Mysterio:MFS #2(/3)

THE WALL

The wind blew through Captain Nicholas Bradfield's hair as he considered the Sentinels flying past him. Standing in one of the Watchtowers along this portion of the wall he pulled his coat around his body as yet another flight headed into the Old Republic. They would report in soon enough, but now he had to deal with the approaching problem. On his watch an Avenger had died and people would be coming.

People who wanted answers.

MYSTERIO: MFS Issue 2 of 3

TOO MANY MASKS?

Written and Created by Mark Peyton
Edited by Jac Milnestein

MONTREAL

The cloak shifted through its myriad of settings. Mysterio crouched and watched the square. Ahead of him was a group of partygoers milling about attracting a fair amount of unwanted attention. It was strange for him to watch people partying, having spent so long on the streets of Detroit. Across the square wandered a slightly weasely man, who was attempting to look inconspicuous. Mysterio focused his eyelenses on the man who headed for the larger of the clusters. A little conversation, then the movement he had been waiting for. At the sight of a Nitro canister appearing Mysterio sped forward on his disks. Some of the crowd scattered as he headed towards his prey, who had begun to sprint for cover.

Closer and closer he flew, preparing a snare to catch the man, as a figure stepped out ahead of him. He only part registered the woman as his target came closer to being in range. That was a mistake. The first laser beam barely missed him, catching part of the cloak, shorting that segment out. Mysterio banked and reassessed his targets. The laser shot had come from the eyepiece of a red- haired woman. Her eye glowed and another blast streaked towards him. He was getting sick of being used as target practice. From his left gauntlet he produced his own laser weapon, far smaller and designed to be far more theatrical. It slipped into his palm, lining with his forefinger as he headed higher before aiming and firing.

The redhead dodged easily as her accomplice ran past. Mysterio was very wary of the skies and kept a channel running, scanning for Sentinel transmissions. His adversary ran towards the centre of the square taunting him. "Come on, hero."

Mysterio fired again at her dancing, somersaulting form. In the back of his mind he was willing himself to run. This was too public. His concentration was thrown when the alarm sounded and he turned his attention away from the woman. `No time to take care of her. The Sentinels are coming.' He reached into his belt for a small round canister. The scanners behind tracked the woman as she fired shots at his retreating form. `The eyes in the back of my head strike again. At least one things gone right.'

Heading towards safety he switched levels descending down from the upper squares to the pedestrian ways. As a blip came onto his scanner he looked down, searching for another gap to head further down through. Spying one he gripped the container, sliding a switch on it. It started to pulse and as he shot down he threw it into the air behind him.

A loud crack filled the sky as his audio receptors turned off for a second, tripped by a relay on the container. Behind him the sky was filled with a large cloud of smoke peppered by sparkling dust. To most people it would seem to be a vain attempt at fooling the Sentinel's sensors with smoke. More trickery.

By the time the smoke had cleared Mysterio was long gone and the Sentinel's had little more than a ghost image of him.

Far below in the depths of Montreal, a wall slid back into place as the building's owner breathed a huge sigh of relief. He slipped the cloak from his back, making a note to check on the damage before he left. Taking the mask from his face he pressed it into a waiting port for a data download. The routine sorted he concentrated on calming his anxiety, slowing his short sharp breaths.

`Too close. I almost got caught. Christ, Beatriz is going to go to town on me. So pack up the gear and let Montreal calm down a little. Besides I need to check on Nitro.'

The download complete Josh pocketed the miniature disk and placed his costume into storage. He strode across the empty shell of the building, keying in an intricate sequence on his wrist panel. Ahead of him formed the components to his secret. The solution to being the heroes of two cities; a teleporter.

The single occupant tube began to buzz as he stepped into it. The fact that it was a one-destination machine didn't mean most organisations in the world would not kill to get their hands on it. As the bright light washed over him he was struck by visions of what might happen if he ever got caught.

DETROIT

The images that haunted his infrequent sleep stayed with him as he came through the other side. He slid the disk from his pocket and headed towards the computer bay. It was early for Beatriz to be up. They didn't operate on standard time like most normal people. Beatriz had become used to functioning at peak between dusk and dawn most of the time with research and repair being done just before or just after those hours. Now he was different. He was hyperactive; his sleep needs were as little as 2 hours some nights. Of course one day every month or so he just zoned out and slept for a while. It had always been like that since he was a kid scurrying around the Morlock tunnels.

