Viral Vengeance

Disclaimer: "You maniac! You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!" – Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

Chapter 11: Demanding Answers

Dark Hollow

Elizabeth Guthrie, the size-changing mutant called Amazon, couldn't believe what just happened today. She had discovered that the grave of her fellow Nightshift member, Theresa Rourke, the Irish screamer codenamed Siryn, was defaced in a shocking manner. Someone had dug up the coffin she was buried in, and made off with her body, and tried to make it look like it never happened, although to be honest, Nightshift would've never noticed had it weren't for Kyle Dibney's feral senses detecting a disturbance in the ground around the Irish girl's grave. In the background, the sounds of a cursing and screaming Lucas could be heard. The blonde went over to a telephone and started dialing a number.

Freedom Force HQ

Brrrrring brrrrring! Brrrrring brrrrring! A telephone in Freedom Force's HQ rang. One Lila Cheney, the interstellar teleporter codenamed Starway, walked up to the phone. In the background, one could hear the sounds of a brawl between Rusty and Betsy.

"I got it! I got! Don't hang up!" Lila yelled as she ran towards the phone.

"Come back here, you English creampuff!" The voice of the pyrokinetic named Rusty "Firefist" Collins yelled. His yell was accompanied by the fwoosh of a jet of flames followed by a sound of glass breaking.

"I'll knock your bloody block off, you Yank cow!" The voice of the telepath named Betsy "Psylocke" Braddock yelled back, accompanied by the sound of a wall being smashed.

"Hey, knock it off!" Lila snapped as she took the phone. "Hello?"

"H-h-hello?" Lizzie stammered.

"Lizzie?" Lila blinked.

"Lila!" Lizzie brightened when she recognized the voice. She and Lila had become rather good friends over the years. It was a bit of irony on their part, considering the fact that Lila's boyfriend was once in love with Elizabeth, which led to disaster. (1) "Did Ah call at a bad time?"

"No, just another fight broke out among the kids." Lila answered. She grumbled and put her hand over the receiver. "Rusty! Betsy! Knock it the hell off!" She went back to the phone. "I'm sorry, Lizzie. What's up? You sound terrible."

"Oh, God…" Lizzie choked up. "Something horrible happened today. Really horrible!"

"What?" Lila grew concerned. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, everyone is." Lizzie tried not to sob. "It's just…just, uh…get Freedom Force down here to Dark Hollow!"

"Why?" Lila blinked. "Is something wrong? There's another team in Bayville…"

"Ah know, but Ah'd feel better if your team was here, Lila." Lizzie wiped a tear from her eye. "It's Theresa. Somebody dug her up and took her."

"Oh my God…" Lila's face paled. "Do you have any idea who?"

"No, Ah don't." Lizzie shook her head. "Ah have no idea who'd do this. And Ah can't call the police. Ah don't think they'd want any part of this, and Lucas is going crazy enough."

"Alright, I'll see if I can get Shan to let us take a look." Lila nodded. "Don't worry, Lizzie. We'll find out who did this."

"Ah hope so." Lizzie sniffled. "Ah really hope you can."

Dark Hollow, sometime later

A knock was heard on the door of Lizzie and Lucas's house.

"Ah'm comin', Ah'm comin'!" Lizzie called out at the door as she walked up to it. The sounds of Samuel Pare, the young Canadian fish-like mutant called Squid-Boy, and Japheth, the South African mutant with slugs for a stomach called Maggott, could be heard arguing in the background.

"I wanna watch the monster truck rally!" Sammy could be heard snapping.

"I wanna watch wrestling!" Japheth could be heard snapping back.

"Wrestling's stupid!" Sammy groaned. "I wanna see some cars crushed!"

"Monster trucks are lame!" Japheth muttered. "All they do is crush cars! They don't do anything else!"

"Ah'm surrounded by goofballs." Lizzie muttered to herself as she opened the door. She saw Shan at the other side.

"You called?" The mind-controller smiled.

"Shan! Thank God!" Lizzie sighed gratefully, quickly grabbing Shan in a hug.

"Hey Shan, she's taken." Terrell teased.

"Oh, shaddap." Shan mock grumbled. "We got your call, Liz. You wanted us to look around Theresa's grave…?"

