"It was weeeird being a lizard," rambled Squirrel Girl.

"Hmm," Predator said, doing his best to tune her out. He was busy trying to replace the carbon-weave fabric that supported the plates of armor on his suit.

"You're even more sensitive to temperature than when you're a squirrel, and I should know..."

"Hmmm." Holes fit onto the studs, armor plate fitted over that, screws go in there and there...

"Done," Predator said.

"Huh?" asked Squirrel Girl.

Predator triumphantly held up his fixed gauntlet. "I finished fixing my armor." With that, he slid the gauntlet up his unarmored arm, listening with satisfaction as the elbow joint of his armor locked onto the gauntlet and clicked in place around it.

"Good!" chirped Squirrel Girl. She looked away, suddenly sheepish. "Ah... sorry about that, by the way."

Predator flexed his arm, making sure the gauntlet was working properly. "Don't be. That was all on the crazy lizard stuff," he replied.

Squirrel Girl perked up again. "Thanks! Oh, did I tell you how weird it was, being a lizard?"

Predator sighed. "Yes," he replied, hoping the hyperactive hero wouldn't say it again.

"Oh, okay. I think I'm going to go to the cafeteria. They're serving pecan pie, and I need to get my nut intake back up," Squirrel Girl grinned.

Predator gave her a measuring look. "Are you sure you need more sugar in your system?"

Squirrel Girl continued to grin. "Okay, then. Bring me a slice, would you?" Predator asked as she left the room.

"Sure thing!" She replied happily.


Squirrel Girl didn't notice as ice crept along the ceiling. She did notice, however, as a series of great icicles dropped down from the ceiling and blocked the hallway ahead of her. She turned around to see the hallway behind her sealed off with ice… and a figure standing in front of it.

The person wore a suit of low-level power armor, not to the degree of Iron Man or Predator's armor, but enough to increase strength and durability. The figure's face was hidden behind a blank visor-face-mask and breathing apparatus. "Hey!" Squirrel Girl said. "What's all this about? Who are you?" The figure thrust a hand forwards, and a barrage of icicles blasted towards her. Squirrel Girl leaped up to avoid the icicles and bounced off of the ceiling. "What gives, man?" she asked as she landed in front of the masked figure. "There's no reason to go around attacking people!"

The figure responded by forming a chunk of spiked ice around its left hand and swinging at her.

"Whoa!" Squirrel Girl yelped, ducking under the blow before backing off and raising her fists. "Alright then, mister! Prepare to fear the squirrel!" She leaped to the side and bounced off the wall, coming in with a sweeping kick at her attacker from an angle.

The figure simply blasted the chunk of ice off of its left hand at Squirrel Girl like a cannonball. She was forced to abandon her attack and bring up her arms to block the attack. The ice chunk reversed her momentum, shooting her back towards the wall, but Squirrel Girl got her feet behind her and leaped off it to the ground, rolling to a stop.

Squirrel Girl growled in frustration, and then she turned and raced back towards her opponent, dodging and weaving along the floor. The stranger responded by blasting a barrage of icicles at her again, but Squirrel Girl was ready this time. She ducked and wove around them before leaping forwards and giving her attacker in the face that Captain Falcon would've been proud of.

The attacker was forced back several feet before it brought up its hands to force Squirrel Girl off, but she leaped back, using its chest as a springboard. The figure was slammed to the ground, and Squirrel Girl set down lightly before it. "Alright, look!" said Squirrel Girl. "You can't just go around attacking people for no reason at all! What's your beef with me?" Instead of responding, the figure rolled forwards into a kneeling position, and took a deep breath. When it exhaled, the air steamed as the temperature of the sealed off corridor lowered. Ice crystals began forming along the walls, and Squirrel Girl shivered as her breath began appearing as puffs of white. "H-huh?"

The attacker stood, obviously satisfied. "Don't like the cold?" It said in a man's voice with a slight British accent. Squirrel Girl took a step back, trying to fight off the sluggishness so natural to a squirrel in the cold. "Too bad..."


"Hey, has anyone seen Squirrel Girl?" Power Man asked.

Cloak looked up from his cafeteria lunch. "Why? Do you want to see her disappointment when she realizes how bad the pecan pie is?" He asked.

Power Man grinned sheepishly. "Well that's part of it... But really, whenever the cafeteria serves anything with nuts in it, she's here five minutes before the meal starts. Now here we are, and there's no crazy squirrels running everywhere," he noted.

