Melissa watched as the flare of retreating boosters sped after the blue contrail left behind the 'Chisel' projectile, the pair of them cutting through the overcast morning as coloured streaks over the city. Hopefully today was the day that Abe's Interceptor armor lived up to its name and actually stopped the slug before it reached the Sidewinder Building. Anxiously she double tapped the ear piece she wore and connected into Volkner's communication network that had been set aside for the Thunderbolts use.
"Seth its Melissa come in I have some news."
"Melissa? Did you manage to find out what was going on down by the waterfront?"
"Yeah and its bad news somebody stole the Mass Driver but for the moment that is not the most immediate problem. The thief fired the weapon into the city, Abe is currently in pursuit but there is a chance that we won't catch the bullet in time."
"I understand do you want me to contact the police and set up a cordon?" Seth asked.
"No you don't understand the slug is heading for the Volkner Enterprises building, at current speed it will hit the eighteenth floor in just over seven minutes." Melissa yelled back.
"I see." Seth answered; "I will do what I can on my end." he added his voice sounding chocked and full of anguish. "Melissa make me proud that I hired you. Do what it is you do best."
"What's that?" Melissa asked quietly.
"Save them?" Seth answered before removing his ear-piece and looked out over the city before turning to the wardrobe in the back of the room. Opening the door he looked at the only piece of clothing hung up inside, a red armoured body suit and serpentine mask, its yellow lenses glaring at him. Rubbing his chin Seth closed the closet and headed back to his desk and activated the computer quickly typing in co-ordinates into the monitor before moving the mouse over the green button labelled execute.
"To all personnel currently in the building, I am planning to test the structures teleportation grid. I want to assure you that except for a mild case of nausea you will be unharmed, thank you for you're cooperation and I will contact you shortly." Seth stated as he activated the building's PA system. As he finished he clicked the button and red light erupted across the building for a few seconds before fading away. "Computer calculate the number of staff left in the Sidewinder Building?" he asked.
"One member of staff remains on the premises." the computer stated.
"Good." Seth wheezed as he kicked his computer chair over to the window, "Now let's watch as my Heros save the day."
Melissa looked back at the rest of the team before tapping her earpiece this time with the intent of connecting to the Interceptor's sensor network. After a few seconds of screeching she heard the white noise fade away replaced by the sound of Abe breathing and the whoosh of the suit carving through the air. "Abe talk to me?"
"Mel bad news while the slug is travelling at sub sonic speeds the fero-magnetic shield around the bullet is preventing me from getting close to the projectile or from knocking it off path." Abe informed her, "What I need is heat to weaken the magnetic field."
"Heat?" Melissa parroted, "Wait I could in theory get Oxide to the tower before the slug."
"Throw in Quicksand as well." Abe added, "She might be able to help support the building if the worse scenario becomes the only scenario. As for the others…tell them to head to Millennium Park, the armor is synced into the tower, Volkner teleported the workers out and judging from the energy spike that is where they ended up. We may as well send some friendly faces to check up on them."
"Roger that." Melissa answered before summoning a hard sound bottle and chain in front of the other Thunderbolts. "Chris, Quicksand I'm fast-tracking you back to home, Abe thinks that your powers may be strong enough to stop the bullet." she told them as a sonic hand scooped them both up and slipped them inside.
"Oh I hate this plan already." Chris moaned as Quicksand flowed around him. "Hey hands." he yelled.
"Come on its legal." Quicksand purred, "Just." Grabbing the chain attached to the bottle Melissa lifted into the air before reaching an acceptable height. Rapidly she rotated, the centrifugal force speeding up the capsule to supersonic speeds before sonically dissipating the chain at the right moment causing the bottle to soar off towards the tower in a flash of pink.
"Uh can I not be fast-tracked." Boomerang whimpered, "Purely for the whole I don't want to die reason."
"No you can do something else." Melissa told him, "Vassal lead the others to Millennium Park and check up on the people teleported their, once done check back in with me or Abe to get a Sit-Rep." Vassal nodded before shouldering his axe and pointing to the nearest bridge back into the city, the others following close behind him. Rubbing her head Melissa streaked off after the assorted orange, blue and pink streaks silently preying that she hadn't just killed her friends.
Maurice lifted the box containing the 'Chisel' out of the van and shot a glance at the Secret Six sitting in the back of the vehicle and the hotwired Cadillac parked next to it. On the drive over Bane had demanded that he see the person who was in charge and Maurice had idiotically blurted out that he would see what he could do about a meeting. And while he was terrified of what Bane would and could do to him if he failed he was more afraid of his boss Madame Masque, her mean streak was miles wider then all the Secret Six combined.
"Okay come on up after Me." he said trying to sound confident, "I'll deliver the package and talk to the boss and see if she is available for a meeting."
Bane cocked his head, the 'wizard' was trying to sound confident but as Catman had whispered on the way over, the man reeked of fear. It didn't matter if it was of them, his boss or even the Thunderbolts, fear was a weapon to be utilized and those consumed by it were generally useless. With a snort he motioned for the others to follow their 'saviour' up out of the underground parking and up into the main body of the building.
