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Marvel 2000 Presents
Force Works 32
Soldiers of Misfortune
Part 3
Belly of the Beast
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Rocinha, Brazil
Two hours ago, the world flipped upside down for thirteen year-old Carmen Pera.
She had had been lying on her bed when she heard the first explosions. While part of her wanted to run find the source, to see what was happening, an even smarter part of her told her to get her head down, stay down, and pray.
As it would turn out, that little voice would save her life.
There were a series of explosions, followed by an uncomfortable silence of several minutes. Then there was a terrible rumble, and what happened next Carmen only felt, but couldn't see, which was for the best.
After all, no one wants to remember the sight of their hometown reduced to rumble and sliding down towards them as an irresistible wave of solid rock.
As fate would have it, Carmen was actually lucky. While the onslaught of rock, dirt and broken human flesh slammed into her home, the walls of her room somehow managed to hold together. She bounced around like a sock in a drier for several terrifying seconds, but when it was over, Carmen was still alive. Trapped in total darkness, unable to feel her left knee, but somehow, impossibly, still alive.
Unable to move because of her pinned leg and shock, Carmen lay in the rubble of her home.
Terrified about the very real possibility of dying from starvation, trapped in the rubble of her own home, she spent the next several hours alternating between pleading, screaming or yelling at God for condemning her to die like this, then thanking him for the fact that her mother was likely still at work, and then wondering if anyone else managed to survive.
Eventually, exhaustion overtook her. Carmen didn't awake until she head the rubble above her beginning to shift and move. She began to see the stone above her shifting, and hear the sounds of voices beginning to break through.
Carmen called out to them, and her heart leapt as they answered. They swore that they were coming, begged her to remain calm, but nothing that they said really mattered to young Carmen. Her heart was pounding with joy, and tears fell down her cheek. She was going to live!
Several more minutes passed, and Carmen watched in sheer joy as a large piece of what had been her room's ceiling was hoisted into the air and set aside. Only then did she see who rescued her.
He was human in only the loosest sense. He had all four limbs, but stood eight feet tall and was wider than three people. His head only had two eyes and a mouth that glowed crimson red. Carmen felt her heart jump into her throat.
"If you could wait until I left to start screaming, I'd be grateful," Charcoal recognized that look. When he was met with silence, he nodded politely and walked away, each step sounding like the beat of a drum.
Try as he may, Charcoal found that he couldn't lose himself in the work. Yes, he knew it was important to help dig out all the survivors, and what he did
but he could only think about the people who weren't here. Two hours ago, his teammates clashed with some bastards called the Soldiers of Misfortune and now they couldn't find hair nor hide of them.
"Charcoal!" Kymaera, usually the official spokeswoman and Public Relations, landed in front of him, "I need you with me! There's a piece of ceiling that's too big for me to lift without it crumbling."
"Okay, but I need a lift."
Given the precarious pile of rubble that lay all around them, it was agreed that Charcoal shouldn't be flying, not since his form of flight, unlike his teammates, imitated a rocket taking off. With the possibility of survivors still trapped under delicate piles of rubble, no one wanted to take needless risks.
Kymaera grabbed Charcoal around his waist and lifted his two-ton body into the air like he was a Styrofoam. Normally, Charcoal would have loved the idea of a well-built blond wrapping her arms around him, but the situation was too serious to even joke about something like that. Ruthless killers had just slaughtered hundreds of people, completely devastated a town for no reason other than they could. On top of that, they might have killed his teammates, the closest thing Charcoal had to friends.
"Have Taki or Dani found anything yet?" Charcoal asked as they set down. He glanced around, and saw Technocrat standing on a hover platform, directing some of the emergency response team. He couldn't see Mirage, but knew she was out there somewhere.
Ironically, of the four members of Force Works present, Mirage was the one saving the most lives. Her ability to project someone's greatest fear enabled her to sense minds in highly emotional states, which automatically meant survivors.
"Not a thing," Kymaera answered. She pointed to a large section of roof some ten feet long and eight feet wide. Several rescue workers were standing around it anxiously, "I need you to get that section of roof. I can hear people breathing under it."
"No problem," Charcoal slowly extended his black rock arms underneath the debris until they reached the other side. He then lifted the chunk of cement up like a bottle cap and set it aside. Underneath it was a family of three, dirty, bloodied, but alive.