Seizing the opportunity he placed the disk into the relay and downloaded the information. Two areas that had to be looked at; the woman and the Nitro connection. With the night's events stored he set the machine to run a search on the woman and her style of attack. Turning his back on the main screen for a second, he headed to get a drink entering a less alert frame of mind. That was shattered by the klaxon sounding from the machine and, almost a second later, Beatriz's voice over the tannoy.

"What the hell is going on, Joshua?"

"A data search," Josh replied, speaking into an intercom.

Beatriz's breathing grew a little shallower. "On what?"

"Someone I encountered last night. Some redhead with a laser eye."

"Do nothing. I will be right down."

Josh depressed the intercom. "Of course, sir. Whatever you say, sir. I'll check my brain in at the door."

Shortly Beatriz appeared, her dressing gown tied around her, the chair moving quickly into the room. From entering the room her gaze never left the face on the screen.

Josh leaned against the desk to one side. "So who is she?"

Beatriz was silent for a moment; so long that Josh thought she might actually display some emotion. "She's the reason you are Crucible. That is Cyclops."

"I'm sorry the name doesn't ring any bells. She wasn't in any of the files or cases I studied."

"You know damn well that I didn't show you my last case. Don't play dumb with me, Joshua! I may think many things about you, but you are definitely not stupid."

Josh pushed himself off the side. "So she's..."

"Yes, she's the one who put me in the chair. Doesn't look much does she?"

"Why did you never tell me?"

"Do you admit to all your failures?" Her voice quietened. "I hoped you wouldn't run into her for a while." She paused. "This information came from Montreal didn't it?"

Josh nodded, placing his arms braced against the desk. "Yes, it's a Mysterio download."

Beatriz moved her chair closer. "What else did you find?"

"There seems to be some kind of Nitro connection."

"But you thought you'd investigate on your own and then tell me?"

Josh shrugged. "Sort of."

"I need to run the figures. Go get some rest and I'll call you when I'm ready."

"But..."

"No buts. Now Joshua!"

LOWER DETROIT

The dark green lighting gave an eerie feel to the room. She had maintained this room as a place of planning and meditation for almost a decade. Its predecessor had been taken by flame and that night still held its place in her dreams and nightmares. The silence brought with it ideas, drifting down to be contemplated. Expansion was the dream at the moment. A new beginning, a fresh start. But already it was stained with blood. At least it was the enemy's blood, but unfortunately an enemy who would bring attention. She was not one for the spotlight. That she shared with her nemesis. She had thought Crucible dead months ago, but reports were coming in again that the fiery freak was back on the scene. Hurting people wasn't something she planned on. She'd have been much happier to make her dirty money without killing people, but wannabe heroes kept spoiling perfectly good plans. With that in mind she had decided to take out the middleman so to speak and take out the heroes in her way. First of all Crucible, then the new pest who had replaced the Avenger over in Montreal.

LATER

The voice over the tannoy cut through his sleep abruptly. "Joshua, report to the computer bay immediately."

He pushed himself up from the bed and grabbed a jump suit slung over a nearby chair. Not wanting to get into Beatriz's even worse books he started to pull it on while on the move.

Beatriz sat in front of the main screen as figures streamed past. She did not make any motion to indicate she had seen Josh enter, but rather started to talk. "There is a definite connection. The container you brought back certainly housed Nitro. I've analysed the Nitro and it has the same chemical signature as those I've recovered from Scorpion dens in the past. That makes the connection almost positive."

"I take it Nitro has a signature then that varies?"

Beatriz turned the chair to face him. "It's almost like a DNA strand, but part of it is for batch identification by the producer and partly it's to rub the authorities' noses in it. This is Scorpion's produce. Without that I couldn't be certain that Cyclops wasn't just freelancing in Montreal. If nothing else, Montreal has been free of a major Nitro pusher. Cyclops is there and it's with Scorpion's blessing."

Josh nodded. "So what do I do?"

"You take care of this end first. Scorpion is the power here so we go after her. You remember the hideouts from the files?"

"Of course."

"Then you check those first. You need a lead on Scorpion."

"What about Montreal?"

Beatriz's eyes focused on his face. "Detroit first. Montreal is the sideline. You play by my rules or not at all."

The silence hung for a moment. "You're the boss."


