Feint and Thrust
Disclaimer: Same as before. This takes place at the same time as my Misfitverse fic Secret Agent Forge. (Misfitverse refers to Red Witch's AU verse where G.I. Joe is crossed over with the X-men Evolution Universe.)
---
"How are you feeling?" Draper said as he turned to Angela when he noticed she seemed worried.
"Good considering we're either gonna get killed by these Heartless things, shot up by the Iranians or worse..." Angela replied.
"Don't worry about the Iranians. They start to close us I've got some US Army Apaches overhead waiting to help them keep some penciled in appointments with Allah.." Draper replied.
Torpedo said, "Any further news?"
"Nothing so far. I've gotten more access to their deck log." Angela said, "It looks like the Praetorians jammed their communication system."
"Have you tried repairing it?" Torpedo asked Draper.
"I've got the Bridge to Bridge radio back together. Unfortunately it'll receive but won't transmit." Draper replied.
"Merchant Vessel Heidelberg Star..." came the thickly accented voice, an Iranian accented voice, "You are trespassing into Iranian territorial waters. Alter course immediately..."
"What!? We're seventeen miles off their coast!" Angela protested.
"We've crossed the Black Line." Torpedo said.
"What's the Black Line?" Angela asked.
"What the Iranians claim as their coastal waters, which obviously aren't their coastal waters." Torpedo said.
"This is Sky Raider Lead. I have visuals of two Iranian torpedo boats headed towards your position. They're seven miles out...observing them opening their torpedo tubes."
"Open fire." Draper said over his radio.
The two Apaches raced in just over the top of the Heidelberg Star, firing their Hellfire missiles. Two massive explosions appeared on the sea as the Iranian boats were blown apart.
It was just then that two Boghammar patrol boats attacked. Coming in from the north east they raced in, firing heavy machineguns and rockets at the Heidelberg Star.
Several clanks and clatters sounded as bullets tore into the freighter's hull. Kumar shoved Angela down as bullets tore into the bridge.
One of the Apaches turned its chain gun on the Iranian boats and opened fire. Several 30 mm rounds blazed. One Boghammar exploded in a bright flash, several streaks of light shooting into the air as ammunition cooked off. The other Boghammar turned outbound, on fire with half its crew dead.
Two more Boghammars raced in from another direction. Each boat took a side of the Heidelberg Star, raking it with gunfire.
"Evacuating engineering with the wounded Engineer." Wet Suit said, "We've got massive flooding."
An Apache engaged the Boghammars with its chain-gun. The Iranian small boat continued on its course, smoke trailing from its engines as the 30mm rounds killed its crew.
"Manta One this is Sky Raider Lead. You guys are clear. I've got three Iranian boats destroyed with a fourth running for all its worth."
"We're not out of the woods yet guys." Torpedo said, "Draper, call our evac bird, it's time to bug off this thing."
"Roger sir." Draper said.
"Stingray 3-0 this is Manta One. Request evacuation at my coordinates." Draper passed.
"This is Stingray 3-0. Inbound. ETA thirty minutes."
"Draper. Call a fire mission away. We still have holds full of Heartless that we can't let get away." Torpedo said.
"Sky Raider Lead. Request for fire mission. Scuttle the Heidelberg Star after we're evacuated." Draper said.
"No can do. Higher Command won't let us scuttle the boat. It might prompt an international incident..." Sky Raider Lead said.
"We have to destroy it." Draper said.
"Lord knows, I agree. But we have our orders." Sky Raider Lead said, "Sky Raider Out."
"Negative on the destruction mission." Draper said.
"If the Pentagon knows how dangerous these Heartless are, why aren't they destroying the ship?" Angela asked.
"I don't know." Torpedo said as the MH60 Pave Hawk flew low and fast over the sea towards the team's position.
"Torpedo. This is Duke. We need you guys back at the Pit on the double. We're using the Mass Device to teleport you to the Pit..." Duke said.
---
"Master Chief..." said a communication tech from the CSAR Control Center, "We have a downed helicopter near Area 51."
"Nearest CSAR Asset is Moss 101." Randall said, "Ask if we can divert the bird to help."
"Already on it Master Chief." the communications tech said, and after a pause he said, "We're cleared."
Master Chief took hold of the mike and said, "Gentlemen. I'm diverting you to a crash site near the installation known as Area 51. Real life mission. We had a bird crash on the perimeter and we have an evacuation request..."
"Roger. Enroute." Aiden said on the radio as Moss 101 re-routed towards Area 51.
