West Coast Avengers/Force Works
The Evil Men do, part 2
Misunderstandings
The story thus far: Force Works was informed by reliable sources that the West Coast Avengers may have been infiltrated by a spy for the Kree Empire. The suspected traitor? Captain Marvel. At great reluctance, the team decided to confront the West Coast Avengers about their suspicions while the Avengers were in the middle of a mission. Captain Marvel, the suspected traitor and man with many secrets to hide besides, sensed Force Works coming but couldn't sense their intent. So with little hesitation, he opened fire on Force Works.
300 hundred feet above Blackhawk Airbase
It took Genis Vell, otherwise known as the cosmic protector Captain Marvel, less than three tenths of a second to channel enough power thru his nega-bands to level three city blocks, and project that energy towards the oncoming Stealthwing, bearing the hero team known as Force Works, though he wasn't privy to that information, only that whoever was approaching was somehow blocking his cosmic awareness. Though he feared the uncertainty and repercussions of what would follow such a brazen act, Genis knew as a certainty that the ship couldn't survive such a barrage of energy.
So quite naturally, he was dumbstruck when he saw the blasts of nega-energy pass harmlessly thru the craft as if it weren't even there at all. He felt a rush of air blast across his face, as if an aircraft had just passed by unseen and unheard only a few feet away, but that was impossible. Surely his cosmic awareness would alert him to such…
Then, he remembered that something or someone was dampening his cosmic awareness to the point he couldn't focus it at all. A something that was no doubt contained within that craft. He turned towards where the seemingly invisible aircraft had passed by, and began concentrating, building power and energy while he attempted to pierce the cloud of obscurity that hampered his cosmic awareness, all for a far more focused attack on the invisible (but not for much longer) aircraft. He would not be fooled again.
"Marvel!" An iron coated hand reached out and grabbed the cosmic protector by the wrist in a powerful, steel grip. Captain Marvel found himself whipped backwards towards the ground far below. He stopped his descent with a mental command easily enough, but found he was hovering with the angry Iron Man above him, and his fellow West Coast Avengers teammates, who had seen his rash act against an unknown jet and were all naturally curious and more than a little suspicious, below him.
"Just what the hell are you doing!" Iron Man demanded, completely livid. His gauntlets glowed threateningly with the emerald power of his repulsars as he addressed his fellow Avenger, "why did you attack that plane? This is an airbase Marvel; you could have fired on a U.S army aircraft!"
Captain Marvel searched for an answer that wouldn't inflame the precarious situation even further, that would sooth the concerns of his fellow Avengers, but found himself coming up empty. All he could think to say was, for the second time this day, "I…don't know."
Inside the Stealth Wing.
"Looks like your illusion saved our ass." Arsenal said with a sigh of relief as he brought the Stealth Wing around, back towards the airbase. X-Treme said nothing from the copilot's seat while Mirage, Force Works' leader, stood over their shoulder, "so what's the plan now?"
"Like I said at the briefing. Hit them hard and fast." Mirage said, her mask not betraying the anxiety she felt inside. Force Works had fought long and hard to be a respected hero team in the eyes of the world, and going up against the Avengers threatened all that, "lock and load."
"Easy for you to say, you're not the 'fast'." Speedball muttered as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
Nova glanced at Speedball, grinned, spat on his hands and rubbed them together in imitation of a classic seasoned baseball pitcher. It was a good day to be the Human Rocket.
"….nearly killed those people and that's your best excuse?" Iron Man primed his weapons systems and zeroed in on the Kree Avenger, and Captain Marvel, sensing that if nothing else, shot the golden Avenger an ugly look but said nothing in response. He sensed he didn't need to, because Hawkeye…
"Iron Man? Just what happened to the freakin' plane Marv shot at?" The Avenging Archer snapped.
"I don't know, I don't think it was hit. It's disappeared off my sensors." Iron Man stated, his anger over Marvel's conduct replaced by a more important concern, the welfare of civilians.
"Maybe they decided to land at LAX instead?" Vagabond suggested, "I mean let's chill out for a sec. Not like Marv actually hit anything."
Not one second after Vagabond proposed that alternative, some twenty feet away from the gathered Avengers, an aircraft remarkable similar to the Force Works Stealth Wing did a two hundred mile per hour nosedive at the edge of the landing strip. A plume of fire reached some twenty feet in the air as shrapnel fell from the sky like black and charred confetti.
"Oh my God, Marvel… how…" Warbird said breathless, as she spared a glance at the son of the man who once meant so much to her. But all she could spare was a single glance. Battle hardened and well trained instincts kicked in automatically for each and every Avenger. Captain Marvel's actions were almost consciously forgotten as the team rushed towards the crash site as one, desperate to save any possible survivors.
"Iron Man! Warbird! Get in there and start searching for survivors! Darkhawk, contain the fire with your forcefield!" Hawkeye notched an arrow filled with compressed flame retardant in his bow and let it fly towards the inferno that was once a plane. Quite naturally, he was somewhat confused when the arrow soared right thru the fire without stopping.
"Now… that's not supposed to happen." Hawkeye observed as he and the others slowly stopped sprinting and came to stop. The team had reached the wreckage, but noticed that while it was only about six feet away, they felt no heat whatsoever. Two-Gun Kid carefully stepped forward and put his hand out towards the fire.
"It's like a durn mirage…" He observed as he waved his hand thru the fire harmlessly.
"Iron Man?"