Iron Fist looked up from his lunch as well. "This is true. I last saw her with Predator. Perhaps we should call them and see if something has happened," he suggested.

Dagger held up her wrist communicator. "I'll call them," She clicked the communicator on. "Predator? Squirrel Girl? Lunch has already started, and there's no sign of a mad squirrel army. Is something wrong?"

Predator's voice came back over the communicator. "Not that I know of. Squirrel Girl left some time ago for the cafeteria."

Cloak leaned forwards, suddenly suspicious. "I think something's up. Everybody and their uncle has invaded this place at some time or another. Where did Squirrel Girl leave from?"

"We were both in the dorms."

Cloak stood. "Alright then. Come on, Dagger, we're going to check the hallways between here and the dormitories," he said.

"Sounds good," Power Man replied as he and Iron Fist also stood up, "We will check the other hallways on the other side of the academy. Radio in if you spot anything," Power Man instructed as he and Iron Fist quickly left the cafeteria, and Cloak and Dagger quickly followed suit.


"Ice?' Cloak asked as he and Dagger approached a pair of double doors.

"Yea, it seems like ice to me, and trust me, growing up in Ohio, I saw tons of ice," Dagger said as she walked forward and tried to pry open the frozen double doors. However, her strength alone barely caused the doors to budge.

"I'm going to call Power Man and Iron Fist. Hopefully, they will be able to pry the doors open," Dagger said as she pulled up her wrist communicator.

"Why don't I just teleport through and find out what's going on?" Cloak asked as he continued to eye the door.

"Cloak, we have no idea what's on the other side of those doors. You could teleport right into an ambush, and I would have no way of knowing. Let's just play it safe and call in some tame muscle," she said, which Cloak met with an approving nod. "Power Man, we could use some muscle trying to open a pair of doors that are frozen shut. Please come to the southwest corridor," Dagger radioed.

"Come again. Dagger, did you just say 'frozen shut?'" Power Man questioned.

"You heard right, the doors are frozen shut and we need help opening them."

"We'll be there as quickly as possible. ETA is eight minutes," Power Man said before breaking off the conversation. The conversation had barely ended before the doors suddenly shook violently, causing some mini icicles to fall from their hanging position. Cloak and Dagger didn't exchange a single word. They instead took up battle stances, Cloak hovering off to the side, ready to strike, while Dagger lit up a light dagger in both her hands.

Suddenly the doors gave in and a very familiar teammate came flying through the door. "I got you, SG!" Cloak shouted as he quickly teleported to her and wrapped her into his cloak, and then teleported her safely unto the ground, where both he and Dagger could check her out. What they saw made both of them cringe. SG's skin was a slight bluish color, and it wasn't from bruises. It was a symptom of mild frostbite.

"SG, what happened!?" Dagger asked her injured teammate as she tried to think of something to do that could help SG.

"So-so... cold…" SG said in a barely audible whisper as her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Dagger immediately activated her wrist communicator and dialed Power Man. "Power Man, Squirrel Girl is down and badly injured, I need you right-" She never got to finish her sentence due to an icicle shooting through the now open door and hitting her communicator, effectively destroying it. Cloak and Dagger turned their attention to the open doorway, which was currently spewing an icy mist. A figure casually walked through the mist and walked towards them. "Stop right there!" Dagger ordered as she lit up a dagger in her right hand and took aim at the intruder.

The intruder simply raised both his hands in the air in an apparent act of surrender. However, neither Cloak nor Dagger where prepared for what happened next. A whirling torrent of ice formed instantaneously from his raised hand, slamming Cloak and Dagger with sharp ice. The ice barrage forced Dagger away from SG, but Cloak simply teleported safely away. "You ever been teleported into a jail cell?" Cloak asked the intruder as he continued to launch icicle after icicle at Cloak, with no results.

"Can't say I have," the intruder replied with a slight British accent.

"Well, then. Consider today your lucky day," Cloak said as he wrapped up the intruder with his cloak and prepared to teleport him into a jail cell, but the intruder had been waiting for this. As soon as Cloak attempted to wrap him up, the Intruder suddenly started spewing a torrent of ice at the ghost-like super hero, which froze Cloak instantly.

"Cloak!" Dagger shouted as she fired a dagger at her opponent. The dagger hit the intruder in his left arm and forced him backwards.

