Dragon Knights
Metro City, The Work Place
"Are we almost done yet?" The man called Nova, Richard Rider to his friends, asked. He was standing on a special platform in the lab of his teammate Wiz Kid, with dozens of scanners focused on him, examining him. This had been going on for over half an hour, and Nova was beginning to get tired of it.
"Just a few more seconds," Wiz Kid replied as he wheeled himself over to his computer consul. He frowned as he read the print out.
"So, what's wrong with my powers?" Nova asked as he stepped down off, " They were screwy for a while, but that's seems to have stopped now."
"Well, from I've compared the scans I took from those that were taken during your time in the New Warriors, and there are considerable differences. There's good news and, of course, bad news. You see, your energy matrix has been..."
"Hold up a second, 'Kid" Nova said, "English please?"
"I'll try to dumb it down for you." Wiz Kid said with a slight trace of annoyance, "The good news, from what I can tell, is that your powers have now stabilized. You are as strong and as fast you ever were. You could give the Thing a run for his money."
"Really?"
"No, he would likely kick your ass. You see, he uses his head as something other than a blunt object."
"Whatever," Nova muttered, "What about my energy powers? I used to be able to release gravity pulses, absorb some energies and optic blasts. Now, the weakest gravity pulse feels like to a freakin' heart attack and I haven't been able to muster up my eye beams in weeks."
"That would be the bad news. As far as I can tell, your independent energy powers are completely gone now. No more optic blasts or gravity pulses whatsoever."
"Independent?"
"You can still absorb energy," Wiz Kid continued, "In fact, you can now absorb almost any kind of energy now, with the exception of kinetic, but with one rather serious draw back. Observe."
With that statement, Wiz Kid picked up a taser from his worktable and shocked Nova's hand.
"Ahh! Son of a... that hurt!" Nova growled as whipped his hand back, "But... how?"
"Oh please, the charge wasn't that much." Wiz Kid sighed.
"But what did you use? I actually felt that!"
"Exactly. You see, your energy absorption powers are cross-wired somewhat with your nervous system. You can absorb, transform and rechannel any energy, but when you absorb it..."
"It'll hurt like hell and could kill me." Nova finished, "I'm thick headed, not stupid."
"So you're vulnerable to energy attacks. It's not that big a problem now that I know about it."
Wiz Kid and Nova turned and saw Danielle Moonstar, code named Mirage, and Rahne Sinclair, code named Wolfsbane standing at the door to the lab. Dani was wearing her blue and yellow costume she had worn with the M.L.F, but was also armed with a collapsible bow and a quiver of arrows. They were all regular arrows, but Dani felt she needed something to fall back on if her powers ever failed.
"Hey chief, what's up?"
"I was just gathering everyone for our briefing. The others are in the training room."
Rahne glanced at Taki, who was in his wheel chair, "Where are yuir braces?"
"I'm wearing them now, Rahne. I simply prefer to use them only on missions."
"Why?"
"Well, why do you tell people you're a mutant instead of telling them that you gained your powers some other way?"
***
The Work Place, Training Room
Arsenal, Kymaera and Speedball(held aloft by 'Nita) surveyed the abandoned city block below them, looking for their target. Of course, what they were really looking at wasn't an empty city block at all. Rather, it was a hard light hologram designed to simulate any environment they wanted or needed. Not half as advanced as the X-Men's Danger Room, as the Training Room consumed three times the energy the Danger Room did for the same effect, but it got the job done.
"You'd think a guy dressed in black leather and armed with medieval weapons would be easy to find!"
"Speedball, if there's one thing I know about Adam, it's that if he doesn't want to be found, he won't be." Arsenal said.
"I see him." Kymaera muttered.
"Where?"
"I'm right below you." X-Treme answered. Arsenal looked down, and saw X- Treme had looking up at them, with his arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently.
"I got tired of waiting for you guys to find me, so I decided to make it easy for you. I've been standing here five minutes now."
"Operation Marion Barry!" Arsenal shouted as he swooped up. He swooped down, taking aim at X-Treme. At the same time, he concentrated, transforming his skin into indestructible steel and retracting his metal wings into his body until they were small stumps. X-Treme leaped back as Arsenal landed with a loud –THA-THOOM!
"Why aren't you using the bone claws?" X-Treme asked.
"Not that fond of them." Arsenal answered as he charged forward. He threw a flurry of punches at X-Treme, each one missing him by a large margin but driving him back.
"You should know one thing about me by now, Bobby" X-Treme said nonchalantly as he grabbed Arsenal's left arm, spun, shifted his weight and threw Arsenal over his shoulder, "You never want to get within arm's length. Remember, tuck your head!"
X-Treme then turned, ready for Kymaera and Speedball's attack.
"You know, why we never thought to do this more in the New Warriors, I'll never know."
"Personal respect, maybe!?"
"Nah..." Kymaera commented as she threw Speedball towards X-Treme. X-Treme easily dodged the attack, but Speedball continued to bounce around him at an ever-increasing speed, boxing him in.
As Speedball was cornering X-Treme, she took to the air and darted towards him. X-Treme again easily dodged her, but he wasn't her target. Kymaera grabbed the pavement and heaved upward. X-Treme was thrown into the air, unprepared. Speedball, seeing this, twisted, and ricocheted right towards X- Treme.
Wham!
Speedball smashed into X-Treme and knocked him into a far wall. X-Treme slumped to the ground, and didn't move.
"Ohmygod! Did I hurt him?"
"He's fine." Arsenal said as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. Speedball hesitantly approached X-Treme. He crouched down in front of him, trying to see if he was indeed all right. Without opening his eye's, X- Treme lashed out and grabbed Speedball by the throat.
"Ack...please don't kill me..." Speedball whimpered.
"Told you he was fine."
"Despite the fact that you are invulnerable to physical harm, you need to breathe in your Speedball form," X-Treme explained, ignoring Speedball's comments, "So be careful how close you get to an enemy."
X-Treme stood up and gave Speedball a slap on the back, despite himself. "Still, that was a good plan."
X-Treme knew Speedball, more so than any other member of Force Works, was nervous around him, likely somewhat scared of him. X-Treme couldn't really blame him, but he liked Speedball nonetheless.
"Want to go again?" Arsenal asked, "I'd like to go for three out of five today."
"As opposed to the normal one out of three?" X-Treme corrected, with a slight smile, "Getting a little cocky are we?"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I've got our mission for today." Mirage announced as she entered the Training Room. "May I?"
"Go ahead." Kymaera said, "We've put this off long enough."
"Okay." Mirage took a deep breath and began, "As you may or may not know, Metro City in huge drug port into the United States. Over three hundred million dollars in drugs enters the United States from here. And due to massive corruption in the local police department, it's hard to stem that flow. But there is good news. Taki?"
Wiz Kid wheeled himself forward, "Over the past nine days, Wolfsbane and I have identified dozens of 'Crack houses' and drug safe houses thru out this city, Wolfsbane using her enhanced sense of smell and I using advanced scanners. We likely could have found more if someone wasn't so focused on Officer Mathews." Taki added.
Wolfsbane rolled her eyes at the comment. Doug was cute, and seemed nice enough, but she didn't let that get in the way of her work.
"Way to violate the Fourth Amendment, chief."
"Thank you, Speedball." Mirage replied, deciding not to be baited.
"In the course of our investigation, we discovered that the villain known as Night Shade is running the drug trade here."
A hologram of a tall black woman wearing a bikini top, two six shooters and long leather boots that reached above her knees, appeared, "She's tangled with Captain America and Power Man and Iron Fist now and then. Not what I would call dangerous, but we should be careful. At any rate, there is an open arrest warrant out for her, so taking her out of the picture shouldn't be problematic."
"One last point. When we told the police force what we were doing, they seemed less than pleased. Said something about upsetting their non-existent timetable. So let's be diplomatic, okay? Any questions?"
"I have one, Dani."
"Yeah, Arsenal?"
"Why are we holding the briefing in the training room?"
"There you guys are! I've been looking all over for you!"
The team turned towards the door, and looked towards the door. In it was the young blond mallet-carrying woman known only as Tarene. Force Works had freed her from the control of the mysterious group known as the Everlasting on their first official mission and taken her in. And even after nine days of trying, that's still the sum total of information Force Works really had on her.
"That's why." Mirage muttered, "Tarene, I thought I asked you to stay on the Rec room."
"I know," She replied as she absently played with her hair, "But I got bored. I heard that you're going on a mission, can I come with? Please?"
"No!" Mirage yelled, almost involuntarily, "I mean, you're untrained Tarene. It's not safe for you out there."
"How am I ever going to be trained enough to come with you if you keep me here? I want to be a warrior!" Tarene pouted, "Maybe I should just leave."