"I'm afraid I don't know what to tell you 'Hawk. My sensors are baffled. Half say there's a plane crash, half say there's nothing at all." Iron Man answered, "I'm also getting another weird reading above us, a sensor echo the size of a…"
Hawkeye saw something out of the corner of his eye and instinctively yelled "Get down!" as he tackled Two Gun Kid and Vagabond to the dirt. A speeding figure of red, yellow and blue slammed into the ground, rebounded towards Iron Man, ricocheted harmlessly off him into Warbird. Darkhawk saw that he was next on the list, and began to activate his force field when he recognized the bouncing missile.
"Speedball!"
The masked marvel slammed into Darkhawk and the momentum of the impact carried the two back towards the airfield.
"Speedball? Isn't he a member of that whatyamacallit team?" Hawkeye asked aloud as he picked himself up off the ground.
"Force Works." Iron Man hissed as he craned his head upwards. By now his sensors had pierced the Stealthwing's anti-detection devises, but it was too little, too late.
The assembled Force Works team looked down upon on the West Coast Avengers thru the drop hatch of the jet, their bodies tensed for battle. Before any attempts at negotiation could be made, Mirage gave Tarene, Arsenal and Wiz Kid a thumbs up. Tarene held her war mallet high in the air, as it began glowing with its God bestowed power.
"I think we need to…"
-Ca-Thoom!-
Hawkeye's next words were swallowed by lightning as wide as a SUV striking the ground not three feet away from the assembled team, and that was only the beginning. Optic blasts of crimson energy battered the earth between Avengers; psychic arrows chased them back towards the airfield while rubber bullets carefully herded them away from one another. Warbird, Iron Man and Captain Marvel placed their powerful bodies between their more fragile teammates and returned fire with their own respective energy blasts, but like with Captain Marvel's first attack, found that their counterattacks just passed harmlessly thru both Force Works and their plane.
"Let's go to work!" Mirage shouted. She kept concentrating on maintaining the illusion that she and her team were three feet above and to the right as she barked out orders to her team, "Nova, Marvel's yours! Hawkeye's mine! Remember your targets people, and remember the plan!"
Nova, Tarene, Arsenal and Kymaera flew forward from the Stealth Wing like precision guided missiles, while Mirage, X-Treme and Wolfsbane quickly repelled down special ropes extending to the ground. Wiz Kid, as ever, took his own method to the battle field, choosing to create a rocket pack to fly above and flank the Avengers.
Tarene flew straight towards Iron Man, who struck her with the full force of his mighty repulsars. Tarene slowed but didn't stop, as she gritted her teeth and pressed forward in the face of the energy onslaught.
"Uh-oh." Iron Man observed as Tarene closed the gap between him and her within seconds. Tarene raised her mallet above her head and swung downwards, smashing Iron Man's chest dead on like it was an oversized nail. The Golden Avenger's systems red-lined instantly and he plummeted towards the earth like a run away train.
Nova slammed into Captain Marvel's solar plexus at the speed of sound, expelling all the air from Captain Marvel's lungs with a pained -whoosh!-
As Genis was still painfully gasping for air, Nova arced upwards. With Genis' stomach still imprinted with Nova's fists, the two disappeared high into the air and lost amongst the sea of clouds. Moments later, flashes of light and sounds of battle could be heard from as far away as the ground below, some two thousand feet away.
Warbird saw Arsenal streaking towards her with his bone claws extended as if he was intent on gutting her. Warbird ducked to her left, and right into a powerful flying right cross from Kymaera. Warbird instinctively tried to backpedal to give herself room to recover, but a blast of pure red force slammed into her back and left her exposed to a left cross from the Atlantean princess.
As Force Works pressed their attack, their aircraft was utterly forgotten. However, it had its own mission to complete. Special cameras focused on each and every Avenger, scanning their bodies for traces of mind altering chemicals, evidence of mental manipulation or anything at all that might indicate the Avengers were not only who they appeared to be, but weren't under any outside mental influence.
As Hawkeye reached for an arrow, he found himself admiring the efficiency of the tactics that were being used against his team. Divide and conquer was a smart enough strategy, but with preplanned targets? He didn't see that a lot in his line of work.
Well, okay he did, but usually not from the good guys. That was more of a bad guy preferred tactic, and Hawkeye was informed enough about current events to know that Force Works weren't bad guys, far from it. So that naturally made him curious why they were even here at all, attacking his team with everything they had and more.
But, Hawkeye mused, that could be explained after all the bruises were properly handed out. Nobody attacked his team without paying the price, after all. Hawkeye withdrew an electro disrupter arrow from his quiver and drew a bead on Wiz Kid, whom was merely hovering above the battle field, simply observing. Hawkeye was about to fire, when trained hunter instincts' warned him that he was in the crosshairs of another's sights.
"So, you want to explain yourself here, or does this become good guy versus good guy fight number three thousand?" Hawkeye asked flippantly, his eyes turned towards Mirage while his bow remained aimed at Wiz Kid.
"Would you believe me if I said it's for your own good?" Mirage asked as she released three of her psychic arrows towards the Avenging marksman.
"If I said a nickel…" Hawkeye easily ducked under the first arrow, rolled forward to dodge the second…and barely stopped in time to avoid the last one as he came to his feet. It flew so close to his chest that he could almost taste the psychic energy in his mouth.
"Playing for keeps, huh?" Hawkeye commented as he withdrew several powerful arrows, "Well, I can do that too, lady. Let's go!"
"Force Works, huh?" Vagabond almost snorted, her fists raised and heart thumping in anticipation for a good fight as X-Treme and Wolfsbane rushed towards her and Two-Gun Kid, "looks like we're gonna have to take these kids over our knees and teach them a lesson!"
