Force Works 9
Taking Offense Part1
The Hunt
Metro City, the Workplace
"What do you think is on the schedule for today?" Speedball asked Nova and Kymaera as the three former New Warriors made their way into the meeting room.
"I haven't the foggiest idea." Nova stated, "All I know is that it's got something to do with Arsenal, so it can't be good."
"Just what is it you have against him, Rich?" Kymaera asked, "You're always on his case."
"He just rubs me the wrong way." Nova replied defensively as the three heroes entered the conference room and sat down. The rest of the team was already there with Dani standing at the head of the table with Arsenal sitting beside her. Danielle Moonstar, more commonly known as the mutant hero Mirage, looked over her team one final time before she began. Eight sets of eyes were locked onto her, patiently waiting for her to begin the meeting with discipline uncommon for their age.
"So, what's on the plan for today, chief?" Speedball asked nonchalantly, "Who're we after now? A.I.M, Hydra maybe? We really gotta do something about those guys, you know."
"Actually, we're going after someone relatively new." Dani stated, "Besides, Forge ask us not to target Hydra for the moment. They're in Shield's sights right now, and he's concerned we might ruin an X-Force op." She explained, "But things could change." She quickly added.
"What about that 'Cabal' we confronted while in Tartarus?" Wiz Kid asked, "Do we have any idea why they broke that Delilah woman out of jail?"
"We don't have an leads." Dani replied, her arms crossed in front of her chest, "We don't know who exactly broke Delilah out of her jail cell, and none of the members of the Cabal we fought really have the personal resources or initiative to pull off a jail break."
"So, basically, because we have no idea who's leading them or why they're even a team, we really have no way to find them because we wouldn't know where to start." X-Treme stated as he balanced a throwing blade on his index finger.
"Exactly." Dani said, her voiced laced with annoyance. X-Treme rarely added anything useful during the meetings, except to point out flaws, and that got old real fast.
"So, who are we going after, then?" Kymaera asked as she leaned forward and brushed a strand of her blond hair out of her face. Dani looked towards Arsenal and nodded, yielding the floor to him.
"We're going after a bastard by the name of John Sublime." Arsenal said as he stood up. At the center of the table appeared a 3-D image of a Caucasian man with slicked jet-black hair, square glasses and a quirky smile.
"How does he rate?" Speedball asked as he leaned back and propped his legs up on the table.
"If you'd shut up, you'll find out." Arsenal hissed with uncharacteristic anger that caught almost everyone's attention. X-Treme already knew the story behind Arsenal and Sublime, so he wasn't surprised in the least. Knowing he was again the center of attention, Arsenal continued,
"As you all know, I possess several different powers. Agility, optic blasts, healing factor and bone claws, steel skin and metal wings that allow me to fly. What some of you don't know is that some of my powers are derived from the organs of four different mutants, all surgically implanted in me against my will while I was in a coma." Arsenal concentrated, and his metal wings emerged from his back, "These belongs to a eighteen year old boy who had just graduated High School." Arsenal pointed towards his eyes, "And these belonged to a thirty five year old woman who was kidnapped like me after she was hit by a drunk driver. I was actually born with brown eyes, not blue."
Arsenal took a moment for his teammates to get over their shock. He could also feel the air suck out of the room when they gasped. Until today, Arsenal had chosen to avoid questions about his origins until he felt he was ready to face them. After a few seconds he continued. His voice, though subtly, became more and more angry and serious as he explained; "I was serving in the Air National Guard at the time. I was driving back to base after a night on the town and a kid ran in front of my car. I swerved, and smashed into a tree. Thankfully, someone immediately called an ambulance."
"How'd Sublime get you?" Tarene asked.
"Because the ambulance that picked me up were really Sublime's men. See, at the time, Sublime was working for one of Mr. Parvenue's free clinics and was embezzling funds for his experiments. That's why Mr. Parvenue always seems so concerned about me, because he blames himself for what happened." Arsenal explained, before he paused for a second. As much as he hated it though, he had to admit Sublime helped him in one regard. Parvenue was like a father to Bobby, who had grown up pretty much alone.
"What happened?" Kymaera asked
"I was in a coma for three weeks, and during that time Sublime used me for a guinea pig, transplanting the organs of kidnapped mutants into my body while experimenting some with gene splicing, thus how I got the healing factor and bone claws. Eventually, I woke up and shut his operation down, though he managed to slip away. But that's not good enough." Arsenal said thru gritted teeth, "I want Sublime. I want his head on a platter."
"That's all swell, but what's the plan?" Nova asked bluntly.
Mirage stood up and placed a comforting hand on Arsenal's shoulder, "We're going to see if we can't run down Sublime on our own. Rahne's got some connections in Shield, while you and I are going to see an old friend of mine."
"And the rest of us?" X-Treme asked.
"You guys are going to pour over our tips data base and see if there's anything there on Sublime that we might be able to use." Mirage answered, "It's a long shot, but you never know..."
"I thought we discontinued that thing after the Undertow used the thing to string us along into a trap." Speedball stated.
"If you'd paid closer attention during the meetings, you would know that I've just decided not to rely heavily on it." Dani sighed, "So, everyone ready to go to work?"
Shield Helicarrier
The former Black Air agent known as Pete Wisdom plopped down in his chair and let out an exhausted sigh. He'd known since day one that his job would be a hard one, that it would be as exhausting emotionally as it was physically. But recent events had driven that fact home with a twenty-ton sledgehammer. It was enough to break most men, but Pete Wisdom wasn't the type of man who was broken easily, if at all. He'd sooner burn in hell than give his enemies that satisfaction. No, he intended to just shut out the world totally for just two minutes, rest, and then get out of his chair and show the world just why exactly he had been hand picked by Nick Fury to become an agent of Shield and leader of X-Force.
(It goes without saying that this occurred before recent events in X-Force- David)
No sooner had he decided on two minutes of complete isolation than his private line started buzzing. Pete seriously considered just ignoring it until he saw whom the call was from.
Ah, I've never been able to be rude to her before, hope her attitude's still as infectious Pete thought as he activated his view screen as a real time image of Rahne Sinclair came up, "'Ello luv, how's it going?"
"Jus' fine, thank ye Pete. How have ye, Terry and Kitty been?" Rahne asked.
