Chapter Twenty-Nine:
The sunshine beat down on the ongoers of the the beach. Children run around, laughing, playing, having a good time. There's many men and women who sunbathe on the beach and also have a very good time. Off in the distance, there's a small group of people who have the time of their life by playing a Volley Ball Game. One of them whiffs it on an obvious serve and almost drops down to the ground.
This beautiful July day is one where many of the people on the beach enjoy. There's not a care in the world for any of them. There's not a cloud in the sky and most certainly not a twist in the arrangements. Everything is going according to plan for these people and all of them wait.
A group of children laugh as they make a sand castle. Said object rises up from the beach from amusement. One of them reaches over and takes a bucket to get more sand. Something causes the child to stop and then there's a loud bubbling sound off in the distance.
The child's eyes grow as wide as saucers when he looks forward. The rest of the children and several of the beach goers move into position. Their mouths just as wide as well. Their eyes fixate on the figure rising out of the water. A gentleman wearing green rises up out of the beach and his eyes lock onto each and every one of the beach goers. All of them break out with a deep breath.
He wears nothing other than a green speedo. His dark hair forms a frame around his face and his dark eyes just narrow at a certain point. One sees something fix in his eyes. They realize that he's not one to be stolen with.
There's a couple of people on the beach who look at the man with a closer look of dismay then the rest of them. One of them adjusts his watch and then motions for more to join them. Another group of six men and women appear just seconds later. One of them holds a gun and waits for the man rising out of the water to react.
"People of the land, you will bow before my might!" the mysterious visitor bellows. "For, I, Namor, have decided to grace you with my presence, and also give you a dire warning. You have twenty-four hours to return to me the object which you have stolen."
A very grave expression etches on Namor's face when he waves his hand around. The people around him all gulp. He rises water and then knocks it into the beach, disrupting the days of the beach goers. The very nice and sunny day turns into one of dismay and very abject horror.
"Otherwise," Namor warms then. He makes sure they have his full attention. "Otherwise, any human caught on my water will be taken as a prisoner of war. Because you have declared war on me from your actions."
The SHIELD agents watch Namor's declaration with a fine amount of interest. They wonder what he wants and more importantly, they wonder what he's talking about. Why did he think they declare war? There are just so many unanswered questions and they need the answers to them soon.
"The clock is ticking."
X-X-X
Peter Parker takes a deep breath and punches the air. He runs into a dead end lead. About a month ago, a group of really high end criminals busted out of a SHIELD prison. One of the highest security prisons for SHIELD as well and one built to hold people like those criminals. To say Peter's frustrated would be the understatement to end all understatements. He paces back and forth, in an attempt to figure this out.
Granted, one can also remember this fact. It's personal for Peter in some ways. Norman Osborn is one of the people who escaped all of those months ago. To say he and Peter have a history would be the understatement to end all understatement. They go back and forth all of the time with the web slinger wondering if he is ever free of Norman.
Norman's been dead for a while, or so Peter thought, but as Peter learned the hard way, Osborns do not die. They merely take a break and go to Europe.
"Another dead end?"
The lovely form of Susan Storm steps into the lab. She dresses very casually, in a white button up blouse, and a pair of blue jeans, along with boots. She is sympathetic as ever and puts her hand on Peter's shoulder in an attempt to relax him. A couple of seconds pass on their end.
"That's the problem," Peter admits to her. "Everything that I do seems to be running into these dead ends. And I don't like it."
Cass slips her head out of the lab. The others were off doing their own thing, but Peter cannot hold them here all of the time. Gwen's visiting her friends once more and likely helping out on her Earth, after the Goblin King left a mess of his own. Peter's glad Gwen can find some kind of peace.
Regardless, Peter focuses on his own demons, or rather his own goblins.
A blip on the system catches Peter's attention, along with Sue's. She takes the three steps to the side to see what the blip is all about.