"Now just hol' up, Pris. Maybe these kids got a good explanation for this ruckus." The Legendary Western hero, the Two Gun Kid, warned. His pistols were raised and fingers within a hair's breathe of the trigger, but he hesitated about fighting. Something just didn't feel quite right here.
X-Treme quickly terminated any thoughts of negotiations as he sprang forward, landing between the two Avengers. X-Treme leapt into the air and released a round house kick that knocked the two Avengers apart from one another. X-Treme landed in a crouch, and then lunged at Vagabond who was still stumbling backwards.
"Damn and hell!" Two-Gun Kid swore as he barely ducked under Wolfsbane, fangs bared and sharp claws seemingly reaching for his throat.
Vagabond wasn't in much better shape. X-Treme attacked her with every last bit of skill and speed he could muster while Vagabond struggled to at least attempt to block as she backpedaled madly for room to breath.
A flattened palm to the center of her rib cage, a snap kick to her left knee, a left hook to the side of her head, a left back hand to her jaw. By the time she blocked one damaging punch or kick, X-Treme had already launched another attack. She never noticed the slight split second tingle that came from her left breast pocket when X-Treme launched an attempted nerve blow. The fact that his hand swept outwards towards his teammate Wiz Kid didn't register either. No, it wasn't until she was barely balanced on the balls of her feet, that Vagabond realized that not a single blow X-Treme directed towards her did anything more than brush up against her skin. That information did little to help Vagabond's balance as she threatened to tip backwards. Vagabond instinctively put her arms out to the side in an attempt to stay balanced. Of course, that left her wide open to X-Treme.
Vagabond watched helplessly as X-Treme, his face impassive cocked his right fist back, balled into a fist. Vagabond blinked for a split-second and it instantly there, his fist so close that she could smell the alien leather of his glove. Adam Sol's hand snapped open, startling Vagabond just enough so that she fell backwards on her rear.
Vagabond didn't get up instantly. Rather, she stayed down and did a mental assessment of the past twelve seconds.
"You copped a feel, you bastard!"
X-Treme looked at Vagabond, confused, "I did what now?"
Vagabond shot up, and charged forward with a snarl, "No one but no one cops a feel from me!"
Wiz Kid glanced over the Avengers communicator card that X-Treme had lifted from Vagabond. Though it was the size of a credit card, Taki's sensors revealed to him the incredible technological devise that he was gazing at. Specially crafted and encrypted G-8 processor chips capable of withstanding an electro magnetic pulse connected the average Avenger to an incredible wealth of classified or other potentially important information. Its communicator chip was another work of art, speeding vital data to the Avengers at lightning speed via a personal satellite connection. But the communicator card also represented something else to Taki.
The weakest link in the Avenger's collective armor. And one Armored Avenger in particular.
Sliding the card into a specially designed scanner, he began making preparations against one of the most powerful and dangerous Avengers present.
Even though every breath he took brought a slight stab of pain from his now bruised ribs, Tony Stark, otherwise known as the golden Avenger Iron Man, felt a small bit of smug pride. He'd defeated Force Works' strongest member in only a matter of seconds, and planned on disabling her once he'd gotten the information he needed from here.
While Tarene's attack didn't want for power or ferocity, it did lack for skill and cunning. Once away from his teammates, Iron Man struck Tarene with an ultra sonic attack that turned her world into one of side splitting pain. Iron Man then followed up with a flare attack at specific frequencies designed to induce dizziness. Those two combined attacks were more than enough to bring Tarene to her knees, and once down he surrounded her feet with a frictionless micro-thin force-field, preventing Tarene from rising to her feet in the unlikely event that she could fight off the effects of the dual sensory assault.
"Alright young lady, you're going to tell me what this is all about, and you're going to tell me now." Iron Man ordered. Though he'd ceased using his high pitched ultra sonics, he switched tactics slightly by using a low pitched sonic frequency that disrupted Tarene's inner ear functions while he continued using his gauntlets to produce a disorientating light show. Tarene could hear and talk, barely, but couldn't do much else.
"Captain Marvel…he's a traitor for some…big green alien head guy…" Tarene forced out thru gritted teeth. Iron Man's weapons were painful and even worse, in Tarene's opinion, unfair. Impotent rage began to bubble up as weapons she couldn't touch and couldn't fight held her power in check.
"The Supreme Intelligence?" Iron Man asked, astonished. While he had no idea on what information Tarene suspected Marvel to be a traitor, Iron Man also knew that the leader of the Kree Empire wasn't exactly public knowledge. And of course, there were Iron Man's own suspicions about the Kree Avenger.
"Iron Man, we have an emergency!"
Iron Man set the weapons he was using against Tarene on automatic as he turned his attention towards the Avengers communication frequency.
"What is it Pris?"
"You're been had." The statement was finished with a loud squeal of static. By the time Stark brought his hands up to his ears out of habit, every anti-virus warning was flashing on his HUD. Servos locked, and systems began shutting down.
"The problem with a communication card any idiot can use, is, well, any idiot can use it. And a genius can exploit it."
Iron Man, barely in control of his armor, spun around to see Wiz Kid aiming a large, high tech bazooka like devise directly at him. Wiz Kid pulled the trigger, and a round, cylinder devise the size of a bag of sugar flew out and slammed into Iron Man. Wire cords shot out from the side and wrapped themselves around the armored Avenger's waist. Iron Man grabbed the cords, desperate to pull them off, but the instant he gripped them, his armor seemingly exploded in a ball of pure white light.