The bottle smashed into the side of the Sidewinder building, its surface smashing into sonic shards releasing the contents in a tide of sand and flailing limbs. Quicksand took a few quick seconds to stare at the building and Chris, his mouth moving and arm flailing, before revolving into a humanoid sandstorm, the force of the wind she had whipped up enough to keep her teammate from falling to the pavement below. "As soon as this is over I'm going to kill Songbird." Chris yelled.
Quicksand nodded before answering, "I am a little bit dizzy."
"What did Boomer have to do with any of this?" Chris asked.
"Shit." Melissa hissed as she drew level with Abe, "The sonic blast deafened them."
"Any ideas on how to snap them out of it?" Abe asked.
"Low Level Harmonic Pulse fired through Quicksand's Silicon body should act as a speaker. Get the sound loud enough to cut through the white noise." Melissa announced as she fired a wave of sonic energy across to the whirling ball of sand outside the Sidewinder Building. "Okay Quicksand, Oxide can you here me?"
"Ah man that's loud." Chris complained, "Okay we can here you loud and somewhat clear."
"Here's the plan." Melissa yelled, "The slug is heading for the eighteenth floor, to remove the magnetic shielding we need a wall of heat in-front of the building, something that will burn hot enough to melt a magnet."
"Okay got it." Chris replied, "Quicksand give me a line of sight so I can pour on the heat." Melissa watched as Quicksand formed a hovering platform under Oxide's feet and lifted him up towards the eighteenth floor. Turning her attention back to the slug she saw it wobble slightly before watching massive globs of molten metal come flying off of the round towards her and Abe. Stalling she summoned up several globes of energy around the slurry containing the molten tungsten inside as Abe lined up behind the slug. "Okay Chris cool it down." he yelled as his armor begun to screech a warning that the projectile was now within a kilometre of the Sidewinder Building.
"Got it." Chris yelled as Abe ran through the final simulation before firing a thermal round at the shell, the Incendry shot boring through the larger slug and causing it to fall apart only two hundred meters from its intended target. "Shit that was close." Abe swore as he watched the remains of the slug fall onto a rooftop below him, the round bouncing harmlessly off the concrete before coming to a stop.
"Now all we have to do is find the person who fired it." Quicksand buzzed as she carried Chris down to street level, "How many shells were being carried alongside the weapon."
"The manifest listed the shells and launcher as being separate." Volkner announced over the comm. channel. "Well done all of you, Vassal just phoned saying that all my workers are safe and you have just saved the building. As I mentioned the shells were being transferred by a different company that worries me because I have not had any indication that Chaparral Logistics and Transport were broken into."
"You're suggesting an inside job." Abe announced, "Run through the company's history and personnel files, see if they have any metas working for them. Maybe the Secret Six are a security force run by Chaparral. As soon as I find Juno I'll send her up as well, she's good at research."
"Speaking of Boomerang and Smokescreen." Volkner added, "They wanted to talk to you, something about a '12' on the Shepherd/Myers Wackiness Scale."
"I'll deal with it." Melissa stated, "What about the personnel in the park, do you have any orders for them."
"Give them the day off." Volkner ordered her, "I think they deserve it after the stress of this morning don't you?"
Bane eyed the Maggia gunmen scattered around the remains of the waiting room, Maurice had been gone a long time and King Shark had taken it onto himself to do a bit of redecorating. The fact that four of the guards had been used for additional 'artistic' flair had been a little over the top, but despite that nobody had caused any trouble even when the goons had watched the humanoid shark rip out their buddies guts to hang the secretary from the light fitting. Obviously they were well trained or so afraid of their boss that they were not going to interfere with anything that the Secret Six were going to do. With a growl Bane knocked on the door, the solid oak frame shuddering before collapsing forward to reveal three more Maggia gunmen, Maurice and a woman dressed completely in black to match her hair and shoes, the only spot of colour a gilded mask worn across her face. It was the woman who spoke first with two quick words. "Kill them."
At once the gunmen opened fire, their shots going wide as Bane grabbed the first and slammed him over his knee, his target to his credit didn't scream even as he broke in two as the other members of the Secret Six rushed in. Bane spotted Catman outrunning King Shark to the second gunman, the hired thug falling to a single slash to the throat as the third of the defenders slammed a button, a heavy metal shutter slamming down in front of Maurice and his boss seconds before Knockout slammed the Maggia goon into the barrier, his body disintegrating as he made contact. Bane took a breath, the whole skirmish had taken seconds and yet the woman hadn't blinked or cursed or really done anything except clap sarcastically.
"Well you follow orders." the mob boss purred, "Two of those men were traitors working for the Silent Partner, I had no idea which ones but now I do." Bane snarled and went to reach forward in an attempt to rip the grate off the walls before being stopped by Scandal Savage.
"I wouldn't." she chided him, "There is some kind of ionic barrier across the shutter, one powerful enough to vaporize a man in under a second." Bane nodded before turning back to the mob boss. "We have come to appropriate you're organization." he announced coldly. "If you beg I will let you live."