"Just like you, I'd wager. Busy as hell." Pete replied with a heavy sigh, "So, what do you want?"
"What? Cannae I call muh friends t' see how they are?" Rahne asked defensively.
"Course you can, sweet heart. In fact, you usually call either Kitty or me every two weeks. Last time you called to shoot the breeze was a few days ago." Pete Wisdom smiled as he took a cigarette out of his breast pocket, placed it in-between two fingers and lit it with one of his hot knives. The idea that Rahne could hope to pull something over on him was amusing, even considering recent events "I'm a spy, sweet pea. Can't pull one over on me."
"Take that horrible thing oot o' yuir mouth!" Rahne snapped. Pete Wisdom extinguished the cigarette in his ashtray before he even realized his hand was moving in that direction, and Rahne continued, "I... need some information on someone we're after."
"Oh, no, Rahne, I'm not a bloody information bank here." Pete replied. Hang up, hang up now, Wisdom thought to himself, "You want something, you have to go thru the proper channels."
"Ach, those are tae slow, Pete. And yuir access is what we'll likely need." Rahne implored.
"I'm sorry, luv, but I can't help you." Pete said firmly. He knew what was coming up, and desperately wanted to hang up, but something inside just wouldn't let him, "I'm not a stool pigeon, Rahne."
Rahne looked Pete Wisdom directly in the face, batted her jade green eyes that started to water ever so slightly, frowned and in a voice dripping with honey asked, "Puleeze? F'r me?"
Pete Wisdom squirmed him his chair like a man with fire ants around his privates as Rahne hit him with a double dose of her 'puppy dog eyes'.
"Oh, alright! Just give me a name, and I'll get you everything Shield and everyone else has on whoever you want!" Pete said as he threw his arms up in defeat. To his credit, Pete Wisdom lasted eleven seconds against Rahne's puppy face, beating his old time by ten seconds.
"Oh, thank ye Pete! Yuir a wonderful friend!" Rahne said, "We're after a rogue by the name o' John Sublime."
As Pete Wisdom terminated the call, he couldn't help but feel just a little foolish. He'd been interrogated by Hydra, A.I.M, Black Air, the Shadow King and dozens of others, professionals one and all and never once cracked. Not once. But none of that seemed to compare to the power of Rahne's 'puppy dog' face.
"I'm not old enough for this shit." He sighed.
San Francisco
The man called Nova wondered, not for the first time, why his team leader Mirage had dragged him to some dank alley on the west coast. In fact he'd asked why several times in fact, and all she said in reply was 'trust me'. A hard thing to do when the person asking you to do this has been carefully examining every dumpster in the city for the past twenty minutes. Even though their true appearances were hidden behind an image inducer, Nova felt every single pair of eyes that looked at them in morbid curiosity.
"I know it's around here somewhere." Dani muttered to herself as she knelt down and examined yet another dumpster.
"Chief, for the record?" Nova said, "I think you've..."
"Finally lost it, yeah yeah." Dani finished dismissively, "Ah, hah!"
Dani stood up and pointed towards the dumpster, "Nova, if you would?"
"Still say this is a waste of time." Nova said as he walked towards the opposite end of the dumpster. He flicked it with his index finger, and it was sent crashing into another dumpster with a loud clang about five feet away. Dani winced and looked around, making sure no one came to investigate the rather loud crash.
"And it's mutants they fear." Dani muttered as she walked to the space the dumpster once occupied and moved some dirt and grime around with her boot. "Anyone ever introduce you to the concept of subtle, Rich?"
"I can juggle cars without breaking a sweat, chief." Nova said as he blew on his knuckles, "I figure any attempt at being subtle is a waste. What are you looking for?"
"This." Dani said as she pointed down where her boot had just been. Nova saw what looked to him like a small calculator pad embedded in the ground. Dani knelt down and started punching in a code.
"And what the heck is 'this'?" Nova asked, his armed crossed impatiently in front of him.
"It's a mutant thing." Dani smiled. Nova scowled.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Dani stated, "Hang on a minute, and you'll see what I'm doing."
No sooner had Dani said that than a yellow tear in space appear behind the two heroes.
"Doorman, at your service, my fellow mutants." A medium height green skinned man, dressed in a tux stated as he stepped forward, "Ms. Moonstar. Good to see you again. Glad you finally dropped those M.L.F bums and have stepped up in the world."
"Well, I've still got some dead weight, Doorman." Dani said sarcastically as she looked towards Nova. "He's good for hitting things, though."
"Gee, thanks, Mirage. Care to explain to me just what the hell is going on?" Nova asked.
"I have to wonder that myself," The Doorman said, "As you know Moonstar, we tend to keep a low profile, and have a few rules."
Dani rolled her eyes as the Doorman started counting off,
"One, no X. Two, what's learned in the club stays in the club. And three, no fighting, something you people seem to attract. The only reason the boss dealt with your M.L.F 'friends' was because we knew they would have blown us out of the water if we hadn't."
"Hold up a sec, these guys helped the M.L.F?" Nova asked as he pointed a finger at Doorman, "Why the hell are we dealing with them, then instead of shutting them down?"
"Wildside forced them to do some research for the M.L.F every once and a while," Mirage explained, and then looked towards the Doorman, "and he wanted to level the place just because almost every time the subject came up. As for the rules, all I have to say is that there are always exceptions. I'm the reason you guys are still in business, weren't in my Shield reports, and so I want to see the Doctor." Mirage's tone and body language made it clear that she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Very well." The Doorman stepped aside, bowed respectfully and motioned for Nova and Mirage to step inside the portal, "Nova, Mirage, welcome to 'Nature's Gifts'."
Nova was puzzled by the name for only a second. When he stepped thru the portal after Mirage, he emerged in a room as large as a convention center packed with people, young and old. Some portions were filled with arcade games, another portion reserved for lounging and a closed section reserved for what Nova really didn't want to know. People flew, slithered about or had five eyes on their head and were undeniably mutants. Nova observed about a half dozen people wearing clothes that had their national flag on it. A Union Jack, a Star of David, the Honor Jack and a few others he didn't recognize, but he nevertheless recognized their significance.
"An international mutant night club," Nova stated as he walked thru the crowd, "now can I say I've seen it all?"