Kymaera and Charcoal didn't stick around for any thanks, immediately moving onto another area. Neither of them spoke, unwilling to give voice to their fears. Heroes were captured by self styled villains all the time, it was a just an occupational hazard.
But the Soldiers of Misfortune weren't self styled villains, but amoral opportunist mercenaries.
"They're still alive, right?"
"…they should be," Kymaera said reluctantly, "if the Soldiers of Misfortune took them, then they might have had a reason to keep them alive."
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Aboard the Smash and Grab and outside normal space
Equal parts rage and Terror was all that kept Rahne from blacking.
Mongoose, a genetically engineered creature of destruction, had one hand gripped around her throat. With his free hand, he dragged a clawed finger down Rahne's chest, ripping the special bullet proof microweave of her uniform and cutting a thin line into her flesh.
"Let go of me ye bastard!" Rahne didn't succumb to panic, kicking Mongoose in the chest so smoothly it was as if she'd practiced it a dozen times.
But Mongoose paid it no more attention than he might a stiff breeze. The man had fought Thor and Spider-Man at once, and without her powers, Wolfsbane wouldn't even make him flinch. In desperation Wolfsbane looked towards her teammates, and saw them fruitlessly pounding against a transparent wall of energy. They could only watch.
"Stop squirming," Mongoose hissed, "this isn't for pleasure. The sooner I start, the sooner I can finish. This isn't personal."
"It's personal to me, ye vile bastard!" Rahne spat, "you're only doing this to hurt Adam! I'm not just some prop to hurt someone!"
"Well now you are," Mongoose snorted indifferently, "I know your type, hiding under someone else's wing, thinking their strength is your own. So if you want revenge for what happens next, go to him. Tell him exactly what happened. Then one of us will reclaim our honor."
Wolfsbane felt her heart stop when Mongoose grabbed a handful of her uniform. He was really going to do it…
"That's enough, Mongoose. I won't have you damaging team property. Put her down, you've had your fun."
Mongoose turned his head to the doorway and snarled at the man standing there. Wolfsbane glanced at her at her seeming savor, and didn't know what to make of him. The man was easily in his late fifties and wore a suit that seemed off, somehow. Wolfsbane was no stranger to villains in fine suits (they seemed to rank behind capes as a villain's preferred style of dress), but this one was different. She could see how the cuffs were frayed and the collar was worn. He might have dressed as a man of money, but Rahne easily saw through the illusion.
Funny the things you notice, Wolfsbane thought to herself, when your life and dignity hang by a thread.
"This doesn't concern you," Mongoose hissed, "you are not our leader, Antithesis."
"No, but I do hold your leash," the man replied, "if you wish to cross me, then make it quick. I have things I need to do later. Otherwise, drop my property and join the others in the regen-hall."
Mongoose snarled under his breath, but dropped Wolfsbane and left without another word.
"Thank you," Rahne coughed out through a bruised throat.
"Nothing personal," the man replied with an indifferent shrug, "everyone knows that a good salesman doesn't sell damaged goods."
Wolfsbane breathed in relief as the forcefield between her and her teammates disappeared as the same time the door closed.
"Rahne, Jesus...are you alright?" Blink rushed to her friend's side.
"Man, that guy was even more creepy than Mongoose," Sabre said casually.
"I'm okay," Wolfsbane answered, half heartily.
"Dog boy sure heeled fast. Kinda a shame."
"Sabre, will you shut up?!" Blink spat, "just for one second!"
Sabre knew that tone, and knew better to retort. In some situations, a witty remark amounted to an off color joke. This was one of them.
"Okay, we need to get out of here before they can try anything like that again," Blink said after a moment, "Sabre, can you still feel your powers?"
Sabre nodded, "Yeah, EM field and all. But the restraints automatically generate a counter field the second I start to move. I try to run without that, and I become flam-be."
"But you still have it?" Blink smiled, "okay, that's good. How much control do you have over it? Can you focus it on your left arm?"
"Done, why?"
Blink tapped Sabre's arms with her restraints. There was a spark of electricity, a hiss of release, and the restraints dropped to the ground.
