Initiative 2028
Britain and MI-13
Pete Wisdom sometimes felt he was getting too damn old for all this shit. Crushing out his cigarette the gray haired former operative fixed the man on the screen with a glare, "What part of 'get stuffed' did you not understand?"
Henry Peter Gyrich looked distinctly unhappy as the red haired head of the American Initiative program glared back. "Don't take that tone with me," he scowled.
"I can take any damn well tone I like," Pete answered calmly, "I don't answer to you." Sitting back in his chair he added, "Whitehall has no need to suck up to your president, and we're fine economically with the new pan-Europe pact."
Henry visibly looked like he was grinding his teeth. "We are simply asking for a favor...," he managed to start calmly.
"You're asking us to send a British citizen to you so you can put her on a show trial and jail her," Pete cut him off. "No way in hell."
"This isn't over," Henry growled before disconnecting.
Pete sat back with a sigh, but he also felt good. It was rather satisfying to shaft a arrogant bastard like Gyrich, even more so knowing the other man loathed him because Pete was a mutant. Pissing off a bigot, in Pete's opinion, was it's own reward.
"Mr. Wisdom," a voice called from the next room, "the team is here."
"Right," Pete got up, walking into the other room as confidently as he could manage, considering his limp.
MI-13 was Britain's agency for dealing with the paranormal, and had existed for nearly thirty years now. Evolved from such sterling organizations as S.T.R.I.K.E., the RCX, Department of Unknown and Covert Knowledge and the Weird Happenings Organization the current MI-13 oversaw superhuman and paranormal activities in the entire United Kingdom.
Elsa Bloodstone looked cranky, but she always looked cranky. The strawberry blonde adventurer was the reason Pete had been on the phone with Gyrich, the Americans not being very happy with her writing a tell-all book on her adventures in Nextwave. A semi-unkillable monster hunter Elsa had been recruited by the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort or H.A.T.E. to join their superhero team Nextwave, but she and her comrades soon found out HATE had been taken over by the terrorists it was meant to fight. Worse, the leader of HATE Dirk Anger had suffered a nervous breakdown and was now willingly helping those very same terrorists.
The members of Nextwave might have been all b-listers like Machine Man and the Captain, but they were still heroes. They stole a vehicle and the terrorists plans to unleash unusual weapons of mass destruction and proceeded to shut them down. They fought samurai robots, agents of HATE, fake superheroes and even Fing Fang Foom. They finally tracked down the headquarters of the terrorists and even killed the leader, a alternate Devil Dinosaur.
Sadly, all of Nextwave's heroic activities were buried by the administration at the time. It was a immense scandal that the military had appointed a mentally unstable man as head of it's own version of SHIELD, and worse when their organization was taken over by terrorists. Refusing to let the public know the Military bribed, threatened and in one case brainwashed the members of Nextwave to be silent on what had happened.
Sadly for them Elsa had refused to submit and continued telling the truth, now having published a book on the subject, with evidence including eyewitness statements and declassified documents. The public was not pleased and quite a few high ranking officers in the military were looking at forced early retirement or even trials. Poor Gyrich was on the hook too as head of superhuman activities in the US and wanted Elsa sent to the states so he could put her head on a pike.
"Thank you for standing up to Gyrich for me," Elsa smiled wryly as she polished her pistol.
"The pleasure's all mine," Pete said dryly as he looked over his other team mates.
Dark Angel was sitting off by herself again, the blond haired woman's 'uniform' glittering with stars on a black background. Talking with her Pete had found of the 'star stuff' was actually a piece of the fabric of the universe itself, somehow. That along with her armor let Dark Angel tap into immense cosmic powers, the cost being a gradual loss of her humanity.
Albion drank his coffee, the brown haired older man looking distinguished in his rough wool cloak over simple tunic and pants. The magician was either a nutter or the reincarnation of Merlin himself, but either way he was damn useful to have around. His magic was strong and flexible, something Pete had appreciated more than once.
"We going to be waiting long?" Black Knight asked.
"Not likely," Pete answered. The Knight was the latest in a line of knights, one Alec Whitman. A cousin of Dane Whitman, the previous knight, Alec had trained under Dane before Dane retired, the younger man picking up the skills of the trade fast. He was good, but occasionally Pete found himself wishing Dane was here.
Lionheart was a bit of a mystery, and Pete hated mysteries. She was apparently a champion of Britain like Captain Britain, and wore a costume with rampant lion over the Union Jack. A full face mask covered her face, only black hair and her height giving a hint to her identity, and so far she had not chosen to reveal who she was to MI-13. Brian Braddock vouched for her, which was good enough for Pete, but he would have still like to know who she was.
Romany Wisdom looked up at Pete with a slight smile, "Are we still waiting on Thomas?"
"He'll be here in a minute," Pete answered with a shrug, "I got a message he was debriefing Union Jack and would be a bit late."
"Ah," Romany nodded.
Romany Wisdom, much like her brother Pete, got involved with the paranormal and entered government service. Unlike Pete who had mostly followed his conscience Romany got involved with darker stuff, eventually working on a covert multinational project involving biotech and transmode technology on unwilling subjects. Pete and the members of X-Force shut down the illegal operation, destroying the base and he had been worried Romany was killed. She did survive but had been transformed into a cybernetic being, now nearly immortal and possessing some fairly deadly abilities.
'Thankfully she doesn't bear a grudge,' Pete mused as Dai Thomas bustled in, the forty something Welsh former cop looking fit as he waved them to seats.
"All right, everyone," Dai said as the brown haired man stood at the head of the table, "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but it was urgent."