The image of the beach and Namor rising up on the beach, makes Sue narrow her eyes. It's been a long time since she had to deal with Namor and the fact he just pops up again turns her stomach. Anything that was with them, it is much stronger on his end then hers. Although, Sue is foolish to deny that at one point, she was just the most bit curious.
Another buzz and Daisy enters the lab. She gives Peter a smile and then her eyes fix on Namor's ranting and raving.
"Good, you heard," Daisy comments. She puts her hand on Sue's shoulder and leans in closer towards her with a half smile. "Do you have the slightest idea what Namor's going on about?"
Sue responds by shaking her head. Unfortunately, she does not have a clue more than anyone else with what Namor may or may not be going on about.
"Why don't we ask him nicely?"
Peter raises his eyebrow.
"That's not…."
"I'm fine, and it's not going to be a problem."
Sue cups Peter's chin and leans forward to give him a kiss to reassure him. She thinks though Namor may respect her enough to tell them what's going on, other than vague threats. They will have to see tough given time.
Plus, Sue would be a liar if she's not the least bit curious.
Daisy raises her eyebrow and decides to make her declaration.
"We better suit up."
X-X-X
Peter does not know what to expect. Actually, there's a huge part of him who expects a very hostile reaction from Namor. Perhaps it's best for him to keep his mind open, but Namor's past and the way he's reacted to slights, speaks for itself. The web slinger draws in breath.
Well, now or never, Peter figures, they do not know what is going on until they step in and do something.
Peter, Daisy, Sue, and Cass show up on the beach. The other SHIELD agents move in. One of them smiles at their Director and beckons her over. Daisy comes up right next to her.
"Well, he's still hanging around if that's what you're asking," the agent comments. "I wish you the best of luck in talking to him….I don't know if anyone can get through to him. We thought...it was best not to engage him because of all of the civilians which he could put in the line of fire."
"Good idea."
Sue takes a step forward with Daisy, Cass, and Peter following him. Namor turns his attention.
"Susan Storm, we meet again."
His gaze burns onto her and Sue looks up to him. It's all business for her.
"Could you please tell us what happened?"
Namor takes in a deep breath and decides to inform then what happened. Susan's always a slight bit more respectful than the other land dwellers and that's something that he appreciates.
"They stole a priceless artifact from my people and destroyed architecture and put my people in danger. I've grown too tolerant of the people on land. They need to be put in their place."
"Well, who?"
Daisy's question causes Namor's eyebrows to raise. Namor pulls out a crystal and puts in it Daisy's hand to allow her to get a look at everything.
"You may view the actions of these barbarians if you do not believe me."
Daisy believes someone staged an attack on Atlantis and someone caused a lot of problems. Those two things most certainly are not outside of the realm of possibility. The actual why something like this happened, Daisy could not really say. Her stomach turns in a couple of knots when she sees it.
Peter echoes her words one hundred percent of the way.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"The proof is right here."
A very high-tech submarine appears and above it, is the holographic image of MODOK. Then the rest of AIM appears and loots the lab until they pick up a very gawdy looking, in Daisy's opinion, spear, from the table of the palace. They all slip into the night, without another word.
"And AIM has developed some kind of underwater vessel which can penetrate the walls of Atlantis," Daisy comments with a very evident sigh. "Can this get any better?"
"It most certainly can't get any worse."
Sue's statement is very morose and Peter snaps his fingers.
"You know something, I just might have something to counteract it."
"I prefer the humans don't get involved."
"You were the one ranting and raving about us returning what was stolen," Daisy reminds him. "Let us help you what is stolen, because you're the one who got us involved by being a drama queen"
Daisy's eyes burn onto Namor. There's a very obvious challenge in them for a number of reasons. Namor does not break and he just nods, grudgingly accepting everything.
"Very well. Do not get in my way."
X-X-X
Taking the Horizon's experimental under water craft under the sea, raises a lot of questions for Peter on how to proceed. The web slinger only has very slight ideas of what to do next. They hope that AIM is still lurking around in their underwater submarine somewhere.