"One cord is negative, one is positive." Wiz Kid stared forward emotionlessly, his eyes protected by special lenses, "combined with the magnetic force field that gives your armor its strength, and essentially, I've turned your armor into one big electromagnetic pulse."
The light burned brightly for several seconds as the pulse weapon vaporized itself while pumping enough juice into Iron Man's to light four city blocks. It died down quickly enough, to reveal Iron Man standing in the center with his hands on his hips and a look of anger plainly visible despite his emotionless faceplate as the steam billowed off his armor.
"Is that the best you can do?" He asked as he strode forward and snatched Wiz Kid's weapon out of his hands, "I decided to protect my armor against electromagnetic pulses a long time ago, kid."
Wiz Kid, seemingly unconcerned with the loss of his weapons, smiled and placed his hands behind his back casually, "I know. You only went down for a second and a half, if I calculated right. Stop."
Tony Stark's jaw dropped when his armor completely froze, unresponsive to his commands.
"You see, that virus I infected you with was designed to work in conjunction with the electromagnetic pulse." Taki explained, "when you rebooted, my virus became part of your armor's operating code. If it's done its job right, it's hijacked control of your communications system and connected directly with a supercomputer back at Force Works base, designed solely for the creation of computer viruses. For every one virus you defeat, it will send out two more nastier ones, learning from the first."
Stark activated several emergency backups and protocols thru his cybernetic link, and instantly regained control over his armor, albeit for the moment. Stark did a quick assessment of the virus and smirked, "Kid, with all this overkill, you should have realized something. I've been beating better than you, for a long, long time. Your bugs will be bugs on my windshield in about ten seconds."
"Perhaps, perhaps. But the main idea was to give her a chance to recover and the upper hand." Wiz Kid explained.
"Her?"
A white gloved fist smashed into the side of Iron Man's head and sent him flying thru the air. He landed a good fifty feet away, and was thankful he wasn't too steady on his feet at the time he was struck. It might have otherwise taken his head off. He looked to see Tarene rushing towards him, her eyes blood red in anger.
On instinct, he raised the palm of his hand and activated his repulsars. But instead of a smashing force of energy that would slow the godling so that he could formulate a defense, he instead recieved…
"Oh Hawkeye, you're sooo manly…." A voice purred in a poor attempt to be seductive.
In a small panel on the right side of his HUD display, a scene showed a man and a women, in a state of undress, intertwined. What shocked Iron Man was not only the fact that the man and woman were undressed, but what they were dressed in (he couldn't look away if he wanted to, and he very much wanted to). The two…performers were dressed in imitation of his teammates and friends, as outraging as what they were forcing into his armor.
"PORN! That bastard is using porn against me?" Stark shouted, outraged with every fiber of his being.
Tarene tackled Stark about the waist a moment later, and squeezed hard. Pressure alarms went off, steel groaned loudly and Stark could feel his armor pressing against his skin uncomfortably dangerously fast. As the anti-virus alarms began screaming in his ears, Tarene tightened her bear hug , and flashing in his eyes as the porn rolled on and on, Stark began to very much doubt his continued existence.
Wiz Kid watched Tarene go to town on Iron Man. His only action was to brush his hands, and stroll away, "Now, for the third most dangerous Avenger."
Chris Powell released a darkforce blast from his chest, blasting Speedball back while he tried to comprehend why his friends were attacking his other friends. Speedball flew backwards several feet, but managed to redirect himself before being thrown too far.
"Speedy, what the hell are you guys doin' here and why are you attacking us?" Darkhawk demanded.
"Me? What are you doin' with these old folgies?" Speedball answered as he bounded at Darkhawk, "why aren't you in New York like every other self respecting hero and vigilante?"
"Trouble with the 'rents." Darkhawk ducked under Speedball's bounce and turned to face the hero, "seriously dude, why are you fighting us?"
Speedball brought himself to a stop and faced his friend. He generated two bubble bombs in his left hand, but didn't throw them, "Seriously? We think that Captain Marvel guy of yours is a spy, and he mighta mind controlled you guys too."
Darkhawk processed the information for a second, and found himself more than a little concerned. Captain Marvel was always aloof and short with his fellow Avengers, seemingly afraid to even consider being personal with any Avenger. Was it because he was secretly planning on betraying them?
Darkhawk put his hands out in a placating manner, "Okay, how can I prove that I'm not mind controlled?"
"Remember when we first met, Nova was juggling those cars?" Speedball asked
"That was the second time we met, wasn't it?"
"Hey, you passed!"
A pause.
"So…"
"So…"
"Wanna take bets on who's gonna win?"
"Dude, no contest. We're Avengers."
"And they let you join, what does that say? You think the Great Lake Avengers could whup us? I think not."
"Low blow. And now that you mention it…"
Kymaera, propelled by an energy blast to center of her rib cage, slammed into a pile of wooden crates, turning them into so many toothpicks. Though she didn't lose consciousness, her vision blurred and she struggled to draw a breath. Not only was the blast painful, but it was expertly placed.
"You know, I went on a date with your cousin, and he never called me back." Warbird stated as she hovered over Kymaera's pained form, "I don't suppose you know why?
Behind her, the battered and bruised Arsenal charged at Warbird's exposed back. Without so much as looking over her shoulder, Warbird pointed backwards and released three energy blasts, one several seconds after the other.
The first one struck Arsenal in his left wing, knocking him into the second blast which struck him in the chest. Before he could even hope to recover, the third and final blast struck him directly in the head. It was more force than energy, but it was more than enough to send him spinning head over heels to the ground.
"His… wife came back… to life." Kymaera groaned.
