RISING TIDE SAFEHOUSE LOS ANGELES

"This will stop the warmongers in their tracks."

Skye was glad that she had her van to live in: she didn't want to live in this dump with the other Rising Tide hacktivists in her cell. She'd been on her own for a while, and had forgotten how little money the group had. The decor showed the lack of steady income the group produced, with peeling paint, worn furniture, and a highly frayed carpet. She peered down at a strange looking device on the stained coffee table, arguably the best looking thing in the apartment. The other Rising Tide hackers seemed to be excited by it, so she donned a smile to fit in. "What exactly is it?"

"It's an electromagnetic pulse generator." Tall with a punk rock look, Eddie was the leader of the local Rising Tide cell. "When it's detonated, it'll send out a wave of energy that fries every electronic device within a five mile radius."

To Skye it looked like a normal bomb, or at least what nuclear bombs looked like in the movies. But that wasn't her main concern. "How did we even get that?"

"We have a supporter at the new Queen Industries weapons plant. They just started making these for the government, and he scrounged enough individual components to give us a working unit. He also got us some experimental pulse rifles that were slated for destruction. Evidently they don't hold a charge consistently." He pointed to a wooden crate in the corner. A hacker opened it a drew a sleek, electrified rifle, more advanced then anything that Skye had imagined. "They were designed to hurt guys like Thor and Captain America."

She was confused by their mere presence here. "What are we supposed to do with those? I know that some of us are strapped for cash, but it's not like we can sell this stuff."

"Oh, we won't sell this stuff." Eddie grinned. "We're gonna detonate the bomb right outside of the plant. Let's see how how many weapons Old Baldy makes then." He got high fives from several hackers.

Skye looked from one person to another to see if they were joking. They weren't. "You do realize that there's a hospital not even a mile from there. You'll kill all of their equipment. Their generators won't help."

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, that's true."

"Skye was shocked by his nonchalant response. "People will die!"

"How many more people will die because of Queens tools of death?" asked Amanda, Eddie's girlfriend and the most agressive person in the group. She and Skye had never gotten along. "We launch a DOS attack against Queen, and he's up and running in no time. Expose Lex Luthor's dirty laundry, and his spin doctors clean it up. We have to do more if we're gonna hurt guys like these."

What happened to everyone since the last time she'd seen them all? Nothing in their e-mails had indicated that there was a problem. Where was the idealism, the sense of justice, that made them rebels to begin with? "So we resort to the same ruthless tactics that they use? That's not who we are!"

Eddie proudly hefted a rifle. "Then we need to change who we are."

This wasn't the Rising Tide that Skye knew. She joined an organization that wanted to take innocents out of danger, not view them as simply collateral damage. Eddie sounded like the very people that they were supposed to be fighting. "I understand your frustration, Eddie. Things haven't our way lately. But guns..." she shook her heads in angst. "All this does is hurt credibility, and hurt innocent people. How are you any different from the Ten Rings?"

Amanda charged up a rifle and aimed it at and imaginary target. "Maybe we need to get rid of you, Skye."

"What!?" Skye looked to Eddie, who simply shrugged. Why argue any further? It was clear that reason wouldn't - a chill went down her spine. "You're not gonna kill me to keep me quiet, are you?"

Amanda turned to Eddie. "That's a good question."

Then the roof caved in.

OUTSIDE THE RISING TIDE SAFEHOUSE

LOS ANGELES

Clark Kent did his best to keep his head in the game.

Normally a group like the Rising Tide wouldn't appear on the team's radar: they were focused on countering Zod's anticipated conquest of Earth. Oliver Queen had even developed these weapons upon her request to resist Zod. But just after the weapons went missing a Rising Tide e-mail tripped a program that Chloe had set up to keep track of weapons of mass destruction being traded on the black market. The last thing that the world needed was for the Rising Tide to go from pacifist hackers to heavily armed insurgents. Clark wanted these weapons off of the streets ASAP.

The e-mail verified the possession of the stolen EMP bomb, but not its carefully concealed its location. Using other bits of intelligence collected elsewhere, Chloe was able to narrow down the possible location of the bomb to just a few spots worldwide, and the team scrambled to each of them to hunt the bomb down.

Clark was currently on the edge of a rooftop, looking down on on the roof of a two-flat that Chloe believed was housing the gamma bomb. Their intelligence was right atleast; Clark's x-ray vision revealed the bomb to him, and he could even see energy being softly emitted from it's core. It's eerie green similarity to kryptonite made him feel slightly uneasy. "Boyscout to Watchtower," he said into his communications earwig. "I have eyes on the bomb, as well as the pulse rifles."

"Copy that," said Chloe. "Putting the team on standby."