---
"Occam, Wayland, listen up!" Technical Sergeant Aiden said into the back cabin of the Pave Hawk helicopter.
"We've got a downed helicopter, just north of the Area 51 perimeter." Aiden said.
"You sure they ain't aliens Sergeant?" Wayland said in his New York accent.
"Shut up Brooklyn, this is serious." Aiden replied.
"I'm from Manhattan Sergeant!" Wayland replied.
"Whatever Brooklyn!" Aiden said, "A UH60 went down about half an hour ago. No contact was established with the crew since the mayday report came in. We know there were four souls onboard before she crashed into this ravine."
Aiden pointed at a location on the map. "It's a dry riverbed, with an intermittent stream running through it. It's too narrow to land in, so we're being inserted half a click west. The bird will be overhead and will lower a Stokes for the ambulatory patients."
The Pave Hawk came to a flare up and then hovered. The crew chief kicked a large nylon rope out of the door. Aiden went down first, followed quickly by Wayland. Wayland lingered a moment too long because when he looked up he saw Occam's size twelve and a half Oakley Special Forces boot inches from his head.
"Watch it Brooklyn!" Aiden shouted as Wayland dodged being flattened by the 225 lb. African American directly above him.
The team moved through the ravine before reaching the wreck site. A plume of smoke rose from the rotor area and a puddle of burning fuel smoldered into the dirt. The US Army Black Hawk helicopter lay on it's side. One end of the nose of the bird was smashed into the dirt.
Already Aiden was setting up communications, "Moss 101, this is Bloodhound 1. Comms check, over."
"Bloodhound 1, read you loud and clear..."
Wayland dropped to one knee, opening the medical bag as Occam attacked the closed helicopter door with a crash axe. Already he could smell the pungent aroma of burned flesh. At least one person in the bird had burned up. Possibly all of them.
Occam managed to smash his way into the hull of the bird. The pilot was smashed against the instrument panel. His charred face was frozen in an expression of permanent terror. Both of the crew chiefs were lying on the far side of the bird, blood smearing their fatigues.
"Are you guys alright?" Occam asked.
A moan was the only answer.
"Wayland! I've got two patients. Give me a hand..." Occam said.
"Oc, we might kill these two carrying them." Wayland replied.
"This bird catches fire and explodes it'll kill them either way. Give me a hand." Occam replied.
Occam and Wayland hauled the two crew chiefs out and laid them on the ground on their backs.
"I've got a sucking chest wound on this one." Wayland said as the female crew chief groaned, her breathing labored. He turned her on one side, finding an exit wound about the size of a quarter.
Wayland tore open the crew chief's flight suit, modesty going out the window. He noticed a hole about half the diameter of a dime just above her left breast. He took a bandage from his aid bag. A circular bandage with a rubber tube. He pasted it over the chest wound so it would allow for air and fluid drainage. He turned her on her side to paste another bandage over the exit wound to seal the wound off.
"You're gonna be alright..." Wayland said as he turned her on her injured side to relieve the pressure off her good lung.
"You have to get us out of here..." she groaned as she regained consciousness. Meanwhile Occam was fitting the male crew chief with a c-collar to stabilize his spine.
"We've got the MedEvac Bird overhead right now." Wayland said. And over his inter-team radio he spoke to Aiden, "Dare, we need a hoist..."
Aiden gave them a thumbs up from higher up in the ravine and the bird flew overhead. A hoist was lowered down.
Wayland gently placed the first crew chief onto the hoist. He signaled to the crew chief to raise the hoist as Occam finished getting his patient ready to travel.
"Holy fuck!" Wayland shouted as he saw a Neoshadow Heartless bounding towards the stretcher.
Without hesitating Wayland raised his GAU-5 (an Air Force M4 carbine) and squeezed the trigger five times, hitting the creature in the stomach, the chest twice, and the center of its blank face twice, obliterating its brain.
"First victim away." Wayland shouted.
Occam got his victim onto the hoist and the helicopter was in mid-lift when two Air Soldier and two Air Pirate Heartless flew at the helo.
One of the gunners opened up with the door mounted machine gun. An Air Soldier fell, riddled with holes, to the ground.
Another Air Soldier flew under the bird, severing the cable and the two Air Pirates lifted off towards Area 51 with their latest victim. A glowing heart shape could be seen from the stretcher as the male crew chief started to transform into an Air Soldier.
"Where the fuck are they going!?" Wayland shouted as Moss 101 picked up speed.
Aiden came down the hill, radio on his back. A very irate expression crossed his face. "Numb nut fucktard." Aiden groaned.
