"Marvel: Tomorrow Initiative"
Chapter 10: "Let Slip the Dogs of War"
Disclaimer: This is simply the future of the universe depicted by most of the comics published by Marvel, and therefore a lot of characters and concepts belong to Marvel. I'm simply making use of them for my own purposes.
Author's note: When last we left off, the Avengers were about to square off with Arachne and Fearless, due to the latter's status as unlicensed vigilantes and Arachne's status as a wanted murderer. If you want to see how that fight will turn out, read on.
Arachne tackled Fearless off the skyscraper rooftop and shot a web-line at another skyscraper, swinging away on it. "What are you doing?!" Fearless asked.
"Saving our asses!" Arachne shot back. "They've got Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Warbird! Any one of them alone would wipe the floor with us unless we play it smart! A straight fight will get us killed, or worse, locked up forever in the N-Zone!"
Iron Man and Thor were flying after the two girls, along with Warbird. Captain America was riding a motorcycle, while the Hulk bounded after them and Blitzkrieg sped down the street. Sting was riding on Captain America's shoulder while Arcane simply teleported. Undeterred, Arachne continued to web-sling for her and Fearless's lives, moving faster than she thought she could move.
"She's fast," Iron Man remarked.
"Yes," Thor agreed. "But not that fast, not if we put our backs into it."
Indeed, Blitzkrieg was running along the walls of the skyscrapers, moving fast enough to overcome gravity for short bursts. He accelerated to the point that he could kick Arachne and Fearless off Arachne's web-line. Not that it was that easy for him; Arachne was holding on via her stickiness and she pushed back.
"Stupid move," Arachne taunted. "Your powers only work when you have a surface beneath your feet."
"Then I should just hold on to you, shouldn't I, babe?" Blitzkrieg retorted, holding on to Arachne like he said he would.
"Really?" Arachne asked. "Then get ready for the ride of your life!" She began web-slinging as fast as she possibly could, with the other Avengers following her.
"I can't get a clear lock on them," Iron Man said. "Not with Blitzkrieg in the way."
"Remember, we're supposed to bring them in alive," Captain America cautioned.
"Sure," Iron Man answered.
Suddenly, Arachne, Blitzkrieg, and Fearless were all separated from each other by some invisible force. Iron Man caught Blitzkrieg, while Arachne fired another web-line and swung to catch Fearless. "What was that?" Fearless asked.
"Quantum sorcery at its finest," Arcane replied, generating knives of quantum force and flinging them at Arachne and Fearless. Arachne dropped her web-line and plummeted to avoid the knives. Unfortunately, they seemed to be following her and Fearless. Arachne fired another web-line and swung on it. "Those knives are following your quantum energy signatures. They won't stop until they get you."
Arachne swung, anyway, trying as hard as she could to get herself and Fearless away. Iron Man fired a laser net at Arachne and Fearless, forcing Arachne to drop her web-line to evade it. She fired another web-line to swing from, only for her spider-sense to go off and to perceive the Hulk intercepting them. Arachne swung at the Hulk, bouncing off his green torso and somersaulting backward with Fearless. Both girls twisted in midair, Arachne grabbing Iron Man with her webbing and Fearless ensnaring Thor with her energy cable. They attempted to place Iron Man and Thor in the path of the quantum knives, but to their surprise, the knives passed through Iron Man and Thor and struck them.
Both Arachne and Fearless cried out in pain and plummeted toward the street. Arachne had enough presence of mind to spin a giant web between the skyscrapers on either side of the street they were falling toward. Both girls landed on the web and bounced off it onto the street.
"All right, fine!" Arachne snapped. "You wanted this fight . . . just prepare to be sorry you came calling."
"I think you're the ones who'll be sorry," Captain America answered, flanked by his fellow Avengers. "I ask you one more time – surrender. Just please surrender."
"Sorry, we don't do surrender," Arachne responded, shooting stingers at the less-armored Avengers. Hulk blocked the stingers with his body, laughing mockingly at the spider hybrid.
"You think that's going to stop me?" he asked.
"How about this, then?!" Arachne retorted, lunging at the Hulk far more quickly than most humans could react. Iron Man shot a repulsor blast at her, but she flipped over it and kicked the Hulk in the face. The Hulk attempted to grab her, but Arachne dodged and kicked him again. She bounced around him, moving faster than anybody human could hope to follow or match and attacking him at each pass.
