Maurice chuckled as he put the comic he had been reading back on the desk and checked the security camera feed for signs of uninvited guests. Recently Chicago had become a much harder place to make a living in, and his employers the Maggia were running around in circles as the Thunderbolts begun their campaign to clean the streets of criminals. Not that Maurice had much to worry about them, the facility he was guarding was one of the few legitimate and totally legal ventures that Count Nefaria was involved in. In addition he had some pretty nasty back-up in the form of the trembling collage dropout slumped on the next desk alongside the beautiful centrefold he had summoned out of the pages of the copy of Playboy. Despite his appearance the Bookworm was a deadly ally and Maurice pitted anyone stupid enough to come into the warehouse.

"Maurice." a voice called, "Hey prick I'm talking to you." Maurice looked around to see his buddy Will emerge from behind another desk with a second Playboy bunny. "You're an idiot Maurice." Will chided, "Reading that piece of garbage rather then taking up the Worm's offer."

"Nah I prefer to read." Maurice replied, "Or at least look at the pictures."

"Like you would have a chance with any of those broads." Will sniffed as his pager went off. Unhooking the device he read the message before pushing the bunny away. "Whatever the case get ready Nefaria's brat of a daughter wants us to go down to Volkner Industries and steal some new weapon that Ozcorp hired them to move to a West Coast Facility."

"No way man, you know that Volkner has certain agents who would clean the floor with us." Maurice replied, "Are they sending any meta support with us?"

"None, Nefaria says he can't spare anyone, not with this new player in town." Will answered, "Word is he already has the 88, Druid's Sickle and AIM working for him. Looks like this Silent Partner freak is raising an army for whatever reason, I sure hope that he doesn't point it as us."

"No backup jeez." Maurice wheezed, "Wait what about him?" he asked jabbing a finger at Bookworm.

"Not even him."

"Nah I thought maybe if we get some metas for ourselves we can go in without having to fight the Thunderbolts." Maurice suggested picking up the comic, "These guys are super villains just like us, they can deal with those stuck up heros while we snatch the package."

"I don't like this." Will begun to say but it was too late Maurice had already walked up to Bookworm and was prodding him in the ribs. "Hey do this one." Maurice ordered. Groaning Bookworm picked up the comic and read out one of the passages, the book glowing in his hands before a pink light erupted from the page and solidified in the warehouse outside the pages to form eight people all standing around looking mildly confused. Will decided right off the bat that he didn't like this; one of the guys looked like a Mexican wrestler and was built like one too, for some reason this guy scared him more then the giant humanoid shark, the gunman with wrist mounted guns and the crazy looking dude with bandages over his face.

"Sod this I'm out." he snapped before walking over to the door. The gunman tilted his head and fired a shot into the Maggia stooges head causing him to slam into the concrete, his face punctured with a bullet right between the eyes.

"Where are we?" the wrestler asked.

"Chicago." Maurice announced, "We summoned you here because you were about to be captured by the Justice League. You're no longer in Gotham Bane; you have a chance to start over."

"This is a setup." a woman in a powdered wig hissed, "How could we simply be summoned, I sense no real power in this room."

"Jeanette calm down." the gunman stated, "I have no idea what they did but this beats being beaten by the bat. Those guys never make anything final, it was a good idea but this is better."

"Deadshot has a point." a second woman stated, this one dressed in black with swords attached to her woman added, "Still I don't like being in the service of another."

"I concur." Bane added, "Still if this is true then we at least owe our rescuers something."

"Well there is a job we need help with." Maurice stated, "We have been hired to steal a weapon but the facility is guarded by super human agents, even my magic wouldn't protect us. That's where you come in, we get the weapon you deal with the guards and as soon as we get back to base you are free to do whatever it is you do."

"I suppose we have no choice or at least not a good one, for all we know this wizard could send us back to where we came from." the man with the bandaged face lamented.

"We have a deal but try anything and you will wish you never summoned the Secret Six." Bane threatened.

"Trust me I already do." Bookworm moaned as Maurice grinned like a massive kid living out his fantasy. For some reason this seemed different to his other summons and Bookworm had a feeling that things were going to head south quite quickly.