"This is just one of the good doctor's establishments." The Doorman said as they waded thru the thick, gyrating crowd and towards the bar, "I'm one of two dozen teleporters who works the 'doors' here."
"That's nice, but we're not here for the history of the joint. We need some information." Nova said as they finally breached the crowd of mutants and reached the bar. Doorman signaled the bartender, "A drink for our esteemed friend, if you please?"
"I'm not here to drink." Nova said humorlessly.
"I understand that, but few people, human or mutant, are allowed to see the Doctor." The Doorman explained as the bartender waited for Nova's order, "Enjoy the drinks. They're on the house."
Nova looked towards Mirage, "You sure about this, chief? You gonna be okay?"
"I'm positive, and I'll be fine." Dani said as she started to walk away with the Doorman, "Enjoy your drink, Nova. I'll try not to take too long."
Nova sat on one of the stools and ordered a coke (it was too early to get drunk, after all) and turned the image inducer off. He figured a man wearing blue and gold wouldn't stand out too much in a mutant nightclub, after all. He had been drinking peacefully for a minute before it happened.
"Excuse me, are you the man called Nova?" One voice asked on behalf of many.
The human rocket knew that tone, and turned around slowly, "Blue blazes..."
The Doorman punched a special code into a hard air keypad while Dani waited patiently behind him. A few moments later, the wall in front of his hand dissolved to reveal a metal corridor laced with metal wires.
"Time to meet the Wizard." Dani quipped as she walked down the hall. The Doorman simply stood there; knowing what Moonstar had come for didn't involve him. Once Dani reached the end of the corridor, she was treated to the sight of a room at least twice as big as the Danger Room filled with hanging wires, hovering video monitors and computers the likes of which even she had never seen before. And zipping from one hovering screen to another was a plumb albino man situated in a hover chair.
"Doctor Trekker, if I could have a moment of your time?" She yelled
"Just a moment, Moonstar." He called out, "We're just waiting for your friend Nova."
"I thought you wanted this to just be between you and me." Said Dani.
"Oh, that's just Bob. He's not terribly polite around humans I'm afraid, and I wouldn't mind a chance to meet the co leader of Force Works. Besides, I don't think I have a choice in the matter." He explained. As soon as he finished, the metal doors that Dani had entered thru exploded open as Nova barreled thru them, followed by dozens of mutants, on feet and in the air.
"Chief! Do something!" Nova begged as he landed in front of her. He was quickly swamped by many grateful female, and a few male, mutants.
"Sign my breasts!" One three breasted mutant begged
"What's Arsenal's phone number?" Another asked.
"I want to have your child!" Another declared
"Hands of the merchandise!" Nova said. He was becoming acutely aware of how celebrities were treated by their 'adoring public', "I'm not single!"
"Enough." They all suddenly said as one, their eyes glowing light yellow, and left. Nova looked and saw a three-foot tall man, whom Nova correctly guessed to be the bouncer, wearing a cheap tux with his eye glowing exactly like the mutants who had been accosting him.
"So sorry about that, Nova." Dr. Trekker said as he lowered to meet the two heroes, "Force Works is quite popular with mutants right now. The work you've done for us hasn't gone unnoticed, you realize."
"Glad to hear it, but not to experience it quite like that." Nova said as he stood up and brushed himself off, "Now, do you think you could help us?"
"What do you need help with, exactly?" Dr. Trekker asked
Dani took a picture of Sublime out of her belt and handed it to Dr. Trekker, "We're looking for this man. His name's John Sublime, and he's been known to experiment on both humans and mutants."
"Ah, yes. I would know this man even if my mutation didn't include perfect memory and instant recall." Dr. Trekker replied as he took the picture in his hand, "Sadistic bastard, from what I understand."
"Does that mean you can help us?" Dani asked.
"I'll try. I have many sources, but you understand I have to be careful. Force Works' high profile nature could expose the precious contacts that I have spent a lifetime obtaining." Dr. Trekker explained
"So...that's a no?" Nova said with a raised eyebrow.
"We're thankful for any help you can give us Doctor." Dani quickly stated, "Can your men drop us off on the East Coast?"
"You have been out of the loop for a while, Moonstar." Dr. Trekker chuckled, "We have a 'door' in Metro City, as a matter of fact. That old door we let the M.L.F used was chosen because of the smell. One question, Moonstar?"
"Yes?"
"What does he mean to you?" Dr. Trekker asked, "I mean, how has Sublime pissed so much that you would come to me? I'm somewhat off the beaten path, so to speak."
"He's...just someone who needs to be stopped." Dani replied.
"Well, that was the most surreal experience of my life." Nova stated as he and Mirage stepped thru a portal out of 'Nature's Gifts' and into a back alley at Metro City, "Think that Dr. Trekker can find Sublime?"
"Maybe. His mutant power's is kinda like Taki's and Forge's combined. A computer like mind able to create any technology he wants. He's used it to create a large underground empire." Dani explained, "I was actually hoping to establish more of a relationship with him today, but I'll just have to wait and see."
Dani, are ye there? Wolfsbane asked over the special psi-link the two young women shared.
I'm here, Rahne. What's up? Dani replied
Taki's may have found Sublime. Rahne informed her, We're in the hangar now.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter now what Trekker finds." Mirage stated.
Within a span of several minutes, Mirage and Nova were back inside the Workplace and then comfortably situated in the Stealth Wing.
"Taki's already programmed the coordinates into the flight computer, so if everyone would just strap in we'll be on our way." X-Treme said as he started the pre flight check on the Stealth Wing and flicked on the navigational computers, "You okay, Bobby?" Adam asked in a hushed tone to his co-pilot.
"Not yet. But I will be when we finally get Sublime." Arsenal replied.
"So, how exactly did you find Sublime?" Mirage asked as she strapped herself into her chair with Taki sitting next to her.
"Well, Rahne was able to get me the Shield file on Sublime. Before he started doing his illegal experiments, he gave a few speeches, some of which were recorded." Taki explained, "So, I had a copy of his speech patterns to work with."
Mirage didn't know where Taki was going with this, but she was already dreading the answer.
"Using those, I hacked into ECHELON and programmed it to find Sublime's voice patterns." Taki continued, "Once it detected him using his cell phone, I traced the company that provides his service and located him from there." He casually stated, as if he was explaining how he programmed his VCR.
