Viral Vengeance

Author's Note: Hey there, folks! L1701E here! Well, this is it! The big sequel to "Black Ice"! Basically, the title says it all. Anyway, this sequel is set a year after "Gifts and Curses", so about nine years before "Passing the Torch". Enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to me, todd fan, or Marvel Comics.

Chapter 1: Meet the New Freedom Force!

Bayville, about six years ago

"I'm…n-n-not dead…y-y-yet…" Virus scowled, or at least tried to. "You…c-c-can't…k-k-kill a god…"

"Even the reigns of gods have to end some time." Bobby Drake growled. He used a wave to throw Virus into the power core in the room. He then threw a couple ice blasts, pinning Virus to a wall. "But I'm going to make sure yours never begins." He walked towards Virus, forming a long spike made of ice. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was trying to do.

"You fool…" Virus snarled. "You do what I think you plan to do…you'll destroy this entire complex!"

"Good." Bobby nodded. Virus chuckled weakly.

"Th-th-they say you-you-you're a monster. Heh." The English mutant smirked, as his body started to repair itself. "C-can't blame them. Y-you think th-th-they'll forgive you…heh. Th-th-they never w-w-will." Bobby's scowl deepened. "Heh heh heh. You're g-g-gonna burn, Iceboy."

"At least I'll be taking a real monster with me!" Bobby yelled. With a cry, Bobby reared his arm back, and then plunged the spike right into Virus's heart, making him scream. The console exploded, engulfing Bobby and Virus.

Los Angeles, present time

Now in his early twenties, Bobby Drake was snoozing in a corner of what appeared to be a large room of a dojo. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and blue jeans. The veteran member of Freedom Force opened his ice blue eyes and turned his head. He saw a seventeen-year-old Asian girl staring at him sweetly, lying on her stomach and her hands under her chin. Her long purple hair was under her chin, and her dark eyes sparkled.

"Ugh…" Bobby groaned. "What do you want, Betsy?" Bobby grunted. Elisabeth "Betsy" Braddock was one of the younger members of Freedom Force. Over the years, the roster changed. Several older members left, and newer members stepped up. One of them was Betsy Braddock, codename Psylocke, who was from a rich family in England. She was a telepath who had the ability to create a 'psychic knife', a construct of mental energy that could then be used to stun or kill opponents. She also was trained in the martial arts. And, much to the dismay of the Iceman, she had a major crush on him.

"Nothing." Betsy answered sweetly, her voice showing her English heritage. Bobby sighed, getting up. The purple-haired girl got up alongside him.

"Huh huh, dude…" A surfer-accented voice chuckled. "Betsy so totally wants you, man." Bobby looked at the source of the voice, a blond kid, around eighteen. His blue eyes were hidden behind Oakleys, dressed in a loud Hawaiian shirt, sandals, and jean shorts. He had a leather band around each wrist. Betsy glared at the blond kid.

"Shut up, McCormick!" Betsy snapped. Jack McCormick, codenamed Beast King, was a surfer bum from Malibu, California. He had the mutant ability to transform himself into any member of the animal kingdom that he knew of.

"Hey, whoa whoa whoa…" Jack waved his hands. "Cool your jets, babe. I was just teasing, dudette."

"Yeah, Betsy." Bobby nodded. "He didn't mean anything." He looked at the two young recruits. "You two had anything to eat yet?"

"Nah, I just got up." Jack shrugged.

"Ugh…" Bobby sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, causing a puzzled Jack to respond with a "What?" "Alright, come on." Bobby waved as he left the room. Betsy quickly ran up to him and linked her arm with Bobby's, putting her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, God…" Bobby groaned. The three mutants walked into the kitchen, where the rest of Freedom Force were eating breakfast. Bobby still couldn't believe how much the team had changed. Some of the stalwarts still remained, but some had left the team and went on to other things, and the gang had gotten new recruits.

"Hey, Bobby!" Ace Starr, the feral mutant called Wildstar, grinned happily, waving at the ice-maker as he looked up from his bacon. "Oh, you better get Betsy off your arm, man. You know ol' Lila's gonna flip." Ace hadn't changed a lot since his teenage years. Even though he was working on his dream of rock stardom, Ace was still a member of Freedom Force, and helped out when he could.

"Oh, shut up, Ace." Lila Cheney, the interstellar teleporter codenamed Starway, mockingly jeered, lightly punching the feral's arm. Bobby couldn't help but smile at his girlfriend. She had gotten more beautiful over the years. She tied her black feathered hair into a ponytail. Like Ace, she was working on her own dream of musical stardom.

"You wound me, babe." Ace chuckled. Bobby, Jack, and Betsy took seats at the table.

"About time you joined us for breakfast, Drake." Shan Coy, the Vietnamese mind-controller codenamed Karma, chuckled as she took some more bacon from the center of the table. She had her long dark hair trimmed to shoulder-length.

"Morning, babe." Lila grinned at her ice-making boyfriend, kissing his cheek. Betsy scowled jealously at that action.

"Betsy, why do you bother trying?" A redheaded kid, around 16, grumbled at the telepath. He was dressed in black sweatpants, and a gray Navy t-shirt. Betsy grunted.

"Sod off, Collins." Betsy grumbled. She was talking to Rusty Collins, codenamed Firefist. A pyrokinetic, Collins was a Navy brat. He joined Freedom Force because it was either that or serve jail time. He wasn't a fan of the team, and he displayed a temper at times.