"How many hostiles, Boyscout?" asked Oliver Queen, who was perched on the rooftop a nearby building providing overwatch for the operation. He sported customized sunglasses which featured night-vision capabilities. "

Clark scanned the building again. "I count seven people inside." He examined their unconventional weapons, a kind that he'd never seen on Earth on before. "Only three have the energy pulse rifles." Ollie mentioned how powerful the weapons were, but were they powerful enough to hurt Clark? "There's a fourth man on the roof, with a set of binoculars and an Uzi." The roof sentry was looking everywhere but up, and Clark hoped that he kept it that way.

"Did we ever find out how they got those rifles?"

"No." Clark gave it some thought. "Well, we do know from that Vanity Fair article that they were receiving weapons stolen from Stark Industries at some point. Maybe they have a new supplier." He gave the building another look. "I don't see any surprises. We should proceed."

"Yeah, we can handle the rifles. How's the perimeter"

"The coast is clear. No civilians within a quarter mile." That distance wouldn't protect anyone from an accidental detonation of the bomb, but if guns were fired no one else would be hurt. "Is that bomb active?"

Clark took a closer look. "Negative. Are we all set?"

"Standby. Boy Scout" Clark saw Oliver leave the roof and head towards the target house. "We move in three... two...one...go!"

Clark dropped towards the target building's roof. A tazer arrow from Oliver flew into the roof sentry's chest and sent bolts of electricity over his torso. He seized up, then dropped to the roof unconscious. Clark went through the roof right next to the sentry, and the now falling terrorist dropped onto one of the other fighters below in the head, and they both fell unconscious as they hit the floor. Clark twisted, landing in a crouch before he help up a hand. "Stop! Don't move!" The other two panicked at first, but then drew their pulse rifles and opened fire on Clark. "Oof!" A yellow beam slammed his in the gut and sent him flying back into the wall. He hadn't hurt so much in ages. Apparently it was more than just an energy weapon. How did Oliver develop technology like this? He didn't stop to consider the answer, instead using his heat vision to set one of the guns ablaze. The fighter holding it screeched in pain before surrendering the smoldering rifle. Before he could be hit again the door to the building came flying off the hinges in an explosion, with Oliver charging in behind his bow and arrow. The fighters barely had time to turn and look before Oliver cold-cocked one of them, and he went flying over a table and head-first into a wall.

The last fighter, a woman looked at Clark and Oliver, then the bomb on the table. Likely judging that this was her only chance to use the bomb, she dropped her rifle dashed for it. Oliver unleashed a roundhouse kick to her chin, sending her crashing to the floor knocked out. "We're clear, Watchtower" Oliver reported. "How about a pickup call for the boys in blue?"

"Copy that, Green Arrow."

Clark slowly picked himself up off of the floor, dusting himself off. "Those guns have some punch." He walked over to the fighters and began putting flexicuffs on their wrists.

The bomb began to hum slightly, catching everyone's attention. Clark looked at the bomb with her x-ray vision again. "The bomb hasn't been completely activated, but the core has gone active. Maybe all of the energy flying through the room did something to it."

"This is why idiots shouldn't play with fire. Let me try something." Oliver opened up a control on the bomb, and keyed the console inside. Instead of dying down, the humming increased. "Hmm. Let's try this again." He entered another command. The humming slowly receded. "We're all set." He stepped back and waved a hand over the bomb. "Boyscout, would you be so kind..."

"Gladly." Clark used his heat vision to turn the bomb's trigger into molten slag. "One more for the good guys."

RISING TIDE SAFEHOUSE
LOS ANGELES

Skye didn't know who these people were, but they were amazing.

She'd read eyewitness accounts of Thor's fight in New Mexico, and tried to imagine it, but it didn't compare to what she just saw. Laser eyes! Bullet proof chests! And the way they stopped the bomb was amazing. Where were these people from?

The tall, dark, and squared jaw man in the red jacket held out a hand and helped her up. "I heard you trying to stop them. We appreciate that."

Skye frowned. "How did you hear what I said?" She looked at her cell mates as she stood up. "Was someone wearing a wire?'

The man with a bow and arrow pointed at his weapon Skye. "Stay on your knees."

Square jaw help up a hand."There's nothing hostile in her..." he paused for a moment, as if confused. "vitals.."

He lowered the bow and arrow and completed putting flexiicuffs on the other hackers.

How did he know about her vitals? Was that one of his abilities? "Who are you guys?"

Arrow man frowned. "Are you kidding me?"

Skye couldn't argue with that sentiment. "Just asking."

Square jaw picked up the bomb and squeezed into baseball-sized refuse. "Get out of here. Tell the rest of the Rising Tide to stay out of the weapons game."

She pointed towards the other hackers. "What are you going to do with them? Throw them into some secret prison? You shown a single badge or warrant."

Arrow man trained his weapon on her again. "Do you want to join them?"

This time Skye had no problem being told to leave. Hoping that the rest of the cell didn't spill secrets to whoever these people were, Skye immediately headed for her van.