Melissa crash landed into the lab that sat at the top of the Sidewinder building, she had been lucky tonight at least luckier then she had any right to be. A simple call out to O'Hare to help transport a prisoner to the local prison had become a nightmare, not only had it started snowing again, something she had assured the public was a natural occurrence, but the crook, a goon called the Foreigner had got a lucky shot in before she had caught him.

(The people of Chicago have reason to be terrified due to the F5s recent terror attack on the city as seen in New Thunderbolts #25 - 27)

Groaning she saw the light flash on and saw Abe rush over to her, his legs firmly in his new Interceptor armor. "Mel what happened?" he yelled as he pulled her up and checked out the gunshot wound in her arm.

"It's been dealt with." Melissa answered, "Why the whole armor up situation?"

"The alarms at one of Volkner's warehouse facilities just went off." Abe told her, "It's where they are storing the XC-820 'Chisel', a man portable Mass Driver Canon. If its stolen then it becomes a massive problem for us, field tests say a projectile can smash through twenty meters of solid concrete."

"Not something we want out on the street." Melissa stated as she ran a wave of sonic energy down her arm disintegrating the bullet stuck in her wound. "Best bring everyone, between AIM, the Maggia and Silent Partner we can expect that Meta elements are involved in the theft."

"Got it." Abe announced, "And Mel if you feel that you're not up to it then you can sit this one out." Melissa smiled before flexing her arm and hiding the fact that any movement hurt like hell. "Don't worry Abe I'll be fine."

The last security guard bum-rushed the invaders only for his chosen target to bend down and slam his jaws over his head and torso before painfully ripping him apart. With a sickening crunch King Shark chewed through the spine and spat out the guard's skull, the cranium caved in by the tooth still embedded in the bone. "So this seemed like a waste of time." he snarled, "Any fish could have done this job."

"I agree." Bane announced turning to Maurice as he cracked a box open with a crowbar, "Where is this so called security that you were afraid to take on."

"I'm sure they are around here." Maurice gulped as Deadshot shone a laser dot on his forehead, "They must be around here, every time we try anything the bloody Thunderbolts turn up.

"Thunderbolts?" Ragdoll asked, "What fiends are these men who hunt the honest criminal, not normal security have you set us against Heros?"

"No they are criminals pretending to be lawmen." Maurice gulped, "They are bigger crooks then any of us."

"Intriguing, these Thunderbolts may have a good idea." Bane mused, "People so rarely expect their Heros to be anything other then what they see. We may be able to use their scheme for our own deeds."

"As long as you pay royalties." a voice announced, looking up the Secret Six saw the armoured figure of Interceptor hovering over the room while behind him Songbird dragged a sonic platform where the rest of the team stood. "Quite a mixed bag," he announced, "Tiger Shark, Man Killer, the Clown, Janissary and Bobcat or at least wannabes hopping that being frightening is enough to get the job done. Just a word of caution when you get to the Raft you may want to avoid mentioning that you were masquerading as real criminals." Abe added as Melissa landed the platform. "So who are you with then?"

"The Secret Six work for whoever they want." Bane snarled.

"Um I'm no maths whizz." Boomerang stated, "But even I can tell that there are eight of you."

"Harkness." Deadshot yelled, "Well I guess Thunderbolts is just another name for the Suicide Squad."

"Enough talk." Catman growled, "We were hired to do a job no matter who these guys are. Jeanette end this quickly." he added as seven members of the Secret Six stepped backwards to give Jeanette a clean shot at the Thunderbolts.

"Shit." Melissa yelled as she heard the acoustic rise of Jeanette's scream before it was even released. Stepping forward she saw and heard the Banshee release her wail and concentrated on the wave of sound, morphing it into something harmless as the wall of noise struck her. With a sneer of determination Songbird watched as Jeanette's offensive transformed into a flight of pink hard sound butterflies that flew off into the warehouse before detonating harmlessly on the crates and walls. "My god that was so powerful." Melissa gasped as she dropped to her knee, "It was like nothing I have ever heard before."

"A Star Sapphire here?" Scandal queried, "These guys are not you're average crooks."