"Eat me, you rich-" Rusty started to snap, but a voice interrupted him.

"Hey hey hey, jabroni! Calm down, huh?" The Boston-born Kyle Wildfire, the electrokinetic mutant called Thunderbolt, calmed as he put a hand on Rusty's shoulder. Kyle and Rusty had formed a kinship of sorts, considering they were both known for their tempers. "And they say that the Thunderbolt has a bad temper." The last thing Freedom Force needed was yet another food fight at the table.

"Yes, Rusty." A blonde girl, around 16, smiled at Rusty, dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Her name was Sally Blevins, but she was codenamed Skids for her mutant power to create slick frictionless forcefields around herself and others. "There's no need for you to lose your temper here." Rusty looked at Sally for a minute, and then sighed.

"Fine." The redheaded young mutant grumbled, crossing his arms. Bobby smirked.

"Reminds me of when I first started dating Lila." The ice-maker chuckled. "God, I can't believe it's been this long."

"About five years in a couple months." Lila reminded. "I hope you got me something nice."

"Now since when did you care about pretty things?" Bobby teased. Lila rolled her eyes. Gina Tolensky, the now 19-year-old plant-controller called Botanica, walked in, looking at some mail. Her long dark hair was in a high ponytail, her ears were decorated by large silver hoop earrings. She was dressed in a green shirt with a blue button-down shirt over it, and blue jeans. Her wrists were decorated by several silver bracelets each.

"Hey babe." Kyle greeted. Gina waved, not even looking up.

"Bill…bill…bill…" She walked by, mumbling.

"Ah, throw 'em away!" Terrell Mason, the speedster and aerokinetic codenamed Velocity teased. "Yeah, you know, I miss Thunderbird, Sunfire, and Rictor. I really do."

"Ah come on, jabroni!" Kyle groaned. "They're not dead. Proudstar's Army now."

"I heard he got in trouble again." Lila chuckled. "This close to getting his Apache butt dishonorably discharged."

"What'd he do this time?" Ace rolled his eyes.

"Probably got into another fight." Kyle quipped.

"Not much different from you, dear." Gina mumbled, still looking through the mail. "What was that about Sunfire?"

"I was just sayin'." Terrell responded. "I miss those guys."

"Well, Shiro preferred to stay in Japan for now." Gina explained. "It's not as if the man quit."

"Indeed." Shan nodded. "And Rictor went beck to Mexico to deal with some personal matters. He never told me what."

"Rictor never liked to talk about his past, Shan. You know that." Bobby reminded. "And they said if we ever needed them, they'd help out."

"Yeah, but I miss hanging out with those guys." Terrell nodded. "Sure, they visit and all, but it's not the same."

"At least you get to see them." Sally admitted.

"Dude, like, Thunderbird should've totally gone Navy, for shure." Jack chuckled. "Like, my older cousin is a SEAL."

"Appropriate." Kyle quipped. "He's a SEAL, and you can turn into a seal." The mutants laughed at the joke.

"Whoopee." Rusty grumbled. "When are we gonna see action? I haven't seen much in a while. Not since we took down that psychopathic living reactor in Chicago a couple weeks back."

"I, for one, am glad from the work. Sometimes, I can't help but wonder if I'll be able to do anything outside this team." Terrell admitted.

"We all do." Shan sighed.

"Yeah, that waitress you met down at that coffee shop certainly would appreciate it." Ace chuckled. Terrell let out a smirk with pride.

"Mm-hmm." Shan smiled. Bobby let out a little smile at that. Shan had dated one of his former X-Men teammates and friends for a while: Tabitha Smith, codename Boom-Boom. The two had gotten along rather well, despite Tabby's wild-child attitude contrasting with Shan's quieter nature. (1) However, Tabby broke it off when she discovered that she was pregnant, even though Shan was willing to help care for the child. The mind-controller was devastated, even though she tried to keep it hidden. Bobby had his own run-in with the father of Tabby's child, which did not turn out well for him. (2) However, Terrell came to the rescue. A few months back, the speedster introduced her to a waitress he knew at a coffee shop he got drinks from on occasion. The two hit it off right away, and they had been seeing each other ever since.

"I got a performance tonight down at the club." Ace announced with a grin.

"Hey, can we come?" Jack grinned, referring to himself and the other new recruits.

"No, you guys have to train with me tonight." Lila told the animorph.

"Awww…" The kids groaned.

"No fair." Betsy grumbled. "We never get to have any bloody fun!"

"At least you had a choice, sister." Rusty grumbled. "It was either here or jail."

"At least here, you can go to the beach." Ace chuckled as he left. "And beaches mean beach bunnies!" He then stated singing as he left the room. "Beach Baby, Beach Baby, there on the sand! From July to the end of September…"

"Oh, brother." Rusty groaned. "Why'd I agree to this?"

"Because you're dumb?" Betsy offered.

"Shaddap." Rusty grumbled.

Next: Fun with the New Guys Freedom Force's new recruits, Beast King, Psylocke, Firefist, and Skids, attempt to have fun at the mall, only to run into trouble. Meanwhile, Ace hangs out with an old friend.

(1) - Tabitha dated Shan briefly in todd fan's "Gifts and Curses". Their relationship ended in that story when Tabby discovered she was pregnant by John Lopez/Washout. Tabby didn't want to burden Shan with a child, hence the breakup.

(2) – Bobby Drake had his own run-in with Washout in "Gifts and Curses". Poor John. He had no idea what he was in for.