Previously in Ultimate Melee...
An ancient manuscript foretold of a prophecy that would one day come to pass, consisting of three individuals who, one day, would transform into beings of destructive power. These three are known as the Trinity. A Prophet, who was revealed to be Bruce Banner, had uttered the names of the three Trinity individuals, and all of them turned out to be young men who already had incredible powers of their own. The first was Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man, one of Manhattan's most notorious superheroes. The second was Bobby Drake, a young mutant who served as "Iceman," a member of the X-men. The third was Geldoff, a foreign exchange student who was revealed to be a mutant, and was sent to the care of Charles Xavier, as a student of the school for gifted individuals. The three are not currently aware of their futures and what is to become of them.
An organization led by a man named Cyrek has focused their efforts on exploiting the powers of the Trinity, for the three individuals also served another purpose. If they were gathered together into a special chamber that Cyrek had built, they would be able to extract a part of their hidden energies into another person, and make that individual powerful himself. Cyrek and his organization went through great lengths to get the Trinity Powers, including associate with criminals such as Elektra, the Kingpin, and the Punisher. Their most effective method, however, was using mind-control over telephones to manipulate members of The Ultimates, including Hawkeye, Thor, and Nick Fury, and to use them to contribute to the organization's elaborate scheme, which also included temporarily pitting the Ultimates into a heated war with the X-Men.
In the end, the organization's plan failed, as energy extraction was interrupted by Captain America and Colossus, while the other Ultimates and X-Men took care of other threats linked to the organization. However, the young teenager Flash Thompson, who was revealed to be a member of the organization, rebelliously stepped out and claimed the powers for himself, acquiring several superhuman abilities, and then disappeared. The only member of the organization the Ultimates were able to capture was the Leader himself, Cyrek, and they brought him into custody Cyrek is now held prisoner at the Triskelion, where he has not uttered a word since his capture, and not ever Charles Xavier is able to penetrate the psychic barriers surrounding his mind.
Now, several weeks later, Nick Fury has enlisted Hawkeye and Black Widow to seek out the knowledge of Doctor Strange, who might be able to explain the secrets of Cyrek's unusual powers...
ULTIMATE DOMINANCE
CHAPTER 1
It was one of the coldest, most unbearably chilly nights of the year, and even for the usually crowded streets of nighttime New York, almost everybody was indoors.
The streets themselves shined a silvery gray color, due to the immense amount of rain splattering onto the ground. It was truly one of those nights that nobody should have been outside, but several people risked their health and chose to walk throughout the city in the below freezing weather.
One man in particular walked quickly and quietly, trying not to make himself too visible to the other people; a very hard task to do when you have winds clashing into you that seem powerful enough to blow off your jacket. The man clung to his trench coat and hat firmly with one hand, the suitcase with the other, and proceeded towards his destination.
Throughout his course, he was very carefully to avoid coming anywhere near the Fisk Tower. That was one place that wasn't very safe to go to now, despite the lengthy amount of time that had passed since he had last been there.
He entered the alley that he was told to go to.
The other man was already there, waiting for him.
"Are you Erasmus's messenger?" the man who was waiting in the alley asked.
"Silence," the man with the suitcase said. "It is not safe to speak the Leader's name here in public."
The other man laughed quietly. "I'll take that as a yes; you are their messenger."
The man nodded and said, "Our master has agreed to your terms." He handed the other man the suitcase.
"Is it all there?"
"Yes, all five million."
"Perfect." The man who took the suitcase stuffed it into the bag he was carrying over one shoulder. "You may leave now."
The messenger almost turned around to head back to his base, but then he said something not of his duty, but of his curiosity. "Are you sure you're really qualified to handle this assignment? I mean – well, we know you're qualified, but you still seem kind of young-"
"Leave," the man ordered quickly.
The messenger did so, and the man who had received the suitcase was now left alone in the alley.
Suddenly, he thought he heard a noise come from the rooftops. As if someone was starting to run away up there.