"Doesn't matter." Bane yelled, "King Shark, Knockout clear us a path. Secret Six crush them." With a hiss of fury King Shark thundered towards the Thunderbolts followed by Knockout, the pair of them heading for Songbird in the hopes of crushing her. Dashing forward to meet the attackers Abe opened fire with his Maser pistol causing King Shark to stall screaming as the radiation burnt his skin. As he switched targets he saw that he was too late, Knockout had reached Melissa and was about to rip her head off. With a yell he watched as the well built redhead smashed Mel in the face only for her to collapse into a pile of sand.

"What the fuck?" Knockout swore as the sand swirled around her before a grainy hand grabbed her own arm and tossed her into a forklift, the machine crumpling under the force of her blow. Abe looked back at his team to see Vassal helping the real Melissa to her feet. Amazing, his team had taken the initiative and rescued her without him realizing, even though the Thunderbolts had only been together for a week they were already functioning as a group.

"Wait there was eight of them?" Deadshot yelled as he fired ineffective shots at Quicksand, "Where are the other two?"

"Ragdoll behind you!" Catman snarled. Ragdoll turned to see a fist slam into his jaw as Black Tarantula emerged from the darkness. Twisting his body he rolled away from the follow up blow before wrapping an arm and a leg around his foes torso and hand springing off the floor to slam his victim into the ground. With a grunt Black Tarantula slammed his free hand into Ragdoll's mouth and pulled his attacker away, the sound of snapping legs and arms showing how brutal the counter attack was.

"Snap, snap." Ragdoll hummed as he slapped Tarantula in the groin as he attempted to escape, "The Ragdoll can slip through the spider's web."

"You are a very sick man." Black Tarantula replied as he slammed his elbow out into Catman's jaw as he attempted to sneak up behind the Thunderbolt. "You are impressive, a true hunter like me, this clown is beneath people such as us, you on the other hand are an equal." he continued as he kicked Ragdoll away to face his new foe.

King Shark roared as he got to his feet, his opponent a monster of a man armed with an axe was heading towards him. Slashing forward he raised his arm as a makeshift shield and charged into Vassal before tossing him aside like he was a light weight. His frenzy only growing he turned his focus on a man in a hazmat suit who was dodging Bane's strikes. "I'm a Shark bitch." he roared as he came charging in towards the pair, his warning didn't go unheeded, dodging Bane's last blow Oxide turned and fired a pulse of heat at the charging monster changing his roar into a timid squeal as he attempted to escape the painful burst of burning air.

"Okay the freaks sure are out tonight." Chris commented before Bane grabbed his hands and pulled him up off the ground. Igniting his hands Oxide watched as the masked wrestler held on even tighter, the increasing heat doing nothing to discourage his attacker.

"Drop the kid." Boomerang yelled as he threw a projectile at Bane. Sneering Deadshot opened fire and destroyed the 'rang before it reached his target before advancing on Myers.

"Come on Harkness, we both know you play second fiddle to me on the Suicide Squad." Deadshot chided, "Be a good little wallaby and give up."

"Wow that's a bit racist." Boomerang mumbled as he threw two more of his trademark weapons before watching Deadshot shoot them down with ease. "Seriously Captain Koala what did that achieve?"

"A distraction." Boomerang replied as he threw a forth weapon. Deadshot lined up the shot and fired, his bullet missing by inches as his targeting scope flashed on and off.

"What the hell somebody is jamming me." Deadshot spat as he fired several more shots at Boomerang, the nimble Australian darting out the way just as Knockout got to her feet and came charging in towards him, the bullets embedding in her skin but doing nothing to stall her charge. "Shit." Deadshot swore as his teammate barrelled into him and stopped snorting and snarling as she turned to face Boomerang again. Picking up Deadshot she threw the mercenary down the range, his body slamming into Boomerang and causing the pair to collapse into a heap.

"Well that was inspired." a voice came from behind her as the air rippled to reveal Smokescreen standing behind the Female Furry, "As was this." she added slamming a Taser stave into Knockout's back. With a howl of anger Knockout turned and tried to grab Juno only to see her target slip backwards before throwing a grenade at her, the explosive detonating above her in a torrent of ink. Blindly Knockout charged but Smokescreen had moved on and all the Female Furry could do was crash through the wall behind her.