"I know a little something about EM fields," Blink smirked. She concentrated for a moment, and the restraints that held Wolfsbane and Sabre vanished in a lavender -blink!-.
"Nice!" Sabre rubbed her hands together, "let me get the door."
"Wait, we need to do this silently!" Blink warned, but too late. Sabre vanished in a puff of wind, and reappeared in front of the cell door. She was nothing more than a blue blur for several seconds. Blink and Wolfsbane watched in amazement as the space in front of Sabre began to glow, first red, then orange, before part of it fell to the ground as molten hot metal, leaving a decent sized exit.
"Hot, hot!" Sabre zipped to Blink's side, her hands smoking, "that silently enough? I'll even carry you over the threshold!"
"We can jump it," Blink replied, "one three..."
Sabre burst out of the hole first, followed quickly by Wolfsbane then Blink.
The hall ran an impressive length, and Blink was stunned speechless that there were no guards posted.
"We need to find the boys," Blink stated, "Wolfsbane, you smell anything?"
Wolfsbane stuck her nose in the air, testing the spores in the air for any trace of her teammates.
"It's hard to tell, the air's been recycled, but I think they might be down there!" Wolfsbane pointed down the hall. Sabre glanced in the direction she was pointing, and took off.
"I swear, speedsters don't have a brain between the lot o' them," Wolfsbane growled.
"I can't argue that," Blink replied, "lets take a quick look around. I need to find my javelins and we need to know that there aren't any Soldiers hiding around the corner."
Blink turned around, and slammed into a human sized obstruction.
"Blink!"
"Nova?" Blink did a double take, amazed that their enemies hadn't secured her team's second most powerful member.
"Oh, thank God I stumbled across you guys first," Nova sighed, "I still hurt from the fight."
"We're not much better," Blink replied, "but we're better off than we were before. We just have to find the others..."
"Done!" Sabre shouted. The three members of Force Works turned to see Sabre alongside their missing male teammates, Arsenal, Vibraxis, and X-Treme. Blink was shocked when she saw that X-Treme was fully armed, and carrying her javelins under one arm.
"How'd you guys get loose?" asked Blink.
"Adam!" Rahne all but leapt into her boyfriend's arms and hugged him tight.
"This ship is an old, inter-dimensional transport," X-Treme answered. He tossed Blink her javelins, "not built for prisoners at all. They locked me in a storage closet. To get out, all I had to do was activate a safety feature. These guys are like chimps trying to use a stick shift." Adam glanced at the tear in Wolfsbane costume, "What...what happened to you?"
"I..." Wolfsbane thought back to what Mongoose said and curled her lip in disgust, "long story, I'll tell you when we're safe."
"Wait, where's Tarene?" Sabre asked.
"We thought she was with you!" Vibraxis declared.
All at once, everyone's eyes went wide when they realized that their most innocent member was nowhere to be found. Sabre sped up and down the hall, looking for any cells where she might still be held. When she finished, she shook her head silently.
"They killed her," Arsenal said, his even tone more unsettling than if he were foaming at the mouth, "we'll just return the favor."
"But before we do that, if we don't do something about this ship, we might not have a world to return to," X-Treme said grimly, "I recognize this ship model. We're in a Shi'ar commerce transport ship. They were retired because it was discovered that core breaches consumed entire worlds."
"These fools!" Vibraxis hissed, "how coukd they use unknown technology so carelessly?"
"Holy crap, we're in an alien Hindenburg!" Sabre exclaimed.
"How did they even get this ship in the first place?" asked Arsenal, "they don't have anyone smart enough to run it!"
"Well, I can shut it down but I have to get to the main control room," X-Treme said, "luckily, I know the way to go."
"How do you know this?" Nova asked.
"Don't ask," answered X-Treme, "just get ready to deal with the Soldiers. I don't think they'll take kindly to me crippling their ride."
"That's alright, we'll just cripple them too."
"We're bring them in," Wolfsbane growled, "and that's all we're doing."
"Rahne, how can you say that, after what they did!" Sabre snapped.
"Because if we really want to represent something better, we can't be as weak as them," Wolfsbane growled.
Force Works grew silent, some of them contemplating how many times they'd heard that argument and just how little it did to sooth their hurt. After a while, it felt as if they were putting words ahead of the lives of their loved ones.