"Isn't that always the way?" Warbird sighed. Kymaera launched herself back into the fray despite the fact she was still reeling in pain
Warbird ducked under Kymaera's right hook and replied with a solid punch to Namorita's gut.
"One, you should tighten your stomach muscles for a punch before you throw the punch." Warbird advised as she pulled her left arm back. Warbird struck Kymaera across the jaw and made the princess see stars on the edge of her vision, "Two, tuck your head slightly in a fight. It makes taking a punch easier. And three…"
Warbird shot up into the air suddenly, and Arsenal came barreling thru where she'd just been, slamming into Kymaera. Before they could untangle themselves, Warbird drew her foot backwards and punted Arsenal in the rear. Both he and Kymaera were sent careening thru the air, far, far away like an expertly kicked football.
"Always be aware of your surroundings. Wiz Kid, right?"
Warbird turned to face Force Works' resident genius, whom was aiming a small laser pistol attached to his wrist.
"Correct. Good bye, Warbird."
Wiz Kid activated the blaster, and a blue streaming trail of energy shot out and slammed into Warbird before she could even move. Warbird however, wasn't overly concerned. Her body absorbed the energy harmlessly, though she began glowing blue as a side effect of all the power she was absorbing.
"Nice try, but I absorb energy genius." Warbird snapped as she fired off a bolt of energy at Wiz Kid. The blast was stopped by an invisible force field created by Wiz Kid's tech pack, but it's main purpose was to gauge the technological genius's defenses. Warbird knew he couldn't physically take the same amount of damage as his other two teammates.
"This I know."
Wiz Kid aimed another laser pistol at Warbird and fired. The energy discharged was colored green, and traveled too fast for Warbird to avoid.
The energy struck Warbird squarely in the chest. Warbird fell to the earth and clutched her stomach, her sweat instantly transforming into steam as her body temperature sky rocketed. Her blood felt as if it was burning while her body felt as if it were about to explode. Warbird could feel the energy she'd absorbed beginning to spill out, and fought like mad to keep it in, but her powers didn't respond.
Whether Warbird screamed or not as all her stored energy tore out of her body in one large explosion, Taki didn't know. Where Warbird had landed looked like a bomb has just been dropped, the ground uprooted with smoke and steam billowing into the air at its center.
"Beta particles and negatively charged gamma particles don't mix." Once again brushing his hands clean, Wiz Kid began contemplating the next foe to attack. He didn't even bother to examine whether or not Warbird was alright, and why should he? He ran three dozen simulations covering different scenarios. So long as her genetic baseline was human, her energy absorption powers would be crippled for the next twelve hours. Best to decide another target, he thought. Hawkeye would make Mirage indebted to him, but Two-Gun Kid would likely be an easier fight and tip the odds in his team's favor. Decisions, decisions…
"You little troll!"
Warbird tore out of the smoke and steam, her hands outstretched and reaching for Wiz Kid's throat. Thankfully, Wiz Kid ducked under her speeding form at the last instant and Warbird was flying too fast to turn back around too quickly.
"Okay, slight miscalculation." He confessed, body temperature slightly rising.
An energy blast shattered his force field like so much cheap glass.
"I'm going to rip your throat out by way of your ass!" Warbird roared as she blasted towards the young genius, both fists glowing brightly with her star-born power.
Wiz Kid formed his tech pack into a jetpack and speeded off in the opposite direction of Warbird, powerful blasts chasing him every step of the way. Warbird kept after him, and the chase was on.
Above the battlefield, still forgotten, the Stealth Wing had completed its mission. Analyzing the physical movements of the WCA, and running dozens of sensor scans, it came to the only conclusion its sophisticated computers could reach. The West Coast Avengers weren't under any form of mind-control whatsoever.
"Situation negative." The Stealth Wing sent out a preprogrammed codeword that told the members of Force Works that the West Coast Avengers weren't under any outside mental influence. But of all the members of Force Works, only Mirage, locked in combat with Hawkeye, took note of it.
Her battle with Hawkeye was largely inconclusive; though she was thankful she'd taken some precautions before challenging the Avenging archer. Special contact lenses countered Hawkeye's flares arrows, special hearing aids protected against his sonic arrows while her mask protected her against his gas arrows.
But that left the blunted arrowhead that had smacked against her temple, the regular arrow that'd just come within inches of being embedded in the bone in her left shoulder instead leaving a deep cut and the blast arrow here and there that kept breaking her stride.
Hawkeye was doing a little better, but not by much. Mirage had several near hits with her own personal arrows, even though Hawkeye was just as fast on his feet. To be fully effective, they needed to strike a person's head or chest. Hawkeye was quick enough to deny Mirage a shot like that, he wasn't fast enough to prevent her from hitting his right arm. It felt sore and tender as a result, like it had been sunburned and fallen asleep, all at once. Combined with the occasional illusion and it was screwing up his aim enough to prevent him from ending this quickly, though he suspected he couldn't do that if he wanted too.
Both Mirage and Hawkeye allowed their battle away from their teammates, confident both in their teammates abilities to handle themselves, and their ability to handle each other. In regards to the latter, both were beginning to suspect that faith was just a little bit misplaced.
"I've got good news for you Hawkeye, you're not under mind-control." Mirage stated as she ducked under a taser arrow.
"Oh, that's a relief. I guess sleeping with that tinfoil hat paid off!" Hawkeye notched another arrow.
"Can we talk?"
Hawkeye let his arrow fly, "You attack me and my team, and you wanna talk? Sorry girl, but the only way we're talking is under my terms."