"What's going on Sergeant?" Wayland asked.
"Moss 101's not coming back. They're saying the area's too hot. We'll have to hoof it to Area 51." Aiden said.
"What about calling the Pit?" Wayland asked.
"Not going to work." Aiden said. "Right when I tried comms with the Pit, I only got static."
"Great." Wayland said as he packed his remaining medical kit and stuffed it in his ruck.
"We gotta hoof it Brookyln." Aiden said.
"Like I said, Sergeant, I'm from Manhattan." Wayland replied.
"Like I said, your name's Brooklyn..." Aiden said, "You're on point, by the way."
Wayland took point after changing his GAU-5 magazine for a fresh mag. Aiden was behind him and Occam was bringing up the rear as they headed towards Area-51.
---
"How did we get all the way here from Qatar?" Angela asked.
"It's classified." Draper replied.
"I do have Top Secret Clearance." Angela replied.
"It's called the Mass Device." Torpedo answered, "It enables us to teleport anywhere in the world. Our secret mutant team, the Misfits, use it."
"Wait a second." Angela said, "I've heard of these Misfits. They were former assistants of Magneto until he abandoned them..."
"How do you know about them?" Torpedo asked.
"CIC has had some dealings in Bayville. Especially concerning one young Webber Torque and his dealings at the Xavier Institute...That was a case report my supervisor found most interesting(1)." Angela replied.
"It certainly was a case of Electric Dreams." Wet Suit replied rolling his eyes as the team piled into a briefing room. Standing in front of them was Sergeant Allison Fairborn, otherwise known as Lady Jaye.
Master Sergeant Sammy Chong stood in the room as well. "Let's get this debrief knocked out." Chong said.
Manning a laptop computer in the front of the room was Senior Airman Faisal Ahmed. The baby faced Air Force Airman was still somewhat flush with the self-effacing congratulations that the Pit's senior leadership had given him for his notice about the pi symbol and the Praetorians.
As soon as the group was seated, Torpedo began the debrief, "We received a mission from the Pit's CSAR Control Center. I got the team ready to go board the 294 meter long Heidelberg Star, a Danish registered freighter."
"We received additional support from the FBI's CIC in the form of one Agent Angela Bennett." Falcon added, "That delayed our departure by almost half an hour."
"I can account for that." Lady Jaye replied, "It was because we intercepted an e-mail from an unidentified source regarding your intended boarding. A pi symbol discovered on the message indicated a link with a cyber terrorist group known as the Praetorians. Agent Bennett has had extensive experience with the Praetorians."
"What exactly makes her so qualified to delay a mission?" Falcon said.
Draper looked like he was going to kill the Green Beret lieutenant. Falcon noticed Draper's glare.
"Her identity and any record of her existence was erased by the Praetorians in the year 1998." Lady Jaye replied.
"That's right." Angela said, looking daggers at the Green Beret lieutenant, "I had to avoid the law and the Praetorians at the same time when they replaced my identity with that of Elizabeth Marx, a known computer terrorist."
"Anyway," Torpedo added, "The half hour we waited was worth it, for Miss Bennett was able to hack into the otherwise locked computer system onboard the Heidelberg Star. And she uncovered some critical data on the captured COBRA laptop."
"What data?" Falcon asked.
"We discovered that COBRA had sent half a dozen Crimson Guard recruits, their biometrics data is included in the team's after action report by the way. They were led by a fellow called Zartan, whom despite thorough searching was not found." Angela replied, "Let's not forget that..."
Angela's Blackberry began to go off. "Excuse me...I have to take this call. It's work related."
Lady Jaye nodded and Angela went out of the room to answer her phone.
Falcon gave a disapproving scowl and Draper scowled at him in reply. Kumar could feel the heat in the room. Draper was obviously close to dealing Falcon a few painfully shattering blows about how he was treating Angela, especially how he was being critical about her taking part in the current operation.
"All in all. The cooperation between different services and other government agencies was quite a smooth operation." Deep Six said, trying to defuse the tension.
"I agree. The FBI sending one of its more talented computer crimes types to help us combat the Praetorians was a good call." Leatherneck replied.
"Nothing else?" Lady Jaye asked.
After a pause the group was dismissed. "You have a problem with me Sergeant Draper?" Falcon said as he approached Draper.
"Yes." Draper replied, "I have a problem of you questioning the credibility of a team member of ours."
"I just thought she was more a liability..." Falcon began.
"Sir, with all due respect go fuck yourself." Draper began angrily.
"Sergeant you are out of line!" Falcon replied.
