Exiles: Desperation
Chapter V
Earth 727
Phoenix was almost paralyzed in fear as he saw a man come zooming down on a silver board. He spread his phoenix wings and made to intercept him.
"You interfere with the work of the Silver Surfer?!" roared the being. "You will be annihilated."
On the ground most of the Hydra troops had been dispatched. Those that weren't were fleeing like scared bunnies.
The Silver Surfer then proceeded to attack the weapon, but Phoenix managed to put up a barrier in time. "Surfer, if you detonate that device, not only will tens of thousands die, but your entire universe will be doomed."
"This isn't my universe," the Silver Surfer snarled frighteningly.
He prepared to launch another blast when he was knocked from his surfboard by Juggernaut. Betsy had been thrown by the Thing and little Crusher. Hulk then leaped upon the downed Surfer.
"Warheads are neutralized and sterilized!" called out Taskmaster. It was then that Betsy realized that their communicators had gone out when the Surfer arrived.
"Damnit!" shouted the surfer, who then disappeared in a dazzling flash of light. The Bruisers and Taskmaster were pulled out in an equally dazzling flash of light.
Panoptichron
"That is not comforting," Heather said, after talking with Thunderbolt. "Thanks General."
"Not a problem Dr. Hudson," he said, giving her a salute, then picking up Crusher, who was out-cold, and carrying the little girl to her room. Only the other Handlers knew that Ross had a daughter of his own… had in the past tense. She was killed by a rampaging Bruce Banner (AKA the Hulk). Ross had almost given his life to take vengeance upon his daughter's fiancé. When he won, he had been left severely crippled in his left leg and his right arm. However, he managed to find the strength to take care of Molly as if she were his own.
Heather turned around and ran right into Forge. "Oh, Hello, I was just on my way to find you," she said.
"I was feeling a bit adventurous so I reconfigured part of my arm to locate you," he explained with a smile. This Forge had both his arms replaced by prosthetics of his own design, his left leg, and part of his own brain. He was the smartest person in his reality, even smarter than Reed Richards. He was also considered insane in his reality because he also worked with magic. The earth in his reality strongly hated anything mystical or religious in nature. He was happy to be out of the asylum he'd been locked in.
"I guess this is the part where I show you what to do," she said.
"Yeah, do you mind?" he answered.
She put an arm out in front of her to show him the way. "In the central control room we've set up four Handler consoles and four Excursion platforms. We figure that is the safest number of missions to be handling at once."
"Makes sense," Forge said, turning around to take in the large room.
"Now the teams we have so far are the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Bruisers, Exiles, and Weapon X. We have members that can be plugged into different teams but are not on the team's regular roster, so don't be surprised to see more people than I mention hanging around."
"Of course, of course," He said, eager to learn about this new world.
"Every team has a handler, who's job it is to feed them information about the reality their in and their mission. They also have a field leader. Now while the Handler may often have a great deal of experience in field training, we insist they have a field leader. Now in cases like the Bruisers, the field leader, Betsy Braddock, often concedes to the Handler, Gen. Ross." She showed him to a fifth console in the center of the others. "This is the central Handler Console… my work station. From here I monitor the multiverse for excelerated rips, rogue phenomenon, and possible new hinges. I'm always on the look out for new assets."
"Okay, now can you explain the teams to me?" Forge asked.
"Well," she said, with a motion of her hand. She brought up a holographic display showing pictures of the teams in action.
"First you have the Fantastic Four. Their handler is Reed Richards. Their field leader is Ben Grimm, Stretch. The other regular members are Spider-Woman, Candle, and the Thing." She showed him the individual dossiers. "There is a lot of friction on this team, a great deal of personal issues that frankly, and I just don't have the patience to deal with. I think the lot of them need to sit down with Fthr. Wagner, he's not just a priest, he's a shrink."