"Wait a minute, isn't ECHELON that NSA toy that monitors all phone calls and emails world wide?" Kymaera asked, stunned.
"Correct." Taki replied evenly, causing the eyes to bulge of everyone who was listening. Dani almost tore the straps off her seat when she heard that.
"Taki! What the hell do you think you were doing!" She yelled at him as she stood up and finger into his chest, "You could have endangered the entire team with a stunt like that!"
"Not at all." Taki said evenly, "I know what I'm doing. The NSA had and has no idea I was ever there. Trust me."
"I don't care! Don't. Hack. The. NSA!" Dani ordered furiously.
"What about private industry?" He inquired. Dani calmed down and put her hand under her chin,
"Feel free. Just don't get caught or expect me to back your ass up." Dani finally said
Ten minutes later, in the America Mid West
"We're coming up on the coordinates now." X-Treme said as he guided the Stealth Wing down from the clouds, "So get ready everyone."
Get ready. It's something far easier said than done. The team expected to see something along the lines of an abandoned factory, a trashed and dilapidated building out in the middle of nowhere, because they really were out in the middle of nowhere. In short, they were expecting something that said 'evil hideout'. What they did not expect, and actually saw from the cockpit, was a well-kept and carefully maintained building with a sign out front reading 'Mother of Hope Mental Rehabilitation Clinic'.
"What the hell is going on?" Dani asked as she looked down from the cockpit, "Sublime's hiding out here?"
"He must be." Taki stated, "I traced his position here using the cell phone towers of his providers. 90% of his calls have come from this general location." Taki entered a few commands into his tech pack and brought dozens of files on the hospital, "But...I've just reviewed their staff list, don't ask how, and I don't seem him on it."
"Well, I screwed up. We should have used some recon first." Dani mumbled, "X-Treme, pull away. We'll come back later..."
"Set us down, X-Treme." Nova said as he stood up out of his seat, "now."
"What? No way in hell, bucket head." Dani snapped, "We're not just waltzing in there like this. We'll come back later and check the place out at night."
"We've already lost the element of surprise, Moonstar," Nova explained, "And look out the window. The Stealth Wing's freakin' people out some kinda bad already, and it'll look bad for us on the six o clock news if we buzz random residences."
Dani looked out the cockpit window, and saw exactly what Nova was referring to. Patients were pointing at the Stealth Wing while what Dani guessed were security guards stood on the grounds eyeing the Stealth Wing suspiciously with their hands at their sides resting on their firearms. Dani could smell the media circus already.
"Besides Dani, we already know Sublime is ready for us." Taki stated, "Otherwise you wouldn't have been so ready to go gung ho after him to begin with."
"Besides, he's here." Arsenal snarled, "I can feel it."
"Okay, take us down then." Dani sighed. As X-Treme lowered the Stealth Wing to the ground, Dani faced her team, "Alright, I know this is a little unusual, walking into what's likely a trap but.... they know where to send the bill if we're wrong." She explained, "Even if Taki's right and Sublime is here, we can't just go barging in. We have to play this by ear."
"And right now, you're fondly remembering your wild and wacky days in X-Force and unaccountable destruction, aren't you?" Kymaera asked with a raised eye brow and smirk.
"No comment." Dani said as she lowered the ramp, "Remember, enemy territory. Smile, nod and be ready to kick some ass at a moment's notice."
As Dani and the team stepped down, they were met by a handful of security guards and a tall, African American woman wearing a plain white lab coat.
"Force Works, correct? I recognize your pictures from Newsweek." The woman said, "I'm Dr. Grass, may I ask why you're here?"
"The boss lady needs to relax some." Speedball quipped without missing a beat.
"We have reason to believe a wanted criminal is on the premises." Dani explained, ignoring Speedball, "we'd like a chance to investigate."
"Well, if you think it's necessary, we'll escort your team around the building, if it will reassure you that nothing is amiss." Dr. Grass said politely, "A question, if I may?"
"Yes?" Dani replied.
"I've seen Force Works several times on CNN and Fox news." She explained, "I thought you had nine members, but I only see eight."
Dani looked back towards her team and noted that X-Treme was nowhere to be seen. Everyone else was just as surprised by this revelation, though they hid it well.
"He's...out sick today." Dani said, easily lying thru her teeth.
"I thought..."Tarene said, but Kymaera quickly clamped her hand over Tarene's mouth, "He was throwing up some kind of bad, if you must know. I doubt he'll be with the team for a while."
"I...see." Dr. Grass replied, "Well, if you'll follow me, I'll escort you around the grounds and hopefully provide some reassurances that there are no 'villains' laying in wait."
"I don't like this approach one bit." Taki whispered to Speedball.
"Me neither, buddy. But what are our options otherwise?" Speedball replied as they made their way towards the main building, watched carefully by the security guards, "storm a mental institution? I gotta agree with Nova, that would look great on the seven o' clock news."
Once they reached the main building, Dr. Grass stopped abruptly.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask that two of your members stay here in the lobby." Dr. Grass said, "Kymaera and Wolfsbane. I mean no offense, but many of my patients are quite unstable. The last thing they are to see are women who could be mistake for delusions."
"Excuse me?" Kymaera snapped, "I'm just blue, not some inhuman monster, and Rahne can just stay in human form like she is now."
"Leaving them here is not acceptable." Mirage stated evenly.
"And possibly exposing them to the patients in my care isn't acceptable to me." Dr. Grass stated firmly, "Either they stay here, or this is as far as you go."
"We'll wait here, doctor." Rahne stated. Rahne then shifted slightly to her transitional form and used the psi link she shared with Dani, We'll be fine, Dani. I'll stay in contact with ye and we'll be there in a second if ye need us
Beneath her mask, Dani scowled. So far, they hadn't even found Sublime yet, and they were already down three people.
"Now that that's settled, lets get on with this 'tour'." Arsenal snarled, "Sublime's here somewhere, I know it."
"I don't know who you're talking about, young man, but I'm more than willing to prove you wrong." Dr. Grass stated, not offended by Arsenal's tone in the least.
"Then you won't object if I use my tech pack to scan the complex during the tour?" Taki asked, largely for the appearances of appearing considerate, "they'll be un invasive."
"Not at all, Wiz Kid." Dr. Grass answered, "In fact, should you find something amiss, please inform me."