Josh stepped into the Costume chamber. To one side a room had been cleared and some of the Mysterio costumes were hung out like the rows of Crucible ones. He smiled. Nice gesture by the Bitch Queen. He walked along the black and red and reached for a standard suit. Who'd have thought a Morlock boy would end up having a day job being a superhero?

He pulled on the basic undersuit, strapping it tight. As he dressed he always remembered his roots. He had no great tragedy in his past to push him to be a hero. Just one woman's trust, a body that was hyperactive to the extreme and, if he was being modest, a genius level IQ. Yeah so smart he was playing at being not one, but two heroes.

The gauntlets slipped on easily and connected with the suit's power supply. He'd come to America with no real clue, just a desire to escape the tunnel city of the Morlocks selling his skills on the way.

Joshua placed the mask over his face and heard the click as the suit came fully to life. Time to go make some bad guy's life hell.


"Head down into the courtyard once you've checked the higher ground," Beatriz's voice said through the earpiece.

Josh nodded and ran along the rooftop quickly, scanning with his internal sensors as he went. It looked all clear so he descended into the courtyard. The first port of call in investigating the Nitro connection - one of Scorpion's old hideouts. If this paid off then Crucible would be making a reasonably public return through the city. Detroit had been restless after Beatriz had been forced into retirement. He hadn't come along immediately so Detroit had been left hero-less for a while. So people had stopped believing.

That was the most important reason for him being out here. Not stopping crime, but giving people some hope. Beatriz might not agree, but it was at the core of him being out here day after day. And the reason why Mysterio existed.


A sensor tripped and a hive centre sprang into life. The screen operator turned to the other occupant in the room. "He's here."

The woman replied, "Crucible is not a `he'. It is an `it'. Alert Cyclops and tell her to commence Trap B."


The red eyes shone out from the darkness. They weren't needed as the night sight functioned perfectly well without them, but they were there for effect. To unnerve.

Crucible moved forwards to the next corridor and placed his hand on the corner, directing his fingertips, with the video feed, pointing into the unchecked area.

Another one clear. This was starting to look like a blow-out.

He started down the corridor and instinct threw him to the side as the sensors within his suit blinked at the immense heat source coming at him.

The laser tore into his shoulder through the heat resistant armour and kept going the whole way through, cauterising the wound as it went. Josh screamed in pain and struggled to stay upright.

As the pain ran through him Beatriz's voice buzzed in his ears. Questions going through his mind, making it harder to focus. He dropped to one knee and pressed back against the wall. Beatriz's questions just kept coming.

His anger gave him a way through the pain. "For once Beatriz, shut the hell up!"

"I was telling you to hit the painkillers, but if you want to be the martyr keep going," she replied, her voice becoming cold.

Braced against the wall as the beam continued blazing away he ran through the costume's systems. He settled on a lower form of painkillers to keep him active and not drugged up to the eyeballs. The sensors kicked in again and this time he dropped to the ground as another laser beam shot over his head. The hive of corridors was beginning to fill with the refracting beams. Into his transmitter he said slowly, "I need an escape route fast."

"Check your onboard systems to see all of them are still functioning."

Josh began to crawl as the armour ran through its diagnostics. "It's mostly communication jamming subsystems that got shot out."

"What about weaponry and protection?" Beatriz asked, the screens in front of her running through various options.

"Not much shot left with the flame and no protection enough to stand up to this sort of power. Looks like I'll have to be ingenious."


The wall blew out leaving a trail of smoke as he pulled his feet out of the way as the lasers streamed past. His arm was still throbbing, but the adrenaline and need to get out had kept him focused. Until now.

He stumbled towards the exit as he heard footsteps echoing around him. The external microphone still turned off he said into his mouthpiece, "Where's the closest safehouse?"

"Those are for emergency."

"This is an emergency. I need to get my breath back and it looks like Scorpion is really after Crucible."

Beatriz's voice was quiet as she said, "After you, you mean."

"No, I meant Crucible. This is your war I'm in the middle of." He hugged the wall as silhouettes passed. "Any movement in the rest of Detroit?"

"Nothing showing up on any wavebands. Why?"

Crucible darted forward and caught his breath as he reached another hiding place. "Because this smells of a trap to keep me out of the way. What about Montreal?"

"Montreal is not important at the moment."