"Sir, you are out of line for that snotty remark earlier!" Draper replied.
Torpedo intervened just then, "Both of you cool it now before I put both of you on report."
Falcon walked off while Torpedo went towards Draper, "I realize Falcon was out of line, and I know you professionally were wanting to correct that. But the fact that you have a personal interest in Miss Bennett does call your professionalism into account."
"Yes sir." Draper replied.
"I'll let you and Falcon's spat go for now. But the second time you two go at it, you, me and your unit's first sergeant are gonna have a long chat." Torpedo said, "Do I make myself clear..."
"Yes sir." Draper replied.
---
"Hey..." Draper said, when he ran into Angela, "Are you feeling OK?"
"I'm just a little drained from earlier." Angela replied.
"Are you sure? I mean what was that phone call about?" Draper replied.
"A friend of mine just ran into some trouble. I might have mentioned him one or two times." Angela began.
"You mean Sorcerer. I recall you brought the name up all those years ago." Draper replied.
"You still remember?" Angela replied.
"You are sort of a hard person for a man to forget. Especially with your story about losing your identity and your benefactor the Sorcerer." Draper replied.
"He was doing a programming job somewhere in a government installation in Nevada when the line went dead." Angela replied.
"Hey. I'm sure it was just a bad wireless spot." Draper said, not one bit convinced.
"He sounded panicked and worried about some outbreak and a computer virus." Angela said.
"Do you want to go get a cup of coffee or something and talk?" Draper replied and added, "I'll buy."
Angela smiled wanly, despite herself. "Thanks."
Draper lead Angela to a small side café in the Pit and bought a couple cups of coffee out. "I just wanted to apologize for being such a dolt earlier." Draper replied.
"I understand you were feeling upset." Angela replied, "But it hurt that you weren't willing to acknowledge you know me."
"I honestly can barely describe how I'm feeling right now." Draper replied, "I mean after not having seen you for so many years and finally seeing you again...I'm feeling every emotion I can think of."
"Carl, it's tough for me right now too." Angela said.
"Hey I promised I'd sit down and talk about all this." Draper replied, "But now really isn't the best time because of what's going on and..."
Kumar poked his head into the café saying, "Drape! Shake a leg dude, big Randy wants all of us at CSAR Control."
"I'll be right there." Draper said, looking at Angela one last time he added, "I promise we'll talk."
Angela said, "I'll hold you to that."
---
"Sergeant? This looks bad..." Wayland said.
Several Air Force Security Police troops were surrounding the facility with locked and loaded M16s, shotguns and 9mm Beretta pistols at their hips.
"Who goes there?" came the shout.
"Don't shoot. This is Moss 101. The CSAR package for that downed helicopter..." Wayland shouted.
The sentry allowed them to pass and Wayland, Occam and Aiden entered the perimeter to a base that was in state of lock down. Traffic lights blinked on and off, multiple collisions were evident and various military vehicles and personnel were all over the place.
"Who's in charge here?" Aiden asked their escort.
"I'm taking you to the officer of the guard, Sergeant." The sentry said as he noticed Aiden's rank.
"Roger that." Aiden replied.
The sentry lead the three men to the command post, in the center of a very large concrete hangar. There was the on scene commander, an Air Force colonel.
"Sir." The sentry said, "These three airmen carried out the rescue of our downed bird."
Area51 contains Cobra-La Heartless who were let loose by the Praetorian virus.
"Colonel Bagley." the mustachioed Air Force officer said, "Thank you gentlemen."
"We were attacked by an unidentified enemy and that drove our rescue bird away, sir." Aiden replied.
"I appreciate that you gentlemen tried to help our downed bird and crew. I'm only sorry that more couldn't be done." Bagley replied.
An alarm sounded again. "Gentlemen. I know security isn't your forte, but we could sure use your help..."
"Yes sir." Aiden replied, "We'd be willing to help. Occam, Brooklyn, stage our rucks here. We'll recover them later..."
"Report to Major Bollard. He's my security officer." Bagley said.
"Yes sir." Aiden replied.
---
"How's our patient doing?" Lady Jaye asked Lifeline.
"He seems to be recovering well. It's amazing he survived as long as he did. After several hours of surgery and a lot of use of my ESPer powers he was able to talk." Lifeline said and handed his report to the intelligence specialist.
"Thanks." Lady Jaye replied.
She headed into the command staff briefing room where she had the copies after action report of the boarding team that had boarded the Heidelberg Star waiting.
