-Imperious' Throne Room, Two Days later-
"What kind of mission is Vulpine aiding the Secret Warriors in?" Stalker asked as soon as he had entered into his masters throne room.
"They have been tasked with investigating a silent alarm being triggered that belongs to a secret convoy transporting valuable goods to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility." Imperious answered his apprentices question.
"Did we have something to do with the alarm being triggered?" Stalker asked Imperious. "Follow up question: is this part of the master plan to make Vulpine look heroic?" Stalker asked quickly.
"The answer to your first question is no, we did not have anything to do with the alarm being triggered. But by aiding the Secret Warriors, yes Vulpine will indeed appear trustworthy, to answer your second question." Imperious wisely answered the alien samurai's question. In response Stalker nodded his head silently and proceeded to continue watching the apparition which showed the Secret Warriors now approaching the convoy, which was a stopped freight train.
"If I may ask, who triggered the alarm?" Stalker asked his master. In response Imperious waved his hand to show a different apparition, this time showing the inside of the train, more specifically, who had triggered the silent alarm, and what he saw made a smile form on Stalkers face. "This will be good..."
-Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. Convoy-
"Didn't know S.H.I.E.L.D. ran trains." Kamala pondered as she and her teammates approached the stopped lead engine on the train.
"Few people do, which makes them a perfect way to transport valuables undetected." Daisy said as she climbed the ladder on the lead engine and made her way to the cabin and knocked on the window. A few seconds later the engineer stepped out of the cabin and followed Daisy down the latter and off to the side of the train.
"What's going on sir?" Daisy asked the engineer.
"Well it was a normal run till about 17 minutes ago. The motion detectors in the third boxcar where triggered, so we followed the standard procedure to call S.H.I.E.L.D. and stopped the train as quickly as possible." the engineer answered honestly as he and the Secret Warriors approached the side of the third boxcar.
"Could it be a box or crate was moved because of the rough terrain?" Dante asked in a curious tone.
"No sir, those motion detectors only go off is something human is inside the car. I tell you I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork one time when a crew member fell asleep inside the car and triggered–"
"Sorry to interrupt but what kind of cargo is in this particular boxcar?" Daisy asked the engineer as she had just noticed the red 'Danger' sign that was posted on the door of the boxcar.
"Afraid I don't know." the engineer answered honestly. And upon seeing the suspicious looks upon everyone's faces, he decided to clarify. "Only S.H.I.E.L.D. themselves knows what cargo we're carrying. It's a safety feature in case the train is attacked or hijacked. We can't tell the attacker or attackers what's inside the cars, crates, or boxes. Literally we do not even get a clipboard with a paper manifest, S.H.I.E.L.D. handles all the paper and computer work." The engineer said, which earned head nods from the Secret Warriors.
"Iron Heart, can you detect anything with your thermal, or motions sensors?" Daisy asked Riri.
"I tried, but something is jamming my armors sensors. I'm guessing that's a defensive mechanism on the train?" Riri asked the engineer in a tone that indicated she was almost certain of the answer.
"Yep, that's a security feature alright. We won't know what triggered the sensors until we open 'er up and look inside. Step back, I'm going to unlock the door?" the engineer said as he pressed the palm of his hand on a hidden scanner, and a few seconds later the large and rather heavy looking door rolled open to the side.
"Seal the door behind us, and then get back in your engine. If we don't come out in 10 minutes, radio for backup." Daisy ordered the engineer as she, Riri, and Kamala all entered into the boxcar. Dane was about to follow them, but Daisy stopped him before he could enter. "Stay with the engineer, if something happens to him, we have no way of calling for backup." Daisy ordered Dante, who proceeded to nod his head and step out of the boxcar. The engineer then proceeded to close the door to the boxcar. He and Dante then quickly made their was back to the lead engine and got inside the cabin.
"Lot of rather large shipping crates." Kamala noted as she and her teammates began to look around inside the train car. "I thought train cars looked big from the outside and from a distance, but this is bigger than I could imagine. How we going to find anything in here?" Kamala asked her leader.
"You and Iron Heart stick together and search one end of the car, I'll search the other." Daisy ordered. Kamala and Riri nodded silently and began heading towards the back end of the boxcar, while Daisy started searching the side of the boxcar closest to the engines. 'Where the lights always turned on in this car?' Daisy asked as she kept moving forwards, eyes looking up, down and every other direction. After she had reached the metal wall the was the end of her search location, Daisy turned around and started to head back towards her teammates. However she noticed a crate that was currently on top of another crate. And while this normally would have not raised suspicions, she noticed several bolts in the top of the crate where missing. 'What have we got here?' Daisy pondered as she proceeded to try and lift the lid off the crate, and to her semi surprise, the lid came right off. Inside the crate there was plenty of insulation and an indent inside the crate.