"Oh, of that there is no doubt." Taki thought to himself
"This whole setup smells." Kymaera said as she stood impatiently in the lobby waiting room, "That lady's hiding something, I know it."
Rahne let out a tired yawn and sat down in a chair, "I nae so sure, Nita. Taki could be wrong, ye know. And I've worked wit' a lot o' doctors, Dr. Grass askin' us t' stay here's nae that outlandish."
Namorita stretched her tired arms out and slumped into a chair across from Rahne, "Yeah, but still, I don't like it, Red. It's just asking for trouble."
Kymeara rubbed her dreary eyes and then looked towards Rahne, and saw the young woman was slumped over unconscious. Kymaera naturally attempted to stand up, to signal her teammates, anything, but her arms and legs felt like rubber and nothing worked. The young woman who could lift tanks without breaking a sweat fearfully found herself unable to command any of that considerable power. In fact, her strength was quickly being drained out of her by some unseen assailment. The blink of an eye later, Kymaera herself was unconscious, and she never knew what hit her.
A white mist swirled around the two young woman and congealed into the image of a twenty year old, white blond haired man wearing a gray leather uniform while the Roman numeral ten on his shoulder.
"Two babes sleeping like babies." He smirked. He pressed his head to his hand and activated the headset attached to it, "This is Ten reporting. Wolfsbane and Kymaera have been neutralized."
"Excellent. Join the others and we'll precede with the ambush." A voice replied over his comm. unit.
"...all our equipment is state of the art, with some of the best trained staff to be found anywhere." Dr. Grass said proudly as she and Force Works walked the halls of the institution. Since the tour had begun, the doctor began talking Force Works' ears off, proud of every minor detail, and proudly proclaiming that the institution was the nation's greatest hidden treasure. Force Works, by in large, was uninterested. Wiz Kid was the exception, and he prodded Dr. Grass for information almost every chance he got. No one really understood what they were saying, though, as it entailed highly detailed psychological information.
"Maybe Sublime checked in here for some R&R and he killed himself after listening to this chick." Speedball quietly quipped to Arsenal. Arsenal glared daggers back at Speedball, who quickly shut the hell up.
"You happen to know what happened to X-Treme?" Dani whispered to Nova.
"Don't ask." Nova replied. By now, the 'tour' had reached the cafeteria and Taki's sensors hadn't discovered a thing, nor had Force Works.
"One last question, have you made any strides in treating schizophrenia, otherwise known as multiple personality disorder?" Taki asked
"Oh, we've actually made a lot of head way there. You see..."
Dr. Grass prattled on, but Wiz Kid wasn't listening. He morphed the section of his tech pack around his wrist into a laser, and wordlessly blasted Dr. Grass in the chest. Dr. Grass fell to the floor, her chest smoking heavily.
"Wiz Kid, what the hell did you do that for?!" Dani demanded as she rushed towards Dr. Grass. Taki put a techno arm out to stop her, preventing her from ascertaining Dr. Grass' situation. The entire room was in an uproar, with patients doing this or that, but all wisely kept their distance from Force Works. In fact, almost everyone in Force Works itself was dumbstruck by Taki's actions as well.
"Dr. Grass was likely leading us into a trap. She didn't know the difference between M.P.D and schizophrenia." He explained, "That, and my scanners can't seem to pick up anything."
"That's it!" Dani almost screamed, "that's your entire case?! Wait...Rahne!"
Almost on cue, the floor beneath Nova and Speedball buckled and heaved, and a giant eight-foot man wearing a gray leather suit marked by the Roman numeral seven emerged from the floor and grabbed Nova and Speedball in one hand each. The behemoth fell back down the hole he made, and moments later the sounds of combat could be heard.
"That, and I'm never wrong." Taki explained as he created another pistol with his tech pack. He felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end, and felt a slight breeze. Before he could prepare a proper defense, a hundred super fast blows were rained on him by a blond woman with the number four on her uniform. Not even his automatic defense protocols could save him from unconsciousness.
"Dani! Who're the badguys?" Tarene asked, very much confused. The patients' reaction to the fight had varied wildly, with some running wildly, other outright ignoring the fight, but no one directly challenging her. At least, not to her face. The confused Tarene failed to notice a black haired young woman sneak up behind her before it was too late. She pounced on Tarene and pressed her hands to Tarene's temple.
"Time for some brain freeze honey." The woman stated. She activated her ability to project freezing cold and chilled the water in Tarene's veins to near freezing. The effect was every single pain receptor in Tarene's head screamed like a wounded child. Totally unprepared for such an attack, Tarene blacked out from incredible shooting pain and the black haired woman just let her drop to the floor.
"What an..."
A blast of pure red hatred smashed into the woman before she could finish her sentence and sent her sprawling.
"Where is he?!" Arsenal demanded, screaming at the top of his lungs. He was beset by a black man who could project flame and a white male armed with optic blasts of his own, but Arsenal was more than able to ignore them in his steel form, "Sublime! I know you're out there!"
"Well, it looks like my little pet project's come back home." A familiar voice stated. Arsenal spun around and saw the object of his search.
"Tell me Bobby, how are your friends finding my allies, the Eugenix?" Sublime asked as he casually stepped out of the shadows of an entrance way into Arsenal's field of vision, "I hope you didn't think that I would just wait in some corner for you and your Force Works friends to come get me. But then again, I didn't select you for your brains."
Arsenal replied with a snarl and an optic blast that hit Sublime directly in the chest. Sublime only chuckled in reaction.
"I'm afraid that I made a few adjustments to the dear Mrs. Woods' eyes before I gifted them to you." Sublime smiled.
-Snikt!-
Arsenal, still ignoring the men blasting him with energy, waved his bone claws in front of his face and spat, "You know, for once, I actually want to do this the hard way and use these things."
Sadly, before he could make good on his threat, the woman he had blasted early managed to partially recover and lashed out at his steel form with a blast of pure cold.
"Arrgh!" Arsenal screamed in pain as the sudden shift in temperatures in his steel form sent pain shooting thru his entire body. Acting solely on instinct, Arsenal shifted into human form to let his healing factor deal with the pain, and they were on him in an instant. The superfast woman who had beaten Wiz Kid down preceded to beat Arsenal down at the speed of sound while another silver haired male with sharp nails leaped on Arsenal's back and started to tear into his flesh, drawing blood.