She showed the first picture of an older Dutch man, "This is Hans Pfitzer, 51, the chief engineer onboard the Heidelberg Star. He recently came out of surgery and is expected to make a full recovery."
"We're monitoring him now and when he starts to get better we'll see what additional information we can get. Especially with the mention of Zartan hanging around the Middle East." Lady Jaye replied.
"It didn't seem evident that he was even onboard the Heidelberg Star." Hawk said.
"No sir. No evidence suggested that." Lady Jaye replied.
"What's the status on the Heidelberg Star?" Hawk asked.
"It's entered Iranian territorial waters and is currently being attacked by another squadron of five Iranian Boghammar patrol boats." Lady Jaye said as she called up a satellite video.
The Iranian boats approached the Heidelberg Star dead on, firing their heavy machine guns and rockets as they went. Huge holes and fires began to appear on the decks and in the hull of the large freighter as two of the boats raced down the Heidelberg Star's port side, guns blazing.
Heartless began to fall into the sea, some cloaked in flames from the numerous fires below decks started by the Iranian assault. Another pair of Iranian boats attacked down the starboard side, stitching lines of holes into the side of the boat. The fifth boat stood off, firing rockets into the pilothouse.
The first pair of Iranian boats doubled back and fired their guns astern, coming up the port side of the freighter. As they raced away the Heidelberg Star listed to port. The other pair of Iranian boats followed close behind, blazing away with their own guns and gouts of flame shot from the massive freighter as fuel lines ruptured and the fuel flowing through them began to burn.
A sixth Iranian boat appeared, a Peykaap torpedo boat. As it raced in over the horizon it let fly with one of its torpedoes. After a brief delay a second torpedo was triggered. The second wasn't really necessary as the first torpedo exploded underneath the Heidelberg Star, cracking the mighty ship's keel and causing it to break apart and sink.
"I still can't answer why the higher ups wouldn't let us destroy the Heidelberg Star before it reached Iranian waters." Hawk said, "But according to a tidbit of information I received, there were fears that sinking the ship would make us look bad in the eyes of the world. Better for the Iranians to be cast as villains attacking international commerce than American forces destroying a neutral flagged ship..."
---
"Intruder at Sector Two...AGGH!!!" came the radio call and a wet ripping sound.
It was then that 'Brooklyn' Wayland's heart was just about in his Adams apple. Sector Two was just beyond the stacks of petroleum barrels near him.
Wayland pushed into the second part of the hangar with Occam right behind him. The dead body of a US Air Force security trooper lay with most of his torso and stomach ripped open. A glottal roar sounded and Wayland turned to see a creature with a red and white splotched carapace and arms with lethal looking scimitars, like those of a praying mantis. A mixed symbol, a blend of the COBRA snake-head, the Heartless insignia and the symbol of the Nobody was branded onto it's armored chest. It's eyes glowed blue. It was some kind of hybrid of a Cobra-La Royal Guard and something else that Wayland didn't want to even process.
All Artie Wayland knew just then was that this thing had just killed one of his fellow airmen and was now leaping towards him. Wayland leveled his GAU-5 and squeezed off seven shots in rapid succession. His skull was yammering as he yelled a mixture of jibberish and the occasional word. It was a second later that he realized he'd killed the thing and he could stop shooting.
"Nice shooting Brooklyn." Aiden said.
"I'm from Manhattan!" Wayland replied.
"Whatever." Aiden replied. The three airmen cleared the room together with an eight man security reaction element.
"We've got another objective." Staff Sergeant Roy Garland said, "That thing came from the elevator into the facility's lower levels. We thought our containment units managed to contain the problems down below..."
"Hey Sergeant, that's not our mission..." Wayland asked.
"We give them a hand, Brooklyn. I'll relay our situation to our HQ. These guys might be needing our help." Aiden said as he got on the radio to the CSAR Control Center.
"But who's gonna help us." Wayland grumbled as the team boarded the elevator that would take them into the bowels of Area 51...
---
"What's this about?" Draper asked as he headed into the room.
"If you'd shown up earlier instead of talking with your ex-girlfriend, maybe you'd be in the know." Staff Sergeant Harold Cho said.
"Fuck you Kim-Jon Il's bastard." Draper replied.
"What!?" Cho replied, "Oh that's real mature of you? How old are you again?"
"Hey, listen, Mister 'I Do Everything Right the First Time', I'm sick of your cocky, strutting attitude!" Draper replied.
"And I'm sick of you're hot tempered, bullshitting!" Cho replied.