Mirage half expected Hawkeye to say that (hell, she'd do the same in his position) but she didn't let his refusal break her stride. She observed that he'd fired the last shot (which came within inches of her head) a little sluggishly. And since long distance battle wasn't accomplishing jack, she decided to continue this fight up close.
Hawkeye stepped forward while reaching for another arrow as slowly as possible without being too suspicious. He too recognized trading arrows back and forth with Mirage would take too long and he was as confident in his hand to hand combat skills as he was in his archery skills. Mirage closed the gap between them in seconds, just like Hawkeye expected her to.
Dani threw a left hook that Hawkeye sidestepped with ease. He nailed Mirage in the stomach with a solid gutpunch that expelled the air from her lungs with a –whoosh!-. Before he could press his attack, Dani's left elbow slammed into the corner of his eye. Shifting her weight again, Dani then smashed her other elbow into the side of Hawkeye's head. Hawkeye, acting on autopilot, struck Dani across the back of her head with his right fist.
The two combatants stumbled away from each other for a split second, both in equal amounts of pain before throwing themselves at each other again. Dani let loose a snap kick that Hawkeye blocked, but deflected his next punch with the side of her wrist. The two fought back and forth hard, each calling upon not only their years of experience but the moves and skills taught to them by those who'd guided them into the hero business.
Mirage called upon the training she received at the hands of Magneto, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, SHIELD and the battle training she employed as a chooser of the slain as she fought to find an opening in Hawkeye's defenses.
Hawkeye called upon his training under the command of Captain America to best defend himself from the mutant hero. Only one man, but it was more than enough for any foe.
The two fought back and forth for an eternity that spanned three minutes before both saw the same opening. Hawkeye faked a right, and ducked his head forward for a meeting of heads with Mirage. But unfortunately for him, Mirage had the same idea. Their thick skulls crashed together with a loud –crak!- and the two veteran heroes stumbled away from one another again.
Hawkeye shook his head to clear the stars and pulled another arrow from his quiver. As soon as his vision cleared, he found himself surrounded by fire. While the Avenging Archer didn't fear being burned in the least (he knew her tricks now), he was concerned about the fact that he could no longer see his quarry. The fire quickly evaporated to reveal a baker's dozen of the same image. Mirage, her bowstring pulled back and armed with her trademark psychic arrows.
"Ready to talk now?" A voice asked, but Hawkeye couldn't tell from where. He suddenly wished that he'd pulled a flare arrow from his quiver. The blinding light it would have released wouldn't have affected Mirage, but it would have at least washed away her illusions.
"One good shot is all I need to end this." Hawkeye thought to himself. He eyed the multiple Mirage's carefully. Of the eleven illusions, only one possessed a shadow and was crushing the grass underneath its foot. Hawkeye instantly knew his target, and with speed that would make Quicksilver proud, spun around and shot his arrow directly at Mirage with such speed and accuracy she couldn't have dodged even if she had known it was coming.
So it was with great shock that Hawkeye watched his arrow pass thru it's intended target. His world exploded in pain, and he fell to his knees as images of his dead wife danced in his head.
"I know mirages like you know arrows." Dani explained as she walked up behind Hawkeye. She created another one of her arrows and aimed it at the back of Hawkeye's head, "ready to talk now?"
Despite the fact that it felt like the Hulk had used his head a punching bag, Hawkeye smiled, "I know a whole hell of a lot more about this business than just arrows too."
In one fluid motion that caught Dani completely by surprise, Hawkeye reached behind his head with both hands and grabbed Mirage by her wrists. Hawkeye wasted no time in pulling her forward and flipped Dani over on her back, hard.
"Like how to really play possum."
However, by the time what he hoped was his final arrow was in his bow, Mirage had already created another one of her personal arrows.
"Stalemate. Wanna talk?"
"That's assuming you grabbed an arrow, and not one of my mirages."
Hawkeye observed his arrow disappear and then return.
Hawkeye smirked, "That mighta worked on a rookie, but not me. Now, can we both stop this pissing contest and get down to business?"
Hawkeye paused to reflect.
"And I'd never thought that it'd be me saying that to a woman."
"Talk? Fine. How open are you to the possibility that your Captain Marvel is a spy for the Kree Supreme Intelligence?"
Hawkeye lowed his bow and stepped back, though he kept the arrow notched "Does this answer your question?"
Mirage set aside her own weapons and slowly picked herself up off the ground with a muffled groan, "Yeah, I guess it does."
"How sure are you about this?"
"I'm here, aren't I?"
Hawkeye and Mirage looked at one another, their eyes meeting in mutual understanding.
"Okay. Call your guys off, I'll get mine and I think both teams will have a little sit down with Marv."
"Deal."
Two-Gun Kid tried to think of another time when he'd fought something or someone who appeared so animalistic, but acted so human even in combat. Even though Wolfsbane had him at a disadvantage in terms of speed and strength, the seasoned gun slinger knew more than enough tricks to keep the young mutant at bay while he tried to figure what in the Sam hill was goin' on here. Heck, he suspected that no matter how old the girl got, she wouldn't even reach his level of skill. Two quick shots had forced the young werewolf back, and the two combatants began circling one another, searching for an opening or some weakness in their foe.
Wolfsbane eyed Two-Gun Kid carefully. She was letting the fact that the man used guns get to her in the worst way possible. Like many heroes, she'd had bad experiences with guns. And not just the run of the mill, being shot at big nameless thugs. No, it was far more personal than that. When her mutant powers first manifested, she'd had to dodge bullets to save her life. She still had the scar on her right shoulder from one bullet that met its mark. Her first love had been killed by a simple handgun. As such, guns always brought up unpleasant feelings and emotions, especially in the hands of an expert. So try as she may, she couldn't quite banish those thoughts from her mind no matter how much she wanted too.