Gritting his teeth he said politely, "It damn well is. You know that this is linked. I'm asking for your help on both counts."

His earpiece was silent as he darted to another hideyhole and then another. Finally Beatriz's voice came through. "Ok, I might give you the link."

"Why?"

"A couple of Sentinels just got taken down in the centre of Montreal and the island is sealing."

Josh stood up, ignoring the pain, fighting his way through it. "Then give me directions. I need to hit Montreal ASAP."

In the back of his mind he was sure he could hear his subconscious laughing. Welcome to the fun of having two day jobs.


NEXT ISSUE-

Mysterio heads for a confrontation with the woman who ended his mentor's time as a hero. A woman who likes to kill superheroes, and he's still injured from escaping the last death-trap. Any move he makes throws Mysterio into the public eye, somewhere he's been desperate to stay out of. Join me for NITRO SHOWDOWN.


LEGERDEMAIN

Look we got a letter. Oh its from Jac *G*

Re: Mysterio: MFS #1

The first rule of anything should always be that you should avoid letters from your editor...always...:) but seeing as you've just become the editor of "Noir" I thought I might be able to sneak this letter in.

So onto the subject..."Mysterio" is a unique concept in MFS, one that I find particularly interesting. One man, two identities (not due to an illness either! Wow!). I really like the way you handle the characters in this book. Cyclops seems to be very intriguing, I'm not sure the term 'villain' is appropriate in the same way that I don't think the Avengers can be described as 'heroes'.

I was quite impressed that Canada is now in MFS as well, even if it is bloody Montreal.

So tell me, who are the people waiting for the Beatriz cameos? I, for my sins, am going to hold out until I can Mysterio in a guest appearance in my own rather dubious series. As with all things, it will be interesting to see how Mysterio faces the harsh politics of MFS and what kind of friends and enemies he encounters (in either identity).

I definitely look forwards to seeing more of this.

Take care.

La Tristesse Durera, Jac

I'M GLAD PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ENJOYING MYSTERIO. IT'S MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT REAL SUPERHEROES. SPANDEX IF YOU LIKE. JOSH IS NOT A DEEPLY TROUBLED INDIVIDUAL. THOUGH HE MIGHT NOT ADMIT PART OF HAVING THE TWO IDENTITIES IS BECAUSE HE ENJOYS IT SO MUCH. IF ANYTHING HE'S A NON ANGST RIDDEN PETER PARKER. I'VE HAD FEEDBACK OVER ICQ THAT PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT CRUCIBLE AND MYSTERIO WERE HEADING FOR A CONFRONTATION BY THE WAY THE STORY WAS SET-UP. GOOD I'M GLAD THE TWIST WORKED. THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT SOMEDAY I MIGHT NOT HAVE A CRUCIBLE/MYSTERIO CLASH IN SOME FORM.

I'D NOT THOUGHT CYCLOPS COULD BE CONSIDERED ANYTHING OTHER THAN A VILLAINESS, BUT IT'S AN INTERESTING THOUGHT. THEN AGAIN ONE OF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS ANYWHERE IS THE SHADE FROM STARMAN AND HE WAS, UNTIL ROBINSON GOT HOLD OF HIM, NOTHING MORE THAN A VILLAIN.

AS FOR MONTREAL WELL IT AND DETROIT GOT PICKED FOR THEIR MERITS. I'VE NEVER BEEN TO EITHER, BUT I'VE READ UP A LITTLE ON BOTH AND NEXT MONTH'S CONFRONTATION DEFINITELY PLAYS ON THE GEOGRAPHY.

AND GUEST SPOTS.... WELL JAC'S TALKING ABOUT ONE OF JOSH'S PERSONAS TURNING UP IN SOMETHING HE'S DOING AND ALEX COOK AND I HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING A CAMEO IN SOMETHING HE'S DOING TOO. I JUST HAPPEN TO LIKE BEATRIZ. AS FOR FRIENDS AND ENEMIES WELL THE STORY I HAVE BEEN THINKING OF FOR THE NEXT ONESHOT SHOULD INTRODUCE SOME DEFINITE FRIENDS TO THE SERIES, SOME OF WHOM ARE OLD FRIENDS TO OUR CAST.

Thanks for the letter and it's nice to see Jac's reading something 8). I'm just waiting for Jac's next piece for the MFS and the history it should throw up.

Any email or comments to Starman26@hotmail.com