Mirage cringed at that. Legally, Force Works had no right to keep Tarene prisoner, but at the same time, they couldn't allow such power to run around unchecked. She clucked her tongue, and made a compromise.
"Nova will stay here and train you. That okay?"
"What! I'm the second in command of this team, not a baby sitter!" Nova protested. Mirage, rather than make the debate public, activated her comm. unit to Nova.
"You're also the only one who could survive her screwing up, Rider. She needs training, and you're the safest one to give it to her."
Nova didn't reply, but he relented.
"Any other questions? No? Good. We'll break into smaller teams and get to work."
"What about the Press conference?" Wiz Kid asked as he stood up and transformed his wheel chair into his hi tech backpack, "Don't you want us there?"
"I'll be enough."
"Are you..."
"I'm positive."
"It's just the usual X cloak and dagger stuff." Speedball whispered to Wiz Kid. If Mirage heard him, she didn't acknowledge it.
***
Mirage waited a few moments for the assembled press to calm down so she could speak. Dani fought the urge to simply walk away from this press conference and do her job. She was certain that, no matter what she did, that no matter the amount of good they performed, how many lives they saved, the difference they made...
Stop it. She thought to herself, Don't do their job for them.
She cleared her throat, and started, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. I am Mirage, the leader of Force Works."
"Where is the rest of the team?" One reporter interrupted.
"Busy. If I may continue? I'll get straight to the point. Human/ Mutant relations could be better. They could be a lot better, in fact. Some people want to cling to the belief that humans and mutants could never work together. Some believe that, by in large, it simply isn't possible for humans and mutants to work together. Force Works, an alliance of human and mutant heroes, will prove them wrong. We will strive to make the world a better place for everyone. We don't fight for mutants. We don't fight for humans. We fight for everyone. And we will make a difference. Any questions?"
"Tom Cannon for the Daily Bugle. What do you say to the accusation that you are doing this for the money? My sources tell me that Parvenue pays a handsome strip-end and provides room and board."
"Those accusations are baseless. In fact, several members of Force Works are independently wealthy. Each and every member of Force Works is here because they believe in peaceful human mutant coexistence." Dani replied. The Avengers are paid and get free room and board as well, and the media never asks them that question
"John Burne for the Nation Inquirer. Why did you choose the name Force Works?"
"The name was chosen for us by Mr. Parvenue, our sponsor. Force Works is a copy righted name that Mr. Parvenue bought from Stark-Fujikawa some time back." Dani made sure to emphasize the word copy righted. "I'm afraid that will have to all for today. Thank all you for coming."
Mirage turned and left the Press Room as fast as she could move without running. Reporters shouted more questions at her, but Mirage simply ignored them as she walked down the hall and towards the private elevators.
"That... was the single worse press conference I have ever seen." A voice said behind her. Mirage instantly recognized the voice of their liaison to Parvenue, Edie Sawyer.
"I'm a fighter, not a politician. Sue me."
"As leader of Force Works, you'll have to be both."
"Oh?"
"That was the idea behind Force Works. One of them, anyways. Everyone needs someone to speak for them. Blacks have the NAACP and Jesse Jackson, Jews have the Anti-Defamation League, feminists have N.O.W, etc. Us muties only have Magneto, and now, you. Not much, but it's a start. So get used to it, Moonstar." Ms. Sawyer said with thinly veiled malice.
"Why are you here?"
"I'm just here to remind you that I expect a full report on your teams actions on my desk by 12 o clock tomorrow. Don't be late." And with that, she teleported away without another word.
"Bitch."
***
"This is like, border line brutality." Speedball said as he smashed into two drug dealers. He, along with the rest of Force Works, were spending their day cleaning out crack houses with the police and arresting drug dealers. He had been at it for three hours now, closing down a total of ten crack houses and he had yet to face any real credible opposition.
"How so?" Wiz Kid asked. He formed a high tech rifle with his backpack and aimed it at several charging gang members. He fired, and the gang members fell to the ground vomiting, unable to even stand.
"What did you do to those guys?"
"I disrupted their inner ears, making it impossible for them to stand. Didn't you do this sort of stuff in the Warriors? Taking down drug dealers, I mean?"
"Yeah, but it just feels wrong for some reason." Speedball rubbed his head, trying to clear his thoughts, "I mean, we never did it to this scale, and it's not like this is a fair fight to begin with. Superheroes vs. street punks is kinda lop sided."
"Just because we can win a fight with incredible ease does not mean we should shy from it. That's what kept the U.S out of Afghanistan." Wiz Kid said as he aimed his sonic rifle as several other gang members whom he missed.
"Doesn't mean we have too fight it, either. And it doesn't mean we're doing the right thing."
***
"Okay, Tarene, I'm going to see what exactly your limits with that mallet of yours is." Nova said as he keyed several commands from the training room. Below, Tarene waited anxiously for the simulation to start. Nova entered several commands, and a huge, twenty-foot tall humanoid robot appeared across the room from Tarene.
"Okay, Tarene, this is little monster is your partner. Try hitting it with your mallet."
Tarene did as she was told. She spun her mallet for a few seconds before releasing it at the robot. The mallet smashed thru the robot like paper, but it didn't stop there. The mallet kept on going, smashing out thru the specially reinforced training room walls before the mallet turned around in mid air and smashed a new hole in the wall, returning to Tarene's hand.
"How was that?" She asked innocently.
"Blue Blazes..." Nova muttered. He'd hit those same walls at full speed before (not intentionally) and hadn't done half the damage Tarene had. " Umm, lets try something else." Nova suggested. Dani isn't going to like this
****
"So, this is it?" X-Treme asked, motioning towards the warehouse in front of them. From the outside, the warehouse looked abandoned, with trash piled up all around it. But all the windows were tinted, and the only door they could find was titanium-reinforced door. Music and general commotion could clearly be heard from the outside.
"According to Wolfsbane, this is where Nightshade's enforcers hang out." Arsenal answered.
"Then let's get this over with." X-Treme unsheathed his sword. It was a heavy two and a half foot long sword with a double blade and a jagged metal hand guard. X-Treme kicked the door in and as he entered, he noticed that the patrons barely paid him any mind. Apparently, they had grown accustomed to someone breaking down the door, and that someone was never a hero before.
"Alright, listen up! We're looking for Nightshade's thugs. Specifically, Puff Adder, Disc, and some other losers. We were told they hang here." X- Treme shouted over the noise. If anyone heard what he said, they certainly didn't show it.
"I said..."
"Shut up, leather boy!" A random patron yelled. Arsenal placed his hand on his friends shoulder,
"I think I can get their attention."
He stepped forward, "Listen up!" He shouted
Snikkt!
The second Arsenal popped his bone claws, all conversation in the bar stopped and everyone's eyes were on Arsenal and X-Treme.
Things are good for something after all He thought to himself as he retracted his claws. "Thank you. We're looking for a group of individuals who are in the employ of Nightshade. We would like to have a few words with them."
"That would be us." A voice said from the bar. The man stood up, revealing himself to be a good eight feet tall with broad shoulders. Arsenal recognized him as Puff Adder, one of the survivors of the Serpent Society. Standing next to him were Cottonmouth and Coachwhip, both former members of the Serpent Society, along with Disc and Stiletto.
"Do you two losers have any last requests?" Cottonmouth asked as they started to advance. By now the patrons of the bar were making a mad dash for the door, with no one wanting to be caught in upcoming fight.
"Yes, that you villains get some better cliché's." X-Treme said as he leaped forward, "The lady with the whip and big guy are your, Arsenal."
Stiletto, who wore a red armor that shot tiny flechettes at whomever he chose, unleashed a barrage of his weapons at X-Treme. X-Treme didn't bother to dodge them. With hard earned skill and using his superhuman reflexes, he batted every single one of them out of the air and to the ground.
"That's...that's impossible!" He shouted.
"If I had a dime for every time a heard that." X-Treme sighed as he pulled out several throwing blades from his belt. He threw them at Cottonmouth, Disc and Stiletto, nicking them in the shoulder and drawing a small amount of blood.
"Burn!"
The villains screamed as X-Treme burned the electrolytes in their blood and fell to the ground.
"Adam, look out!"
X-Treme ducked in time to avoid the electrical whips of the villainess Coachwhip. X-Treme looked and saw that Arsenal was still dealing with Puff Adder.
"I thought you had her!" X-Treme complained as he dodged another attack. With his speed and strength, he could easily defeat her himself. But he didn't.
"I'm kind of busy!" Arsenal grunted as he grappled with Puff Adder.
"Don't worry, you'll be dead in a moment." Puff Adder said smugly.