Vassal raised his axe and blocked the lithe Scandal Savage as she slashed at him again. Whilst he had carried his brother's axe for over a year this was the first time he had ever fought with it in melee combat. Usually just carrying the thing was intimidation enough for the low life hoods and bail jumpers he had used to target but this woman was something else. With a scream she slipped her claws under the haft and Cody found himself with a blade in his gut before she removed it. Luckily a combination of chain mail and the enhanced muscle mass that the Ozcorp issue power pack supplied had limited the damage and on the plus side now he was angry. Swinging the blade he fired an energy pulse and watched as his target barrel rolled over the blast and the three follow up attempts before ricocheting off a crate and heading towards him claws first. Slamming the axe diagonally upwards Vassal countered the attack and flung Scandal across the warehouse to where Bane was ripping the boomerang out of his shoulder while pummelling Quicksand, his blows creating holes in the Thunderbolts body but doing no real lasting damage.

"Doth the executioner want another pair of boots?" Ragdoll asked. Vassal looked down to see the creepy contortionist wrapping himself around his legs and jabbing at his hamstrings in an attempt to topple him.

"Get off." Vassal roared as he reached down to rip Ragdoll off his legs. Wrapping around his victims arm he pulled down causing the larger man's spine to creak before causing him to slam back first into the concrete floor. "Well that was unexpected." Ragdoll purred as he flipped himself out from Vassal's body, "King Shark I'm coming." he whispered as he saw his team mate wincing under the sonic blows that Songbird threw at him.

Abe hovered above the scene of combat, it was clear from how they were fighting that his original assumption of the intruders being neophytes was incorrect, in-fact they were handling themselves like pros. Black Tarantula was engaged in a beautiful fight with the man dressed as a cat, the pair of them exchanging blows and blocks so quickly that the majority were invisible to the naked eye. Across the floor Smokescreen was holding her own against the woman with the knives but Abe couldn't help notice that Juno was already bleeding and while she was skilled her opponent was even better. Elsewhere the Tiger Shark wannabe and the creepy clown were fighting Melissa and Chris, the fight seemingly even while Quicksand appeared to be winning against the masked wrestler. Boomerang and his opponent were also tussling but it was far from elegant, with each of the combatants cursing and gouging at each other. "So who have I forgotten?" Abe told himself, "The Wrestler girl, Knockout I think she was called crashed out of here but there was another one as well"

His musing came too late as Jeanette crashed into him knocking his suit down to the floor as the woman sat on his chest pining his arms down to the floor. "You know I can sense when people are about to die." his assailant purred, "Do you know which one of you're team only has a few months left?"

"No." Abe replied as he activated his Taser and sending sparks through his armor causing Jeanette to convulse with energy albeit not enough to remove her from his chest. Switching to his grenade revolver Abe was pleased to see that he still had some thermal rounds left from his fight with the F5. "It's over you're about to lose and any prediction you make will be moot." he added as he fired the first shell, a gout of flame engulfing Jeanette and causing her to loosen her grip enough for him to free himself from her embrace.

"Enough." a new voice yelled Abe turned to see a man dressed in black clutching the Chisel, the lights on the weapons flanks suggesting it was armed and loaded. "We have what we need and these 'heros' won't follow us, not if they want to keep people safe."

"What are you talking about?" Melissa boomed as she smacked Ragdoll off of her arm.

"This." Maurice snarled as he stepped outside and fired a shell at the Chicago skyline, "That rounds heading for the 'Sidewinder' Tower, you have a choice stop us or stop that."

"Thunderbolts stand down." Abe yelled.

"But boss…" Boomerang begun.

"I said stand down, let them go for now." Abe snarled.

"This isn't over." Bane replied, "Secret Six withdraw." he bellowed as the two teams disengaged.

"We're just going to let them go?" Chris asked as the Secret Six ran out of the warehouse.

"For now." Abe stated, "At this moment I have to be faster then a speeding bullet or an entire building falls."

New Thunderbolts vs. Secret Six #2

Two teams of antiheros in one city, can Chicago survive such an onslaught. As the Thunderbolts attempt to save their home the Secret Six decide to take matters into their own hands, a move that doesn't impress the locals.