Finally, fed up with waiting, Wolfsbane attacked with a snarl. Her uniform was bullet proof after all, and she'd make this cowboy eat those guns.
Of course, Two Gun Kid had different ideas. He fired four shots in rapid succession at Wolfsbane. The four shots impacted Wolfsbane's chest not an eighth of an inch away from their fellows. And despite the fact her uniform was indeed bulletproof, four bullets clustered together with such accuracy felt like a sledgehammer to the chest. Rahne fell backwards like a doll with its strings cut.
Two-Gun Kid watched Wolfsbane shift back into her human form as she fell unconscious and wondered if there was a rock nearby he could just crawl under and die. She didn't even look old enough to drink, these days at least…
"You bastjak!"
Two-Gun Kid turned around, four more shots rang out and four blades rushed past his body, missing by a large margin. When he would reflect on it later, the legendary gunslinger would realize that he'd fired off the four shots to deflect blades that were aimed for some rather vital parts of his body. But right now, he was just thankful his reflexes were a whole hell of a lot faster than even he knew.
X-Treme, who'd all but forgotten his fight with Vagabond, didn't bother to take out more blades. Rather, he locked hate filled eyes with Two-Gun Kid while he unsheathed one of his nastier (and thus more reliable) war-knives.
"You're going to pay for that one, I promise you that."
"Talkin' ain't never won a fight, boy." Two Gun said simply.
Vagabond looked at her teammate, and then back at X-Treme, stunned beyond belief. Not that Two-Gun Kid showed. No, she was blown away by how easily X-Treme had just turned away from her to challenge Two-Gun. Like she was little more than an afterthought.
"Well, I'll teach him." She thought to herself. Balancing perfectly on one foot, she shifted her weight as she spun around and let loose the perfect round house kick aimed at X-Treme's smug head.
She felt her leg stop sharply and wasn't concerned at first. A moment later, when she found she couldn't move her leg from its position, she was. She looked and saw that X-Treme had caught her kick without even looking sideways. When he looked at her a second later, Vagabond could only say one thing in response to his look of annoyance and anger.
"Eep."
"Adam, stand down." A voice said over his Force Works communicator
X-Treme pushed Vagabond aside and activated his comm. Unit, "What is this? Rahne…"
"I know. We attacked first, remember? Stand. Down. Now."
Adam sheathed his knife reluctantly, "Another time."
Adam then sprang into the air. Two Gun Kid and Vagabond tried to follow his path with their eyes, but the alien warrior disappeared into the sun. He landed in a crouch, behind Two-Gun Kid and Wolfsbane. Without so much as sparing the two Avengers another glance, he began tending to the woman he loved.
Warbird gripped Wiz Kid by his collar, and drank in the look of concern on his bruised face as she drew her fist back,
"I don't like it when people try out their experiments on my body, you smug bastard! And nobody gets away with it, ever." She spat
An arrow flew between Wiz Kid and Warbird.
"That's enough Carol."
"Says who?" Carol spat, "Just give me another three minutes, 'Hawk. All I need."
"I said, that's enough. Don't push me Carol, because I've got bigger things on my plate than your attitude."
Warbird reluctantly released Wiz Kid's collar and glared at Hawkeye, "And what might that be?"
Iron Man felt himself lifted into the air when Tarene's gloved fist smashed across his armored face. For better or worse, he was smashed back to the earth by Tarene's other fist, this one carrying her war hammer. While he was still reeling from the assault, she drew her foot back and punted Iron Man away like a soccer ball.
Iron Man soared over the green grass surrounding the airfield like a stone across water, striking the ground before skipping up and being carried further by his momentum once, twice… then colliding with the side of a hangar and becoming embedded like a fly in amber.
Iron Man struggled to extricate himself before Tarene was upon him once again, but that was far easier said than done. The computer virus his armor had been infected with had made the armor slow, sluggish to respond to even the simplest of commands, making it all but impossible to bring his many weapons systems to bear against his foe.
In the past, Iron Man had always wondered how he would fare against his fellow Avengers founder, Thor. Sure, they'd skirmished here and there due to mind control or some such, but Iron Man could always sense his old friend holding back on some level. Now, having faced the unbridled fury of Tarene, Iron Man found himself thankful for that.
The Iron Avenger pulled himself out of the hangar wall, and felt his blood run cold when his armor powered down, and refused to answer his commands to reactivate.
Unknown to Tony Stark, the virus Wiz Kid had infected the Iron Man armor with had erased the memory of Tony Stark's brainwaves from the command protocols. Tony Stark had spent so much time on his armor, figuring out ways lock out outside controls from commandeering his armor and using it like a puppet no matter what, he'd never considered the possibility that someone would just plain old lock him out and not bother trying anything else.
Of course, being Tony Stark, he had several failsafe protocols designed that provided blanket protection against any dozens of possible failures. The armor would be back online in thirty seconds, at the most.
Sadly, Tarene was only fifteen seconds away and closing faster. Her eyes were blood red with fury while her war hammer crackled with electrical power. Tony Stark reassured himself he'd been in worse situations before, but none sprang to mind.
"Tarene, that's enough."
Iron Man observed Tarene freeze in her tracks as Mirage strode forward, arms calmly swaying at her sides, "We've got a cease fire going on, and you should have pulled back when you heard the Stealthwing radio everything was clear."
Tarene looked away like a child scolded for misbehavior, "Sorry, Dani."