"Whatever, lets just do it," Nova said finally. He motioned for the others to follow him.
Wolfsbane approached Arsenal and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. In truth, she found his calm manner unnerving but she feared that her teammate might explode at any moment, like a volcano under pressure unless she did something.
"Tarene's in a better place now," Wolfsbane whispered, "and we don' have to kill them to make them pay, either."
Arsenal looked at Wolfsbane blankly for a moment, and said nothing. He then looked forward and marched without any reaction whatsoever, leaving Rahne to wonder what exactly was going on inside his head.
But she quickly realized that she herself would rather think about her teammates than what she'd lost today.
"Tarene…"
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Outside time and space, on the hull of the Smash and Grab
She held the metal of the ship in a deathgrip, her slender fingers sunk into metal designed to withstand the rigors of space travel like it was silly-putty.
The conditions were unlike anything she felt on earth, so much that they could barely compare. She knew it wasn't the wind that tore across her face, and threaten to fling her into eternal nothingness. No, this felt a thousand times worse, like a constant assault on her body.
But the young goddess had no intention of yielding. She livid, enraged that she had been so casually tossed aside, and she meant to turn that rage against the villains inside the ship.
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Smash and Grab Medical Bay
As a general rule, the Soldiers of Misfortune were a paranoid bunch. They all had enemies, and none of them trusted their teammates enough to risk a long convalescence.
So when they took up residence in the alien ship, they had someone jury-rig the alien medical equipment to heal them up quickly if the need ever arose. The AIM scientists complied, though they hadn't bothered to warn them about the possible long term side effects. As a result, The Soldiers of Misfortune, minus Colony and Flashpoint, could heal in an hour from wounds that would otherwise take weeks of recovery and all they had to do was lay on their backs while bio-radiation was blasted into their bodies.
That's where the Soldiers of Misfortune were doing when a malfunction alarm began beeping.
"Oh hell," Cerberus sighed, "Strong Arm, there seems to be something wrong at the aft section. Go take a look, would you?"
"Why me?" whined the four armed mercenary, "I'm not a damn spaceship engineer."
"Because it's probably just an animal got into the wrong area like last time. Unless you don't think that you're smart enough to handle that."
"I'll go, I'll go," Strong Arm muttered.
"He ought to come with an instruction manual, with buttons that big," Serpentina smiled after Strong Arm had left.
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Strong Arm made a bee-line to the engine room, eager to get back to the healing rays of the medical bay. He wasn't too badly bruised, but with his tough skin, his sense of touch left alot to be desired. It was one of the few things he could actually feel since he'd become a freak.
The engine room looked like something out of Star Trek, with pipes and wires that ran every which way, connected to consuls that used a language no one on the team actually spoke. Cerberus had assured the brute that their sponsor was a genius and that everything was automated, but Strong Arm still made a point to tread carefully.
He looked around for anything that seemed amiss, and quickly zeroed in on a hole in the ceiling leading to...whatever it was out there outside of normal space and time.
Strong Arm felt his heart stop when he realized that there was someone strong enough to tear a hole in the hull of the ship lurking about. His simple imagination running wild, Strong Arm nearly wet himself when he heard,
"You throw me away, you better make sure I stay gone!"
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The Soldiers of Misfortune scrambled to their feet when they heard a terrible explosion
"Guess we're on the end run now," Cerberus muttered to himself. He looked around, "we had a good run."
The Soldiers of Misfortune turned in the direction that they'd heard the explosion, and were thrown to the ground when the wall behind them exploded.
"You bastards ready for round two?" Nova spat, power smoldering from his eyes.
"We've already healed from that tussle," Cerberus smirked, "what do you think?"
"I think that there aren't any civilians around, no homes to endanger and nowhere for you to run!"
Nova let loose a pulse of energy that literally blew them through the nearest wall. They came down hard on dirt and grass, steam rising from their bodies.
"Good answer," C-10 coughed.
Force Works followed the villains through the hole and attacked immediately.
Wolfsbane tackled Wild Jack, while Blink went after Serpentina. Nova arced up and then slammed into Cerberus as Vibraxis unleashed his power at C-10, as Arsenal slammed into Mongoose, claws out and hungry for blood.