"Who's up there?" the man called out. As he expected, he got no response.
"Better safe than sorry," he muttered to himself, and began climbing the nearest wall leading to the roof.
When he reached the top, which didn't take too long, he looked around him at all the surrounding roofs. There was nobody there.
He wouldn't take the chance. Someone had seen him here tonight, and he wouldn't risk his job failing just over a small security leak. He pulled out his cell phone and called the organization to warn them of his paranoia.
Several blocks away, Daredevil continued to jump his way from building to building, panting as he ran along.
It's happened, he thought. The Leader has resurfaced.
What Daredevil had just witnessed was something that didn't come as a surprise to him. The Ultimates had yet to discover the criminal organization that they had a run-in with a few months ago; those mysterious purple-cloaked men that somehow had the powers to hypnotize people over telephones, and even managed to escape the Ultimates when they had cornered them in the Fisk Tower. True, they had seized the organization's Leader, Cyrek, but he had refused to say any words of importance upon his capture, and even somehow managed to resist the psychic mind-infiltration of Charles Xavier.
Daredevil remembered hearing about the battles at the Fisk Tower the night it was happening. Far away from the scene, he heard police and people on the streets panicking and saying almost simultaneously, "There's something happening at the Fisk Tower! Spider-Man was seeing being carried in there! And the Ultimates are there! And the X-Men too!" He figured he might as well lend a helping hand to whatever side was with justice in the situation.
By the time he had got there, all the panic and suspense had died down. The danger was over. Daredevil met with Wolverine from the X-Men, who had unenthusiastically explained what had happened. It didn't seem like the type of situation Daredevil should be involved in or interested, but when Wolverine had mentioned that Elektra was involved, it had sparked his interest, and he decided he would keep an eye out for the situation.
And now after quite some time of inactivity, hints of devious plans by the organization had arrived.
The masked crime fighter knew what he had to do. It was the only thing he could do for now.
He set off towards the direction of the Triskelion.
"I think Fury's just being mean to us," said the Black Widow. "He gave us clearance to start this whole 'Investigation of the Cult' project weeks ago, and just now we get the opportunity to investigate our only lead, if you could call it that. Not to mention the fact that it's cold beyond reason out here."
"I told you," Hawkeye said in response, "that Doctor Strange is a refined master of the mystical arts, and he might be able to explain to us just how Cyrek pulled off his mind-control act."
"I agree, that is a good lead, but why wait so long to look into it?"
"Apparently, the doctor has been preoccupied for quite some time now. I actually came here last month, and a short man answered the door telling me that Doctor Strange is off fighting the forces of Dormammu, and that he won't be back for quite some time."
The two of them proceeded up the stairway towards the front door of Doctor Strange's large, somewhat creepy-looking, home, which had an excessively uninviting aura surrounding it due to the cold, bitter evening. The rain had died down, and the city was now left to be dry and chilly.
Hawkeye rang the doorbell.
They waited a minute or so, and got no answer.
"Please tell me you called ahead and got an appointment."
Hawked chucked nervously. "Well…actually, the guy who answered the door last time told me that Strange would be back in a few weeks. I figured since it's a cold night, the doctor would be in the house, gathered around a fire reading a book, ready for discussion with some uninvited strangers."
"You're kidding," Black Widow said, gazing at him in shock. "So we just came here for what could easily be no reason?"
She turned away from the door, and starting walked down the steps in fury. "And to think I could have spent the night with Tony…"
"Wait, Natasha!" Hawkeye called out after her. "Maybe if we try ringing again…"
"I sense you're in need of someone experienced with sorcery," a voice said, as the door to the house opened. A small man with a thick mustache peeked out. "Who is there?"
The Black Widow, still on the stairs, stopped walking and turned to face the man, but not coming back up to the door.
"Good evening, sir," Hawkeye properly addressed. "We are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Hawkeye and Black Widow of the Ultimates-"
"I know who you are," the man rudely interrupted. "What do you want?"