"Both of you shut your traps this instant!" Master Sergeant Chong replied, "I'm serious about this. Draper, Cho. I know both of you have a mutual history of enmity going all the way back to when you were back in Indoc. and getting you two to shake hands and make up is about as likely as having Israel and Palestine negotiate treaties that both sides agree with."
Both men instantly shut up at the sight and sound of their normally easy going First Sergeant's angry reply.
"Now we have a situation with our SAR team in Nevada." Chong said, "Captain Travis is conferring with Ace and Master Chief Randall. That is what this meeting is likely about."
As if to confirm it, Captain Martin Travis, the Combat Rescue Officer for the unit, stepped in. "We've got a situation with our SAR team out there in Nevada. Moss 101 responded to a distress call from a downed helicopter outside Area 51."
"Moss 101 touched down on the airfield. Our teammates weren't aboard, but they had one severely wounded aircrewman from the wreck outside Area 51. The crew of Moss 101 said they were attacked by some winged creatures identified as the Heartless." Travis said.
"Sir. What are our orders?" Draper asked.
"Be on ready five status. Draw all weapons and ammunition as well as meds and comms." Travis said, "Ace and Master Chief are still trying to argue for our insertion into Area 51. They're currently discussing CSAR options with General Hawk."
"Sitrep sir?" Cho asked.
"Currently, Sergeant Cho, our teammates are assisting Area 51's QRF in containing the creatures attacking the base." Travis replied, "As it stands, be ready to go in less than five minutes...You all know what preparations to make. Good luck Gentlemen..."
The team filed out to make their preparations. "Strick, go check on the radios. I'll get the crypto and sign for the codes and callsigns. I'll meet you at the comms shack in ten minutes." Draper said.
Draper headed for the small café where he'd left Angela. She was just putting her cell phone away when he arrived.
"Hey." Draper said.
"Hi." Angela said as she turned around.
"Look. It sounds like we're getting spun up for another assignment." Draper replied.
"You're going to Area 51, aren't you?" Angela said.
"I can't really say." Draper replied.
"Well, I'll venture to guess where they're wanting to send you is where my boss is wanting to send me. He's on the phone with General Hawk right now." Angela replied.
Acid dread bubbled up in Draper's insides. Some sixth sense was warning him of an impending disaster.
Angela could see worry forming on Draper's face. "Look. The Praetorians are definitely involved in whatever is going on at Area 51 and I'm the agent with the most experience dealing with them. They're gonna need my help."
"I know. And I'm not gonna try and talk you out of it. But for God's sake be careful over there." Draper replied, "Honestly I'm worried about you."
"I'm a big girl Carl." Angela replied.
"I understand." Draper replied, "Look. We'll try and talk later. I've got to sign for the codes."
Angela nodded sadly and as Draper left the room her cell phone rang.
---
"In other news the Danish freighter Heidelberg Star was sunk by the Iranians." The CNN report began.
"Man this is heavy..." Flint said as he put a newspaper down on the table. The headline read. Iranians Sink Danish Freighter. The front page showed the death blow on the Heidelberg Star inflicted by the two Iranian torpedo boats.
"Every major newsline in the world has been talking about the Iranian attacks." Lady Jaye said.
She pointed at a copy of the New York Times. Tehran Unapologetic About Destruction of Danish Freighter: New Tanker War To Follow?
"What I don't understand is the why didn't they allow our team to scuttle the Heidelberg Star?" Lady Jaye said, "They knew an international incident would result from this..."
"The order came down directly from the top." Flint said, "Suspiciously though there was the signature of a General Eddington on the order."
"Eddington?" Lady Jaye said, "Even he wouldn't be stupid enough to try and provoke the Iranians into a war."
"No. I don't think Eddington is the mastermind. A lackey perhaps. But a mastermind no." Flint replied.
"Syndrome?" Lady Jaye asked.
"Yes. But we have no proof." Flint said, "At this point all I have is conjecture. First Syndrome fires an Omnidroid at Bandar Abbas that takes out a third of the Iranian military(2). Then there's the fact that the Jugglers have seen the Iranians as a thorn in their side. It seems a bit coincidental but it's not a great stretch to think that they somehow talked Syndrome into firing that thing at Iranian territory."
"Syndrome having a connection with the Jugglers? The very thought is disturbing." Lady Jaye replied, "And that means when we have to confront him, he could be a foe even more formidable than we imagined. But what is his plan?"
"Allie. That's the sixty-four dollar question. I'm assigning you some of our finest intelligence specialists. Your only task is gathering as much information on Syndrome as you possibly can." Flint said.
"What of these Praetorians that resurfaced?" Lady Jaye asked.
