The room was dark, all aside from the soft blue glow of a single computer screen set against a wall. It sent bright hues infiltrating the shadows of the room in white-ish blue light, leaving the space as a whole with a cold, icy feel. A single man sat at the desk. He wore a black body suit with white knee length boots, elbow-length gloves, and a long, hooded, white cape that nearly reached his ankles when he stood; his usual brown leather holsters weren't strapped to his legs and arms, and instead were placed carefully on the table next to him, although he was still wearing his belt, with a buckle etched with a capital T, around his waist. A strap ran diagonally down his chest, over the goldish brown armor plating that covered his upper chest. The look was finished with his face concealed in a white skeleton mask overshadowed from his pulled up hood.
His name was Taskmaster: assassin, mercenary, as well as a nearly unbeatable combat chameleon. Enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D and instructor of his own school of mercenaries. Taskmaster was skilled at nearly all levels of combat, with any weapon, accompanied by his photogenic memory - making him a real force to be reckoned with.
Right now though, he sat fervently at his desk with only one goal in his mind.
After a rather humiliating defeat from Spider-Man and White Tiger at Midtown High, Taskmaster found himself intrigued with the arachnid hero - whether his interest was good or bad was yet to be determined. The speed, the agility, the strength, and instincts - it was all quite fascination, not to mention the nearly endless possibilities that came with powers of that magnitude.
It was saddening how such potential was wasted on a foolish boy who couldn't stop his mouth from running. Taskmaster didn't believe for a second that Spider-Man was, well, a man! At least not a full grown one. The Spider was nothing but a delinquent kid; a teenager, probable no older than 16, maybe 17 - despite what the hero-wannabe wanted the public to believe.
Taskmaster could tell by the way the boy carried himself, by his attitude, habits and familiar knowledge of the school. Why would S.H.I.E.L.D equip a school with a bunch of "protective security systems" if it wasn't housing some of its agents anyway? It couldn't be just for precautionary reasons. Besides, with Coulson acting as the principle there, which was weird in itself (unless the agent developed new hobbies since the last Taskmaster saw him - which he really doubted), then Coulson - also Nick Fury's right-hand man - was there for a reason.
No, Taskmaster believed that not only Spider-Man attended Midtown High, but the rest of his team also. White Tiger, too, seemed to know an astonishing amount about the school and its layout - not to mention she DID mention not making cut for the "City-Wide Athletic Achievement Contest" that Taskmaster made up when posing as the gym teacher, which was, quite honestly, all the evidence he needed.
Now, it was all a matter of finding out who they were.
As soon as he told Doc Ock that Spider-Man wasn't at Midtown (Taskmaster couldn't have anyone else poking around trying to find the arachnids identity before he could) and finished watching the guy throw his tantrum, he went straight back to his base and started his search.
Before he left Midtown he downloaded a file of all the students in the school, their classes, and their schedules. Of course it would have been easier getting Spider-Man's I.D from Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D computer, but that was overloaded with clearance codes, security measures, and firewalls that Taskmaster would've needed a few days (at the very least) and all his software and devices to decrypt it all - and that was if things went well. Hacking S.H.I.E.L.D wasn't like hacking into a banks system, or a politician's email; it is a paranoid, defensive organization that kept its secrets to close to its chest unless you were literally prying them from its cold dead fingers. Not that it mattered, Taskmaster was confident he could figure out the identities of a few kids.
The first thing he did was go through the students he had in his P.E class, the ones he told about the athletic contest, and searched for people who could possibly be White Tiger. As he looked up names and recalled faces, he went through each individual's performance with the obstacle course and compared it to the style and physique of White Tiger.
There were a few girls who were disappointed about not making the "cut", so Taskmaster made a few calculations and comparisons and came up with three total possible girls who could be White Tiger: 1) Laura Walker, 2) Ashlynn Williams and 3) Ava Ayala. He was leaning more toward the last girl, but the other two were pretty good candidates too.