"Find anything?" Kamala asked from the other end of the boxcar.
"Daisy, did you find anything?" Kamala asked again as she and Riri had reached the wall that signaled the end of their searching location. But to their surprise Daisy did not respond.
"Stack up." Riri commanded Kamala in a low whisper ad they got side by side with each-other and walked over to Daisy's side of the car, well ready in case a fight broke out. But they quickly caught site of Daisy who appeared to be looking down inside of an open crate.
"Did you not hear us Daisy?" Kamala asked as soon as they approached their leader.
"Sorry about the scare, I was just in thought." Dais answered with an apologetic and embarrassed tone. "Saw the crate was missing some bolts, opened it up and saw this inside of it." Daisy said as she held up a golden necklace with several beads. "What the hell is this?" Daisy asked her teammates.
"That's the necklace that S.H.I.E.L.D. removed from the museum where we fought Zayla." Kamala answered quickly.
"What does it do exactly, the report was really vague." Daisy answered quickly.
"It steals powers and gives them to the wielder of the necklace." Kamala answered as she suddenly noticed that one of the beads was glowing purple on the necklace. "Was it always like that?" Kamala asked quickly as she gave a small wink to Riri, who began charging up her palm repulsers. But before she could answer several high pitched green sound-waves struck the two of them from behind and forced them into a kneeling position, their ears ringing. Daisy then reached forward and grabbed Kamala's hand, and due to the ringing in her ears she couldn't move as a small red orb flew from her chest into the necklace, which resulted in the necklace now having a purple and red glowing bead on it.
"No!" Riri shouted as she partially regained her senses and tried to fire a repulser blast at Daisy. Only to be met with a seismic shockwave from Daisy which struck the younger girl in her armored chest and sent her flying backwards into the back wall of the boxcar where she was indented into the wall. Her armor sparking with sparks of electricity as she tried to move, only to be met with multiple damage reports on her armors HUD.
"Aw what's the matter, can't move?" Daisy asked in a mocking tone as she began walking towards Riri. "I'm guessing that attack rendered your armor useless. So now it's time for me to peel you out of that armor." Daisy said as reached Riri.
"Give me your best shot, asshole!" Riri spat in defiance as she kept trying to move, even though she knew her armor had been indented into the wall.
"As you wish." Daisy said in a mocking tone as she put a hand on Riri's armored chest and began releasing seismic energy into the armor, which began to shake and slowly break apart from the fierce vibrations.
"That all you got!" Riri hissed again in angry defiance. In respond to the insult Daisy ramped up the seismic vibrations and a few seconds later her faceplate cracked and fell off, followed by her chest armor, exposing her face and top half, which thankfully was covered by a t-shirt. Daisy then reached out a hand and touched Riri's forehead, only to have nothing happen.
"No super powers!?" Daisy asked in a shocked tone.
"What do you think the armor is for, dipshit!" Riri smirked angrily, which earned an insulted glare from Daisy.
"While this tin can you call armor is very impressive, it only lasted so long against the seismic energy. I wonder how long your exposed flesh and eternal organs will last before they explode..." Daisy sneered as she put both hands on Riri's chest and began allowing seismic energy to flow into the younger girls body, who proceeded to scream in pain at the feeling of having her body being slowly torn apart from the vibrations. Suddenly the door to the boxcar flew open a familiar and unfamiliar being took up combat stances in front of Daisy.
"Let her go!" Vixen hissed as she lunged at Daisy, Vulpine following suit. Only to be met mid-leap by green sound waves pushing them back through the air and out of the boxcar where they landed in a tumbled heap.
"I have not forgotten you, be it whatever the hell you are." Daisy mocked as she jumped down from the boxcar and grabbed Vixen by her throat and watched in satisfaction as a yellow orb flew from Vixen's chest to the necklace, which resulted in a third bead now glowing, one purple, one red, and one yellow. "I have also not forgotten your stupidly painful aura magic, lets see how tough you are without it... actually, lets see how you like it!" Daisy hissed as she suddenly released a stream of aura flames upon Vixen, who screamed in pain as she felt her own magic being used against her. Vulpine suddenly sprung into a combat stance a few feet away.
"Put her down!" Vulpine ordered as he began forming a battle plan.
"Poor choice of words." Daisy said as she kept flowing the flames into Vixen, who's shirt was beginning to melt and the flesh on her face starting to peel.
"Don't... make... me... kill... you!" Vulpine growled in anger as he felt a sudden spurt of nearly uncontrollable rage that even he could not explain. He knew Vixen was his enemy and that Imperious had ordered him to get close to her so that he could indoctrinate her and turn her to their side, but that now mattered little to him as he now only cared about saving her life.