Given how massive the damn thing is, Peter has no doubts that they will be able to find it, sooner rather than later. He hopes to put the emphasis on sooner, rather than later. The web slinger draws in his deep breath, and he's very much feels the scowl of Namor. He cannot help and feel a spike of respect to Sue, who is able to navigate the ship calmly. Cass sits, as stoic as ever, although her finger reaches towards the dagger on her belt as if considering.
It would not be a good idea to stab the King of Atlantis now. Speaking of which, Daisy grinds her teeth and very much wants to say something. It appears that she's biting down on her tongue to avoid saying something.
"We've allowed the humans too much levity. SHIELD only cares about the land dwellers and I've allowed them too much luxury with my people."
The jurisdiction with SHIELD is always been a very shaky thing and Daisy is the very first person to admit that. There's what's allowed on people, but from Fury onward, there's been a lot of bending of the rules. Atlantis is a very weird one, given that it's not recognized by a lot of nations, despite being very real. Daisy skates the line dealing with it, but if this spear is powerful, then it threatens anyone under the jurisdiction of the UN and thus SHIELD in general.
"I'm not certain that you would be as much help…."
"Why don't you take your attitude and shove it?"
Namor's eyes narrow at Daisy's words, and Peter, Sue, and even Cass take a deep intake of breath. They hate to admit it, but things are getting intense.
"You dare…."
"If you had just come to us instead of putting people in danger, this would have gone a lot smoother. But instead, you make a spectacle, and we're unable to get the drop on AIM because of that. It's unbelievable!"
Daisy snaps those words out. It's been something that she's been fixing to get off of her chest for a very long time and damn if it did not feel very good to be able to vent that and get it all out in public.
Sue's eyes widen at the large blip which comes right at them.
"Guys, we have a problem," Sue says. "I think we found the AIM vessel."
The blast underneath the sea strikes the side of the Horizon ship just seconds before it's able to throw the blast shields up. The ship gets rocked and almost flies off of course.
"It found us."
Peter reaches behind him and accesses his ship's weapons system. They want to slow the AIM vessel enough to trap it, get on board, and find out what is going on. They do not want to damage it by any means.
Easier said than done in a situation like this, as they enter a fire fight with a much larger, and as Peter hates to admit, far more advanced ship.
X-X-X
Aboard the ship, Taskmaster paces back and forth. After fish boy played a drama queen for the entire world to see, Taskmaster knew it was only a matter of time before SHIELD came calling. And they're ready for them, at least MODOK thought it was ready.
Taskmaster barely pays attention to the other crew members. There's the garden variety AIM scientists who work on the ship. There's Crossbones, and really, he was just picked up by the boss because he just happened to be there. Taskmaster's getting paid a lot of money to tolerate the company he keeps, so he really cannot say much of anything in response. Just grin it and bear it, as the old saying goes.
If it was not worth so much money, then Taskmaster would strongly consider accepting this mission.
Taskmaster steps across the way and locks his eyes on a spear. He cannot believe such a thing would be there.
"I wonder what Osborn wants with such a tacky looking spear. This doesn't look like it does anything."
"Who cares?" Crossbones grunts from across the room. "As long as it gets us paid."
Taskmaster does not agree with Crossbones with much, but he will give him that one consideration. Money does make the world go around and makes him a very happy person. Taskmaster crosses his arms and legs and rocks back.
One can see the look of discontent growing in the eyes of Crossbones.
"I can't believe we have to work alongside of AIM. This is degrading."
Taskmaster answers Crossbones with a very evident snort.
"Given the company that you kept, I don't think you should be throwing any stones."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
Taskmaster just lets it go because he's a professional. He waits for more answer and notices that there's someone creeping on their ass.
"Those fools. Don't they realize that we are able to detect a ship coming at us a mile away. What did they think is going to happen when they try to creep up on us?"
MODOK's holographic face pops up in the middle of the ship. Taskmaster's not going to lie, he's still trying to get used to that. It sends shivers down his spines.