"I don't like this," Sabre muttered as she grabbed X-Treme by the wrist and sped past the battle.
"Only way to do it," they stopped at the end of the room. X-Treme took his sword out, and pried a panel off the wall. He reached inside and pulled out a tangle of wires and went to his work, "this thing is a flying bomb and this is the closest access point to shutting it down and getting us home safely. Now just watch my back, okay?"
"You can do that because you're Shi'ar or somethin', right?"
"Something like that," X-Treme said quickly, offering no elaboration.
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"Any chance of you guys walking away died with Tarene," Nova had Cerbeus pinned to the ground, his wrist crushing down on the man's windpipe, "say goodnight gracie."
"You think you really got the stones?" Cerberus growled, "you're not in space anymore, Corpsman."
"How did..."
Nova roared in pain as energy washed over him.
"You looked like you needed a hand," Flashpoint floated down. If he had a face, it would have been smirking.
"You!" Arsenal slammed into Flashpoint, murder in his eyes, "you killed Tarene! I'll destroy you for that!"
"Cocky bastard, serves you right," Cerberus smirked, "Colony, wake the hell up! We need backup!"
Vibraxis looked down in horror as vines the size of his arm rose up from the ground and lunged after him. The Wakandian Warrior barely phased in time as it passed through where his heart had been.
The members of Force Works gasped in horror was a wooden form some three stories, only vaguely female, rose out of the very ground beneath them.
"I don't sleep," Colony said calmly, "I just wanted to see if you'd admit that you needed my help."
"Oh, this is bad," Sabre muttered.
"Go handle it," X-Treme ordered, his fingers deep inside the guts of the consul, "the two of us just standing here only draws more attention anyways."
"Sounds good to me," Sabre grinned as she zipped into battle. Almost immediately, Colony lashed out with a dozen vines, and Sabre skidded to a halt, barely able to stop herself from slamming into a poisonous wall of vines.
Cerberus, his hands alit with fire, tackled the still reeling Nova and grabbed him in a headlock.
"Still think you can handle us?" Cerberus taunted, "we're fresh and rested, while you guys can still feel the imprint of our boot in your ass. Killing is nothing to us."
"Neither are brains," Nova wheezed. He grabbed Cerberus by the wrist and rocketed up to the ceiling, with his enemy still on his back. Cerberus grunted as his back slammed into the unforgiving metal. His grip around the Human Rocket's neck loosened, and Nova grabbed him by the wrist, pulled him over his shoulder and then threw him to the ground.
Nova was about to follow up the attack, when an explosion tore through the north wall. Strong Arm came flying through like a kicked football.
Nova felt his heart leap when Tarene burst through the smoke of the explosion. Her costume was weathered and torn, her war mallet smoldered with steam and her face had a carved look of hatred, but all that didn't matter.
She was alive.
"Alright Force Works, lets go to work!"
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X-Treme worked as quickly as he could, as precisely as he could. While he was technically capable of landing this ship wherever he wanted, it wasn't something that he had ever done before. Indeed, he only knew how because of comprehensive safety precautions, not personal training.
So, unable to spare any attention on anything but the task of hand, he completely missed the fact that someone was stomping towards him.
"X-Treme!" Mongoose snarled, "put that down and face me! I will have my honor restored!"
"You don't know the first thing about honor," X-Treme spat, "I stop now and we all die. Just wait a minute, and I'll gut you. Sound fair?"
"No more delays, no more excuses!" Mongoose crouched down and threw his arms out wide. He lunged at X-Treme, his razor sharp teeth dripping and aimed at X-Treme's neck.
Adam knew he could never dodge in time, and his fingers moved nimbly, hoping in vain to finish the last several connections he'd need to save his team.
-Wham!-
Mongoose grunted as his entire body slammed into a metal panel, leaving a dent that closely resembled his backside. He blinked several times, trying to get the spots out of his eye, and saw the Human Rocket bracing him against the wall with his elbow.
"You are a quick one," was all Mongoose could think to say.
"And strong," with almost a shrug, Nova pushed Mongoose through the wall like it was made of paper.
"Are you about done?"
X-Treme drew his sword, "Finished. If these people knew anything about their ship, they might have been able to stop me but it's too late now. Excuse me, I have to get my fair share."