"Don't think so." Arsenal leaped up, smashing his steel head into Puff Adder's nose. He then brought his foot up and kicked Puff Adder in the groin. Puff Adder stepped back, his hands going to cover both his broken nose and injured manhood.
"Good bye." Arsenal unleashed his most powerful optic blast at Puff Adder, smashing him in the chest and knocking him out. He turned to see that X- Treme still was dodging Coachwhip.
"Hell." He muttered. He unleashed a weak optic blast and knocked her out.
"Thanks."
"No problem, Adam. And Adam?" Arsenal walked over to his friend and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Two things. One, it's "If I had a nickel", not dime. And two, hitting a woman doesn't make you like your father."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep that last part to yourself, okay?" X-Treme said, uncomfortable with the subject, "Call Mirage. She should be able to pull the image of Nightshade's hide out from these guys minds."
***
Despite the fact that they didn't expect Nightshade to put up much of a fight, Force Works decided to confront her together. Dani had pulled an image of her hideout from Cottonmouth's mind, and the team, who were still unfamiliar with Metro City, was scouring the city on a hover platform created by Wiz Kid.
"How was training?" Dani asked Nova absently.
"Don't ask." Nova responded, "Anyone see it yet?"
"Over there," Wolfsbane pointed north, "I see it."
Taki turned the hover platform in the direction Wolfsbane indicated, and soon saw what they recognized as Nightshade's hide out hideout. It wasn't glitzy or glamour in any way, really. In fact, it was a run down pool hall on the corner of a dilapidated street. To everyone's surprise, Nightshade was standing outside in her costume, alongside a six-foot Asian man in an old business suit.
"Okay, this smells." Mirage muttered to herself.
Ye don' know the half o' it Wolfsbane said over the psi-link she shared with her friend, that man besides her smells o' magic and evil. Watch yuir step
X-Treme locked eyes with the Asian man, equally suspicious of him. Unknown to anyone but himself, the energy X-Treme used to 'burn' people with also allowed him to evaluate a person. He would know what powers, or physical abilities they had, if any. And he got a very strange reading from the man. The Asian man stared back, not the least bit intimidated by the superhumans who were approaching.
Mirage glanced around and saw that one police officer had already made it on the scene. Specifically, Officer Doug Mathews.
Looks like your boy friend's here Mirage said over their psi-link teasingly. Wolfsbane blushed, but kept her thoughts to herself.
"She's been standing here for about ten minutes. I guess she's waiting for you. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and came across her." Doug explained. "Hey, Rahne."
"First time basis?" Kymaera whispered.
"Y'all can get the hell out of my city." Nightshade said abruptly.
"Sorry, Nightshade, but Force Works isn't going anywhere. You, on the other hand, are a different story." Mirage said.
"That so? Well, let me tell you a little story, little girl. There was once a dragon called Chiantang, the Black Dragon who crossed swords with Colleen Wing. Ta be accurate, her sword crossed his neck while he was in human form. Good thing he's a magic dude, though. With a little help, they can die a dozen times and still come back. Years later, I come along, being the nice person that I am, and brought him back to serve me." Nightshade huffed. She motioned, and the Asian man stepped forward.
"Ooookay, word of advise, Nightshade?" Speedball said, " Lay.off.the.smack. You'll thank me."
"You'll not laugh when you have felt my power, boy!" The Asian man declared. Before their eyes, his skin turned green and grew scales; wings sprouted from his back and started to grow taller. Once he was fully transformed, he stood nine stories in height, with a head as big as a small house, his legs reaching across the four lane street and a wingspan and tail that was the length of a city block He roared, knocking Force Works and Officer Mathews on their asses.
"I am the Black Dragon, and I will scorch the flesh from your body and pick my teeth with your bones!"
"Not here ya won't!" Nightshade shouted, "These people pay good protection money! Takes this to the docks!"
"Very well." Black Dragon growled. With a flap of his wings, he took to the air and headed to the docks, as ordered. Force Works was knocked over by the gust of wind created by his wings.
"Well, now, that was new." Speedball said as he brushed himself off, "Umm, Do we have to follow Puff the color blind dragon? I mean, I'm sure he's an endangered species, and I really don't want P.E.T.A on my ass..."
"No one said this would be easy." Mirage replied. She fired a weak psychic arrow at Nightshade, who was too busy being cocky to keep her guard up. She slumped to the ground, and tried to deal with the headache that followed. " Doug, she's controlling that monster somehow! Think you can find out how while we try to contain it?"
"You can count on me, Mirage!"
Once Force Works left, Doug turned towards Nightshade. He looked around, and saw that no one was around. Not surprising, given that Nightshade's hideout was on the north side of Metro City, where everyone kept to themselves, no matter what.
"Okay, you stupid bitch," Doug snarled as he cracked his knuckles, " You're going to tell me how you control that thing, and you're going to tell me now."
***
"Move like a butterfly, sting like a bee!" Nova said as he smashed his fist into Black Dragon's face. Black Dragon tumbled back, farther out into the water, but didn't fall.
"Don't get cocky, Nova." Arsenal warned as he unleashed an optic blast at Black Dragon, "It's only you, me, Kymaera, Wiz Kid and Tarene out here, after all."
"Blow me." Nova replied. He did a flying uppercut, knocking Black Dragon even farther back in the water.
"Nova's beating Puff the color blind dragon like a red headed step child!" Speedball commented from the docks. He, along with the non-flying members of Force Works, had been forced to stand by and watch their friends battle when the battle carried out over the water.
"'ey!"
"Sorry, Rahne."
"I don't like this." Dani said.
"Don't worry, we'll get our licks in next time." Speedball said casually.
"It's not that, Speedball. The fight's barely started, and Black Dragon's already divided us." X-Treme explained. Mirage activated her comm. unit.
"Nova, Kymaera, drive Black Dragon back to the docks, so we can have an effect."
Nova heard her, and turned towards his teammates, "Op. Trail o' Tears." He ordered.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that." Black Dragon said. He breathed deep, and unleashed another plume of flame. However, it wasn't aimed at any member of Force Works. Rather, it was aimed at the water. A huge cloud of steam emerged, engulfing the team.
"My sensor's are jammed! Must be some kind of magic!" Taki warned, Lord, I hate magic!
"My lenses are fogged up!" Nova shouted. He froze in midair, afraid of what would happen if he flew into a teammate. Next to him, Kymaera and Wiz Kid tried desperately to stay on guard.
"Good bye." Black Dragon sneered. With his magic senses and strong nose, he knew exactly where each member of Force Works was in this pea soup. He spun around, and his tail smashed into Nova, Kymaera and Wiz Kid, knocking them unconscious and out to sea. Wiz Kid had special protocols built into his backpack that detected the danger at the last moment; otherwise he would have been paste.
"Three down." Black Dragon chuckled. He turned and saw Tarene using her mallet to blow away the steam.
"You hurt my friends! You big meanie!" Tarene threw her mallet at Black Dragon's head, and knocked him a good two miles out into the ocean. Storm clouds thundered behind her as she became enraged "How do you like to be hurt!"
Tarene followed up the assault by smashing her mallet into Black Dragon's nose, drawing blood and hurting him more than almost anyone else in the past thousand years.
"You'll pay for that, you Asgardian tramp!"
"Tarene, let me take a shot!" Arsenal said as he flew towards Black Dragon, in his steel form and bone claws out threateningly.
"Don't make me laugh, mortal." Black Dragon reached out and grabbed Arsenal in mid air, and squeezed. He brought the struggling Arsenal up to eye-level "You are no threat to me."
Short memory much? Arsenal thought as he fought against the pressure. His steel form leant him more durability than it did strength, but it was being pushed to the limit. Pressing past the pain, Arsenal waited a few seconds until Black Dragon was in the perfect position and fired his most powerful optic blast directly at Black Dragon's right eye.
"Arrgh!" Black Dragon screamed in pain and threw Arsenal at Tarene. Arsenal hit her directly in the stomach, knocking her out and throwing them both very, very far away. Black Dragon took to the air, determined to take his anger out on the remainder of Force Works.
***
United Front Office Building, Metro City
{{ "This is Alex Almond reporting for channel five news. Behind me is a crack house that was shut down by the new superhero team called Force Works, who have set up residence in Metro City. This house is just one of dozens..."}}
*Click*
{{"Bob Priest reporting for channel six news. Force Works have taken Metro City by storm, assisting police in the arrest of at least two hundred drug dealers in one day. Residents had this to say..."}}
The camera turned to a young Hispanic woman,
{{ "It's about time someone did something about all the drugs in this city! The police haven't been able to do anything in years..."}}
*Click*
{{ "Approval ratings for Force Works' actions stands at 90%..."}}
The man named Gabriel Thorn turned the T.V off, having heard enough about Force Works for one day.