At that moment, the other Knights teleported in, either by bodyslide technology granted by the X-Men or – in Nightshade's case – their own powers. Winter Soldier scowled at each and every Avenger, drawing his favorite rifle. Artemis held her twin sai at the ready, while Tsukikishi drew his throwing crescents. Iron Cage and Iron Fist shifted into fighting stances.
"Were you two ladies going to throw a party without us?" Iron Cage asked. "We're shocked. And hurt. But mostly shocked."
"The faker's mine," Winter Soldier declared, pointing his rifle one-handedly at Captain America.
"Try it, kid," Captain America retorted.
Winter Soldier pulled the trigger, shooting at Captain America, who blocked the laser bursts with his shield while rushing Winter Soldier. The grandson of the original Captain America's partner flipped over the current Captain America and turned to kick him. Captain America whirled and blocked with his shield, but an undeterred Winter Soldier threw himself into a cartwheel-slash-flip and struck Captain America in the head.
Nightshade ran toward Blitzkrieg, who was prepared for her to attack directly . . . but not prepared for her to suddenly vanish. She reemerged behind him, with a kick aimed to his head. Blitzkrieg reacted fast enough to block her kick, but his forearm stung somewhat. He grabbed her by her ankle and snapped his leg up into a super-speed kick, which she teleported away from at the last second. She reappeared in the air, dropping on his back, only for him to begin running around the city at super-speed.
"My body's designed to handle the rigors of extreme high-speed movement," he said. "Can you say the same?"
No, Nightshade admitted, teleporting herself and Blitzkrieg. When they reemerged, both the speedster and the porter separated from each other. They attacked each other again, Nightshade teleporting and attacking and Blitzkrieg blocking her attacks at super-speed.
Fearless crossed her baton blades and lunged into an attack on Iron Man, slashing at his armored chest. Iron Man crossed his arms, generating a force shield that blocked the energy blades. Undeterred, Fearless flipped behind him and slashed again, only for Iron Man to turn and catch her blade. Fearless retracted the blade and smacked him as hard as she could with just the baton. Of course, it didn't even make a dent, as she didn't have super-strength.
Tsukikishi and Thor faced off. "False god," Tsukikishi accused. "Prepare to face Tsukuyomi's wrath."
Thor pointed Mjolnir at Tsukikishi. "Try it, boy."
Tsukikishi rushed Thor, moving with blinding speed. He thrust his hand up in an uppercut-style heel attack, only for Thor to catch his wrist and squeeze. Tsukikishi snarled beneath his mask and kneed Thor in the groin, causing the artificial thunder god's eyes to bulge in pain. Thor dropped Tsukikishi and dropped to the ground.
"You may have the power of a god, but in the end, you're a man like the rest of us," Moon Knight's successor sneered.
Warbird and Artemis fought furiously, Warbird deliberately holding back so as not to seriously injure Artemis, who kept slashing Warbird with her sai. Despite Warbird's superior strength, she was having a hard time nailing Artemis, notwithstanding the fact that she was holding back a great deal of her strength. The simple reason for that was that Artemis's temporal perception, which enabled her to see Warbird's next moves and avoid them.
"What do you hope to accomplish?" Warbird asked. "Seriously, I want to know. What are you trying to do?"
"It's called civil disobedience," Artemis retorted.
"Civil disobedience is when you hold protests in front of government buildings and refuse to leave," Warbird explained. "You broke out of holding and fought crime without a license both before and after. That's not civil disobedience; that's more like insurrection."
Artemis flipped over Warbird's head, only for Warbird to tilt back far enough to kick her in the stomach. Artemis let the blow propel her and somersaulted in midair, landing on her feet. "An unjust law is no law at all." She threw one of her sai at Warbird, only for Warbird to knock it aside. Of course, the thrown sai had been merely a distraction for Artemis to charge Warbird and slice her throat with her other sai. Fortunately, Warbird was more or less invincible, so it wasn't like she'd die from the wound; it'd just be highly unpleasant.
Iron Cage fought Sting, who was buzzing around him at insect size and shooting bioelectric blasts at him. The blasts were highly irritating, and all they were really doing was pissing him off. He attempted to swat her, but she kept dodging his hand. "Damn it, stay still!" he exploded in exasperation.
