"I do this every morning," Tony replied, "I tell Violet what happened yesterday, what I did, like the joke Puma said at Lunch or how Vector accidently hit himself with a Jeep in training. Just to keep her in the loop you know."
"Sounds like you loved her," Mamba answered, "Not like that," she added as Tony turned for the first time to look at her, "Like the love me and Cleo had, somebody who you would trust with your life, the person who when you went down would pick you up again."
"Sounds like Violet." Tony muttered, "Mamba I need to ask a favour of you."
"What is it?" she asked.
"Yesterday evening Carrion hit San Francisco. I'm going to send a team out to aid with the search and rescue and to help prevent anybody taking advantage of the situation. As such the team will be hero-villain team ups." Tony explained.
"You want me to go out and help clean up." Mamba replied.
"No your powers would be next to useless out there, what I want you to do is to clean up and head to this address. It's Violet's parents house I just want to know if they are all right, one you know tell me so I can tell her they are all right." Tony asked.
"Can I say one thing?" Mamba asked
"Go ahead training starts at 6:00 so now I'm just another human being." Tony told her.
"I understand that it hurts but you may want to talk to Trauma, he holds a victim support group, it may be beneficial for you to see him."
"Noted and now I have to ask you something. I made a choice based on my feelings, to try and turn this place into something good again. Tell me Tanya did I make the right choice, I've asked Trauma, Physique and Frank before he left and they all said yes but I now have my doubts. Hell even Blitzschlag told me that splitting from the Initiative was a good thing but am I really making a difference here?"
"I was going to leave, Cleo and I were going to run away from her and find Rachel start the B.A.D Girls up again, maybe even see if other people wanted to join, and go fight Osborne in our own little way. After Cleo died after you gave everyone who wanted to leave permission to head out I stayed, Cleo died because of me and now I want to be the hero, a proper one and for that I needed to stay here. You made a decision few others would even dream of, just give it time and I'm sure that something good will come out of this." she smiled and looked at the picture of Asp, "Thank you Cleo, I'm going to make you and Rachel proud."
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - 04:14AM
Alarms were ringing in Oklahoma City as the five members of F5 arrived at the same shopping centre where the Taskmaster had announced the team weeks before. Somebody had been foolish to break in to one of the few areas connected to the team's remote alarm surveillance system. This was the big break they had been waiting for, it wasn't common criminals breaking into the stores but costumed super villains.
"Typical my second to last day and we finally get some credible action." Jason the team leader grunted. The Taskmaster had come through on his promise and the replacement leader for F5 would be arriving. In truth the American Eagle wouldn't miss the other members, Cyclone was at best unwilling and Tempest was barley around often vanishing for hours at a time. Glow Worm on the other hand was always around but ultimately she was too loyal to HAMMER to be serious company. At least Bison made the effort to be friendly; he of all the members had gained some credit with the community and Jason had to admire that. Still it wasn't time to dwell on that, 'his' team was about to get its first real test. The police had already arrived but it was clear from the damage to the patrol cars and the bodies being carried to the ambulance that those inside were not going to go down quietly.
"What do we know Chief?" Jason asked the fat chief of police as he ducked behind a SWAT van as a blast of energy flew overhead.
"Five of them, probably those so called heros F5." he spluttered before looking over his shoulder to see the team he had blamed standing behind him, "Oh sorry I didn't know it was you guys." he lied.
"I take it we're going in blind then." Cyclone spat, "Because tubby here managed to rule out us but obviously knows nothing else apart from how to eat doughnuts."
"Cyclone behave yourself." Jason snapped, "I'm sorry about him chief." he apologized unconvincingly.
"Do you want me to do recon?" Tempest asked, "I can be in and out in seconds with names and powers." she added stroking his face her cold hands sending chills down his body.
"It would be wise," Jason replied, "You have three minutes, yell if you're in trouble." Tempest smiled and flew towards the shopping centre disappearing through one of the walls. The next forty five seconds were tense, Tempest was stealthy but she wasn't invisible and they had no idea who or what was inside, but eventually she re-emerged sticking her head out of the tarmac and making the police chief curse and shoot off two rounds that harmlessly impacted with the tarmac.
"Five targets all dressed like insects, I ID two right off the bat, one is that woman who's been calling herself the Beetle and the other is Dragonfly, but I didn't recognize any of the others." Tempest told them, "I got some names though the others are Doc Hopper, Stink Bug and Wire Worm."
"Doc Hopper has been laying low for a while; I'm surprised he came back." Jason commented, "Stink Bug is a low level mercenary, pretty pathetic he occasionally worked for people like the Shocker and Scorpion but they sent word round that he's useless."