"Well…" Hawkeye began, not quite knowing what to say. "May we see Doctor Strange?"
"He is not here tonight," the man quickly said.
"Is he ever?" Hawkeye asked impatiently.
"As a matter of fact," the short man said in a know-it-all tone, "he was just here last weekend, spending time researching the Mindless Ones."
"Well, when can we see him?" Hawkeye demanded. "We are in need of someone who is familiar with sorcery and magic."
"And so you naturally assume that Doctor Strange is the only one experienced in that field," the man accused.
"The only one that we know of," Hawkeye said, quickly liking the man less and less.
"Tell me," the Black Widow said, making her way up the steps. "Who else can we find that knows about these kinds of things?"
"Oh, well…" the man said in a more cheerful tone, now that he was talking to Black Widow. "There are several, but I can think of one in the city right now."
"Could you tell us where we might find him, please?" Black Widow asked.
"Certainly," the man replied. "One moment, please. I'll go bring his information right now." He shut the door before Black Widow could even tell him thanks.
"Wonderful," Hawkeye said, looking at Black Widow. "You always know how to work your charm."
"Is that what I did?" Black Widow asked skeptically. "I think that the reason you two weren't getting along is because you were being an impolite ass."
"You're kidding," Hawkeye said in disbelief. "He was clearly treating us with disrespect and-"
Suddenly, the door opened and the man came out holding a small folded piece of paper.
"This should tell you how to contact him or find him; whichever you prefer," the small man said. He handed the paper to Hawkeye.
"Thank you very much, sir," Hawkeye said, attempting to show his best manners. "We really appreciate-"
"Yeah, yeah, right," the man said. "Have a good night." He quickly shut the door.
Hawkeye laughed, and he began following Black Widow down the stairs. "What did I tell you, Natasha? The man was clearly being-"
"What does the note say?" the Black Widow asked.
Hawkeye sighed. Nobody seemed to allow him to finish his sentences tonight. He went ahead and unfolded the piece of paper and read what was on it..
"Let's see...alright, we've got a phone number…an address…"
"And what's the name of our lucky contestant?"
"Let's see…hmm, no last name or anything. He just goes by 'Ezekiel.'"
Bobby walked quietly throughout the corridors of Xavier's mansion, trying his hardest to go unnoticed during his little midnight tour.
He made his way to the door leading into the professor's office, which was slightly open, and Bobby saw lighting peering out, along with sounds of a fireplace, and the voices of the professor, Storm, Jean, and Cyclops.
Bobby moved close to the door to hear what they were saying.
"Something has to be done about him," Bobby heard Storm's voice say. "If we don't act now, he might become a hazard to the other students of the school."
"It seems that each and every day, he is losing more and more control of his abilities," Jean said. "The other day, I saw him walking down the hallway, leaving a footprint trail of light frost on the floorboards that he was walking. When I asked him about it, he said he didn't do it on purpose."
"Yes, I was afraid this would happen," the professor said. "When Bobby first came to our school, he appeared to be a courageous, loud-mouthed boy, but not anybody who had any problems maintaining their mutant powers. But ever since the events of the Trinity, these disturbing nightmares he keeps having have been increasing in quantity…"
"So, supposedly, if he were to have a big breakdown and harm the other students…" Storm began.
"We would have to find someway of having him leave the mansion and be taken to a safer environment for him," Cyclops said, in a decisive voice.
Hearing all this, Bobby walked away from the door, and quietly went back the way he came from.
They're thinking of getting rid of me, he thought.
Bobby looked down at his feet. From what he saw, he was leaving no trail of frost behind. "I have perfect control of my powers…" he said softly to himself. "How could they possibly think-"
Bobby stopped dead as he noticed a figure standing on the end of the hallway Bobby was walking down. From the figure's outline, he could see that the person had long hair, but something about the shape of the person's body told Bobby that it wasn't a girl.
"Geldoff, is that you?" Bobby whispered to the person, walking closer.