"'Kill me?'" Daisy answered as she stopped flowing aura flames into Vixen, only to toss her to the side like yesterdays garbage. "Heroes don't kill." Daisy taunted while waving her finger tauntingly at Vulpine.
"Push a hero past their breaking point, and there's no line they wont cross!" Vulpine hissed. "I'm giving you one chance, and one chance only to lay down your arms." Vulpine offered with a snarl. "You might have three super powers." Vulpine began as he noticed the three different colored glowing beads on the golden necklace. "One of them is aura magic. But she's barely scratched the surface of her potential. I've been trained in the ancient ways, and know what I can do. So I'll say it again, lay down your arms, or I will kill you!" Vulpine hissed as he took up a combat stance since he was pretty sure of the answer before his enemy even answered. In response Daisy whistled and out of the boxcar jumped a teenaged girl with long white hair, with a piece of equipment on her throat.
"Mimi, let's kill him together, shall we?" Daisy asked her partner.
"Thought you'd never ask ." Mimi said with a cold sneer on her face as she and Daisy both took up combat stances.
"A true warrior does not hide their identity from their enemy. Show me who you really are! Or are you to much of a coward to show your real face? Your ally is showing her ugly face, to afraid to show yours?" Vulpine now mocked his opponents. His mock was met with a scowl from Daisy who proceeded to push a button on her belt that Vulpine had surprisingly noticed until now, and with a shimmer of light, the disguise was dropped, revealing Zayla.
"I'm going to enjoy melting the flesh off your bones." Zayla hissed as she and Mimi exchanged a brief look and both launched their respective attacks: Mimi several waves of sound energy, Zayla using Daisy's stolen powers. Just as the two attacks where about to reach Vulpine, he jumped into the air and somersaulted over the attacks and landed a dive-kick to Mimi's face, forcing her off balance. He then pressed his advantage by preforming a leg-sweep that resulted in Mimi landing on her back.
"Impressive." Zayla begrudgingly admitted as Vulpine delivered a foot stomp to Mimi's face and then turned to rush at Zayla. However Zayla had anticipated Vulpine's rush and used Kamala's stolen powers to extend her arm and grab Vulpine mid rush. She then lifted him up into the air and slammed him down into the ground, only to repeat the act several times as her arm returned to normal size as she left Vulpine lying injured on the ground. However Vulpine was not as weakened as she had thought for as soon as she was within range he flung a fistful of dirt into her eyes. "Bastard!" Zayla shrieked in rage as she stumbled back and began trying to clear her vision.
"Bitch!" Vulpine countered as he took advantage of Zayla's temporary blindness as he ran up to her and kicked her in the gut, causing her to hunch over in pain. He then pressed his advantage by rapid fire punches to her face. This continued for several seconds as with one powerful punch he could have sworn he heard bones cracking in her face, but the rage he felt kept him punching. However he had turned his back to Mimi who had now risen and was about to release another sound wave, only to be met with a fireball to the face, rendering her unconscious.
"Got you." Dante said in a satisfied tone as he now looked over at Vulpine, who had finally gotten his rage under control and had stopped his assault on Zayla and stood up, only to drop to his knees out of the injuries he had sustained and shock from what he had just done.
"I think you got her." Dante said in a concerned tone as he looked at the bloodied and partially broken face of Zayla. He then reached down and grabbed the necklace and removed it from her neck. 'Hate this thing.' Dante thought to himself as he couldn't help but remember all the trouble that this golden necklace had previously caused. "You know, I wondered why Daisy wanted you and Vixen to secretly wait in the car out of sight, but I guess I know now why." Dante said in a grateful tone as he walked over to Vulpine, who was panting heavily.
"Don't worry about me, is she ok." Vulpine asked between gasping for air.
"Zayla will live, might need some facial surgery–"
"I meant Vixen, is she ok?" Vulpine asked quickly in a concerned tone. In response Dante walked over to Vixen and squatted down next to her, taking note of her injuries.
"She's breathing, which is good. But we won't know the extent of her injuries until she receives proper medical attention." Dante said in a concerned tone. "Where are the others?" Dante asked Vulpine.
"Inside the boxcar." Vulpine answered as he finally had managed to stop gasping for air. "Call the authorities, so we all can get checked out and receive proper medical attention." Vulpine said lowly. Dante nodded and started to walk back to the lead engine in order to order the engineer to call for backup.
'She's the enemy, I shouldn't have felt such rage towards those who want to harm her.' Vulpine thought to himself. 'Should I?'
To Be Continued...