"The things we do for friends, eh?" The silver haired male joked to the superspeeder.
"Shut up and focus, one!" She ordered, "he's..."
She was going to say 'still dangerous' but never got the chance. Arsenal snapped up, ignoring the barrage and unleashed a wild optic blast. The blast tore thru the cafeteria, destroying chairs, tables and parts of the wall and ceiling. Before Arsenal could press his attack, he felt a powerful blow to the back of his head and swirled into unconsciousness. Dr. Grass was standing over his prone form, and she looked around the room, pleased with herself and her team.
"Good work, Eugenix." Dr. Grass said as she body started to shift. Her hair turned to a light purple color as did her eyes, and a double helix tattoo appeared down the left side of her face and metal body armor revealed itself around her body, "You've done your leader proud."
"What about Nova and Speedball, Genecide?" Four asked.
"Seven's dealt with them already and is taking them to the holding cells." Genecide answered, "Gather up Force Works and take them to our holding area."
"I wonder who beat this one, that's got to be some bragging rights." One commented as he grabbed the back of Mirage's costume and dragged her limp body away while his teammates gathered up the defeated Force Works
"I must say your team performed splendidly." Sublime said as he walked forwards, lightly clapping, "But what about their last member? You don't honestly think that he called in sick today?"
"No, but he's out numbered twelve to one." Genecide replied as she looked down at Arsenal's limp body, "What's more, we have his teammates. I'm not worried at all."
Next issue: Outnumbered 12 to 1 in hostile enemy territory, its X-Treme vs. Eugenix. Come back next issue and learn just how lopsided the odds really are
Work Letters
Force Works #8 by David Ingram
THE GOOD: The fight scenes in this issue are great. I loved reading every bit of them. Seeing Lodestone again so soon was a treat because she was a good character in Russ's Scarlet Spider arc. I also liked how some obscure villains are getting some props. It's about time to. I'm glad to see obscure villains rising up in M2K.This title and Thunderbolts are doing the best job of that so far.
Thanks for the good words, brent. Glad you liked Loadstone and all the other villains I tossed in there. To be fair, though, I used obscure villains simply to avoid messing with anyone else's plans ;)
THE BAD: I really don't see the need for Tartarus. It seems purposeless to me even after David gave the explanation for it being around. It's feels like a very cheap Vault. It maybe sound kind of harsh, but I really like this title so I was surprised when I found something that turned me off that much. The only reason I could
stand the thing was because of the fight that happened in it. Also the whole water pressure thing is just a little too over the top for my tastes. I'm not feeling this new prison in the slightest. I hope it never shows up again in this title because it's far too good for concepts like this IMHO.
Sorry you don't like Tartarus, but it's here to stay ;). I agree that it seems like a cheap Vault, and that's because that's basically what it is. Not every country can support a superhuman prison, they gotta be budget busters! Thus, Tartarus. The 'water pressure' thing was mainly to show just how so very little they care about civil rights on Tartarus
OVERALL: Great fight, great dialogue, great villains, but bad concept.
Glad you liked most of it Brent. I hope to win you over in time with Tartarus, man. Thanks for the review!
Taking Offense Part1
The Hunt
Metro City, the Workplace
"What do you think is on the schedule for today?" Speedball asked Nova and Kymaera as the three former New Warriors made their way into the meeting room.
"I haven't the foggiest idea." Nova stated, "All I know is that it's got something to do with Arsenal, so it can't be good."
"Just what is it you have against him, Rich?" Kymaera asked, "You're always on his case."
"He just rubs me the wrong way." Nova replied defensively as the three heroes entered the conference room and sat down. The rest of the team was already there with Dani standing at the head of the table with Arsenal sitting beside her. Danielle Moonstar, more commonly known as the mutant hero Mirage, looked over her team one final time before she began. Eight sets of eyes were locked onto her, patiently waiting for her to begin the meeting with discipline uncommon for their age.
"So, what's on the plan for today, chief?" Speedball asked nonchalantly, "Who're we after now? A.I.M, Hydra maybe? We really gotta do something about those guys, you know."
"Actually, we're going after someone relatively new." Dani stated, "Besides, Forge ask us not to target Hydra for the moment. They're in Shield's sights right now, and he's concerned we might ruin an X-Force op." She explained, "But things could change." She quickly added.
"What about that 'Cabal' we confronted while in Tartarus?" Wiz Kid asked, "Do we have any idea why they broke that Delilah woman out of jail?"
"We don't have an leads." Dani replied, her arms crossed in front of her chest, "We don't know who exactly broke Delilah out of her jail cell, and none of the members of the Cabal we fought really have the personal resources or initiative to pull off a jail break."
"So, basically, because we have no idea who's leading them or why they're even a team, we really have no way to find them because we wouldn't know where to start." X-Treme stated as he balanced a throwing blade on his index finger.
"Exactly." Dani said, her voiced laced with annoyance. X-Treme rarely added anything useful during the meetings, except to point out flaws, and that got old real fast.
"So, who are we going after, then?" Kymaera asked as she leaned forward and brushed a strand of her blond hair out of her face. Dani looked towards Arsenal and nodded, yielding the floor to him.
"We're going after a bastard by the name of John Sublime." Arsenal said as he stood up. At the center of the table appeared a 3-D image of a Caucasian man with slicked jet-black hair, square glasses and a quirky smile.
"How does he rate?" Speedball asked as he leaned back and propped his legs up on the table.
"If you'd shut up, you'll find out." Arsenal hissed with uncharacteristic anger that caught almost everyone's attention. X-Treme already knew the story behind Arsenal and Sublime, so he wasn't surprised in the least. Knowing he was again the center of attention, Arsenal continued,
"As you all know, I possess several different powers. Agility, optic blasts, healing factor and bone claws, steel skin and metal wings that allow me to fly. What some of you don't know is that some of my powers are derived from the organs of four different mutants, all surgically implanted in me against my will while I was in a coma." Arsenal concentrated, and his metal wings emerged from his back, "These belongs to a eighteen year old boy who had just graduated High School." Arsenal pointed towards his eyes, "And these belonged to a thirty five year old woman who was kidnapped like me after she was hit by a drunk driver. I was actually born with brown eyes, not blue."