"This is my city." He growled to on one in particular. Before he had come to Metro City, Gabriel Thorn was a third string drug dealer known as the Grind. He used his minor telepathic powers to force children to run drugs for him. That was until the superheroes Rage and Night Thrasher became involved. They took apart his entire operation with incredible ease. It wasn't until he was standing in front of a judge facing more charges than he could count did he realize that he was wasting his talents. Thankfully for Thorn, he planned in advance. He had brainwashed an assistant to 'confessing' that he was a telepathic mutant and had forced Mr. Thorn to commit all those terrible crimes. That was only seconds before he grabbed an officer's gun and blew his own brains out, thus making it impossible to confirm or deny. Several months after, Thorn moved to Metro City and began forming his own cult. His telepathic powers allowed him to tell a crowd's mood and how to best exploit it. So far, his personal cult numbered at four thousand and growing.
"And I should be the only one giving them hope."
***
"Incoming!" X-Treme shouted as Black Dragon's foot came crashing down to the spot he had been standing mere seconds before, smashing the dock to splinters. He cursed as he saw that he and Speedball were on one side, and Mirage and Wolfsbane on the other.
"Think you could burn him if you cut him?" Speedball asked.
"Not likely. Too damn big. You want to go head to head with him?" X-Treme asked.
"Not really." Speedball replied. He bounced a little in the air, and came down towards X-Treme, like they practiced. He landed in X-Treme cupped hands and just as he was starting to rebound, X-Treme heaved him towards Black Dragon.
"Hey, Puff Daddy! Comin' at ya!" Speedball shouted as he smashed into the side of Black Dragon's head. To no effect, whatsoever.
"I'll deal with you in a moment." Black Dragon said. He looked towards Mirage and Wolfsbane, and scooped up Rahne in his claws with impossible speed and licked his lips, "However, I sense this one has some kind of bond with your leader. Her death will teach her not to interfere with Nightshade, or more importantly, to cross the Black Dragon, brother of the Dragon King!"
"Rahne!" Mirage frantically fired her arrows at Black Dragon, trying to think of a plan to get Wolfsbane out of danger.
"I'm nae afraid o' ye!" Wolfsbane snarled as she raked her claws over the scales on his fist.
"You'll learn. For the brief seconds that remain of your life, at least."
"Hey, K'un Lun reject!" A voiced, amplified by a loud speaker, called. Black Dragon turned, drawn by the mention of his homeland. He saw Officer Doug Mathew; standing behind a barricade the police had erected to keep civilians out, "Yeah,...umm... I'm talking to you!"
"And you're courting death, mortal."
"No, you are, if you don't put that woman down, transform and come here." Doug replied. He pulled a vial out of his coat pocket, filled with a purple solution, "Recognize this?"
Black Dragon stiffened, but didn't respond.
"Of course you do. If you don't take it, you'll die. It's how Nightshade kept you on a leash. I destroyed the last of it, so this is all you have left. How long has it been since you had you last booster shot?" Doug held the vial out in a fist, and slowly removed his pinky finger, "You have to the count of four to put her down, gently, and come here. One..."
Black Dragon decided not to test him. He placed Wolfsbane down, and turned towards Doug. He assumed his human form and approached him. Even though he was in his human form, he towered over the medium height Doug.
"This is the last of the formula? Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now."
"Because we can make you more, if you surrender. If you don't surrender, you'll die. I give you my word we won't let you die." Doug nervously handed Black Dragon the vial. Black Dragon gulped down the contents and threw the vial to the ground.
"Fool! I am rejuvenated! I will...freeee...Night..." Black Dragon's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Man, what did you give him?" Speedball asked.
"Purple Cool-Aid, mostly." Doug smiled, "You see, Nightshade was bluffing. He never needed some formula to stay alive. She boasted that she tricked Black Dragon with it. I just slipped a few Mickey's in it from her drug labs."
Before anyone could say another word, Nova, Kymaera and Wiz Kid returned, soaking wet but ready for action.
"What'd we miss?" Nova asked.
"Officer Mathews saved our ass." Mirage replied, "Nova, I need you and Wiz Kid to find Arsenal and Tarene. Black Dragon took them out in the fight."
"Not a problem," Wiz Kid said, "I can track them via their comm. unit. I'm sure they're both fine."
"Arsenal's probably just sitting around on his ass," Nova muttered under his breath as he flew off with Wiz Kid.
As Nova and Wiz Kid left, Wolfsbane walked over to Officer Mathews. As she approached him, she couldn't quite get that fact that he looked so much like the Doug she had lost so long ago.
"Doug?"
"Oh, hey, Rahne, what's up?"
"Oh, I wanted t' thank ye." She said shyly.
"For what?" He said sarcastically.
"F'r savin' muh life! That was a verra brave thing ye did, an' I... jus' wanted to say thanks."
"You're welcome." He said, "It's a good thing he took the Cool-aid when he did, otherwise I would have needed a change of shorts and probably a heart transplant."
Rahne giggled a little at that, "Well, it's nae everyday ye stare down a dragon, huh?"
"Nope. Hey, I don't suppose the dashing knight gets a date after helping the beautiful princess out with the dragon?"
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry, that sounded alot better in my head," Doug rubbed the back of his head nervously for a moment, "Are you free Wednesday night?"
"Are you asking me oot on a date?" Rahne asked, almost dumbfounded. She almost couldn't believe someone was asking her out on a date. She liked Doug sure, but there was something about him that made her wary. She couldn't place her finger on it, though.
***
"Hope you're happy now." A new, gruff voice said. Kymaera and Mirage turned to see Commissioner Stone, with a high yield plasma rifle slung over his back from his days leading Code Blue. It was mostly for effect, but Stone had grown too used to using high tech firepower fall back on a regular pistol.
"Hey, Stone, you know what they say about men who need big guns, right?" Kymaera needled.
"Yes, they kill whoever pisses them off." He said flatly, "You realize by taking Nightshade down, you just made a power vacuum in Metro City."
"I understand why you're upset, Stone, but...
"No, Mirage. It was my idea to take down Nightshade, and I'll handle this," Kymaera turned to Stone, "You don't not stop a murder just because someone, somewhere will commit murder someplace else. Nightshade was a clear and present danger, supplying drugs to this city and allowing even more to enter the U.S. We took her out. End of discussion."
"Fine. Get something straight. I worked with Code: Blue a long time, and alongside a lot of heroes, so I know how you guys think. Do you think you can solve every problem with a punch to the face?"
Mirage's thoughts started to drift as Kymaera and Stone engaged in, for lack of a better term, an ideological pissing match. For her part, Dani cared more about doing the job than justifying it to anyone other than herself. Dani?
Mirage snapped back to reality as Rahne called for her on the special psi- link they shared.
Yes, Rahne?
Doug asked me oot on a date. He seems nice enough, but... I'm nae sure. Umm, do ye think I should?
Mirage glanced towards Stone for a moment, and then towards Doug. He seemed nice and polite, and he did save all their lives. Mirage also knew they had now made an enemy of Stone, and by extension, the entire Metro City police force. Dani was canny enough to know they would need their resources someday. And if Rahne was dating a police officer, it might not be that much of a problem. Besides, Dani knew Rahne was only asking her because she didn't have the courage to say yes herself. Dani kept those last few thoughts to herself. The psi-link the two young women shared was now completely voluntary. Whatever they wanted shared, was shared. Whatever they didn't, wasn't. Go for it, firetop.
"Media's here, Chief." Speedball said, "What do you want to do?"
Run away She quipped to herself. Then she recalled Sawyer's words to her earlier. Mutants really didn't have someone independent in the national spotlight to speak for them. And that wasn't right. "Let's... go answer their questions."
Mirage, Kymaera and Speedball strode towards the mass of news vans, preparing to answer all the reporters' questions. Soon, Wiz Kid and Nova returned with Tarene and Arsenal, and they too talked to the media. Wolfsbane, however, spent the remainder of the evening having a polite conversation with Doug. X-Treme watched this all from the shadows of a nearby ally for a few brief moments, before leaving.
The End.
Next: The Undertow return, weaker than ever?!
Notes:
Wiz Kid, Kymaera and Wolfsbane (thru Moira) are all independently wealthy
The story behind Black Dragon is far, far too complicated to fully explain here. In fact, he makes Cable's origin look simple! He first appeared in Power Man and Iron Fist 119 and he was beheaded by Colleen Wing in issue 122. Nightshade resurrected him in between then and Force Works 2. If you're dying to know more about Black Dragon, check out Black Panther 38-40 by Christopher Priest. Not M2K and not free, but still a damn fine read and worth every penny.
The Grind first appeared in Night Thrasher 19, where he was caught and defeated by Night Thrasher and Rage.