Sabre raced across Colony's giant form while dragging her left foot. Within seconds, the giant plantwoman caught fire. Colony sprouted a dozen spikes all across her body in an effort to dislodge the speedsters, but it was too late.
Sabre zipped away seconds before Colony collapsed in a heap, and Sabre's ego and vanity demanded that she stop for a moment to admire her handiwork. But the moment she stopped, it was as if the world around her exploded.
"We beat you once, we can do it again," C-10 declared as he stood over Sabre, his hands glowing with energy.
"This time, there are no innocents between us and our prey!" Vibraxis shouted as he directed his vibrations into the ground next to C-10. The Soldier of Misfortune blasted away the bits of steel and dirt, but when he looked down again, Sabre was gone. C-10 instantly began to gather energy and began to lash out in every direction, hoping to ward off the speedster.
Nearby, Blink threw herself to the side to avoid Serpentina's claws, and teleported behind her the second they went past. Materializing above her, Blink brought her heel down the snake woman's skull and flipped away.
Several yards away, Wolfsbane was tangling with the mad child Wild Jack. The villain moved with amazing speed, but Wolfsbane matched him step for step, her wolf form and experience allowing her to keep up. Wild Jack impulsively tried a roundhouse kick like he'd seen in a dozen movies, but Wolfsbane ducked it easy and closed the distance between them in two steps. She slashed his chest and almost instantly Wild Jack shrieked like a wounded child.
Wolfsbane gave him no mercy, and slashed at him again and again. Any pity, any sympathy she felt as he cried like a little boy who'd scrapped his knee was balanced out against the knowledge that he earned his suffering.
"This is the best gig I ever had!" Cerberus pointed his hands towards Nova and let loose a wave of flame that engulfed the hero. Nova roared in pain and dropped out of the air like a stone, "you stupid kids are not going to screw this deal up for me!"
Nova tried to stand, but the pain was worse than almost anything he'd felt in his life. Every nerve was screaming, and his flesh felt as though it wanted to peel off.
"Nova, it's an illusion!" Arsenal shouted, "fight it!"
Nova heard his teammate through a haze of pain, and understood. He looked at his flesh, which wasn't blistering and realized that aside from the pain, he didn't feel the least bit warmer.
"You bastard…" Cerberus muttered as Nova came at him like a cruise missile. Nova slammed into him just as the entire ship seemed to lurch on its side. The battle stopped instantly as everyone fought to keep their balance. Heroes and villains spilled left and right before they felt the ship suddenly jerk forward, like a car slamming on the breaks, then beginning to slide to a stop.
"Force Works, form on me!" Nova shouted, "Sabre, get them over here!"
The members of Force Works, who had been scattered all over the battlefield, found themselves resting behind Nova in the blink of an eye
"What just happened…?" Serpentina felt her heart drop into her stomach.
"You'll find out," Nova said with a wolf's grin, "or better yet, we can show you. Vibraxis, Arsenal!"
The three members of Force Works turned towards the Soldiers of Misfortune, and acted as one. Vibraxis released his seismic energy from his hand, cosmic energy tore loose from Nova's chest and crimson energy flew from Arsenal's eyes. The Soldiers of Misfortune didn't even have time to mutter a prayer as the tsunami of energy washed over them.
Ironically, the Soldier of Misfortune who held his team in the highest contempt saved all their lives. Flashpoint encased his team in solid energy, protecting them from harm as enough energy to run six city blocks for a week swept over them. But even he had his limits, and couldn't prevent his team from being blown through the wall, to land on the outside hull of the ship.
But, in his defense, their landing wasn't too hard.
"These kids are tough little monsters," Serpentina groaned as she picked herself up.
"They're not playing fair!" Wild Jack whined, his body covered in wounds, "they're not playing fair at all!"
"Cease your pathetic prattle," Mongoose hissed, "they're coming!"
Force Works poured through the hole that the Soldiers of Misfortune had unwillingly created like a blood thirsty Vikings of old, hungry for battle.
"Flashpoint, blind them!" Mongoose shouted.
"Who made…"
"Just do it!" Mongoose shouted.
