New York Red Zone, Meeting Place 10:45am
"We can't wait any longer we've got to go look for them" Clint said walking towards the fire escape. "Besides according to web's Deadpool could be the key
to this, we mustn't lose him."
"Wait" Spider-woman suddenly spoke turning her head up to the sky.
"Is that Osborn's jet?" Luke asked squinting against the sunlight.
As the jet drew closer they realized it was.
"Ah crap" Ronin said drawing one of his katana's from its scabbard.
The other Avengers prepared themselves similarly as the jet lowered itself until it was hovering next to the building.
"Well here we go again" Mockingbird growled as a hatch on the plane opened and a ramp struck the roof.
"Hello fellow Avengers!" Deadpool shouted joyously as he descended the ramp.
"Deadpool? What the hell are you doing in there?" Spider-woman asked shocked.
"It's a long story that involves lots of action, served arm's and a lots of jokes" the mercenary continued as he jumped from the ramp to the roof.
"Where's Logan?" Luke demanded still not relaxing his stance.
"I'm right here" Wolverine said as he walked down the ramp after Deadpool followed by Cross.
"What's going on?" Jessica asked eyeing Cross warily.
"What's going on is I just saved two of your team-mates from becoming the main course on the infected's menu" Cross said glaring back at her.
"There seems to be less of you then usual" he continued shifting his attention to the other Avengers "where's the spider guy and the blond woman? On a
date?"
"I don't think that's any of your business" Clint snapped back his hand still holding his sword tightly.
"Or perhaps it's that your ranks have been decimated slightly?" Cross continued "I still say we'd be stronger together than divided."
"I already told you we have certain policies involving cold blooded killers" Jessica growled.
Cross turned to glare at her again, it was then he noticed how battered she looked.
"Got in over your head with an infected did you?" he asked a small smile gracing his lips.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't you who sent the guy in the jacket to attack us" Jessica snapped back quickly.
Cross's expression instantly changed from vague amusement to a more serious one.
"So you bumped into Mercer huh?" he replied, more to himself than Jessica.
"So you did send that psycho" Spider-woman growled, anger rising in her voice as she remembered what Mercer had done to Carol.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you but Mercer is a rogue piece in this game, he's not with anyone" he replied solemnly.
"I'm afraid I'm going have to cut this little gathering short. I have things that need attending to" Cross concluded turning and making his way back to the
ramp.
"I hope you'll consider my offer" he said earnestly, briefly stopping to turn to Wolverine.
"Wait what's going on here? Who are all you people really? And who is Mercer if he's not with you what's his part in this?" Jessica shouted she wasn't
going to let him leave until he'd filled in some of the blanks.
"I'll tell you once you take me up on my offer" he shouted back as the jet took off.
"His offer?" Danny asked turning to Wolverine and Deadpool.
"I'll explain when we get back" Logan replied gruffly as he began making his way to the fire escape.
"Hey guys do we pass a DIY shop on the way back? I need a new chainsaw" Deadpool chirped as he began to follow the Avengers.
New York, Red Zone 10:45am
"Shit" Alex cursed inwardly.
He'd been running non-stop to try and catch up to Greene since his run-in with the two women.
"It's no use" he thought as he slowed to a stop in one of the alleys "She's gone!"
He felt frustrated whoever that woman was she must have had answers.
With a roar he picked up one of the large industrial bins next to him and threw it as hard as it could into the air.
He then proceeded to vent his frustration on the wall next to him.
After a few minutes he stopped punching the wall which had been reduced to a mound of bricks and dust.
Something fell from his jacket pocket to the pavement below, making a small clunk as it hit the tarmac.
"The hard drive" Alex thought as he bent down and picked up the computer part.
In the midst of everything he'd completely forgotten about it.
"I better take this back to the flat" he thought turning the device over in his hands.
Putting it back in his pocket he turned on his heels and ran up the nearest building.
Once he reached the roof he began running and jumping across the roof tops as fast as he could.
"I must have run a lot further than I thought" he pondered as he reached the flat about half an hour later.
Walking in the front door of the complex he made his way to the safe house.
"Who's there?" came Dana's cold voice as he rapped the door with his hand.
"Well considering I'm the only one who knows about his place, who do you think it is?" he asked a small note of sarcasm creeping into his voice.
The lock clicked and the door opened to reveal a slightly irritated looking Dana.
"Well if you'd been captured or Blackwatch had followed us here, it could have been them!" she said standing aside so Alex could enter the flat.
Walking over to the couch Alex sank down into it, he wasn't tired whatever had happened to him seemed to make him incapable of becoming fatigued.
He was simply trying to put together some of the pieces of the puzzle he'd found this morning.
"Well did you find anything?" Dana asked standing in front of him.
"Wow not even a 'how are you brother?' or 'I hope you aren't hurt?'" Alex replied smirking slightly and looking up at Dana.
She rolled her eyes but softened "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, don't ask stupid questions" Alex replied his smirk growing wider.
"You're a jerk you know that right?" Dana replied bending over and punching him playfully on the chest.
"Well to answer your previous question yes, I did find something interesting" he said as he retrieved the hard drive from his pocket.
"I pulled this from my computer at a Blackwatch facility" he explained handing her the device.
"Well let's see what's on this bad-boy" Dana said as she headed towards the study.
Getting back to his feet Alex followed his sister into the study.
It was quite a small room with no windows and was currently lit by a single naked light bulb.
He spied Dana sitting at the opposite end of the room clicking away on the keyboard of a computer.
He moved closer and stood behind Dana as she plugged the hard drive in.
The screen suddenly lit up and a message appeared.
"Please enter your personal password."
"I supposed it's too much to hope you remember the password to your computer?" Dana said turning to her brother.
"Yep, not a clue" he replied glaring at the screen.
"Well you'll have to give me a few hours but I should be able to crack it" Dana stated as she turned back to the computer.
"You can hack it?" Alex asked rather surprised.
"Alex I didn't get a Master's in computers and not know how to hack, anyway what we are doing was basically my job at one point."
"You have a Master's in computing?" Alex replied still a little surprised.
"Oh right, I keep forgetting that you have this amnesia thing" she replied still not looking away from the screen.
"Yeah, I have a Master's in computing and I worked for a company that designed computer protection software. When they came up with a new piece of
software it was my job to try and see if I could break it" she replied clicking away on the keyboard.
"So you were paid to hack into things?"
"Pretty much."
"Wow you're not just a pretty face!" Alex replied the smirk creeping back onto his face.
Dana paused what she was doing to turn and glare at him before continuing her work.
"So how long is this gonna take?" Alex questioned leaning over the back of her chair.
"It'll take as long as it takes Alex! This isn't like just breaking into pc, this has software I've never even seen before. Looks like the government have their
own software designers that don't work on the consumer market. Why don't you go and watch TV or something?" she replied rather irritably.
Alex realized that he would just be in her way being there so he decided to go sit back down on the couch and continue trying to put the pieces of the
puzzle together.
Note: Yeah, this chapter is slightly shorter than the others as I had to rush it.