"It's happened to me," the person said. It definitely sounded like Geldoff.
"What has?" Bobby asked, coming closer to point where some of the moonlight outside the windows was shining upon the figure, and his face was somewhat visible. It definitely was Geldoff.
"I've transformed," Geldoff said loudly. "And I can't allow you to do the same! Die, you scum!"
Geldoff shot out a blue energy orb at Bobby, leaving the young man to scream in fear.
Bobby dodged the orb and screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Geldoff's sinister laughter filled the air. He raised his other arm and using both hands, continuously fired multiple blue orbs at Bobby, enough to form an entire stampede going down the hallway, so nobody could dodge them…
Bobby woke with a gasp.
He looked around. He was sitting in one of the seats of the Blackbird jet.
He sighed with relaxation. It was just a nightmare.
"You alright, Bobby?" Cyclops asked. Bobby looked around the jet to see who was inside it. Other than Cyclops, who was flying the jet, and Bobby himself, the other two passengers were Storm and the professor.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay…" Bobby said.
Cyclops turned away and said, "We'll be at the Triskelion in about five minutes."
Bobby laid back in his seat and it was then that he remembered why he was here.
Every week, the professor visited the Triskelion for a round of counseling sessions with some of the prisoners who were being held there.
The first of these was Bruce Banner, the man who had deliberately transformed himself into the Hulk, and was now doing his best to prevent transformations into the beast. The professor's job was to help soothe Banner's mind and in the long run, teach him how to remain relaxed in the most stressful situations.
The next counseling session required Bobby there as well, for it involved a prisoner that he had a connection to:
Cyrek, the former leader of the organization that had kidnapped Bobby in attempt to gain the powers of the Trinity by using him along with Geldoff and Peter Parker.
The last few counseling sessions with Cyrek had not gone very well, in Bobby's perspective. It involved the professor asking many questions, and Cyrek giving no answers in return.
The man was deadly silent at all time, and somehow, even resisted psychic infiltrations of the mind that professor commonly attempts to use on the X-Men's enemies, whether it was to restrain the enemy, or to gather information.
However, the professor had claimed that he had occasionally made slight breaches in Cyrek's resistance, and had received some glimpses of the man's memory. However, none of them were very cohesive thought or anything visual enough to gather sense and logic out of it.
And Bobby would just sit there next to the professor while questions were being asked, and the silent Cyrek sat across the table, not answering, but looking back and forth between Bobby and the professor coldly and suspiciously.
For Bobby, it was a horrible way to be spending his Friday nights, but the professor had insisted that he do it, especially after hearing about the dream Bobby had about the organization, which occurred before Bobby had ever even heard of them.
The professor glanced over at Bobby and asked, "Are you sure you're fine?"
"Yes, professor," Bobby nodded. "Just dozed off a bit…"
As the plane continued to make it's way to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Bobby sighed at the constant realization that he would be facing a very dull night.
The plan was simple.
Flash sat on the roof of the building closest the Daily Bugle, which offered a great view of the Bugle tower, waiting.
Waiting for Parker to come out.
For weeks Flash had considered whether he would be going after Parker or not. Peter had always been a nuisance to him, but when Flash had joined the organization, he had inadvertently discovered that Parker, the kid that Flash had picked on in school for years, was secretly leading a double life.
Flash had been very shocked to find that Peter Parker was none other than Spider-Man, the superhero that one of Flash's friends, Kong, had admired ever since Spider-Man had made his debut at a local wrestling ring.
It all made sense, Flash realized. This is how Peter had managed to break Flash's arm simply by blocking a punch during a fight at school. He had superstrenght. And now that Flash had acquired the Trinity powers, he had a weapon to fight back with.
Several, in fact.
Flash had been using his powers for several weeks now. Not for spectacular things, but just to enhance his everyday life.
The Trinity powers were very precious to Flash, for they had now made him the star player on his basketball team, and he managed to carry the team to the top of the district rankings, something that Midtown High hadn't been able to do since Peter Parker himself had quit the team.