"Scarlet's handling them. Be sure all that debriefing material you got from Agent Bennett gets to her."
"Right." Lady Jaye replied.
---
The lower levels of Area 51 showed just how large of a complex the base was. The upper levels where several of the X-men had been briefly detained following the Sentinel Incident were but the tip of the iceberg.
Right about now all the history of Area 51 since 1947 meant absolutely jack shit to Jacob Resh, a.k.a. Sorcerer. He'd come a long way from the seventeen year old hacker who had helped Angela Bennett regain her identity and life from the Praetorians ten years ago. He had become a computer programming consultant for the Department of Defense and was at Area 51 on a nondisclosure agreement to try and fix issues with the base's security system.
The sounds of gunfire and screaming faded in the distance as he crouched inside a ventilation duct.
All he remembered was working in the mainframe area when some mysterious virus started to take over the computer systems of Area 51. The first thing to go down was security and the next thing he remembered hearing earlier was the alarm and the announcement of a Security Alert.
Technical Sergeant Perez's body, or rather what remained of it, lay in a pool of blood in the middle of the floor. The burly twenty-two year old had been assigned as an escort for Sorcerer when he had arrived at the facility a week ago.
Perez had been one of the first casualties of the containment failure. Several strange looking creatures with glowing yellow eyes, black skin, clawed appendages and weird symbols on their bodies had charged into the room.
Perez had drawn his 9mm sidearm and started to shoot at them. The weapon and a good chunk of Perez's right arm lay in the midst of the floor. Perez's head lay about six feet away, face still frozen in an expression of dismayed horror.
Sorcerer knew he couldn't hang around the area any longer. And he also had to survive this. He had important information.
What had just transpired on Area 51 wasn't the result of a computer system fault. It was caused by a virus which bore a signature to the Praetorians.
He checked his cell phone in his pocket. There were still bars, not many, but enough to make a phone call. He scrolled down his contact list until he got Angela's phone number. He hit the send button and the phone rang.
"Jake, oh my God I was worried..." Angela replied.
"Yeah. I'm OK. Look. I'm sorry to rush this, but there's something seriously wrong here." Sorcerer said, "The computer problems we've been having. It's a virus alright but it's some sort of Trojan software that has the Praetorians' stink all over it."
"Jake? Where are you?" Angela said.
The sound of scraping and movement could be heard and Sorcerer looked through the grate to see several Shadow Heartless moving through the room. The antennae on their heads twitched.
"Look. Angela. I don't have much time. Let your bosses at the FBI know the Praetorians are back." Sorcerer said, "With a vengeance..."
"Where are you?" Angela asked.
"The lower levels...I'm stuffed in an air conditioner vent and I'm very popular right now...AAAGGH!!!!!"
"Jake! Jake?!" Angela's concerned voice could be heard over the phone's tinny speaker.
Sorcerer crawled for all he was worth through the ventilation duct as he saw blood bubbling from his left hip. A raking claw had slashed into the vents from below and he was almost sure that whatever the creature down there was, it was nearby.
He had no sooner reached a dead end when he felt himself being bodily hauled out of the ventilation duct. He looked up into a very bright flashlight being held by a wiry Caucasian man with a New York accent.
"Hey Sergeant! I got a wounded civvy!" came the shout.
A large, muscular African American man also in the BDU pattern of the US Air Force was holding onto him.
"It's alright buddy." The New Yorker spoke, "We're gonna treat your wound and get you outta here."
"Occ, move that light about two inches to the left." the New Yorker said.
"Good job Brooklyn." Staff Sergeant Aiden said.
"Sergeant! I'm from Manhattan!" The New Yorker replied as he placed a pressure bandage onto Sorcerer's left hip.
"Can you walk?" Occam asked.
"I'm not sure..." Sorcerer said as he groaned and tried to stand, shakily.
"Occam. Give me a hand with this guy and..." Wayland said.
A Cobra-La Heartless burst from the vent about to cleave Sorcerer in two. A nearby Air Force security man, Airman First Class Harvey Fanning opened fire with his M16 on three round burst. The first burst blew into the creature's chest. It kept advancing.
"Ah Shit!" Wayland shouted. Fanning was opening fire with his weapon less than two feet from the side of Wayland's head.
Fanning fired again and this burst of fire blew the Cobra-La Heartless's face apart and it fell twitching to the ground.
"Thanks." Sorcerer said with a gasp.
"What?" Wayland replied.
"I said thank you." Sorcerer said.
"I can't hear a damn thing you're saying." Wayland replied.