Flashpoint let loose a powerful strobe of light that stopped almost all of Force Works in its tracks. Only Nova was spared, thanks to his helmet, and he wasn't about to rush into battle with his teammates blinded.
"Colony, hit them with your spores!"
The tree woman pointed her hands at her enemy, and a green cloud sprang from her fingers and wafted towards them. Sabre, who recovered quicker than her teammates, saw it approaching, and began to spin arms like a fan to disperse the lethal cloud.
"C-10, now!"
The obese villain let loose a powerful blast, and Nova threw himself in front of it before it could cut his friends down. His body took the brunt of the energy, but the resultant explosion still threw Force Works backwards.
"Hey!" Cerberus grabbed Mongoose by the shoulder, "I'm the leader of this team!"
"Then lead!" Mongoose pulled his arm free and charged, "should be easy enough to do now!"
Arsenal picked himself up off the ground just in time to be tackled by Strong Arm. One set of arms clamped Arsenal's to his side, and the second began pounding Arsenal's upper body. The blows were enough to make his head ring, but Arsenal concentrated and blasted the Soldier away.
"I'm too powerful for an idiot like you," Arsenal spat.
"Like hell!" Strong Arm charged, only to be met with an optic blast that stopped him dead.
Mongoose spotted X-Treme, and his mouth almost began to water. He saw the blond haired mutant and almost nothing else as he charged…only to come skidding to a halt when Wolfsbane leapt in front of him, and Mongoose felt a deep, stabbing pain in his stomach.
"Am I someone to ye now?" taunted Wolfsbane.
Mongoose saw red, and was ready to gut Wolfsbane when X-Treme's boot slammed into his face.
"You!" Mongoose hissed. The bestial warrior lunged for X-Treme, but the Shi'ar warrior went left while Wolfsbane went right, both tearing at their enemy's flesh with their weapons.
"Fight me man to man, bastard!" Mongoose roared.
"No," X-Treme said simply, and attacked.
Elsewhere, Cerberus had his hands gripped around Nova's throat, and was trying to choke the life from the space hero. Rider, his head still ring from C-10's blast, could barely stand, let alone fight back.
"Still can't take us," Cerberus growled, "no civilians, I ain't got my dogs and you got no reason to hold back and still you can't beat us. And when we're done with you, we'll go right back to what we were doin' before."
"Not over…yet," Nova pointed behind Cerberus with the cockiest grin Cerbeus had ever seen.
Against his better judgment, Cerberus looked over his shoulder, and for the first time since the battle on the deck had started, realized where they were. The skyline by itself was almost legendary, and the Statue of Liberty just sealed the deal.
Cerberus' hands went slack for a moment, and that was all the Human Rocket needed.
"Welcome to New York!" Nova hovered a few feet off the ground and brought his fist straight down on Cerberus' face, "hero capital of the world! Tell again how you're just going to walk away!"
Nova hit Cerberus with a right cross that sent him barreling into Strong Arm. Nova watched as Tarene
"Even if you do get past us, even as we speak a dozen heroes are scrambling here now," Nova smirked, "you want to be that Excalibur gets here first, or the Avengers? Hey, you might even get the Fantastic Four!"
"You think you're so smart…"
"I know I am," Nova glared, "you can get away with your crap in places no one's heard about, fly under the radar and all that crap. Well, now, welcome to front page USA."
"So we keep fighting, and next week we're topic of the week on news shows," Cerberus summarized, "clever. We try to fly under the radar and with one move, you punks ruined that."
"Hope you're ready to be googled," Nova said with a lopsided grin. He cracked his knuckles, "though I am getting ahead of myself. I need to pretty you up for prime time, don't I?"
Cerberus stood up, defiant, "Maybe next time, cupcake. If you were really smart, you'd know that every good criminal leaves himself two ways out."
"No, no, no!" Nova washed in horror as Cerberus and the others Soldiers of Misfortune were surrounded in a blue aura, and then began to fade in color. Nova rocketed towards Cerberus, but passed through him harmlessly and slammed into the deck and carved as a deep scar into the steal with his body.
"The cowards fled!" Vibraxis declared pointlessly.
"Thank God," Nova muttered to himself. Now that the fight was over, he could feel every ache, every pulled muscle and cracked bone. Superhuman battles were like Frat parties. You heaped ungodly amounts of abuse on your body, and didn't feel a thing until it was all over.