"Nice shot," the intruder said as he regained his footing. "My ice only froze your friend. He should thaw out soon, but you won't be awake to see it," he said as he fired a similar torrent of ice at Dagger, but she was ready.

Dagger sidestepped the attack and opened up her right hand, to reveal five light daggers inside it, which she proceeded to fling at her opponent. "Ow," he said as the light daggers embedded themselves into his chest, resulting in a crimson red liquid seeping from the inside of his armor, a liquid Dagger recognized instantly.

"You're hurt. Stand down and I will get you help," she offered him, a gesture of kindness that was met with a snort.

"You mean throw me in a jail cell. Sorry. Not interested." What he did next was something Dagger had not counted on. The intruder clapped his hands together, and suddenly a torrent of ice engulfed Dagger, completely surrounding her. Dagger felt the temperature drop by at least thirty degrees, and she shivered as ice began to form on her hero outfit.

"Can you feel the cold?" the intruder said. Immune to its effect he causally strode through the blizzard to eye his opponent. "You can feel your muscles weakening, can't you? That's because the cold is causing them to shut down," he lectured, as Dagger prepared her next move. Knowing she had only one shot at this she had to pick the right moment to strike. "Resistance is futile. I would say 'chill out', but that would be a bit of an overused joke, wouldn't you think?" Suddenly, she heard some crashing noises. "What in the heck?" The figure asked. He looked over to see Dagger smirking despite being very cold and having frozen hair. "What's so funny?"

Dagger smirked. "Prepare to meet an unstoppable force," she said.

The figure seemed about to say something else, but the wall seemed to burst outward, revealing Power Man. "Oh, yeah!" He shouted. He looked around, and he saw a frozen Cloak and a nearly-frozen Dagger. "You're new," he said, looking at the intruder as he punched through the wall of ice surrounding Dagger.

"Ice this guy, Power Man," Dagger said as she attempted to use one of her light daggers to slowly chip through the ice surrounding Cloak.

"That's my line," the intruder protested as he jumped back to dodge Power Man's attack. Hearing more footsteps coming in his direction, the intruder gave a jaunty salute. "So long," he said, detonating a smoke bomb as Predator, Iron Fist, and White Tiger arrived.

Power Man tried clapping at the smoke like he'd seen Hulk do, and it worked. The smoke dissipated, but the intruder was long gone. "Great. He's gone," he said, sounding a bit frustrated.

"He'll be back," Andrew replied, mostly to himself.

"How do you know that?" A recently defrosted Cloak asked.

"Well…" Predator started. He looked away from Cloak and saw Squirrel Girl laying on the ground. "Oh, crud," he said, picking up the frostbitten hero like she was crystal. "I better get her to the infirmary," he said. He looked at Dagger. "Can you walk?" He asked, concerned.

"I can," Dagger replied. "I better take Cloak there, too," she said. She grabbed onto Cloak's robe and pulled him toward the infirmary like he was a Raven-inspired balloon.

Predator ran toward the infirmary with Squirrel Girl in his arms, Iron Fist close behind. White Tiger lingered, staring at the ice as she thought about what she'd just seen. It had been for a brief moment, but she'd sworn she could've seen an insignia on the intruder's armor that resembled the head of a snake, a snake similar to that that had been seen on Predator. "What are you hiding, Andrew?" She asked the cold hallway as she turned around and walked away.


Meanwhile

"They were tougher than I anticipated, Tony," the intruder said. "The Squirrel Girl was there, but she wasn't alone. She had two friends: a ghostlike guy who teleports and a girl who throws light daggers."

"Hmm…" Tony said. "Did you find out anything about them, Chill?" He asked.

"I'm thinking there's something between the ghost guy and the light girl," Chill replied. "She seemed worried when I froze him. Squirrel Girl doesn't like cold temperatures very much."

"Use that to your advantage next time you visit," Tony said, knowing that Chill was already planning on going back. "You will have help this time, though. I will send the Bald Osprey with you."

Chill nodded. "This will be quite the fight," he said as he hung up. Bald Osprey was a formidable fighter. Not strong, but formidable. "Chill always strikes twice," he said, smiling in the direction of the Academy.

Edited by Darkest Nightmare's Dread

Editor's note: Bald Osprey's not a new character. We've encountered them before, but who is he/she? Who knows?