But Taskmaster put that on hold for a moment to focus on Daniel/Danny Rand. He mentioned Daniel while fighting White Tiger, which impacted her enough to distract her. Not in a the familiar you-did-not-just-harm-an-innocent-kid hero style, but more of an oh-my-gosh-what-did-you-do-to-my-friend kind of way. Which meant White Tiger was close to the Rand kid, and friends (especially teens) always stuck with each other in school.
It didn't take long to piece Daniel Rand and Iron Fist as the same person; it was stupidly obvious actually. Both Iron Fist and Daniel were from Kun'Lun (an isolated kingdom in its own pocket dimension - not many kids came from there), not to mention Rand's fist glowed with the mystic power of Iron Fist when they fought. Taskmaster chuckled. Nick Fury really needed to give these kids some tips on secret identities - they couldn't go around giving away obvious facts like that if they wanted to stay discrete.
After coming to that conclusion, Taskmaster went through the kids Rand associated himself with (which was where his photogenic memory came in real handy. Once he saw something he wouldn't forget it. He could bring up memories better and clearer than any video camera ever could). Rand didn't socialize with many kids outside a simple group of 5. And who else had 5 members on their team? Spider-Man did.
Taskmaster was almost bored with how easy this was.
Rand spent most of his time around a kid name Luke Cage; Cage was tall, with a strong build, buzzed hair, and brown skin - he had an "amazing" resemblance to Powerman. Cage then led to another boy named Sam Alexander.
Alexander had been a little more perplexing - but only a little. Taskmaster believed him to be the Nova of the group, mostly due to his attitude and habits. It was harder to physically compare Alexander to the human rocket, mostly because of the bulk and helmet of Nova's suit. But not soon after, Ava Ayala appeared to be a part of their teenage entourage, which validated his theory of her being White Tiger.
After that, it left only one person remaining - Peter Parker.
This one really did leave Taskmaster confused.
Parker had been the worst show of athletic achievement in ANY of Taskmasters P.E classes - that kid could've easily been the most physically challenged kid he knew. But...when Taskmaster thought about it...Parker did have a surprising amount of muscle, of what could be seen from his baggy gym clothes anyway, and he was the perfect height; he looked lithe enough to be Spider-Man.
But, the only problem was, Spider-Man was a loud, social, quippy, and cocky hero who didn't bow to the will of others. Parker, on the other hand, was quieter, he had a small social circle, and was bullied by Flash Thompson (who, after that fight, was definitely not the arachnid either). Not to mention, when playing dodge ball, Parker was slammed repeatedly by the balls - something Spider-Man would have been able to dodge with ease. It just didn't seem likely that Spider-Man would succumb to people like Flash when he could rule the school and easily be the most popular kid in Midtown High.
Unless…hmmm...unless...
Taskmaster's lip pulled upward in an amused smirk. Oh, Parker was a clever kid. It was all just a cover; a way to keep the spotlight and unwanted attention off of him. What better way to keep a secret I.D than to be someone opposite of your alter-ego? Taskmaster leaned back in his chair, chuckling to himself.
Funny how just one slip of the tongue could bring an entire team down. He looked back at his screen where the student pictures of Ava Ayala, Daniel Rand, Luke Cage, Sam Alexander boxed the screen alongside a picture of their hero-counterpart. And in the center was Peter Parker, right next to a shot of Spider-Man.
"Gotcha,"
Yeah, so rewatching "Why I Hate the Gym" I realized that those kids gave away a LOT of who they were, and Taskmaster is no idiot so…
Boom! No more secret identity.
Oh no!
(I was thinking about making this into a short-story - or even a story in general - but decided I already have a lot on my plate. But if anyone else wants to, feel free to adopt it. Just PM me and we can talk. ;) More than one person can adopt, I'm not picky about that.)
Enjoyed it? Yay for me. If not…*frowny face* I am ashamed.