Nova looked skyward, and silently reflected on how lucky they were to be home.
&&&
Later, Force Works Tower
Danielle Moonstar tapped softly on the door, "Rich, you wanted to see me?"
"Yeah, come on in chief."
Dani walked in, and saw Rider sitting up in bed, a remote near one hand. She saw that almost his entire upper body was covered in bruises that were even painful to look at, to say nothing of the red ugly scar on his chest.
"How're you feeling?"
"Like crap," grunted Nova, "so give me a play by play. What happened after the Soldiers split I was kinda out of it."
"I'd say, Arsenal had to pour you into the Stealth Wing," Dani said, "To begin with the ship the Soldiers were using was claimed by the UN. Luckily, a few scientists backed up X-Treme's claim that the thing was dangerous. A Shi'ar envoy is going to grab it in a month."
"Funny how he knew that," Nova remarked, "how's the team doing?"
"Fine, by in large," Danielle reported, "Rahne's a little shaken up, Tarene and Vibraxis are pissed that the Soldiers got away. But no one's in bad shape."
"Good to know. At least if we didn't accomplish something we didn't lose nothin' either."
"You stood up to and brought down a team of ruthless bastards," Dani replied, "that's a far cry from nothing."
"They're still out there…"
"Someone's always out there," Danielle said, "Magneto, Dr. Doom, or regular bastards like Bin Laden. Just because they haven't been in the news doesn't mean they're not planning or executing something. We're not in a race, we're in a marathon. The Soldiers got away with their rape and pillage routine because they flew under the radar. They don't have that anymore. Next time they surface, we or someone else will be better prepared to stop them. Because we know what they can do and we know to look."
Nova smiled despite himself, "The ol' ego doesn't feel so bruised when you put it like that. Still…"
"What?"
"Where did they get that ship? How did they pilot it knowing as little as they seemed to?" asked Nova, "I can't help but think that we're missing something and it's staring us right in the face…"
&&&
Elsewhere
The Soldiers of Misfortune stood at attention as Antithesis walked into the room. Besides themselves and antithesis, there was only one other person in the room.
"How much longer do we have to wait?" growled Mongoose.
"Until we can be certain they haven't traced out teleport signature," Cerberus answered, "those kids were tough and worse, thorough. We could have used your ass in that fight, Antithesis."
"Such a brawl would have been beneath my talents," he shrugged, "I am your liaison with your superiors, not a fellow attack dog. And you would do well to remember that."
"When can we have some fun?" whined Wild Jack. His body was covered in wounds, but somehow his child like mind managed to push past that to reach complete boredom, "we've been here for hours!"
"The bosses just want to be careful," Cerberus reassured his teammate. He looked at the stasis tube that held the only person in the room that wasn't a part of the Soldiers of Misfortune, or their sponsors, "we've come too far to screw up now."
"I'm just glad this entire thing is over," Colony said, "all those missions, we were too damn exposed, even if they were in pathetic little backwaters."
"That was part of the plan," C-10 said snidely, "we had to make them come to us, and it worked. Predictably unpredictable."
"Sirs?" the team of sociopathic villains looked towards the door, and saw a lab technician there with a clipboard, "our assessment is complete. You were not followed. You…are free to leave."
"That's what I wanted to hear," purred Serpentina. She eyed the stasis tube, and the team slowly began to gather around it, like wolves moving in for the kill, "lets unwrap our new present, I'm in the mood to share my pain."
"Do we have to keep 'em in one piece?" asked Strong Arm. He grabbed the delicate piece of equipment in all four hands, and with a shrug tore it apart. The person inside spilled to the ground in a state of semi consciousness, and looked around the room, baffled.
"I don't think so," Cerberus shrugged. With as much thought as most people put into stepping on an ant, Cerberus slammed his foot into the face of their captive, "I mean, we did leave Force Works with a replacement."
Antithesis left the room in disgust. He had little stomach for needless torture, but knew better to get between dogs and their bone. He found a work station, entered in a special code, and delivered his report.
Phase one complete. Infiltration successful. Will begin turning captive against Force Works.
Next issue: Force Works recovers from their battle, and we see a little more of Metro City!