"No thanks," Sting chirped.
Iron Fist and Arcane clashed with each other, chi versus quantum sorcery. Iron Fist channeled his chi into his hand and slammed his hand onto the ground, sending a wave of chi-turned-lightning through it. Arcane jumped into the air to avoid it and threw quantum knives at him. Iron Fist channeled his chi again and punched the quantum knives, only for them to dissipate into him and fry him through his chi aura.
"Try again," Arcane taunted.
The Hulk was attempting to grab Arachne, but Arachne had speed and agility on her side. The Hulk only had his strength and was not that fast, unfortunately for him. This allowed Arachne to dart in for quick attacks and avoid the Hulk's attempts on her. "Stay still, you little bitch!" he yelled in exasperation.
"You're rude," Arachne pouted. "You're very rude. Calling a lady a bitch? Do you have woman troubles?"
The Hulk bellowed in frustration and charged her. Arachne flipped over him and shot impact webbing at his torso and legs, binding him and causing him to collapse on his front. She landed on his back, grinning widely beneath her mask. "You have the same problem as the original Hulk, don't you? The rage factor. Makes your ability to think and reason more dubious. Pretty soon you'll be screaming 'Hulk smash.'"
Fearless continued slashing at Iron Man with her baton blades, attacking him from every angle imaginable. None of it really worked; Iron Man moved faster than even she could follow, blocking her strikes every time. Fearless flipped back, extending the whip-blade and lashing Iron Man with it. Iron Man simply caught the whip-blade and Fearless launched herself at him by way of retracting the blade in a way that forced the hilt to move closer to the armored man holding the blade. The speed of her attack almost caught Iron Man by surprise . . . emphasis on "almost," as he tagged her with a repulsor blast in mid-lunge, knocking her back.
"Why do you do this to yourself, Aya?" Iron Man asked. "Why? Is there a point I'm missing? Do you somehow think the world's going to be a better place if empowered humans can do whatever they please?"
"Better that we have a choice than no choice!" Fearless snarled, twisting onto her feet.
Suddenly, Iron Man was knocked down by a kick from a black-clad female figure. He quickly rolled to his feet, looking up at his attacker, none other than Arachne herself. "And there's your partner in this lunacy. I wonder, does she know what she's gotten herself into with you?"
"What are you talking about?" Arachne asked.
"Oh, you don't know?" Iron Man asked. "Miss Gallo here used to be a very bad girl. But she had a talent. It seemed that she was very agile, for someone who was supposed to be a standard-issue human. Too bad she used it for petty theft, but the police caught her and some representatives from the Initiative gave her a choice: either go to jail or join them. A pity she spat their generosity back in their faces."
"Go screw yourself," Fearless snarled, running at Iron Man and lashing at him with her whip-blade. The blade wrapped around Iron Man's torso, only for Iron Man to use the magnetic clamps in his boots to root himself to the ground so Fearless couldn't tug him. To her relief, Arachne's hands held hers.
"Let's try it together," Arachne whispered in her ear.
Both girls pulled, Arachne's strength adding to Fearless's and Iron Man was ripped off the ground, only to take the ground with him. Arachne jumped up and kicked him higher into the air, bending forward to grab his torso and flip over him before proceeding to punch him down to the ground. Iron Man deactivated his magnetic clamps and flew at Arachne with repulsors aimed at her. He fired the repulsors machine gun-style, with Arachne dodging at superhuman speed.
With Iron Man occupied by Arachne, he didn't notice Fearless moving behind him . . . until she'd extended her baton blade through his back and front. Iron Man gasped in shock as she retracted the blade. "What . . . how?"
"Figured I needed to get in close for it to work," Fearless explained. "And besides, those nanites they gave you so you could sync with your armor better gave you a healing factor, so it's not like it's fatal. It'll just keep you out of commission for a while."
"You . . ." Iron Man uttered, only to collapse.
Winter Soldier and Captain America continued to fight, Captain America blocking with his shield and Winter Soldier attacking him. Captain America might have been the peak of human ability, but Winter Soldier was actually superhuman, to a degree. Then there was the fact that both were highly skilled fighters, plus Winter Soldier was nearly insane with fury that the U.S. government thought it could so easily replace Steve Rogers.