Metro City, The Work Place
"Are we almost done yet?" The man called Nova, Richard Rider to his friends, asked. He was standing on a special platform in the lab of his teammate Wiz Kid, with dozens of scanners focused on him, examining him. This had been going on for over half an hour, and Nova was beginning to get tired of it.
"Just a few more seconds," Wiz Kid replied as he wheeled himself over to his computer consul. He frowned as he read the print out.
"So, what's wrong with my powers?" Nova asked as he stepped down off, " They were screwy for a while, but that's seems to have stopped now."
"Well, from I've compared the scans I took from those that were taken during your time in the New Warriors, and there are considerable differences. There's good news and, of course, bad news. You see, your energy matrix has been..."
"Hold up a second, 'Kid" Nova said, "English please?"
"I'll try to dumb it down for you." Wiz Kid said with a slight trace of annoyance, "The good news, from what I can tell, is that your powers have now stabilized. You are as strong and as fast you ever were. You could give the Thing a run for his money."
"Really?"
"No, he would likely kick your ass. You see, he uses his head as something other than a blunt object."
"Whatever," Nova muttered, "What about my energy powers? I used to be able to release gravity pulses, absorb some energies and optic blasts. Now, the weakest gravity pulse feels like to a freakin' heart attack and I haven't been able to muster up my eye beams in weeks."
"That would be the bad news. As far as I can tell, your independent energy powers are completely gone now. No more optic blasts or gravity pulses whatsoever."
"Independent?"
"You can still absorb energy," Wiz Kid continued, "In fact, you can now absorb almost any kind of energy now, with the exception of kinetic, but with one rather serious draw back. Observe."
With that statement, Wiz Kid picked up a taser from his worktable and shocked Nova's hand.
"Ahh! Son of a... that hurt!" Nova growled as whipped his hand back, "But... how?"
"Oh please, the charge wasn't that much." Wiz Kid sighed.
"But what did you use? I actually felt that!"
"Exactly. You see, your energy absorption powers are cross-wired somewhat with your nervous system. You can absorb, transform and rechannel any energy, but when you absorb it..."
"It'll hurt like hell and could kill me." Nova finished, "I'm thick headed, not stupid."
"So you're vulnerable to energy attacks. It's not that big a problem now that I know about it."
Wiz Kid and Nova turned and saw Danielle Moonstar, code named Mirage, and Rahne Sinclair, code named Wolfsbane standing at the door to the lab. Dani was wearing her blue and yellow costume she had worn with the M.L.F, but was also armed with a collapsible bow and a quiver of arrows. They were all regular arrows, but Dani felt she needed something to fall back on if her powers ever failed.
"Hey chief, what's up?"
"I was just gathering everyone for our briefing. The others are in the training room."
Rahne glanced at Taki, who was in his wheel chair, "Where are yuir braces?"
"I'm wearing them now, Rahne. I simply prefer to use them only on missions."
"Why?"
"Well, why do you tell people you're a mutant instead of telling them that you gained your powers some other way?"
***
The Work Place, Training Room
Arsenal, Kymaera and Speedball(held aloft by 'Nita) surveyed the abandoned city block below them, looking for their target. Of course, what they were really looking at wasn't an empty city block at all. Rather, it was a hard light hologram designed to simulate any environment they wanted or needed. Not half as advanced as the X-Men's Danger Room, as the Training Room consumed three times the energy the Danger Room did for the same effect, but it got the job done.
"You'd think a guy dressed in black leather and armed with medieval weapons would be easy to find!"
"Speedball, if there's one thing I know about Adam, it's that if he doesn't want to be found, he won't be." Arsenal said.
"I see him." Kymaera muttered.
"Where?"
"I'm right below you." X-Treme answered. Arsenal looked down, and saw X- Treme had looking up at them, with his arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently.
"I got tired of waiting for you guys to find me, so I decided to make it easy for you. I've been standing here five minutes now."
"Operation Marion Barry!" Arsenal shouted as he swooped up. He swooped down, taking aim at X-Treme. At the same time, he concentrated, transforming his skin into indestructible steel and retracting his metal wings into his body until they were small stumps. X-Treme leaped back as Arsenal landed with a loud –THA-THOOM!
"Why aren't you using the bone claws?" X-Treme asked.
"Not that fond of them." Arsenal answered as he charged forward. He threw a flurry of punches at X-Treme, each one missing him by a large margin but driving him back.
"You should know one thing about me by now, Bobby" X-Treme said nonchalantly as he grabbed Arsenal's left arm, spun, shifted his weight and threw Arsenal over his shoulder, "You never want to get within arm's length. Remember, tuck your head!"
X-Treme then turned, ready for Kymaera and Speedball's attack.
"You know, why we never thought to do this more in the New Warriors, I'll never know."
"Personal respect, maybe!?"
"Nah..." Kymaera commented as she threw Speedball towards X-Treme. X-Treme easily dodged the attack, but Speedball continued to bounce around him at an ever-increasing speed, boxing him in.
As Speedball was cornering X-Treme, she took to the air and darted towards him. X-Treme again easily dodged her, but he wasn't her target. Kymaera grabbed the pavement and heaved upward. X-Treme was thrown into the air, unprepared. Speedball, seeing this, twisted, and ricocheted right towards X- Treme.
Wham!
Speedball smashed into X-Treme and knocked him into a far wall. X-Treme slumped to the ground, and didn't move.
"Ohmygod! Did I hurt him?"
"He's fine." Arsenal said as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. Speedball hesitantly approached X-Treme. He crouched down in front of him, trying to see if he was indeed all right. Without opening his eye's, X- Treme lashed out and grabbed Speedball by the throat.
"Ack...please don't kill me..." Speedball whimpered.
"Told you he was fine."
"Despite the fact that you are invulnerable to physical harm, you need to breathe in your Speedball form," X-Treme explained, ignoring Speedball's comments, "So be careful how close you get to an enemy."
X-Treme stood up and gave Speedball a slap on the back, despite himself. "Still, that was a good plan."
X-Treme knew Speedball, more so than any other member of Force Works, was nervous around him, likely somewhat scared of him. X-Treme couldn't really blame him, but he liked Speedball nonetheless.
"Want to go again?" Arsenal asked, "I'd like to go for three out of five today."
"As opposed to the normal one out of three?" X-Treme corrected, with a slight smile, "Getting a little cocky are we?"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I've got our mission for today." Mirage announced as she entered the Training Room. "May I?"
"Go ahead." Kymaera said, "We've put this off long enough."
"Okay." Mirage took a deep breath and began, "As you may or may not know, Metro City in huge drug port into the United States. Over three hundred million dollars in drugs enters the United States from here. And due to massive corruption in the local police department, it's hard to stem that flow. But there is good news. Taki?"
Wiz Kid wheeled himself forward, "Over the past nine days, Wolfsbane and I have identified dozens of 'Crack houses' and drug safe houses thru out this city, Wolfsbane using her enhanced sense of smell and I using advanced scanners. We likely could have found more if someone wasn't so focused on Officer Mathews." Taki added.
Wolfsbane rolled her eyes at the comment. Doug was cute, and seemed nice enough, but she didn't let that get in the way of her work.
"Way to violate the Fourth Amendment, chief."
"Thank you, Speedball." Mirage replied, deciding not to be baited.
"In the course of our investigation, we discovered that the villain known as Night Shade is running the drug trade here."
A hologram of a tall black woman wearing a bikini top, two six shooters and long leather boots that reached above her knees, appeared, "She's tangled with Captain America and Power Man and Iron Fist now and then. Not what I would call dangerous, but we should be careful. At any rate, there is an open arrest warrant out for her, so taking her out of the picture shouldn't be problematic."
"One last point. When we told the police force what we were doing, they seemed less than pleased. Said something about upsetting their non-existent timetable. So let's be diplomatic, okay? Any questions?"
"I have one, Dani."
"Yeah, Arsenal?"
"Why are we holding the briefing in the training room?"
"There you guys are! I've been looking all over for you!"
The team turned towards the door, and looked towards the door. In it was the young blond mallet-carrying woman known only as Tarene. Force Works had freed her from the control of the mysterious group known as the Everlasting on their first official mission and taken her in. And even after nine days of trying, that's still the sum total of information Force Works really had on her.
"That's why." Mirage muttered, "Tarene, I thought I asked you to stay on the Rec room."
"I know," She replied as she absently played with her hair, "But I got bored. I heard that you're going on a mission, can I come with? Please?"
"No!" Mirage yelled, almost involuntarily, "I mean, you're untrained Tarene. It's not safe for you out there."
"How am I ever going to be trained enough to come with you if you keep me here? I want to be a warrior!" Tarene pouted, "Maybe I should just leave."