"SHIELD is onto us."
"You don't say."
"I'm authorizing weapons protocol to fire upon their ship."
Taskmaster breaks into a smile. Sounds like his kind of language and to be perfectly honest, he's ready to rock and roll, as the statement goes. The SHIELD ship rises up and fires back on them. All Taskmaster needs to do is sit back and wait.
He calculates the probability of what it will take to sink the SHIELD ship. Their shields do not hold well, the irony to end all ironies. The Taskmaster breaks out into a smile.
A large blast and the ship goes down in a fiery wreckage. Taskmaster just breaks out into a smile. It did lack the personal satisfaction of a good hand to hand beating, but hey, you could not argue with the results.
"Tell Osborn we're heading back to base, and scratch a couple of do gooders off of the last."
"We do have another situation...he's spotted us."
Taskmaster sees from the depths, something rock underneath their ship. Moments later, the ship comes up to the surface by sheer force.
X-X-X
Namor rises from the depths in pure rage mode. He's not too happy, not whatsoever, of being knocked around. He draws in a deep breath and is very thunderous in his next few words.
"You dare strike me! You dare strike down Namor!"
He locks onto the ship and rocks it out from underneath the water. The anger flowing through the eyes of this man is without parallel. He manages to get the AIM ship out from underneath the water.
Daisy is the first to pull herself up, after they escaped the Horizon ship after it had been blown to pieces. They wanted to get the element of surprise, but Namor's not the one who is much for surprises. She makes sure Peter, Cass, and Sue all rise up out of the water.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Peter shouts at the top of his lungs. "What the hell is that maniac playing at?"
Daisy can only answer with a shrug and watch as the trainwreck plays itself out. Namor rocks the ship back and forth, his eyes just widening from what he's doing. He manages to get the AIM ship out of the water, but the tidal wave knocks Daisy, Peter, Sue, and Cass back. Peter creates a web raft and pulls them all onto it.
"Not sure how long it's going to hold….."
Daisy shakes her head in response. It's going to have to hold long enough for them to do something. Anything. Unfortunately, they had no idea what that something or what they anything would have been. Regardless, Namor pulls him out of the sea.
"You will return to me what you have stolen. Or you will face the consequences!"
There's a huge part of Daisy who does not think that's going to work out as well as Namor thinks it's going to and she's proven right when an electrified net shoots out and shocks Namor. He screams before a large grappling hook drags the trapped Namor and and pulls him into the fish.
To add to the fun, several mines shoot out to block anyway from following them. Daisy just wants to throw her hands up, rear her head back, and scream. The dignity and respect she wants to maintain as the SHIELD director is something that keeps her from doing so, no matter how much she wants to lose her mind. And lose it really good. Daisy grits her teeth and lets out her breath in a very obvious sound.
"I swear, Namor, damn it!"
"Okay, just calm down."
Peter knows that's risky, but Daisy's going to rip apart his web raft. He's able to get a device underneath the web shooter built.
"I built a second one," Peter says. "Hopefully the tracker we did get onto the AIM ship prior to going down is going to still function."
"It better."
Peter wraps his arm around Daisy and pulls her in very close. He tries to appease her, tries to tell her how everything is going to be just fine. There's just a lot of frustration going on both sides.
"I can't believe he allowed himself to get captured."
Daisy sighs. Dealing with people like Namor, it's one of the parts of the job.
"I like his cousin better...what's his name….Arthur, wasn't it?"
The group all nods in response. They cannot take this conversation another step further before the vessel pops up around the water and comes directly at them.
"Okay, easy does it."
X-X-X
Namor's eyes open ever so slowly. He sees himself in this position and does not like it. Several straps clamp him down into place underneath a heat lamp which burns the moisture out of his body. Crossbones leans over him with a big grin on his face.
"It looks like we're going to have ourselves a fish fry."
The former HYDRA representative chuckles at the discomfort of Namor. Namor thrashes against the straps, but he's just burning the moisture out of his body even more.