Winter Soldier drew his rifle again and let loose with a laser barrage that Captain America easily dodged. The super-soldier threw his shield at Winter Soldier, only for Winter Soldier to dodge and rifle-whip Captain America before the shield could return to him. Winter Soldier pressed his advantage, beating Captain America viciously. He heard the shield coming back and brutally smacked it away, continuing his pummeling of Captain America.
"Fake! Liar! Deceiver! Impostor!" he screamed, angry tears in his eyes.
Suddenly, he was tackled by a super-speeding Blitzkrieg, who slammed him into the ground. Winter Soldier snarled and punched Blitzkrieg hard, nearly snapping his neck. Fortunately, someone adapted to the rigors of super-speed movement could take a punch better than normal humans could. Winter Soldier kicked Blitzkrieg off him and glared balefully at him.
"He shouldn't dare to call himself Captain America. There's only one Captain America, and he's long dead."
"America needs him," Blitzkrieg retorted, speeding to attack Winter Soldier again. This time, Winter Soldier was ready and grabbed Blitzkrieg's arm, turning the speedster's momentum against him and throwing him at the ground. Blitzkrieg recovered quickly, skidding on the ground and attacking Winter Soldier again. Winter Soldier blocked the speedster's attack and broke his nose with a vicious head-butt. It helped that his skull – like the rest of his skeletal structure – had been coated in techno-organic mesh.
"What do you know about what America needs?" Winter Soldier asked bitterly. The cyborg heard the sound of Captain America's shield piercing air and dodged, letting it hit a pain-slowed Blitzkrieg. He picked up the shield and slung it on his arm, facing a risen Captain America.
"Give that back," Captain America ordered.
"No," Winter Soldier answered. "You don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. Nobody deserves it." He smiled viciously. "But if you insist . . ." He threw the shield with inhuman force, aiming to decapitate the "impostor." Suddenly, Nightshade teleported on top of the shield and teleported away with the shield, startling both combatants. "What?"
Captain America lunged at Winter Soldier, who simply stuck his leg out and caught the super-soldier with it, throwing him aside. Winter Soldier drew his rifle again and started shooting, only for Captain America to dodge his laser bursts. Winter Soldier ran at Captain America, firing the entire time, while Captain America dodged the blasts even as Winter Soldier got closer to him. Finally, Winter Soldier stopped shooting and threw his rifle at Captain America's legs as an improvised boomerang. Captain America jumped up to avoid it, only for it to turn out that Winter Soldier was using the rifle as a distraction, jumping to kick the super-soldier down.
"Why do you hate me so much?" Captain America wondered.
"Because you're not the real thing," Winter Soldier answered coldly, landing in front of Captain America. "The real Captain America died because he refused to be some government lackey. You're not worthy of the shield. I'm not worthy of the shield. No one is."
Lightning came down, although Winter Soldier grabbed his rifle and dodged it. "You will not harm him," Thor ordered.
"Another impostor," Winter Soldier snarled. "You're going down, too."
Thor pointed Mjolnir at Winter Soldier and called forth more lightning with which to attack him. Winter Soldier jumped into the air and kicked Thor, striking with more force than expected due to the techno-organic mesh coating the bones of his foot. Winter Soldier shot Mjolnir out of Thor's hand while landing on the ground and overloaded the energy pack of his rifle, throwing it at the artificial thunder god just before it exploded. The blast threw Thor back with enough force to stun him.
Iron Cage was still contending with Sting, who kept buzzing around him and stinging him with bioelectric blasts. He kept swatting at her, but she was simply too fast. Suddenly, she stopped. "What the . . . ?" Iron Cage wondered. He looked down and saw that she was lying facedown on the ground with a stinger poking out of her back. "Thanks, spider-chick."
"The neurotoxin that stinger's tipped in would temporarily knock out a normal-sized person," Arachne said. "With her as she is now, she might be comatose for a while." She gently picked up the unconscious Sting and stuck the insect-like woman to her back, swinging into action against Warbird, who was still fighting Artemis.
"What do you kids hope to accomplish by doing this?" Warbird asked Arachne, who simply shot impact webbing at her. Warbird flew into the air to avoid it and dived toward Arachne, gathering velocity as she descended. Arachne's spider-sense was on, her senses perceiving her environment so quickly that time seemed to slow down. She waited, waited, waited . . . and just when Warbird was about to strike, Arachne sidestepped her and reached for her outstretched arm. Unfortunately, Warbird had faster reflexes than Arachne had anticipated and twisted to avoid Arachne, spinning briefly and lashing out with a powerful kick that Arachne was barely able to dodge.