Mirage cringed at that. Legally, Force Works had no right to keep Tarene prisoner, but at the same time, they couldn't allow such power to run around unchecked. She clucked her tongue, and made a compromise.
"Nova will stay here and train you. That okay?"
"What! I'm the second in command of this team, not a baby sitter!" Nova protested. Mirage, rather than make the debate public, activated her comm. unit to Nova.
"You're also the only one who could survive her screwing up, Rider. She needs training, and you're the safest one to give it to her."
Nova didn't reply, but he relented.
"Any other questions? No? Good. We'll break into smaller teams and get to work."
"What about the Press conference?" Wiz Kid asked as he stood up and transformed his wheel chair into his hi tech backpack, "Don't you want us there?"
"I'll be enough."
"Are you..."
"I'm positive."
"It's just the usual X cloak and dagger stuff." Speedball whispered to Wiz Kid. If Mirage heard him, she didn't acknowledge it.
***
Mirage waited a few moments for the assembled press to calm down so she could speak. Dani fought the urge to simply walk away from this press conference and do her job. She was certain that, no matter what she did, that no matter the amount of good they performed, how many lives they saved, the difference they made...
Stop it. She thought to herself, Don't do their job for them.
She cleared her throat, and started, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. I am Mirage, the leader of Force Works."
"Where is the rest of the team?" One reporter interrupted.
"Busy. If I may continue? I'll get straight to the point. Human/ Mutant relations could be better. They could be a lot better, in fact. Some people want to cling to the belief that humans and mutants could never work together. Some believe that, by in large, it simply isn't possible for humans and mutants to work together. Force Works, an alliance of human and mutant heroes, will prove them wrong. We will strive to make the world a better place for everyone. We don't fight for mutants. We don't fight for humans. We fight for everyone. And we will make a difference. Any questions?"
"Tom Cannon for the Daily Bugle. What do you say to the accusation that you are doing this for the money? My sources tell me that Parvenue pays a handsome strip-end and provides room and board."
"Those accusations are baseless. In fact, several members of Force Works are independently wealthy. Each and every member of Force Works is here because they believe in peaceful human mutant coexistence." Dani replied. The Avengers are paid and get free room and board as well, and the media never asks them that question
"John Burne for the Nation Inquirer. Why did you choose the name Force Works?"
"The name was chosen for us by Mr. Parvenue, our sponsor. Force Works is a copy righted name that Mr. Parvenue bought from Stark-Fujikawa some time back." Dani made sure to emphasize the word copy righted. "I'm afraid that will have to all for today. Thank all you for coming."
Mirage turned and left the Press Room as fast as she could move without running. Reporters shouted more questions at her, but Mirage simply ignored them as she walked down the hall and towards the private elevators.
"That... was the single worse press conference I have ever seen." A voice said behind her. Mirage instantly recognized the voice of their liaison to Parvenue, Edie Sawyer.
"I'm a fighter, not a politician. Sue me."
"As leader of Force Works, you'll have to be both."
"Oh?"
"That was the idea behind Force Works. One of them, anyways. Everyone needs someone to speak for them. Blacks have the NAACP and Jesse Jackson, Jews have the Anti-Defamation League, feminists have N.O.W, etc. Us muties only have Magneto, and now, you. Not much, but it's a start. So get used to it, Moonstar." Ms. Sawyer said with thinly veiled malice.
"Why are you here?"
"I'm just here to remind you that I expect a full report on your teams actions on my desk by 12 o clock tomorrow. Don't be late." And with that, she teleported away without another word.
"Bitch."
***
"This is like, border line brutality." Speedball said as he smashed into two drug dealers. He, along with the rest of Force Works, were spending their day cleaning out crack houses with the police and arresting drug dealers. He had been at it for three hours now, closing down a total of ten crack houses and he had yet to face any real credible opposition.
"How so?" Wiz Kid asked. He formed a high tech rifle with his backpack and aimed it at several charging gang members. He fired, and the gang members fell to the ground vomiting, unable to even stand.
"What did you do to those guys?"
"I disrupted their inner ears, making it impossible for them to stand. Didn't you do this sort of stuff in the Warriors? Taking down drug dealers, I mean?"
"Yeah, but it just feels wrong for some reason." Speedball rubbed his head, trying to clear his thoughts, "I mean, we never did it to this scale, and it's not like this is a fair fight to begin with. Superheroes vs. street punks is kinda lop sided."
"Just because we can win a fight with incredible ease does not mean we should shy from it. That's what kept the U.S out of Afghanistan." Wiz Kid said as he aimed his sonic rifle as several other gang members whom he missed.
"Doesn't mean we have too fight it, either. And it doesn't mean we're doing the right thing."
***
"Okay, Tarene, I'm going to see what exactly your limits with that mallet of yours is." Nova said as he keyed several commands from the training room. Below, Tarene waited anxiously for the simulation to start. Nova entered several commands, and a huge, twenty-foot tall humanoid robot appeared across the room from Tarene.
"Okay, Tarene, this is little monster is your partner. Try hitting it with your mallet."
Tarene did as she was told. She spun her mallet for a few seconds before releasing it at the robot. The mallet smashed thru the robot like paper, but it didn't stop there. The mallet kept on going, smashing out thru the specially reinforced training room walls before the mallet turned around in mid air and smashed a new hole in the wall, returning to Tarene's hand.
"How was that?" She asked innocently.
"Blue Blazes..." Nova muttered. He'd hit those same walls at full speed before (not intentionally) and hadn't done half the damage Tarene had. " Umm, lets try something else." Nova suggested. Dani isn't going to like this
****
"So, this is it?" X-Treme asked, motioning towards the warehouse in front of them. From the outside, the warehouse looked abandoned, with trash piled up all around it. But all the windows were tinted, and the only door they could find was titanium-reinforced door. Music and general commotion could clearly be heard from the outside.
"According to Wolfsbane, this is where Nightshade's enforcers hang out." Arsenal answered.
"Then let's get this over with." X-Treme unsheathed his sword. It was a heavy two and a half foot long sword with a double blade and a jagged metal hand guard. X-Treme kicked the door in and as he entered, he noticed that the patrons barely paid him any mind. Apparently, they had grown accustomed to someone breaking down the door, and that someone was never a hero before.
"Alright, listen up! We're looking for Nightshade's thugs. Specifically, Puff Adder, Disc, and some other losers. We were told they hang here." X- Treme shouted over the noise. If anyone heard what he said, they certainly didn't show it.
"I said..."
"Shut up, leather boy!" A random patron yelled. Arsenal placed his hand on his friends shoulder,
"I think I can get their attention."
He stepped forward, "Listen up!" He shouted
Snikkt!
The second Arsenal popped his bone claws, all conversation in the bar stopped and everyone's eyes were on Arsenal and X-Treme.
Things are good for something after all He thought to himself as he retracted his claws. "Thank you. We're looking for a group of individuals who are in the employ of Nightshade. We would like to have a few words with them."
"That would be us." A voice said from the bar. The man stood up, revealing himself to be a good eight feet tall with broad shoulders. Arsenal recognized him as Puff Adder, one of the survivors of the Serpent Society. Standing next to him were Cottonmouth and Coachwhip, both former members of the Serpent Society, along with Disc and Stiletto.
"Do you two losers have any last requests?" Cottonmouth asked as they started to advance. By now the patrons of the bar were making a mad dash for the door, with no one wanting to be caught in upcoming fight.
"Yes, that you villains get some better cliché's." X-Treme said as he leaped forward, "The lady with the whip and big guy are your, Arsenal."
Stiletto, who wore a red armor that shot tiny flechettes at whomever he chose, unleashed a barrage of his weapons at X-Treme. X-Treme didn't bother to dodge them. With hard earned skill and using his superhuman reflexes, he batted every single one of them out of the air and to the ground.
"That's...that's impossible!" He shouted.
"If I had a dime for every time a heard that." X-Treme sighed as he pulled out several throwing blades from his belt. He threw them at Cottonmouth, Disc and Stiletto, nicking them in the shoulder and drawing a small amount of blood.
"Burn!"
The villains screamed as X-Treme burned the electrolytes in their blood and fell to the ground.
"Adam, look out!"
X-Treme ducked in time to avoid the electrical whips of the villainess Coachwhip. X-Treme looked and saw that Arsenal was still dealing with Puff Adder.
"I thought you had her!" X-Treme complained as he dodged another attack. With his speed and strength, he could easily defeat her himself. But he didn't.
"I'm kind of busy!" Arsenal grunted as he grappled with Puff Adder.
"Don't worry, you'll be dead in a moment." Puff Adder said smugly.
"Don't think so." Arsenal leaped up, smashing his steel head into Puff Adder's nose. He then brought his foot up and kicked Puff Adder in the groin. Puff Adder stepped back, his hands going to cover both his broken nose and injured manhood.