"Not like you're all that great a listener anyway Brooklyn." Aiden said.
"Homeplate this is QRF." Technical Sergeant Tom Waino, the security team leader, said over the radio, "We have a wounded civilian, ambulatory. Request permission to evac him before proceeding to Alpha Team's position."
"Negative QRF, head to Alpha Team's position. They need your help. Collapse Alpha Team back to your original insertion point and evac the casualty from there." came the voice.
"Things are about to get interesting my friend." Waino said as Occam and Wayland escorted the wounded Sorcerer to the beleaguered Alpha Team.
---
"I must say that your organization's contribution to my efforts have been most helpful Mr. Trelawney." Syndrome said.
"Thank you." Sean Trelawney replied, "But I have to ask what do you stand to gain from provoking the Iranians like you have."
"Destabilization around the world is part of my master plan for this new world order." Syndrome said, "First distract our adversaries with crises', emergencies, and terrors all over the world...while we prepare for the final blow."
"So when the Heartless take over this world what prevents them from taking our hearts?" Trelawney asked.
"Let's say I have my ways of controlling them. Certain groups, your organization included, who have helped me will be spared from the Heartless." Syndrome replied, "And you will be elevated to positions of power in this new world order..."
Trelawney thought. Classic meglomaniac. Should be easy to manipulate. But he said, "On the subject of Area 51, the virus is in place and we're downloading all the data on its computers."
"And when it is done it will erase all of Area 51's data...right..." COBRA Commander said.
"Exactly." Trelawney said and thought. Nincompoop, weren't you paying attention during that brief I gave.
"And your distractor was quite effective." Trelawney said, "Your Operation Pinafore, with its commandeering of random merchant ships in the Persian Gulf and sending them towards Iranian waters will cause international tensions to rise."
"Already the Iranians have attacked two more merchant ships that came too close to their coastal waters before the US Navy chased them off." COBRA Commander added. He pointed to a small TV set which showed a burning tanker being escorted by the USS Jason Dunham, a Navy destroyer. The subscript said that the Dunham had sank one Boghammar patrol boat and driven off two more with severe damage using her main gun and crew served weapons.
"Yes. It seems like another Iranian confrontation in the Gulf is inevitable." Trelawney said, and held up another newspaper article. U.S. Navy to Escort Merchant Vessels Through Persian Gulf.
"Again that is thanks to our operatives tampering with the navigational and auto-pilot programs of various other merchant ships in the Gulf." Trelawney replied.
"Untraceable tampering I hope." Syndrome asked.
"Don't worry about that." Trelawney replied.
"I seem to recall there was a computer expert named Angela Bennett whom together with a hacker named Sorcerer who succeeded in bringing down your organization." COBRA Commander replied snidely.
"We were down for a while but we returned and subtly re-introduced ourselves back into the world." Trelawney replied.
"And I maintain Angela Bennett is a threat." COBRA Commander replied, "I would trust you to eliminate her yourselves but your organization was unable to get rid of her when she didn't know about you...what makes you think you can get rid of her now that she's a member of the FBI's computer crimes unit. Of course I could send a force of Crimson Guards to kill her..."
"No. Leave Angela Bennett and 'the Sorcerer' to me. I do want the pleasure of finishing them off myself." Trelawney said.
"You do have a poor track record of attempting to do so." COBRA Commander replied.
"Just like you have a poor track record of world conquest attempts?" Trelawney replied.
"Enough!" Syndrome bellowed, "Trelawney. You have exactly one week to be rid of Angela Bennett and the Sorcerer. If you fail to kill them, I will allow COBRA Commander free reign on both of them."
"I promise that neither Angela Bennett nor 'the Sorcerer' will be a problem." Trelawney said. The meeting concluded and the villains filed out. Except for one Sean Trelawney.
He picked up his Blackberry and noticed there was an e-mail from the Chairman of the Praetorians. He read the message.
Are they ripe for betrayal?
Trelawney typed a single word into his Blackberry. Yes. As he transmitted the message he plotted just how he was going to personally eliminate Angela Bennett in order to repay all the trouble she had caused him.
---
To be continued...Up Next: Angela and Dial Tone together with members of the CSAR team arrive at Area 51 to try and defeat the virus. Later when they attempt to discern the Praetorians' next move they make several disturbing discoveries.
in Red Witch's X-men Evolution fic Electric Dreams...
2Referenced in G.I. Joe fanfic The Badger. Also Syndrome has been a problem in this AU-verse before. Check out my fics Relocated and Meet the Incredibles for details.