"Then there is the X-Men. Their handler is Doug "Cypher" Ramsey, and their field leader is Scott "Cyclops" Summers. Both are rather young, neither out of their teens, but both are highly effective in their jobs. Even Fthr. Wagner, who is almost twice Doug's age, has no problem taking orders from either of them. They work very well, a very solid team. The other two team mates are Quicksilver and Boom-Boom."
"Then you have the Bruisers," she continued. "Their missions are basically ones where all you need to do is trample something, or someone flat. As I said before, Gen. Ross is their handler, and Juggernaut is their field leader in title only. There's also Molly, a surprisingly strong twelve year old, the Hulk, Phoenix, and the Thing is also a regular on their missions if he isn't busy with a FF mission."
"Moonlighting?" forge asked.
"Takes his mind off the world he came from," Heather explained sadly.
She brought up a picture that made her smile widely. "This team is known simply as 'Exiles'." Her grin showed off every one of her teeth. "They were my team originally, my family for a while." Her smile now went reminiscent. "In any case, their Handler is a former member who was crippled in a fight, his name is Thunderbird. Their field leader is Blink, and the other members are Spider-Man, Morph, Zarda, Long-Shot, and Captain America."
"That's a gorilla," Forge said, leaning close to the picture.
"You think that's weird, you should have seen the world with antelope men," she said dismissively. "In any case, Cap is a new addition to the team, but he doesn't seem to have any problems taking orders from Blink."
"And this Weapon X Team?" Forge asked. He remembered a program like that from his homeworld.
"Right…" she said quietly. "They are our… black ops team." She fidgeted. She always felt bad about resurrecting this team. "Missions that require acts that would normally be considered evil are handed to this team…" she looked away.
"It saves the multiverse," Forge said, putting a hand on her shoulders.
"Doesn't mean we have to like it," she said darkly. "Their handler is a hacker named Weasel. Their field leader is the Immortal, a genuinely decent guy… I jut have troubling figuring out how he can be a decent guy, an have no problem with what that team does."
"And the others?" Forge asked.
"Murders, cut throats… Even Sabertooth, who does have a heart, is ruthless. The other team members are Mystique, Taskmaster, and I have been preparing to talk to a man named Parker Robbins about joining the team."
"War calls for such things," he repeated.
"In any case," she said, happily moving on from that topic. "I have been trying to get together some members for different groups. I want to form an 'Inhuman' team for non-earth related missions. And an 'Infinity' mission of extremely high levelers."
"Sounds like good plans," Forge said, with a nodd. "You gonna show me how to work the consoles?" he asked.
She shook her head, "No, the Time Breakers can teach that to you faster than I can. Don't trust the little creeps for an instant, they think everything we're doing is wrong and should be changed. Trust your probability forecasting but interpret it liberally, be imaginative, and don't be afraid to recruit a diamond in the ruff."
"Are you even going to tell them good bye?" Forge asked looking Heather in the eye.
"I… I can't," she said, looking at the still displayed picture of the Exiles. "If I try to, I'll end up staying longer. I just want to go home to my husband. Is that too much to ask?"
Forge gave her a half hug. "I just hope I can fill your boots… although hopefully without the stilettos."
She laughed. She returned the hug and walked to the nearest excursion platform. "well… Timebreakers, for the last time, beam me out."
A half an hour later, the Exiles team, minus Captain America watched from the Central Handler Console as Heather assured her husband that this time she was home for good. Blink cried for the loss of her friend, Morph cried a happy and sad tear, Long shot sat pensieve and quiet. Zarda said a small prayer for good fortune for her friend, and Victor growled, "God's speed Heather."
All was interrupted by their screen being taken over by the face of a young black man in glasses. He had tall hair piled on his head. Behind him stood the Silver Surfer that the Bruisers had fought, the Goblin Queen (Madelyn Pryor), Cloak, and the very same Hyperion they thought they had lost for good. "Hello Exiled Army, meet my Dream Team. Just to let you know, we are going to crush you, and we're going to do it for fun, because we can." The black boy had glasses pushed up to on his forehead. Behind the assembled figures they could see what looked like the Panoptichron. "My name is Wilder… you are obsolete."