Crossbones reaches over and grabs a bottle of water. He waves it in front of Namor's face before drinking it. Taskmaster moves over and clears his throat.
Taskmaster bends down to look Namor in the face. Namor struggles to gain the ability to look at that human. Taskmaster turns down the sun lamps so Namor does not dry out too fast, but he's discomforted enough and weak enough so he does not cause a problem.
"This is not going to end well for you. It can be quick how it ends, and relatively painless. Or it can be painful. The choice is yours."
The Taskmaster splashes a cup of water on Namor's face. Not nearly enough to strengthen him enough to be a problem, but enough to make sure he does not pass out before the group had their fun.
"You're going to tell me how this thing works."
Taskmaster presents the trident to Namor. Namor responds with a very dark chuckle which causes the Taskmaster to raise his eyebrow in response.
"What's so funny?"
"Foolish human," Namor responds to him. "No land dweller can operate the Trident of Neptune."
"I don't believe you," Taskmaster comments. "And neither does my boss. And I don't think you're going to last very long when we drop you in a cell, in the middle of the desert. We'll see how you change your tune."
Crossbones moves over to join them ,sipping on his bottled water.
"So, cool, and so refreshing," Crossbones comments. "A sub human like you wouldn't appreciate the finer things in life. And if you don't tell us how the trident works, you won't again."
"As I told your dim-witted friend…."
"Watch it," Taskmaster growls and he cranks up the heat lamps by one setting and forces Namor pain.
"It does not work with land dwellers."
"We have a situation."
Again, MODOK's creepy oversized head popping up just like that never fails to give Taskmaster and Crossbones the creeps. His face starts flickering on and off in the light and Crossbones puts his hand on his belt to operate his weapon.
"What kind of problem?"
"Oh, you've got a spider infestation!"
At that very moment, Spider-Man swung in through the door and nails Crossbones flush in the face with both of his feet. Crossbones goes ass over tea kettle before dropping down to the ground.
X-X-X
Spider-Man's happy to get the drop on Crossbones. The man pulls himself back up and rushes at Spider-Man. He punches the air and Spider-Man comes from behind him. He web yanks Crossbones by the back of the head and nails him with a couple of punches across the face.
Taskmaster knows that Spider-Man is not going to come alone. The agents of AIM arm themselves with weapons and wait for it to happen.
Quake steps into the room and rocks their world, sending them all dropping down to the ground. Taskmaster blocks her latest assault and then twists her arm behind her back. Taskmaster jumps up and nails Quake with an uppercut punch to the side of the neck.
"I've always been studying your moves, Daisy, and I'm one step ahead of you."
In comes Cassandra Cain to face the Taskmaster. The two of them go face to face with each other, with Cass diving at Taskmaster. Taskmaster blocks her move and Cass adjusts for the block. She nails Taskmaster with an uppercut kick to the jaw. She goes for another kick, but Taskmaster ducks it and tries to sweep her leg out from underneath her. Cass drops down to the ground and then sweeps him up.
The two fighters move to each other. They mirror each other's moves, both seeing the other attack coming.
"Finally, a challenge."
Taskmaster grabs her around the neck and she slides out between his legs. She throws two daggers and Taskmaster catches them. He throws the daggers back and Cass hits the ground before springing up and going for a punch. He blocks it and his stabbing motion finds nothing.
Sue appears by the controls from the heat lamps and shuts them off. She puts a finger on Namor's neck and sees that he's still weak. One of the AIM agents crush against her invisible force field, the sound of bones breaking. Sue whips around and sends him crashing down to the ground in an instant.
"Daisy!" Sue yells at the top of her lungs. "Namor's going to need some hydration."
Daisy blocks one of the larger AIM agents from grabbing her and then blasts off, slamming him against the wall. She notices a mini-fridge, stocked with water, perfect for doing what she needs to do. Daisy quakes it off of the ground and busts the fridge and the water bottles open.