Arsenal took a moment for his teammates to get over their shock. He could also feel the air suck out of the room when they gasped. Until today, Arsenal had chosen to avoid questions about his origins until he felt he was ready to face them. After a few seconds he continued. His voice, though subtly, became more and more angry and serious as he explained; "I was serving in the Air National Guard at the time. I was driving back to base after a night on the town and a kid ran in front of my car. I swerved, and smashed into a tree. Thankfully, someone immediately called an ambulance."
"How'd Sublime get you?" Tarene asked.
"Because the ambulance that picked me up were really Sublime's men. See, at the time, Sublime was working for one of Mr. Parvenue's free clinics and was embezzling funds for his experiments. That's why Mr. Parvenue always seems so concerned about me, because he blames himself for what happened." Arsenal explained, before he paused for a second. As much as he hated it though, he had to admit Sublime helped him in one regard. Parvenue was like a father to Bobby, who had grown up pretty much alone.
"What happened?" Kymaera asked
"I was in a coma for three weeks, and during that time Sublime used me for a guinea pig, transplanting the organs of kidnapped mutants into my body while experimenting some with gene splicing, thus how I got the healing factor and bone claws. Eventually, I woke up and shut his operation down, though he managed to slip away. But that's not good enough." Arsenal said thru gritted teeth, "I want Sublime. I want his head on a platter."
"That's all swell, but what's the plan?" Nova asked bluntly.
Mirage stood up and placed a comforting hand on Arsenal's shoulder, "We're going to see if we can't run down Sublime on our own. Rahne's got some connections in Shield, while you and I are going to see an old friend of mine."
"And the rest of us?" X-Treme asked.
"You guys are going to pour over our tips data base and see if there's anything there on Sublime that we might be able to use." Mirage answered, "It's a long shot, but you never know..."
"I thought we discontinued that thing after the Undertow used the thing to string us along into a trap." Speedball stated.
"If you'd paid closer attention during the meetings, you would know that I've just decided not to rely heavily on it." Dani sighed, "So, everyone ready to go to work?"
Shield Helicarrier
The former Black Air agent known as Pete Wisdom plopped down in his chair and let out an exhausted sigh. He'd known since day one that his job would be a hard one, that it would be as exhausting emotionally as it was physically. But recent events had driven that fact home with a twenty-ton sledgehammer. It was enough to break most men, but Pete Wisdom wasn't the type of man who was broken easily, if at all. He'd sooner burn in hell than give his enemies that satisfaction. No, he intended to just shut out the world totally for just two minutes, rest, and then get out of his chair and show the world just why exactly he had been hand picked by Nick Fury to become an agent of Shield and leader of X-Force.
(It goes without saying that this occurred before recent events in X-Force- David)
No sooner had he decided on two minutes of complete isolation than his private line started buzzing. Pete seriously considered just ignoring it until he saw whom the call was from.
Ah, I've never been able to be rude to her before, hope her attitude's still as infectious Pete thought as he activated his view screen as a real time image of Rahne Sinclair came up, "'Ello luv, how's it going?"
"Jus' fine, thank ye Pete. How have ye, Terry and Kitty been?" Rahne asked.
"Just like you, I'd wager. Busy as hell." Pete replied with a heavy sigh, "So, what do you want?"
"What? Cannae I call muh friends t' see how they are?" Rahne asked defensively.
"Course you can, sweet heart. In fact, you usually call either Kitty or me every two weeks. Last time you called to shoot the breeze was a few days ago." Pete Wisdom smiled as he took a cigarette out of his breast pocket, placed it in-between two fingers and lit it with one of his hot knives. The idea that Rahne could hope to pull something over on him was amusing, even considering recent events "I'm a spy, sweet pea. Can't pull one over on me."
"Take that horrible thing oot o' yuir mouth!" Rahne snapped. Pete Wisdom extinguished the cigarette in his ashtray before he even realized his hand was moving in that direction, and Rahne continued, "I... need some information on someone we're after."
"Oh, no, Rahne, I'm not a bloody information bank here." Pete replied. Hang up, hang up now, Wisdom thought to himself, "You want something, you have to go thru the proper channels."
"Ach, those are tae slow, Pete. And yuir access is what we'll likely need." Rahne implored.
"I'm sorry, luv, but I can't help you." Pete said firmly. He knew what was coming up, and desperately wanted to hang up, but something inside just wouldn't let him, "I'm not a stool pigeon, Rahne."
Rahne looked Pete Wisdom directly in the face, batted her jade green eyes that started to water ever so slightly, frowned and in a voice dripping with honey asked, "Puleeze? F'r me?"
Pete Wisdom squirmed him his chair like a man with fire ants around his privates as Rahne hit him with a double dose of her 'puppy dog eyes'.
"Oh, alright! Just give me a name, and I'll get you everything Shield and everyone else has on whoever you want!" Pete said as he threw his arms up in defeat. To his credit, Pete Wisdom lasted eleven seconds against Rahne's puppy face, beating his old time by ten seconds.
"Oh, thank ye Pete! Yuir a wonderful friend!" Rahne said, "We're after a rogue by the name o' John Sublime."
As Pete Wisdom terminated the call, he couldn't help but feel just a little foolish. He'd been interrogated by Hydra, A.I.M, Black Air, the Shadow King and dozens of others, professionals one and all and never once cracked. Not once. But none of that seemed to compare to the power of Rahne's 'puppy dog' face.
"I'm not old enough for this shit." He sighed.
San Francisco
The man called Nova wondered, not for the first time, why his team leader Mirage had dragged him to some dank alley on the west coast. In fact he'd asked why several times in fact, and all she said in reply was 'trust me'. A hard thing to do when the person asking you to do this has been carefully examining every dumpster in the city for the past twenty minutes. Even though their true appearances were hidden behind an image inducer, Nova felt every single pair of eyes that looked at them in morbid curiosity.
"I know it's around here somewhere." Dani muttered to herself as she knelt down and examined yet another dumpster.
"Chief, for the record?" Nova said, "I think you've..."
"Finally lost it, yeah yeah." Dani finished dismissively, "Ah, hah!"
Dani stood up and pointed towards the dumpster, "Nova, if you would?"
"Still say this is a waste of time." Nova said as he walked towards the opposite end of the dumpster. He flicked it with his index finger, and it was sent crashing into another dumpster with a loud clang about five feet away. Dani winced and looked around, making sure no one came to investigate the rather loud crash.