"We're fighting for the right not to become tools of warfare just because we have powers," Arachne answered. "We're human beings. We have the right to use our abilities as we choose so long as we don't hurt anyone."
"You're talking about going back to the days of superhuman anarchy," Warbird retorted. "Do you have any idea what those days were like?"
"Do you?" Arachne asked. "Because to me, it sounds a whole lot better than being a living weapon for the government to deploy whenever it needs its objectives met."
"You don't get it!" Warbird yelled indignantly. "Your own case ought to prove the reason the SHRA became law! You killed someone your first night out in costume! You participated in a superhuman jailbreak! You murdered the Power Broker! And your friend, Miss Aya Gallo? She's committed almost every single criminal act associated with superhumans that we have a law against! Neither of you make a very good case for why superhumans should be allowed to go unchecked!"
"I'm guilty of what happened to that guy, and of the jailbreak, but I didn't kill Power Broker," Arachne said. "The first one was an accident and the second was opposing an unjust law. Were any of those people in that jail going to get trials or were they just going to be thrown into the N-Zone or forcibly stripped of their powers and locked up forever in some federal prison?"
"That's not how it works," Warbird answered. "We're not the despots you'd like to believe we are."
"We brought in the Power Broker, you know," Arachne commented. "Is that something you're embarrassed by? That a bunch of unlicensed brats captured a long-wanted federal criminal that you guys, with all your obvious advantages, couldn't?"
Tired of arguing, Warbird half-lunged, half-flew at Arachne, only for Arachne to jump up and kick Warbird, who quickly recovered and flew at Arachne again. Arachne flipped over Warbird and shot impact webbing pellets at the Kree-human hybrid, trapping her. "I want you to think about something while you're stuck," Arachne whispered in Warbird's ear. "If I'm such a vicious little bitch, why didn't I finish you off just now?"
Arachne's spider-sense triggered again and she looked to see Arcane about to strike her down with a thousand quantum knives hovering above her head. Unfortunately for Arcane, Nightshade teleported behind her and knocked her out with Captain America's shield. The blue-furred girl teleported down to Arachne, smiling brightly at her. "Is that all of them?"
"They're either trapped or unconscious," Fearless replied.
Arachne peeled Sting off her back and laid her down next to Warbird, as the other Knights gathered. Artemis was supporting Tsukikishi, who had been punished severely by Thor for the humiliating blow Tsukuyomi's Fist had delivered to the artificial thunder god. Iron Cage was carrying Iron Fist, who was still trying to shrug off the effects of Arcane's quantum knives.
Captain America graced the Knights with a ruefully analytical stare. "What are you trying to do?" he wondered. "Is there something you're getting at that I don't see? Do you see anything better coming out of superhuman anarchy than we have now?"
"I don't know," Fearless admitted. "But better to die on our feet than live on our knees." She pushed her hair back and pressed something in her ear. "Bodyslide by eight – Fearless, Arachne, Winter Soldier, Nightshade, Tsukikishi, Artemis, Iron Fist, and Iron Cage." The Knights teleported away, leaving behind a bewildered Captain America and a defeated team of Avengers.
End Notes: Were you expecting the Knights to win or the Avengers to win? Either way, I didn't make it that easy for either of them. The Knights still got messed up pretty badly, but the Avengers got it worse, I think. Philosophically, I think there's going to be some real soul-searching from at least some of the Knights and the Avengers. After all, we as Marvel fans may disagree with how registration's been handled and implemented and many of the characters may disagree, too, but there are two alternatives to registration. One is "superhuman anarchy" – which is a misnomer because even before registration, heroes were generally willing to cooperate with each other and legitimate authorities. The other is the government locking up and/or killing everybody with powers, mutant or mutated human. As for "Aya Gallo," a.k.a. Karin Kusanagi, a.k.a. Fearless, the Avengers' revelations about her past might drive a wedge between her and Arachne . . . unless Aya/Karin is willing to tell the truth to Arachne.
Enough out of me; don't be afraid to let me know what you thought of this chapter.