Tate sprinted through the hall, the base had just entered lock-down so James must be still inside. He would be safe at least for a little while but time was not a luxury she could afford. So concentrated she was on finding James she almost missed Geode running the other way.

"Tate we need to get you to the safe-room." Geode told her.

"What reason would I need to be in the safe-room?" Tate asked

"I can name four; Sandman, Bile, Gauntlet and Janissary." Geode replied, "No arguing, until the others arrive back I have orders to keep you safe."

"But I'm not in danger. Ghost and I found out how the target is being selected."

"You can tell the others later for now we have to keep you from being killed."

"But I'm not the target anymore, James is." Tate told her.

"What?" Geode asked, "But that means, oh by the chains of Hades, he's walking into a trap."

"What do you mean?" Ghost asked sticking his head out of the wall.

"Victoria called in five minutes ago, some thugs tried to kidnap her, James and Toxin went to rescue her." Geode explained.

"We have to get out there." Tate told her, "Lockdown or not, we can't let them swing in blind."

"That's easier said then done." Ghost explained, "The Lockdown contains a rolling encryption featuring both HYDRA and HAMMER codes with some unknown programming on top of it as well. It would take a master hacker days to get through, I might be able to free up communications in an hour but by then it might be too late."

"What if we gave them a new target?" Tate asked, "If they find out James isn't worth the bother maybe they would leave to chase somebody else."

War Machine landed at the entrance to one of the Hood's rented warehouses and located Toxin sitting on the side, two thugs with guns bound and stuck to the wall.

"How many inside?" James asked.

"Five, two with shotguns, one with an SMG the others have bats. Victoria is bound and gagged she looks like she's taken a beating just for the hell of it; they haven't asked her anything yet." Toxin informed, "Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah I'm going to drop some smoke while you pull Victoria up and out of here. When she's out these guys won't be a problem." James explained, "Get inside I'm going to breach and smoke in twenty seconds." he added. Toxin nodded and crawled through a broken window as James activated his armour's timer and primed the suits smoke grenade launchers. As the time ticked down he slammed the door, the aluminium structure crumpling before arriving in the warehouse, the stunned thugs turned and opened fire on him. James tried to fire back but his armour's weapons were jammed, running at full pelt he slammed the thugs as Toxin improvised binding the two bat yielders before cutting Victoria free.

"What happened with the smoke?" Toxin asked as Victoria picked up a dropped Micro Uzi.

"Weapon's systems jammed." James told him, "Victoria you said there were more then seven guys chasing you."

"There where, they set a trap for their boss." Victoria explained scanning the area, "Janissary set this trap for Tate."

"Well he's going to be disappointed." Toxin stated, "Let's get out of here while we can though."

"Oh but you're not leaving." a recording spluttered over the warehouse's intercom, "Especially when the rule's of the game has changed."

"Janissary come out and well make this quick." James proposed, "Your nothing but a third rate Fixer at best."

"More of a reason I have to hide." Janissary replied, "I have shut down your weapons and Repulsor systems Mr. Rhodes. The disgusting Symbiote and the accountant can leave if they chose, but if they stay they will be killed."

"Guys get out of here, even without the suit's weapons I can take down Janissary." James said picking up one of the thug's shotguns. Almost instantly the weapon exploded, the shells inside the gun peppering the armor.

"No weapons War Machine, my men carry weapons that will instantly explode if you touch them. A shotgun may not stop you but let me tell you that they are carrying heavier weapons then that." Janissary explained.

"We're not leaving War Machine." Toxin told him, "Your outnumbered and outgunned, this guy doesn't play fair."

"Thanks Toxin, how about you Victoria?" James asked, "You should leave."

"That basted hunted me through the streets, tied me up and blew up my BMW. He's not getting out of this alive." she threatened checking her Uzi's ammo level.

"Good, good." Janissary congratulated, "If you can escape the warehouse complex I will send you my coordinates. However I doubt you will escape." As the intercom clicked off one of the packing crates burst open and a TALON UGV burst out spraying the warehouse with machine gun fire. James went to return fire but then realized that his weapon systems were jammed, instead he watched as Victoria fired an entire clip into the drone causing the robot to spark and turn offline.

"Not much of a challenge." she commented retrieving the robots Light Machine Gun and swinging the ammo belt over her shoulder. More packing crates suddenly opened and more UGVs emerged armed with LMGs and grenade launchers. Toxin reacted fastest this time using his webbing to drag the others to the walkway above the floor. James watched as the vehicles shot each other before shutting down.

"Is that it Janissary?" James asked, "Because this is weak."

"This is the warm up, I knew that I wouldn't be able to take you on one on one but maybe this can. The entrances to the building you are in are now locked with a cyber lock. Even the door you broke so don't bother using that one, the code to escape is SCHIMITAR."

"What's the catch?" Toxin asked, "You wouldn't tell us that for free?"

"Very astute police officer. I have hijacked into the US Air Forces UAV's and have selected an MQ-9 Reaper armed with two GBU-12 Paveway bombs. ETA to the warehouse is forty seconds, guess where it's going to drop the munitions it's carrying."

"Crap." James yelled before jumping off the walkway landing on a sparking UGV. Heading to the door he charged before bouncing off the structure.

"The door you broke in was Aluminium, the others are all reinforced titanium. If you want to get out then you will have to enter the code, oh and now you only have twenty two seconds." Janissary told them his voice mocking them. James input the code on the door's keypad and watched as a new screen popped up saying the door locks were disarmed. Pushing the door open he emerged from the warehouse, Toxin hot on his heels as Victoria clung to the Symbiote's back. Overhead the Reaper dived dropping the bombs turning the warehouse into a massive crater.