But it wasn't Flash's jealousy of Peter's abilities that had made him want to kill Peter. It was the fact that Flash was there that day the organization captured Parker, and it was extremely important for Flash to kill Peter, who had connections to the Ultimates and several other groups that could bring Flash to justice if they were to find out his identity.
The Renegade Phantom, he had named himself in front of one of the members of the Ultimates, Iron Man. Flash had wondered if the Ultimates were even concerned with him anymore. He could always drop by the Triskelion and start some trouble, just to get his adrenaline going.
Another time, he thought. Tonight, I have a more beneficial goal.
Flash had waited in the cold heights of the building he was currently standing on for an hour, waiting for Parker to come out, wearing only the very stupid black leather outfit he had a costume maker design, paying the designer with money Flash had stolen from an ATM machine.
He sighed. The outfit was not keeping him very warm tonight. Even his thick mask wasn't preventing his head from shivering. Maybe he would have to delay this mission for another time.
Flash stood up and prepared to leave, when he noticed something out of the ordinary.
On the roofs of several buildings away, Flash saw a man running and hopping from one roof to another.
"What do we have here…?" Flash wondered, his curiosity getting the better of him.
He teleported himself closer to the running man, but far enough so that he wouldn't be noticed.
Flash immediately recognized the man, who was wearing a dark red outfit.
It was Daredevil, the protector of Hell's Kitchen.
"Now here's a badass I wouldn't mind taking on tonight…" Flash softly said.
Suddenly, Flash saw that Daredevil stopped running, and turned around, facing Flash's direction.
"Holy $#&," Flash muttered. He immediately teleported to the back of a billboard, putting himself out of Daredevil's view. "How the hell did he know I was here…?"
"Who are you?!" Flash heard Daredevil yell from a distance. "What do you want?!"
If Flash had been somewhat saner and more logical that evening, he would have teleported himself far away from Daredevil, eventually making his way back to Queens.
Unfortunately for himself, Flash was a fool, and decided it would be fun to play games with Daredevil.
Flash, taking the biggest risk he could think of, teleported himself into closer to Daredevil.
Very closer, in fact. Flash now stood about 20 mere feet away from the masked crime fighter.
"Who are you?" Daredevil asked. Flash noticed he slightly raised his arms, prepared to fight if he needed to.
"I'm so disappointed that you haven't heard of me," Flash said in a sarcastic manner. "I am, of course, the world-famous Renegade Phantom."
"The Renegade Phantom, are you? I can tell by your voice that you're not any of the two men involved with Erasmus I heard earlier on…"
"Erasmus!" Flash spat, shocked. "What do you know about him?!"
Daredevil laughed. "As much as I know about you, kid. I was informed very well by the Ultimates about how you attacked Iron Man up in the sky."
Flash smirked. "My reputation precedes me, then."
"Not for your own fortune, I'm afraid," Daredevil said, in a serious voice. "The Ultimates have been searching for you. And I'm taking you in."
Flash chuckled. "Are you serious? If you really knew everything you could have learned from Iron Man about me, you would know that I can teleport away easily."
"Ah, of course," Daredevil responded in a light, relaxed voice, as if something had just dawned on him. "I couldn't possibly take you in. You do, after all, possess the Trinity powers." Daredevil started to back away, walking towards the edge of the rooftop. "This is where I leave. I know I can't take you on, so I'll just leave you here with your friends."
Flash scoffed. "I'm all alone, you idiot. And I have no intention of finding people to play with tonight."
Daredevil grinned. "You're right. You probably won't find them. They found you." He pointed to the space on the rooftop behind Flash right before he leaped off the edge of the building, and out of sight.
"What the hell is he talkin'-" Flash began to say as he turned around to see what Daredevil was pointing to, but immediately silenced himself when he faced the shock of what was there.
"Hello, Mr. Thompson," one of the three purple-robed men standing there said. "The Leader would like a word with you."
TO BE CONTINUED...