The water rains down on Namor and brings him back to life.
Crossbones stabs at Spider-Man.
"Finally, I'm going to get a piece of you, web head," Crossbones growls. "After all of the times that you made a fool out of me."
"Oh, Crossy, you didn't need my help to do that."
Spider-Man jumps up into the air. At least until Namor punches Crossbones down into the ground. The impact of his fist hitting Crossbones face echoes. He slams Crossbones into the side of the vessel and rips it open, causing water to start bursting in.
"We have another situation."
Taskmaster and Cass brawl with each other. Cass answers the Taskmaster's assault with a few straight jabs and then a swinging uppercut punch to take him down. Taskmaster grapples with the younger woman, until Cass takes him down with a jab to the side and hooks him in a full nelson.
"Yeah, you don't say.
Taskmaster fights out and hits Cass with a couple of swift moves to take her down onto the ground. He grabs Cass by the back of the hair, but Cass fights out with a swift motion.
"You will fall at my hand!"
Namor blasts the AIM members out of the ship. Crossbones is floating outside and pulling himself up above the water.
On the ground, Namor picks up the Trident of Neptune. The rush of power spreads through Namor when he reclaims one of the most prized treasures of his kingdom.
"Finally."
Spider-Man, Quake, and the Invisible Woman all rise up out of the ship. Taskmaster breaks free from Cass and escapes from the confusion, getting out while the getting is good.
"Self destruct sequence in thirty seconds."
Spider-Man knows that's their cue to leave. There's barely enough time to shoot off one of his world famous quips before leaving the room. He moves out, along with the others, including Namor. They make their way to the Horizon vessel.
"Maybe we can catch them."
Daisy's statement shows a lot of optimism, but unfortunately, it's not something that Peter can share. The minute they surface, they bad guys are long gone.
Off to fight another day. Daisy knows that this is not the last they'll see of this new Cabal, although she wonders what Osborn is playing at.
X-X-X
"I do wonder what those land dwellers were playing at by stealing an item which none of them had the ability or the power to operate."
Namor's statement holds many potential questions and none of them really have anything close to an answer. Peter breaks out with a solid breath.
"Guess, we'll never know."
"Perhaps, but that's your problem to find out, now that my treasure is safe and secure in Atlantis," Namor tells them. "And I will not crush the underground base SHIELD has in my kingdom as my most sincere form of gratitude."
"Yeah, thanks."
Daisy's most salty statement ever comes out. Peter places a hand on her shoulder and gives her a very light and very calming squeeze, at least one that calms her down enough not to really lose her mind about Namor. Easier said than done at this point.
"He's gone, they're all gone," Sue replies.
"Yes," Cass agrees. "Too easy."
Peter cannot help and agree. The Cabal getting away and giving up the trident is too easy. There's something else going on here, some kind of other end game. Peter just cannot put his finger on what that end game might be, but he's certain that it is something.
X-X-X
MODOK hates the fact that they lose a very valuable piece of AIM technology. Granted, it was also scrapped together from bits and pieces of HYDRA and Zodiac technology as well, but AIM is all about putting a new spin on old technology. Some call AIM thieves because they steal the technology from others. They should be honored though.
Inside of the office, MODOK floats above the ground with narrowed eyes. Norman Osborn bends over several maps.
"If we had figured out how the trident worked, we could have done much. Why did you allow them to lose it back to Namor?"
"Because, that's not our objective, my friend," Norman comments. "While SHIELD was busy chasing a fish tale, I've been busy at work. I've located something that will bring the world to it's knees."
"And what is that?"
Norman pushes the document he managed to copy in the confusion and MODOK's eyes follow it.
"It just proves, my friend, you have to throw a big fish away to catch an even bigger fish."
"Quite right, Mr. Osborn," MODOK tells him.
Norman smiles his insidious smile, becoming more Goblin than man in the process.
To Be Continued on 10/9/2018.
Thanks for Reading and Have a Nice Day.