"Right. Thanks a lot for coming." Lizzie remembered, letting Shan go. "Ah'm so sorry, Ah'm just horrified. Ah can't believe that somebody would do something like this." She noticed a familiar figure standing off to the side. She walked up to him. "Hello, Bobby." The ice-maker nodded.

"Hello, Lizzie." Bobby nodded at the blonde size-changer. "I heard about Theresa."

"It's horrible." She sighed. "Who would do this?"

"…I have no idea." Bobby admitted, shaking his head. "And there really isn't much of a suspect list."

"Mm-hmm." Lizzie agreed with a nod. She then heard a call. "Hang on."

"Hey, what's going on down there?" Lucas Haller-Xavier, the telepathic, telekinetic, and pyrokinetic MPD-afflicted mutant codenamed Legion, grumbled from upstairs. "I'm trying tae take a nap here!" He walked to the stairs, when he noticed Freedom Force. "What?"

"Hello, Legion." Karma greeted.

"What're ye doin' here?" Lucas crossed his arms and scowled at the Vietnamese woman.

"We just felt like dropping by." Shan joked. Lucas narrowed his eyes.

"What're Freedom Force doing here?" The Scottish mutant wondered. "I thought we had an agreement. Ye said ye'd never bother us again after we helped ye out with dealin' with that Virus lunatic." (2)

"And we haven't." Karma agreed with a nod. "We haven't even looked in you're direction since then."

"It's alright, Lucas." Lizzie reassured as she walked into the house. "They're only here because Ah called them." Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on here?" Lucas frowned, crossing his arms. "Why are ye here?"

"The body of one Theresa Rourke, aka Siryn." Shan explained.

"Somebody stole her body." Lucas nodded. "What's it tae ye? She never was in Freedom Force."

"Ah called them because Ah thought they could help us, Lucas." Lizzie explained. "They have connections, not to mention they have better resources than we do."

"Ah dunno…" Lucas shook his head. "Ye know who they work for."

"Ah know." Lizzie nodded.

"Don't worry, Legion." Shan reassured. "We report directly to Nick Fury himself. As far as he's concerned, you guys aren't any threat to national security."

"Oh, that's good." Lizzie chuckled. "After all, we just want to live quietly."

"Having Fury on your side isn't a bad thing, Amazon." Shan chuckled. "Anyway, can you take us to the grave, please?"

"Wait…" Lucas narrowed his eyes. "No…" He picked up a familiar mental signature. He then scowled at Karma. "Ye brought him along. Why is he here?"

"His reasons are known to him alone." Terrell told Lucas sagely.

"Oh, no…" Lizzie moaned.

"Why do you think, Lucas?" Bobby Drake growled at the blond Scot as he walked into the house. "I'm here to do my job." Japheth and Sammy peeked in when they overheard the noise.

"Oh, great." Japheth grumbled. "The Iceman has cometh."

"Oh, man…" Sammy moaned. "Why him of all people?" Bobby noticed the two.

"Boo." He grinned mirthly. Japheth and Sammy made tracks.

"Bobby, stop that." Shan sighed. Why'd I bring him here again?

"Drake, ye got anything better tae do than scare me teammates? Like go terrorize a town or something?" Lucas suggested snidely at Bobby.

"I could terrorize the little town inside your head." Bobby retorted. "There are enough people in your head to populate an entire city."

"Oh, this'll be fun." Terrell sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Ye wanna say that again, ye arrogant-!" Lucas snarled, his hand forming a fist and flaming up.

"I'll yell it to the entire world, you smug-!" Bobby growled, his eyes starting to glow blue.

"Guys, please don't get into a fight here!" Lizzie moved so she stood between Bobby and Lucas. She knew that neither of them would try to go through her to get to each other. Besides, if they did, she'd kick both of their butts.

"Why'd I bring him again?" Shan remarked to Terrell in a deadpan voice. The speedster shrugged.

"He volunteered, remember?" Terrell reminded.

"…And why was I dumb enough to let him come?"

"…I dunno." Terrell finally answered with a shrug. Shan sighed.

"We'd better call Lila." The mind-controller groaned.

Next: Still Demanding Answers Freedom Force investigates Siryn's disappearance, while Elizabeth and Lila try to stop Bobby and Lucas from killing each other.

(1) – See "Black Ice"

(2) – Again, in "Black Ice"