"Good bye." Arsenal unleashed his most powerful optic blast at Puff Adder, smashing him in the chest and knocking him out. He turned to see that X- Treme still was dodging Coachwhip.
"Hell." He muttered. He unleashed a weak optic blast and knocked her out.
"Thanks."
"No problem, Adam. And Adam?" Arsenal walked over to his friend and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Two things. One, it's "If I had a nickel", not dime. And two, hitting a woman doesn't make you like your father."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep that last part to yourself, okay?" X-Treme said, uncomfortable with the subject, "Call Mirage. She should be able to pull the image of Nightshade's hide out from these guys minds."
***
Despite the fact that they didn't expect Nightshade to put up much of a fight, Force Works decided to confront her together. Dani had pulled an image of her hideout from Cottonmouth's mind, and the team, who were still unfamiliar with Metro City, was scouring the city on a hover platform created by Wiz Kid.
"How was training?" Dani asked Nova absently.
"Don't ask." Nova responded, "Anyone see it yet?"
"Over there," Wolfsbane pointed north, "I see it."
Taki turned the hover platform in the direction Wolfsbane indicated, and soon saw what they recognized as Nightshade's hide out hideout. It wasn't glitzy or glamour in any way, really. In fact, it was a run down pool hall on the corner of a dilapidated street. To everyone's surprise, Nightshade was standing outside in her costume, alongside a six-foot Asian man in an old business suit.
"Okay, this smells." Mirage muttered to herself.
Ye don' know the half o' it Wolfsbane said over the psi-link she shared with her friend, that man besides her smells o' magic and evil. Watch yuir step
X-Treme locked eyes with the Asian man, equally suspicious of him. Unknown to anyone but himself, the energy X-Treme used to 'burn' people with also allowed him to evaluate a person. He would know what powers, or physical abilities they had, if any. And he got a very strange reading from the man. The Asian man stared back, not the least bit intimidated by the superhumans who were approaching.
Mirage glanced around and saw that one police officer had already made it on the scene. Specifically, Officer Doug Mathews.
Looks like your boy friend's here Mirage said over their psi-link teasingly. Wolfsbane blushed, but kept her thoughts to herself.
"She's been standing here for about ten minutes. I guess she's waiting for you. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and came across her." Doug explained. "Hey, Rahne."
"First time basis?" Kymaera whispered.
"Y'all can get the hell out of my city." Nightshade said abruptly.
"Sorry, Nightshade, but Force Works isn't going anywhere. You, on the other hand, are a different story." Mirage said.
"That so? Well, let me tell you a little story, little girl. There was once a dragon called Chiantang, the Black Dragon who crossed swords with Colleen Wing. Ta be accurate, her sword crossed his neck while he was in human form. Good thing he's a magic dude, though. With a little help, they can die a dozen times and still come back. Years later, I come along, being the nice person that I am, and brought him back to serve me." Nightshade huffed. She motioned, and the Asian man stepped forward.
"Ooookay, word of advise, Nightshade?" Speedball said, " Lay.off.the.smack. You'll thank me."
"You'll not laugh when you have felt my power, boy!" The Asian man declared. Before their eyes, his skin turned green and grew scales; wings sprouted from his back and started to grow taller. Once he was fully transformed, he stood nine stories in height, with a head as big as a small house, his legs reaching across the four lane street and a wingspan and tail that was the length of a city block He roared, knocking Force Works and Officer Mathews on their asses.
"I am the Black Dragon, and I will scorch the flesh from your body and pick my teeth with your bones!"
"Not here ya won't!" Nightshade shouted, "These people pay good protection money! Takes this to the docks!"
"Very well." Black Dragon growled. With a flap of his wings, he took to the air and headed to the docks, as ordered. Force Works was knocked over by the gust of wind created by his wings.
"Well, now, that was new." Speedball said as he brushed himself off, "Umm, Do we have to follow Puff the color blind dragon? I mean, I'm sure he's an endangered species, and I really don't want P.E.T.A on my ass..."
"No one said this would be easy." Mirage replied. She fired a weak psychic arrow at Nightshade, who was too busy being cocky to keep her guard up. She slumped to the ground, and tried to deal with the headache that followed. " Doug, she's controlling that monster somehow! Think you can find out how while we try to contain it?"
"You can count on me, Mirage!"
Once Force Works left, Doug turned towards Nightshade. He looked around, and saw that no one was around. Not surprising, given that Nightshade's hideout was on the north side of Metro City, where everyone kept to themselves, no matter what.
"Okay, you stupid bitch," Doug snarled as he cracked his knuckles, " You're going to tell me how you control that thing, and you're going to tell me now."
***
"Move like a butterfly, sting like a bee!" Nova said as he smashed his fist into Black Dragon's face. Black Dragon tumbled back, farther out into the water, but didn't fall.
"Don't get cocky, Nova." Arsenal warned as he unleashed an optic blast at Black Dragon, "It's only you, me, Kymaera, Wiz Kid and Tarene out here, after all."
"Blow me." Nova replied. He did a flying uppercut, knocking Black Dragon even farther back in the water.
"Nova's beating Puff the color blind dragon like a red headed step child!" Speedball commented from the docks. He, along with the non-flying members of Force Works, had been forced to stand by and watch their friends battle when the battle carried out over the water.
"'ey!"
"Sorry, Rahne."
"I don't like this." Dani said.
"Don't worry, we'll get our licks in next time." Speedball said casually.
"It's not that, Speedball. The fight's barely started, and Black Dragon's already divided us." X-Treme explained. Mirage activated her comm. unit.
"Nova, Kymaera, drive Black Dragon back to the docks, so we can have an effect."
Nova heard her, and turned towards his teammates, "Op. Trail o' Tears." He ordered.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that." Black Dragon said. He breathed deep, and unleashed another plume of flame. However, it wasn't aimed at any member of Force Works. Rather, it was aimed at the water. A huge cloud of steam emerged, engulfing the team.
"My sensor's are jammed! Must be some kind of magic!" Taki warned, Lord, I hate magic!
"My lenses are fogged up!" Nova shouted. He froze in midair, afraid of what would happen if he flew into a teammate. Next to him, Kymaera and Wiz Kid tried desperately to stay on guard.
"Good bye." Black Dragon sneered. With his magic senses and strong nose, he knew exactly where each member of Force Works was in this pea soup. He spun around, and his tail smashed into Nova, Kymaera and Wiz Kid, knocking them unconscious and out to sea. Wiz Kid had special protocols built into his backpack that detected the danger at the last moment; otherwise he would have been paste.
"Three down." Black Dragon chuckled. He turned and saw Tarene using her mallet to blow away the steam.
"You hurt my friends! You big meanie!" Tarene threw her mallet at Black Dragon's head, and knocked him a good two miles out into the ocean. Storm clouds thundered behind her as she became enraged "How do you like to be hurt!"
Tarene followed up the assault by smashing her mallet into Black Dragon's nose, drawing blood and hurting him more than almost anyone else in the past thousand years.
"You'll pay for that, you Asgardian tramp!"
"Tarene, let me take a shot!" Arsenal said as he flew towards Black Dragon, in his steel form and bone claws out threateningly.
"Don't make me laugh, mortal." Black Dragon reached out and grabbed Arsenal in mid air, and squeezed. He brought the struggling Arsenal up to eye-level "You are no threat to me."
Short memory much? Arsenal thought as he fought against the pressure. His steel form leant him more durability than it did strength, but it was being pushed to the limit. Pressing past the pain, Arsenal waited a few seconds until Black Dragon was in the perfect position and fired his most powerful optic blast directly at Black Dragon's right eye.
"Arrgh!" Black Dragon screamed in pain and threw Arsenal at Tarene. Arsenal hit her directly in the stomach, knocking her out and throwing them both very, very far away. Black Dragon took to the air, determined to take his anger out on the remainder of Force Works.
***
United Front Office Building, Metro City
{{ "This is Alex Almond reporting for channel five news. Behind me is a crack house that was shut down by the new superhero team called Force Works, who have set up residence in Metro City. This house is just one of dozens..."}}
*Click*
{{"Bob Priest reporting for channel six news. Force Works have taken Metro City by storm, assisting police in the arrest of at least two hundred drug dealers in one day. Residents had this to say..."}}
The camera turned to a young Hispanic woman,
{{ "It's about time someone did something about all the drugs in this city! The police haven't been able to do anything in years..."}}
*Click*
{{ "Approval ratings for Force Works' actions stands at 90%..."}}
The man named Gabriel Thorn turned the T.V off, having heard enough about Force Works for one day.