"And Wire Worm?" Bison asked
"No Clue but I'm guessing we can take him, okay everybody remember your training and that the whole state is watching you." Jason instructed the others, "Okay F5 let's blow these guys away."
"We seriously need a better publicist." Cyclone announced, "That stinks worse then anything I ever heard before."
As F5 entered the shopping centre they passed a high end jewellery store the windows still intact and the products still on display. This trend continued apart from a few mangled security gates and a broken window there was no sign that anything had been touched.
"Okay these guys are officially the worst criminals in the world." Glow Worm commented.
"Something's bugging me." Bison said, "Call it instincts but does any of this feel like a trap."
"To much at the moment, lure us here with some alarms and reports of a break in only for us to find that nothings been stolen." Jason answered, "Are you sure your recon was accurate?" he asked Tempest.
"The two I recognized were the Beetle and Dragonfly and the others names were thrown around. What's really strange is that these shops were virtually cleaned out when I blew through her earlier."
"I don't like this, lets just find these guys and get out of here as soon as possible." Bison stated.
"We can't it's our duty." Cyclone said mockingly. It was then when the attack came from the ceiling, a big flat disc almost like a bouncing betty fell from the ceiling and detonated blinding and disorientating the Initiative Team, Jason yelled something but he knew the others wouldn't here. In front of him he saw a silhouette and felt a sharp punch impact with his face before feeling the warm trickle of blood running down his nose.
"That's for calling me pathetic." the assailant told him in as he got ready for a second punch.
Camp Hammond, Connecticut - 05:55AM
Tony trudged back to his room; he had left Black Mamba alone and hit the mess before the majority of the trainees woke up to get something that tasted remotely edible. Today was a big day despite the problems and fluctuating number of recruits he had created a new team for the state of Nevada know by the team leader Jackpot as the Lucky 7. In addition he also had to announce the team that was going into the field to help search and rescue in San Francisco. Reluctantly he had appointed Vector as field leader, Tony had to admit that he had been surprised that the U-Foes had stayed with the Initiative but for now he was glad of it, many of the Hood's Gang had left due to the position of 'hero' being less lucrative then that of a villain. In addition to Vector; X-Ray, Ossuary, Joystick, Ripcord and the new Coldheart were being deployed to aid in the rescue attempt. While X-Ray and Vector were less then trustworthy Ossuary and Ripcord were making progress in redeeming themselves and had been given instructions to take down the U-Foes if they caused trouble. There was something else happening today Gauntlet was coming back and Tony after much deliberation had chosen to hand control of Camp Hammond back to him and take the position of team leader of the Oklahoma Team F5.
Entering the room Tony sniffed the air, he smelt smoke something in his room was burning, it smelt suspiciously like incense something he knew he didn't have in his room. From the smoke two figures emerged and Tony realized that he knew them both, the man creating the smoke was Brother Voodoo rumoured to be the Sorcerer Supreme the other was Doctor Strange a man that needed little invitation, Tony knew both by reputation.
"Mr. Masters we have come to ask for help." Voodoo asked.
Tony was confused, technically had had promised that the Initiative would not chase unregistered heros as long as they were not a danger but Voodoo had been identified helping the criminal Songbird and her terrorist Thunderbolts.
"What do you need?" Tony asked trying to buy time so he could sort out his dilemma.
"Asgard is becoming a problem, we tried to tell Osborne but he wouldn't listen and set his Avengers on us." Strange explained, "Something evil is stirring there, we did some research and we have credible evidence that the Enchantress is raising an army in the catacombs. An army that will make Carrion's attacks look like a peaceful protest in comparison."
"And Osborne didn't take your advice." Tony said his eyes narrowing behind his mask.
"That's the problem Osborne's Aura suggests that he is home to more then one soul, and that both are equally corrosive." Voodoo explained, "We're not asking for much, just assistance from the local team you have stationed there while we try and deal with this problem before it get's out of hand."
Tony thought for a second, from what he knew about the sorcerers neither Voodoo or Strange were known for lying and to be honest the ruins of Asgard had been, in his eyes, a ticking time bomb taking up a prime slab of real estate in the middle of the Oklahoma countryside.
"I'm going to Oklahoma myself later, if what you say is true your going to need backup." Tony replied, "I'm willing to give you everyone you need" he added, "for a price."
"Your blackmailing us for money." Strange said angrily.
"No," Tony replied, "Something completely different ."
The Characters of Glow-Worm III, Stink Bug and Wire Worm are my own origonal creations and are not owned by Marvel Comics