Chapter 2

The first time

Evadne just walked in the lady's room in Angel Hospital when her watch started flashing.

She bit on her lit, trying to suppress the nervous feeling that made her legs a bit wobbly. Of course she had known that she would be summoned one day, but it was still unexpected.

Immediately she turned around, made sure someone knew that she was away on an emergency and got in her car to make her way to Boulder Hill.

***

Sitting around the table were Matt, Bruce, Alex, Gloria and as last Evadne.

"VENOM is trying to poison this lake. It's the main drink water facility for the most little cities around it. Since those cities are in the dessert it's the only constant water supply they have. Okay team, let's roll out."

The masks came down from the ceiling and everyone grabbed their mask. Evadne placed the mask over her head. She also wore a white suit with numerous pink streaks decorating it. The gloves and boots were also pink.  

***

The vehicles approached a small city at the lake side. Rhino drove in the middle, flanked by Shark and Wind Chaser. Thunderhawk flew above the group.

For so far they hadn't seen a sign of VENOM, but no one was shocked when suddenly Manta appeared in the sky. Vanessa was followed by Rax on Piranha.

"Everyone ready for battle." Matt's voice came in on Evadnes radio. Evadne pressed a button on her dashboard, causing machine guns to appear by the head lights and on the roof. Also the rear lifted up to show her missile launchers and the exhaust of the wind generator. She veered away slightly from Rhino and noticed Shark doing the same on the other side.

Suddenly the first laser bullets streaked trough the air, fired by Manta and Piranha. Evadne evaded them and then fired self, aiming on Piranha. Against Evadnes luck Rax veered away and he was coming right at her.

She veered away from the group, with Rax following. Shark and Rhino didn't have the time to help her because suddenly Jackhammer appeared. The same was for Thunderhawk who was being kept busy by Manta.

Evadne activated her wind generator and disappeared in the dust cloud, in mean time keeping close taps on where the others wore. Rax was following her trough the cloud. Suddenly an idea popped in her head. She drove around the group and passed Gloria.

Quickly she radioed to Gloria: "Rax is coming after me. Can you hit him?"

Gloria heard the transmission and locked on. Then she fired. Rax lost his balance and he fell on the ground.  "That was Rax for the moment, Evadne."

Evadne quickly sent her thanks and focused on Jackhammer.   

***

In the sky Matt wasn't doing so well against Manta. It appeared if VENOM had been working on Manta or something.

Evadne kept an eye on the doings of Jackhammer, but also at Manta and Thunderhawk. Suddenly Shark shot by followed closely by Jackhammer. Evadne aimed at the car and released a barrage of bullets. Then she put her foot on the pedal and went after him, still firing lasers.

"Evadne, veer of to the right." Bruce his voice sounded trough her comm system. Evadne did what he said and missile streaked past her. Dagger lost control and Shark, Rhino and Wind Chaser turned their attention to Thunderhawk and Manta.

They saw Matt flying over and took a sharp turn towards them. Thunderhawk then turned his nose towards the ground and as soon as it touched the ground it converted back to a normal car. 

Manta followed him and both raced by. Wind Chaser, Rhino and Shark followed immediately.

"Evadne, you follow me. We are heading towards the water processing plant Bruce, Gloria keep Manta busy. But you have to stay ready to go into the lake, Gloria." Evadne immediately veered of, following Thunderhawk. Manta tried to do the same, but her way was blocked by Shark.

***

By the water processing plant, both Matt and Evadne left their vehicles.

"This is where the demands were send from. Their treats say that they will release a pod from made an alloy that will solve in one hour in water. We must find the pod before they release it. If they do it, it's up to Gloria." Matt briefed Evadne quickly.

Together they headed inside. They continued for ten minutes trough silent hallways. "You should have expected to walk in by someone." Evadne commented.

Stopping for a moment Matt took the time to use the heat seekers on Spectrum. "There are several people gathered close by. Two guards are keeping watch. That must be the personnel of the plant." He whispered.

"Perhaps we can find out from the guards where the pod is being kept. And we can free the personal at the same time."

Matt agreed with Evadnes suggestion and both headed towards the room.

***

Outside Manta was still firing at Rhino and Shark. Rhino had taken most hits because it wasn't so maneuverable as Shark. Finally Alex and Bruce decided it was time to bring in the big artillery. From the AV a big canon arose and it started firing at Manta.

Gloria did her best in the meantime to fire in such a way that she kept Manta in the firing range of Rhino without that the canon had to change his position to much.

Finally Manta was hit twice and went down with large smoke cloud.

***

After a few minutes walking Matt and Evadne arrived close by the door where the personnel was being kept.

Matt spied around the corner. Then he turned towards Evadne and pointed towards her mask.

"Psylocke, on." Evadne commanded softly and the visor lighted up.

'How many guards are there? Just think your answer back." sounded suddenly in Matt's head.

'Two guards. No special VENOM agents.' Matt thought back.

Evadne nodded and walked around the corner. The guards suddenly noticed her and came towards her. Her visor shone brighter and the dark pink butterfly form appeared on the foreheads of the guards.

'Where is the pod being kept? Tell it to me!' she thought towards the men. Forcing her will in their heads one of the men said: "By the outlet of the water."

Evadne nodded. Then she focused another thought in their heads. 'You are tired. You want to sleep. Sit down and go to sleep. Sleep!' She repeated the thought a few times and the men sat down and a few seconds later they were asleep. 

Evadne shut her mask of and turned towards Matt who came around the corner. He looked down on the sleeping guards. "Works better than shooting them." He commented. Then he knelt down and took the keys from the belt of the left guard.