"This is my city." He growled to on one in particular. Before he had come to Metro City, Gabriel Thorn was a third string drug dealer known as the Grind. He used his minor telepathic powers to force children to run drugs for him. That was until the superheroes Rage and Night Thrasher became involved. They took apart his entire operation with incredible ease. It wasn't until he was standing in front of a judge facing more charges than he could count did he realize that he was wasting his talents. Thankfully for Thorn, he planned in advance. He had brainwashed an assistant to 'confessing' that he was a telepathic mutant and had forced Mr. Thorn to commit all those terrible crimes. That was only seconds before he grabbed an officer's gun and blew his own brains out, thus making it impossible to confirm or deny. Several months after, Thorn moved to Metro City and began forming his own cult. His telepathic powers allowed him to tell a crowd's mood and how to best exploit it. So far, his personal cult numbered at four thousand and growing.
"And I should be the only one giving them hope."
***
"Incoming!" X-Treme shouted as Black Dragon's foot came crashing down to the spot he had been standing mere seconds before, smashing the dock to splinters. He cursed as he saw that he and Speedball were on one side, and Mirage and Wolfsbane on the other.
"Think you could burn him if you cut him?" Speedball asked.
"Not likely. Too damn big. You want to go head to head with him?" X-Treme asked.
"Not really." Speedball replied. He bounced a little in the air, and came down towards X-Treme, like they practiced. He landed in X-Treme cupped hands and just as he was starting to rebound, X-Treme heaved him towards Black Dragon.
"Hey, Puff Daddy! Comin' at ya!" Speedball shouted as he smashed into the side of Black Dragon's head. To no effect, whatsoever.
"I'll deal with you in a moment." Black Dragon said. He looked towards Mirage and Wolfsbane, and scooped up Rahne in his claws with impossible speed and licked his lips, "However, I sense this one has some kind of bond with your leader. Her death will teach her not to interfere with Nightshade, or more importantly, to cross the Black Dragon, brother of the Dragon King!"
"Rahne!" Mirage frantically fired her arrows at Black Dragon, trying to think of a plan to get Wolfsbane out of danger.
"I'm nae afraid o' ye!" Wolfsbane snarled as she raked her claws over the scales on his fist.
"You'll learn. For the brief seconds that remain of your life, at least."
"Hey, K'un Lun reject!" A voiced, amplified by a loud speaker, called. Black Dragon turned, drawn by the mention of his homeland. He saw Officer Doug Mathew; standing behind a barricade the police had erected to keep civilians out, "Yeah,...umm... I'm talking to you!"
"And you're courting death, mortal."
"No, you are, if you don't put that woman down, transform and come here." Doug replied. He pulled a vial out of his coat pocket, filled with a purple solution, "Recognize this?"
Black Dragon stiffened, but didn't respond.
"Of course you do. If you don't take it, you'll die. It's how Nightshade kept you on a leash. I destroyed the last of it, so this is all you have left. How long has it been since you had you last booster shot?" Doug held the vial out in a fist, and slowly removed his pinky finger, "You have to the count of four to put her down, gently, and come here. One..."
Black Dragon decided not to test him. He placed Wolfsbane down, and turned towards Doug. He assumed his human form and approached him. Even though he was in his human form, he towered over the medium height Doug.
"This is the last of the formula? Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now."
"Because we can make you more, if you surrender. If you don't surrender, you'll die. I give you my word we won't let you die." Doug nervously handed Black Dragon the vial. Black Dragon gulped down the contents and threw the vial to the ground.
"Fool! I am rejuvenated! I will...freeee...Night..." Black Dragon's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he slumped to the ground unconscious.
"Man, what did you give him?" Speedball asked.
"Purple Cool-Aid, mostly." Doug smiled, "You see, Nightshade was bluffing. He never needed some formula to stay alive. She boasted that she tricked Black Dragon with it. I just slipped a few Mickey's in it from her drug labs."
Before anyone could say another word, Nova, Kymaera and Wiz Kid returned, soaking wet but ready for action.
"What'd we miss?" Nova asked.
"Officer Mathews saved our ass." Mirage replied, "Nova, I need you and Wiz Kid to find Arsenal and Tarene. Black Dragon took them out in the fight."
"Not a problem," Wiz Kid said, "I can track them via their comm. unit. I'm sure they're both fine."
"Arsenal's probably just sitting around on his ass," Nova muttered under his breath as he flew off with Wiz Kid.
As Nova and Wiz Kid left, Wolfsbane walked over to Officer Mathews. As she approached him, she couldn't quite get that fact that he looked so much like the Doug she had lost so long ago.
"Doug?"
"Oh, hey, Rahne, what's up?"
"Oh, I wanted t' thank ye." She said shyly.
"For what?" He said sarcastically.
"F'r savin' muh life! That was a verra brave thing ye did, an' I... jus' wanted to say thanks."
"You're welcome." He said, "It's a good thing he took the Cool-aid when he did, otherwise I would have needed a change of shorts and probably a heart transplant."
Rahne giggled a little at that, "Well, it's nae everyday ye stare down a dragon, huh?"
"Nope. Hey, I don't suppose the dashing knight gets a date after helping the beautiful princess out with the dragon?"
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry, that sounded alot better in my head," Doug rubbed the back of his head nervously for a moment, "Are you free Wednesday night?"
"Are you asking me oot on a date?" Rahne asked, almost dumbfounded. She almost couldn't believe someone was asking her out on a date. She liked Doug sure, but there was something about him that made her wary. She couldn't place her finger on it, though.
***
"Hope you're happy now." A new, gruff voice said. Kymaera and Mirage turned to see Commissioner Stone, with a high yield plasma rifle slung over his back from his days leading Code Blue. It was mostly for effect, but Stone had grown too used to using high tech firepower fall back on a regular pistol.
"Hey, Stone, you know what they say about men who need big guns, right?" Kymaera needled.
"Yes, they kill whoever pisses them off." He said flatly, "You realize by taking Nightshade down, you just made a power vacuum in Metro City."
"I understand why you're upset, Stone, but...
"No, Mirage. It was my idea to take down Nightshade, and I'll handle this," Kymaera turned to Stone, "You don't not stop a murder just because someone, somewhere will commit murder someplace else. Nightshade was a clear and present danger, supplying drugs to this city and allowing even more to enter the U.S. We took her out. End of discussion."
"Fine. Get something straight. I worked with Code: Blue a long time, and alongside a lot of heroes, so I know how you guys think. Do you think you can solve every problem with a punch to the face?"
Mirage's thoughts started to drift as Kymaera and Stone engaged in, for lack of a better term, an ideological pissing match. For her part, Dani cared more about doing the job than justifying it to anyone other than herself. Dani?
Mirage snapped back to reality as Rahne called for her on the special psi- link they shared.
Yes, Rahne?
Doug asked me oot on a date. He seems nice enough, but... I'm nae sure. Umm, do ye think I should?
Mirage glanced towards Stone for a moment, and then towards Doug. He seemed nice and polite, and he did save all their lives. Mirage also knew they had now made an enemy of Stone, and by extension, the entire Metro City police force. Dani was canny enough to know they would need their resources someday. And if Rahne was dating a police officer, it might not be that much of a problem. Besides, Dani knew Rahne was only asking her because she didn't have the courage to say yes herself. Dani kept those last few thoughts to herself. The psi-link the two young women shared was now completely voluntary. Whatever they wanted shared, was shared. Whatever they didn't, wasn't. Go for it, firetop.
"Media's here, Chief." Speedball said, "What do you want to do?"
Run away She quipped to herself. Then she recalled Sawyer's words to her earlier. Mutants really didn't have someone independent in the national spotlight to speak for them. And that wasn't right. "Let's... go answer their questions."
Mirage, Kymaera and Speedball strode towards the mass of news vans, preparing to answer all the reporters' questions. Soon, Wiz Kid and Nova returned with Tarene and Arsenal, and they too talked to the media. Wolfsbane, however, spent the remainder of the evening having a polite conversation with Doug. X-Treme watched this all from the shadows of a nearby ally for a few brief moments, before leaving.
The End.
Next: The Undertow return, weaker than ever?!
Notes:
Wiz Kid, Kymaera and Wolfsbane (thru Moira) are all independently wealthy
The story behind Black Dragon is far, far too complicated to fully explain here. In fact, he makes Cable's origin look simple! He first appeared in Power Man and Iron Fist 119 and he was beheaded by Colleen Wing in issue 122. Nightshade resurrected him in between then and Force Works 2. If you're dying to know more about Black Dragon, check out Black Panther 38-40 by Christopher Priest. Not M2K and not free, but still a damn fine read and worth every penny.
The Grind first appeared in Night Thrasher 19, where he was caught and defeated by Night Thrasher and Rage.