"I am Giuletta Nefaria, I run this city so no I won't be handing you the empire my family has constructed. As for begging that is for underlings and two bit thugs who don't follow instructions." Madame Masque purred whilst removing a pistol from her belt. Without even looking at him she fired a shot into Maurice's skull causing him to slump to the ground with a gasp. "As you can see this man is not responsible for bringing you to this place. As I mentioned before I will not hand you control of the Maggia and that grate has enough power to keep all bar a god out of this room."
"King Shark." Bane rumbled, "Deal with the barrier." King Shark looked at Bane before flexing his muscles and slamming both his fists into the grate, energy darting up his body and causing him to groan in pain. With a single savage thrust he ripped the barrier down and flung the still sparking piece of metal at Madame Masque, albeit in a predictable fashion that allowed the Maggia boss to dodge out the way.
"Impressive." Masque purred, "But not enough to convince me to join you." she added opening fire as Scandal Savage ran towards her, the bullets ripping holes in the super villains frame until finally she collapsed. Masque didn't have time to gloat however, in a scream of fury Knockout surged forward and grabbed the Maggia boss in her hand before slamming her face first into the sparking grate, holding the squirming villain down until her face mask begun to melt, golden residue sliding down her cheeks before cooling into golden tears as the majority of the plate shattered.
"Shall I shoot her boss?" Deadshot asked as Knockout held Madame Masque up for the rest of the Secret Six to see. Bane was about to respond when Knockout's captive lashed out backwards with blades concealed on the tips of her shoes, the surprise causing the Female Furry to drop Masque onto the floor as Ragdoll sprung forward and wrapped his leg around her neck, crushing her trachea until it snapped, the head rolling across the floor sparking.
"A robot!" King Shark grumbled, "Did you know she was a robot?" he asked Catman. "Or a clone or a Cylon or whatever."
"Nope she smelt…authentic." Catman replied
"Hopefully not too bad." a voice asked from the ruins of the hall behind the Secret Six causing the super mercenaries to turn in unison to look at the new speaker. Standing in the middle of the room was another Madame Masque complete with face plate scowling at them. "You are just what I have been looking for."
"Are you crazy?" Deadshot asked, "Robot girl is pulling another trick."
"Hardly, the Maggia is a wounded beast, at one time we owned seventy percent of Chicago's real estate, now we barley have ten. The street gangs are rioting and out of our control and we have lost ground to the Quintos Rohas Cartel and Houses of the Golden Triangle as well as groups we kept out such as AIM. But the worst of our competitors is a man called the Silent Partner, a man who believes that he owns the city." Masque announced, "You bring strength, something this organization needs."
"And why should we trust you?" Bane asked, "You were against it mere minutes ago."
"My dear it's better to serve in hell as the devil's right hand then to burn at his feet." Masque replied, "A show of strength would unite all the newcomers under the Maggia's banner and take support away from the Silent Partner."
"And I know just how to appear strong." Bane growled, "Destroy the most powerful person around and continue down the list until there is no one left to appose you."
"And the strongest person in Chicago is?" Ragdoll asked.
"The Thunderbolts." Masque purred, "To win support all you need do is destroy the Thunderbolts."
"Is this accurate Spymaster?" the man sitting in the chair, it's back facing the man dressed in ballistic armor, asked as he reached for a glass of bourbon sitting on the arm of his seat.
"You hired me as you're lieutenant to infiltrate you're enemies." Spymaster replied, "Nefaria is planning to take the underworld from you."
"Yes it appears he does." the man in the chair answered, "And they plan to use this newcomer, this Bane to do so, he will soon find that she is nothing more then a gilded serpent."
"I recommend we let them kill each other and take what is left sir." Spymaster suggested.
"And you Mysteria?" the man asked as a blonde woman moved to stand next to Spymaster, "As my other lieutenant, what do you think I should do?"
"You invested a lot to get the Thunderbolts here in Chicago Silent Partner." Mysteria stated, "Do you want them destroyed yet. If so you must do it not Nefaria or she will become more powerful then we should allow her."
"Yes it would not be fitting for the Thunderbolts to be killed by another, not when their deaths would mean I would loose so much." the Silent Partner rasped as he placed the empty shot glass back down on the arm of his chair. "Spymaster who do we have in the city?"
"The Lethal Legion arrived two days ago sir." Spymaster announced, "We did plan to use them to back FACTs claim that a new super max prison needed to be built nearby to handle the Thunderbolts 'successes at reducing the city's crime"
"Yes Project Labyrinth I remember." the Silent Partner croaked, "Well they can still achieve that when the Thunderbolts arrest them after they have finished the new task set to them. Tell them that the objective has changed, that they are now here to kill the Secret Six, as for added incentive tell them that there is an extra half a million each if they kill them all before the end of the day."
"Yes sir." Spymaster barked.
"Oh and an extra half a million…" the Silent Partner paused to refill his shot glass, "If their deaths are painful."
New Thunderbolts vs. Secret Six #3
Things get Lethal as the Secret Six get a taste of the deadly enemy they have just made in the form of eight of Marvel's deadliest killers. And the Thunderbolts find out a little more about their adversaries and get a surprise visit from an unlikely ally.