First of all, apologies for the extreme lateness of this chapter. I was both uninspired and busy for a long time. Fortunately, that period is now over.

DISCLAIMER: I own Borderline. The universe this story takes place in belongs to Persiana13, and everything else belongs to Marvel.

Chapter 8: Death's Head

While Borderline was at S.W.O.R.D headquarters, the rest of his resistance force gathered on the ground. Moon Knight looked at a device on his glove as if waiting for something. Toxin simply hung upside-down from the ceiling, Remy was polishing his staff, and Dr. Connors was inspecting various chemicals.

Angelica, however, had other concerns.

"Why can't we go?" Angelica asked Moon Knight.

"You gonna ask that all night, chere?" Remy called.

"Gambit has a point," Moon Knight nodded. "I have told you many times before, Angelica. Borderline believes that he has a better chance at freeing Gyrich's prisoners if he enters the Pike alone. You must be patient, Angelica. I may not have known Borderline for very much longer than you have, but I can tell that he knows what he is doing."

"I know that," Angelica sighed. "I just wish he wouldn't have to do it alone."

"Borderline is not so foolish as to operate entirely independently," Moon Knight said. "If he requires our assistance, he will ask for it."

The device on Moon Knight's glove began to beep rapidly.

"And that would be Borderline asking for help," Remy smirked.

"What's going on?" Angelica asked.

"Something has gone wrong," Moon Knight said. "Borderline would never jeopardize his cover if he could help it. We will board my ship immediately."

At the Pike, headquarters of S.W.O.R.D, Borderline performed a back-flip to avoid a stomp from Death's Head. Abigail Brand fired a volley of bullets at Death's Head's back, but they simply bounced off of his metallic armor. Lockheed, however, had a more effective plan. After quickly relaying it to Abigail, he acted on it.

The purple dragon launched himself into the air, knowing that Borderline and Abigail were keeping Death's Head distracted. Lockheed quickly appeared in front of Death's Head's face, spewing flame into one of the alien mechanoid's eyes.

"OW! OW! OWW!" Death's Head cried, clamping a hand over his burning eye. Lockheed flew away just in time, for Death's Head soon gave his body an order. "Optic, eject!"

The flaming eye was suddenly propelled from its socket, nearly crushing Borderline as it landed. Death's Head removed his hand, and with the burning eye gone, he was perfectly able to continue the fight.

"You owe me an eyeball, yes?" Death's Head growled.

Just then, a crescent-shaped ship burst into the Pike, leaving a hole that automatically had covering placed over it. Moon Knight's ship fired at Death's Head, but given the comparatively small size of the ship, the giant alien quickly caught it in his hand. Almost everyone else in Borderline's group was simply stunned by Death's Head's sheer size. Angelica was simply speechless, trying but failing to find the words to describe the alien. Moon Knight considered this a rather disturbing development. Dr. Connors joined Angelica in sheer awe.

Remy LeBeau had other ideas.

"Looks like you lost an eye," Remy said. "Let Remy help you with the other one!"

The mutant leapt out of the ship and straight for the space between Death's Head's eye and eye socket. Realizing the greater threat, Death's Head released the ship—allowing the now-powerless machine to drop to the floor—and snatched Remy with only two fingers.

"Brave little meatbag, yes?" Death's Head observed. "Still a personal recovery specialist can't be picky, eh?"

"Oh, you're a…personal recovery specialist?" Remy asked. "That sounds a little long to Remy. Why not just bounty hunter?"

"Not bounty hunter," Death's Head growled. He then pointed the large gun on his other arm directly at Remy. "Never bounty hunter, yes?"

"Uh, yes," Remy gulped. "How about 'freelance peacekeeping agent'?"

"I told you, yes? I'm a personal recovery—" Death's Head said before cutting himself off. "You know what? I like that. Thanks, squishy."

"Uh, Remy was just joking!" Remy cried.

"So, yes?" Death's Head said, jabbing the gun into Remy's torso.

The giant mechanoid was about to fire at Remy, but a voice cut him off.

"How much?" Borderline asked, the remaining members of his group by his side.

"Eh?" Death's Head asked, leaning down closer to the strange human.

"How much are you getting paid for your work?" Borderline asked.

"Depends, yes?" Death's Head said. "You know someone with more?"

"Couple guys," Borderline said. "Each one owns a company. Each one has a lot of money. Each one also has a private account. Private accounts can be hacked. And I do a lot of hacking."

Death's Head dropped Remy, who was promptly caught by Angelica, and began to think for a moment.

"I can't believe that we got out of that through negotiating," Angelica said.

"Better believe it, chere," Remy smirked, "because it just happened."

"Just out of curiosity, whose accounts did you promise to Death's Head?" Moon Knight asked Borderline.

"Osborn's and Stark's," Borderline replied simply, sitting at his computer as he usually did.

"I should have guessed," said Pat.

"Done enough everywhere else," Borderline said. "Now to take the fight to Osborn. His X-Men go first. Then the Avengers."

He looked to his team.

"In or out?" he asked.

"I will be involved," Moon Knight said. "We will purge New York of the corruption Osborn has forced upon it."

"I'm in, too," Dr. Connors said. "I still owe you a debt of gratitude for giving me the ability to control my condition. Besides, we can't allow Osborn to use my research for his own ends."

"So am I," said Pat Mulligan. "Osborn has to be taken down. If you need Toxin's help to do that, we're here and ready."

"Well, why not?" Remy smirked. "I'm in, too. Can't let the pretty mutant girls fall into Osborn's freakish hands."

Only Borderline and Dr. Connors could detect the small sigh that Moon Knight heaved upon hearing Gambit's words.

"What about you, chere?" Remy asked Angelica.

Once again, Angelica had a decision to make. Just like she did at the Baxter Building, she had to stop and think. But this time, her decision was made much more quickly.

"I'm in," she said. "Let's take down Osborn's X-Men."

"Then here's what we'll do," Borderline said.

And then the strategizing began.