Mirage turned towards Iron Man, who's armor banged up and dented, certainly looked like it had seen better days, "Are you alright?"
His armor reactivated and at full power, Stark stared at Mirage thru his armor's eye slits, "Am I supposed to take your word that our teams have a cease fire? You attacked me…us unprovoked, nearly get me killed and now you want to talk? That's rich, believe me, I should know."
"She's telling it straight." Iron Man turned his head to see both Force Works and the West Coast Avengers walking thru the grass towards he and Mirage. Some were limping while others were glaring at members of the opposing team yet no one was anywhere near throwing a punch. That was certainly an improvement from ten minutes ago.
"What's the deal, Hawkeye? Why are we even bothering to talk to these punks?" Iron Man demanded.
"Friendly type, isn't he?" Speedball asked Darkhawk.
"You have no idea, man."
"We may have a fox in our hen house." Hawkeye answered, "We need to find Marvel."
"Marvel…"Iron Man growled.
"He was Nova's target." Wiz Kid stated, "so where are they?"
It was a bad day to be Nova the Human Rocket. Powerful blasts of nega beam energy slammed into his chest, firing off every pain receptor in Nova's brain. Each and every breath was like knives to his lungs while his body painfully absorbed the energy. Nova quickly fired it back at its original owner, but Captain Marvel blocked the beam with a dismissive gesture, and fired off two more blasts that taught Nova new meaning to the word pain. He struggled to stay aloft while Captain Marvel regarded him with an odd look of distain and amusement.
"You may wish to inform the scientists of the Nova Corps that this devise works best when kept away from me." Captain Marvel crushed the plaut devise that'd dampened his cosmic awareness allowing Force Works to approach him unawares.
"You deserve this so freakin' much."
Nova shot forward, his fist pulled back in hopes of landing a powerful haymaker on Captain Marvel's smug jaw. Sure, the guy was more powerful than him. Sure, he knew more stuff. But he wasn't so much stronger it mattered and he certainly didn't have Nova's speed. That would be what won the fight, Nova decided.
Captain Marvel didn't need Nova's speed, though. He'd sensed the move coming a mile away figuratively, and moved aside while leaving his arm stretched out to catch Nova. It worked, and Nova ran head first into a superspeed close-line.
"That hurt you so much more than me, I hope you realize. You're a failure, Rider."
Captain Marvel gripped Nova by the collar and slammed his fist into Nova's helmeted head, making the Human Rocket see stars, "Can't hold a job, can't live a normal life…"
A punch to the ribs, nearly breaking them, "Your father would be so ashamed. You're a black spot on his legacy!"
A right hook that sent sweat and blood flying off Nova's face, "What an idiot you are, Richard! Trying to live up to an ideal and trying to be what everyone else thinks you should be and failing every time!"
This time it was a left hook that loosened teeth, "No wonder you took the easy way out! No wonder everyone hates you now!"
Captain Marvel grabbed Nova by the neck, and brought him so close Nova could smell the protons on Captain Marvel's face, "Not much of a choice, was it? To be hated, or laughed at? Sneered for not being as great as your father was in his lifetime when you've barely started yours. The logic there…it's maddening."
Nova spat a glob of blood in Captain Marvel's face, and forced out a smile, "You were already nuts, buddy."
Nova kicked free, and his body began to glow blood red. Even though he'd been getting his ass kicked the entire fight, Nova had stored away a small amount of energy from each painful blast Captain Marvel unleashed and was calling upon all that energy and more now to throw at Captain Marvel. His Nova burst, his most powerful weapon, had to be enough to take down Captain Marvel. It had to be.
Captain Marvel didn't so much as move as incredible amounts of energy lashed out from Nova and washed over his form. Nega energy combined with Nova force intermingled to create a powerful stream of energy capable of destroying most anything in its path. It took Nova a full twenty seconds to release all the energy he'd absorbed, and he felt like road kill once he was done. He was so exhausted in fact, he almost didn't notice the figure that was calmly floating where the energy railroaded thru.
Captain Marvel crooked his head to the side with a devil's grin, "Is that your best shot?"
"H…how?"
"I toughed out the first ten seconds with my force fields, and then felt like absorbing the rest." Nova observed how Captain Marvel's nega bands seemed to pulsate with renewed power.
"I think I've gotten my second wind, how about you?"
"Marvel!"
Iron Man rose up between Captain Marvel and Nova, his demeanor intensely serious, "We need to have a discussion down below. Now."
Captain Marvel folded his arms across his chest, "About what?"
"We'll discuss it on terra firma."
Captain Marvel snorted, "What's so important about doing it there, Iron Man? I feel fine here. Are you really going to force me down just for a 'discussion'?"
"No…"
"But I will!"
Tarene struck the distracted Captain Marvel across the back with her war hammer, and the cosmic hero's concentration broke. He tumbled thru the air towards the earth like a parachuter whose parachute had malfunctioned. Before he could right himself, he struck the earth, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Physically, he was more than fine. It was a lucky shot more than anything else, and Captain Marvel could have survived that fall even without his energy powers.
Captain Marvel coughed, and looked up to see Hawkeye standing in front of him, with an arrow notched. His fellow Avengers and what he'd guessed to be Nova's teammates (only one of whom he recognized) had him surrounded.
"Hawkeye, what's the meaning of this?"
"We've got some questions, Marv, and if we don't get some answers, over a dozen heroes are gonna tap dance on your head and freakin' enjoy it."
Next issue: Will Marv spill the beans? Will Iron Man forgive Force Works for using porn against him? And what the heck was Shadowforce up to(remember them?) anyways? All this next issue!