"You escaped." Janissary said in a surprised voice, "That deserves a reward. I have left some codes that will give you my location in the security office terminal just for you. But there is a catch pick it up and you activate the bomb. What bomb I hear you ask? Well there is a shed up-ahead, you may even be able to see it from where you are, that contains a famous paper editor inside that's wired to blow. The bomb or the codes it's your choice Mr. Rhodes."

"It's no choice Janissary the Civilian takes precedent over finding you." Toxin answered.

"Good, then go and rescue him." Janissary ordered, "It should be quite easy." he mocked as War Machine led the others towards the shed. Suddenly spring loaded spears were triggered dragging strands of barbed wire across the path creating a thorny almost impenetrable barrier. The path blocked James suddenly heard a hissing sound come from his armour's life support system and threw off the helmet.

"Mr Rhodes I thought I would even things up. See while the others would have to be careful crossing my mine-field you could stroll across completely unharmed. Now you have to be careful each of the barbs contains a small dose of Amazonian Giant Centipede Venom. A single scratch won't kill you but ten, twenty could make you wish you were never born. Oh and I did mention this was a mine field right? I hope you learnt your military history because I took the liberty in recreating the first UGV; the Goliath Tracked Mine. You must feel flattered to be the first victims of these weapons in over sixty years." Janissary told them.

"Victoria get back, my armor will protect me and Toxin is immune to poisons but you're not. Something Janissary didn't count on was these." he ordered passing her his communication crystal, "Get to the security office and get ready to download the codes when I tell you too."

"Got it, good luck and for the love of god be careful." she told him.

"Will do, Janissary is going to be black and blue by the end of the night." James replied as she headed through the alley. Carefully James entered the thicket and saw the first mine trundling through the forest. Pointing at the UGV James watched as Toxin caught it with some webbing and swung it at the wall causing the explosives to detonate. Slowly they advanced through the forest destroying mines until they heard the PA crackle again.

"Mr Rhodes you certainty are careful so I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. The cables are retracting so you can reach Triple J in time." Janissary told them, "Oh and Ms. Hand, yes I know you can here me, you like to see women take their clothes off, now it's your turn undress and put the outfit hung up in the closet on or I'll detonate the bomb."

"You can't be serious, this isn't time for you to get your jollies." James said angrily as he dodged a retracting cable.

"James it's a chemical warfare suit." Victoria told him.

"Ah yes your special crystals. So New Age but then that's Geode for you." Janissary commented, "Just save the Editor and then I'll tell you about the Nerve Gas I just happened to place in Grand Central Station or was it the Baxter Building, maybe it was Liberty Island. Hmm, maybe I said too much."

Toxin and James reached the shed and opened the door to see the familiar face of the Daily Bugle Editor James Jonah Jameson tied to a chair with a suicide vest attached to him.

"Spiderman and War Machine I should have know you 'heros' would be behind this." he growled.

"Do we actually have to save him?" Toxin joked as James pulled the suicide vest off the enraged Jonah Jameson and sprinted away from the shed. "Victoria download the information now."

"I'm a little busy at the moment." Victoria snapped, "Some of Janissary's men just stole the DSM he left behind to download the codes into."

"That's just great." James sighed, "Where are you?"

"The complex gates, I got one of them the other is jumping in a black Jeep Cherokee." the was a sudden burst of gun-fire and the sound of a car crashing, "Scratch that he's down just grabbing the DSM now."

"Ah women are so…what's the word, ah yes killable right now Ms. Hand holds the trigger for the chemical bomb, as soon as it's plugged in it will send the release command. But I'm fair to my targets, attached to old Jonah is a map marking the bomb site or should I say sites. See if you can disarm them all before Victoria plugs in. Oh and don't try and reach her as soon as she re-enters the security office it locks down, all communications both technological and mystical will be jammed." James turned Jonah around and found a map marked with bio-hazard signs dotted around the city. There were 21 sites to many for him and Toxin or even the CDC and Bomb Disposal Squad to reach before Victoria logged on.

"What must I do to stop the bombs?" James asked.

"Go to the gates put your hands on your head and say shoot me." Janissary ordered, "Your choice one life vs. many Hero."

Ghost typed as quickly as he could, accessing deck 2293201891-252018125518 was easy enough but actually getting into the master controls that allowed him to change targets was a lot harder. Whoever designed the system was a master in programming but Ghost was confident her was better.

"Ghost this is Geode." the base's speaker just crackled, "We just got a video link from Gauntlet it doesn't look good."

Ghost opened the sent link not even bothering to check for worms, Trojans or any other virus it may hold. The link opened and he saw Gauntlet's disgusting pitted face staring back his face supporting a self righteous smirk.

"This is the first time I've done a public accessed assassination. I hope you enjoy the show. Down there," he swung the rifle mounted camera towards an old warehouse complex where the figure of War Machine could be seen, "is the target. My partner has blackmailed him into surrender all we need is the magic word."

"Ghost hurry, James doesn't have much time left." Tate cried. Ghost hated James almost as much as Tony Stark, he would gladly see him dead, but something about Tate's voice spurred him on, typing even faster then usual Ghost got into the master control and changed the target from the Hierophant to the Hanged Man, a gaunt looking figure strung up by the neck wearing Ghost's face plate. Darting back to the video he saw Gauntlet look down at James from his high rise assassin perch. Over the speakers he heard James croak, "Kill Me."

"Here we go." Gauntlet stated cocking his rifle and lining up a shot on James unprotected head.


The sadistic character of Janissary II is my own twisted orgional creation and is not owned by Marvel Comics