Dai and the MI-13 had a interesting relationship. As a London cop he had been loaned to their predecessor W.H.O. a few times, and in one case had encountered the Knights of Pendragon, even being possessed by one of those knights, Gawain. His possession helped save the world as well as solve a series of grizzly murders, and even after that he worked with them on occasion. It wasn't until a few years had passed that Dai realized he was aging slowly, and went to MI-13 to learn more. Joining at the same time he had rose steadily through the ranks, eventually becoming the liaison to the government and public face of MI-13.
"How's Downing Street reacting to the latest attempt to extradite Elsa?" Pete asked, bringing up the issue most of the group was concerned over.
"The prime minister's not happy about how it hurts our relations with a old ally," Dai admitted, "but King Charles is even less happy about someone trying to railroad a British citizen." He looked over at Elsa, "He's read your book, by the way."
Elsa paled slightly, "Seriously?"
"Yes," Dai smiled, "he thought the language was a bit salty, but he liked it."
"Oh, lovely," Elsa muttered, making a note to call her co-writer Mr Ellis and let him know, too.
"So what did you need to debrief Union Jack on?" Black Knight asked curiously, the younger man sitting at the end of the table.
"A supposedly unauthorized action by US agents on British soil," Dai said with a grimace of annoyance. "They tried to access one of the old Black Air bases."
"Did they get away with anything?" Pete sat forward, frowning intently.
Black Air was a personal ghost for Pete, one that it seemed would never go away. The covert government agency had trained him in his thermal powers and used Pete as a agent, sending him to do dirty jobs for Queen and country. Eventually Pete tired of the killing and wanted out, becoming a supervisor for the European X-Men, Excalibur. There he had learned that at least some of the jobs that he had done for Black Air had been illegal, and he helped Excalibur uncover Black Air's real agenda and shut them down.
"No, it was a completely sterilized facility," Dai answered, "but the fact they knew it even existed implies that they've got dangerous intelligence."
"President Richards has her pet telepath," Dark Angel suggested dryly, "does her maximum range extend this far?"
Dai looked questioningly at Romany. "Not as far as we know," she said, the unofficial expert and human encyclopedia smiling wryly, "plus, we all have psionic shielding. However, I am concerned about penetration on the political level...."
Dai made a face, "Good point." It took time and effort to train someone to generate shields around their thoughts, and while most politicians now knew how to do it, most were not trained to their level. He looked around the room, "Any suggestions?"
Pete hated to suggest it, but it was his responsibility. "Send the US a message in return," he offered. As Dai looked at him he continued, "Have Union Jack take his covert team in, target a closed US base and blow it to hell."
"Provocative," Dai murmured, not disagreeing but thoughtful.
Lionheart's voice was muffled slightly by her mask as she said, "The US was already being provocative, Dai. We have to make sure they understand they cannot raid our soil without permission."
Dai nodded, conceding the point but probably not the debate. "I'll run it by the minister and Downing Street," he said as he said, "I'm also putting MI-13 on alert. The Black Air raid might be a feint for something else, and I want us ready."
"Understood," Pete nodded as Albion magicked up some donuts for everybody.
They ran through the normal business of MI-13 at that point, covering escaped supercriminals and other issues they might be having to deal with. While technically all heroes in the United Kingdom were under the jurisdiction of their organization, the core team was in this room and could be expected to handle most emergencies. It made for a interesting if tense life.
Pete dismissed the team, the group heading either for their quarters nearby, the recreation rooms or the dining hall. As they left he and Dai walted together, both relaxing a bit. "So how's Brian?" Pete asked, grinning.
Dai rolled his eyes, "Annoyed as hell about being away from the field. Brian Braddock is never happier than when he's in his Captain Britain togs fighting things."
"Too true," Pete agreed before adding grimly, "but he's needed more as Prime Minister, especially the way the world is going these days."
Dai gave him a sudden look, "You think that...?"
"I dunno what to think," Pete admitted, "but I don't like what I'm hearing from the States. Richards has had a few local setbacks, the press is not happy, they're nearing a recession an' people are still asking where her parents disappeared to."
"Hmm," Dai grunted.
"And the best way to distract people from troubles at home is to give them something else to look at," Pete said grimly, "like a nice, clear cut war."
"But there's no way they'll buy another war in the Mideast,' Dai protested.
Pete shrugged, "Maybe yes, maybe no, but there's always that colony of Inhumans who set up in Genosha. I bet President Val could cook up something with them."
"Damn," Dai sighed. "you think it's likely?"
"Dunno, but I wouldn't put it past her," Pete said honestly.
To be continued....
Notes:
This is based off of my comics reading, mostly Captain Britain and the MI-13. I would STRONGLY recommend that comic, which is good high adventure with superheroes, and has a interesting cast and concept. Marvel canceled the book before it could really build a audience, IMHO, and it's a crying shame it won't be continued.
According to Marvel's Editor in Chief, Nextwave is NOT canon, however, many writers in Marvel have adopted Nextwave versions of the characters when they're appeared in other books. My solution is as written here: the US government in the Marvel Universe hushed up Nextwave's actions to avoid the embarrassment of admitting their anti-terrorist organization was infiltrated at the top.
My original characters in this chapter are just Lionheart II and Albion III, other than that the characters are all Marvel Universe residents. For more of Elsa's adventures I'd recommend Nextwave Agents of HATE by Warren Ellis, DAMN funny book. Knights of Pendragon is being re-released in trade paperback soon, as I understand, and I would suggest picking it up for Dai Thomas' rather interesting adventure. Good book, and one of the first ecological themed comics.