After opening the door Matt ordered the men and women in the room to leave the building as silent and fast as possible.

***

Rhino and Shark kept an eye open, but unlike they expected after Manta had disappeared, nobody of VENOM showed their face.

***

Matt and Evadne hurried towards the outlet. They encountered no guards and it heightened their anxiety. This wasn't exactly the Miles Mayhem method.

"Now we surely should have encountered someone." Matt said and he stopped to run a scan with the help of Spectrum. "There are guards moving around, but nobody is coming our direction.  

They reached the outlet without any trouble and also the pod was found without any trouble. The pod had the size of a football and Matt put it in the special bag he had brought with him. They could leave the outlet without any trouble, but when they entered the hallway, it was filled with soldiers. And in the front were Miles Mayhem and Nash Gorey…

***

"This is too strange. Have you heard any news from Matt and Evadne?" Gloria sent towards Bruce.

"I haven't. But you are right. This is strange." Bruce sent back.

"Rhino, come in." Evadnes voice sounded.

"Rhino here." Alex sent.

"We are in need of assistance."

"Understood. We are sending help." When Alex sent this, Bruce was already busy securing his mask.

"Evadne out." Just before the link closed they heard Evadne commanding her mask to activate.

By the time the link had closed, Bruce was running towards the plant.

***

"Psylocke on." Evadne commanded her mask to activate and she turned her look towards the soldiers. The glow on her visor brightened and two soldiers nearby fell asleep.

Evadne continued with the soldiers while Matt exchanged blasts with Mayhem and ducked the punches of Gorey.

***

Bruce sought his way trough the hallways. The few soldiers he encountered were thrown out of the way thanks to Lifter.

***

Ten minutes later most of the soldiers lay snoring in the hallway and Evadne turned her attention to the last soldier. It was a small, Asian man. She focused on him in the same way as she had done by the other soldiers. 'You are tired. You want to sleep. Sit down and go to sleep. Sleep!'

'No way, bitch. I am not going to sleep. You are going to sleep. Sleep!' the man projected clearly in her head.

Evadne opened her eyes for a moment. 'This guy won't be so easy to lie down.' She closed her eyes again and regained her focus. 'You are tired. You want to sleep. Sit down and go to sleep. Sleep! You have to sleep! You have to sleep!'

The man simply sent similar thoughts in return and Evadne tried to focus harder. It wasn't easy. The man was doing exactly the same as what she was trying with him. And she noticed it was working. She felt that it became harder to stay awake.

***

Bruce made the last turn. Finally he encountered Matt and Evadne. Matt was still fencing of with Mayhem and Gorey. Evadne was standing still, just like the one soldier standing. The others seemed to be asleep.

"Lifter on." Bruce lifted Gorey up and smashed him against the ceiling. When he landed on the ground Nash Gorey was out cold.

Suddenly the glow on both the mask of Evadne and on the forehead of the soldier intensified for a second and then both felt sideward.

***

'You go to sleep. Obey my will. Go to sleep.' Evadne couldn't anymore. She was feeling exhausted and the suggestions of the man weren't helping either. She focused on more time, scraping every inch of energy from her body, and sent out the strongest attack she could muster. 

Finally Evadne decided to give in to her exhaustion. Just before her eyes closed she saw the man falling sideward. She had succeeded. Then everything became black.

***

Matt saw Evadne falling. Suddenly Mayhem was lifted of the floor and also he was smacked in the ceiling.  

Matt didn't pay any attention to his enemy, but instead he turned his attention to his fallen comrade. Kneeling down beside her, he removed her mask. To his relieve she was still breathing. Not hesitating he lifted the young woman of the ground. Bruce got her mask and both hurried outside.

***

Five minutes later they were on their way back to Boulder Hill. VENOM didn't bother them, although they saw Dagger, Rax and Vanessa messing around by a not too well looking Manta. 

***

First she could feel her toes again. The feeling slowly spread out over her entire body. Then she could hear some things clearly. There wasn't much to hear, only the sound of her breathing and the occasional footstep outside.

Then she could open her eyes. The forms were hazy at first, but they cleared and when she looked she could recognize the small sickbay in Boulder Hill. The next she became aware of the pounding in her head.

She forced herself to sit up. Immediately she regretted it because the room spun around her. Quickly she lay down again and closed her eyes.

She opened them again when a door went open. She turned her head towards the sound and smiled when she recognized Julio. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

Julio turned around at the sound of her voice. Then he made his way towards the cot she was lying on. "How are you feeling?"

"I think okay when my head stops pounding and when I can sit up without the room spinning." Evadne replied.

***

After Julio had done a few checks on her and when Evadne had gulped down two aspirins Matt and Alex had joined them and they set about finding out what had happened.

Evadne told what she remembered from the last few minutes that she was awake and Alex had analysed the readings in the mask.

After an hour of conferring they reached the conclusion about what happened. Alex summarized "To handle your mask you need to have a certain mental discipline. To fight your suggestions you give someone need the same discipline or even a stronger one. The mask only opens the link between two minds, but it does nothing to defend or attack. That all depends on the user and the enemy. What happened there was that the soldier fought Evadnes suggestions with her own. They must have been equally strong in their mental discipline or else they wouldn't have fallen a sleep at the same time."

"Would there be a way to add a safe guard so her mind is protected? Otherwise I have my doubts it will be safe to use the mask again. If this happens again… " Julio said.    

"That would be fairly easy. I have already started to program it in the mask. Next time this won't happen again."