"And it's mutants they fear." Dani muttered as she walked to the space the dumpster once occupied and moved some dirt and grime around with her boot. "Anyone ever introduce you to the concept of subtle, Rich?"
"I can juggle cars without breaking a sweat, chief." Nova said as he blew on his knuckles, "I figure any attempt at being subtle is a waste. What are you looking for?"
"This." Dani said as she pointed down where her boot had just been. Nova saw what looked to him like a small calculator pad embedded in the ground. Dani knelt down and started punching in a code.
"And what the heck is 'this'?" Nova asked, his armed crossed impatiently in front of him.
"It's a mutant thing." Dani smiled. Nova scowled.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Dani stated, "Hang on a minute, and you'll see what I'm doing."
No sooner had Dani said that than a yellow tear in space appear behind the two heroes.
"Doorman, at your service, my fellow mutants." A medium height green skinned man, dressed in a tux stated as he stepped forward, "Ms. Moonstar. Good to see you again. Glad you finally dropped those M.L.F bums and have stepped up in the world."
"Well, I've still got some dead weight, Doorman." Dani said sarcastically as she looked towards Nova. "He's good for hitting things, though."
"Gee, thanks, Mirage. Care to explain to me just what the hell is going on?" Nova asked.
"I have to wonder that myself," The Doorman said, "As you know Moonstar, we tend to keep a low profile, and have a few rules."
Dani rolled her eyes as the Doorman started counting off,
"One, no X. Two, what's learned in the club stays in the club. And three, no fighting, something you people seem to attract. The only reason the boss dealt with your M.L.F 'friends' was because we knew they would have blown us out of the water if we hadn't."
"Hold up a sec, these guys helped the M.L.F?" Nova asked as he pointed a finger at Doorman, "Why the hell are we dealing with them, then instead of shutting them down?"
"Wildside forced them to do some research for the M.L.F every once and a while," Mirage explained, and then looked towards the Doorman, "and he wanted to level the place just because almost every time the subject came up. As for the rules, all I have to say is that there are always exceptions. I'm the reason you guys are still in business, weren't in my Shield reports, and so I want to see the Doctor." Mirage's tone and body language made it clear that she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Very well." The Doorman stepped aside, bowed respectfully and motioned for Nova and Mirage to step inside the portal, "Nova, Mirage, welcome to 'Nature's Gifts'."
Nova was puzzled by the name for only a second. When he stepped thru the portal after Mirage, he emerged in a room as large as a convention center packed with people, young and old. Some portions were filled with arcade games, another portion reserved for lounging and a closed section reserved for what Nova really didn't want to know. People flew, slithered about or had five eyes on their head and were undeniably mutants. Nova observed about a half dozen people wearing clothes that had their national flag on it. A Union Jack, a Star of David, the Honor Jack and a few others he didn't recognize, but he nevertheless recognized their significance.
"An international mutant night club," Nova stated as he walked thru the crowd, "now can I say I've seen it all?"
"This is just one of the good doctor's establishments." The Doorman said as they waded thru the thick, gyrating crowd and towards the bar, "I'm one of two dozen teleporters who works the 'doors' here."
"That's nice, but we're not here for the history of the joint. We need some information." Nova said as they finally breached the crowd of mutants and reached the bar. Doorman signaled the bartender, "A drink for our esteemed friend, if you please?"
"I'm not here to drink." Nova said humorlessly.
"I understand that, but few people, human or mutant, are allowed to see the Doctor." The Doorman explained as the bartender waited for Nova's order, "Enjoy the drinks. They're on the house."
Nova looked towards Mirage, "You sure about this, chief? You gonna be okay?"
"I'm positive, and I'll be fine." Dani said as she started to walk away with the Doorman, "Enjoy your drink, Nova. I'll try not to take too long."
Nova sat on one of the stools and ordered a coke (it was too early to get drunk, after all) and turned the image inducer off. He figured a man wearing blue and gold wouldn't stand out too much in a mutant nightclub, after all. He had been drinking peacefully for a minute before it happened.
"Excuse me, are you the man called Nova?" One voice asked on behalf of many.
The human rocket knew that tone, and turned around slowly, "Blue blazes..."
The Doorman punched a special code into a hard air keypad while Dani waited patiently behind him. A few moments later, the wall in front of his hand dissolved to reveal a metal corridor laced with metal wires.
"Time to meet the Wizard." Dani quipped as she walked down the hall. The Doorman simply stood there; knowing what Moonstar had come for didn't involve him. Once Dani reached the end of the corridor, she was treated to the sight of a room at least twice as big as the Danger Room filled with hanging wires, hovering video monitors and computers the likes of which even she had never seen before. And zipping from one hovering screen to another was a plumb albino man situated in a hover chair.
"Doctor Trekker, if I could have a moment of your time?" She yelled
"Just a moment, Moonstar." He called out, "We're just waiting for your friend Nova."
"I thought you wanted this to just be between you and me." Said Dani.
"Oh, that's just Bob. He's not terribly polite around humans I'm afraid, and I wouldn't mind a chance to meet the co leader of Force Works. Besides, I don't think I have a choice in the matter." He explained. As soon as he finished, the metal doors that Dani had entered thru exploded open as Nova barreled thru them, followed by dozens of mutants, on feet and in the air.
"Chief! Do something!" Nova begged as he landed in front of her. He was quickly swamped by many grateful female, and a few male, mutants.
"Sign my breasts!" One three breasted mutant begged
"What's Arsenal's phone number?" Another asked.
"I want to have your child!" Another declared
"Hands of the merchandise!" Nova said. He was becoming acutely aware of how celebrities were treated by their 'adoring public', "I'm not single!"
"Enough." They all suddenly said as one, their eyes glowing light yellow, and left. Nova looked and saw a three-foot tall man, whom Nova correctly guessed to be the bouncer, wearing a cheap tux with his eye glowing exactly like the mutants who had been accosting him.
"So sorry about that, Nova." Dr. Trekker said as he lowered to meet the two heroes, "Force Works is quite popular with mutants right now. The work you've done for us hasn't gone unnoticed, you realize."
"Glad to hear it, but not to experience it quite like that." Nova said as he stood up and brushed himself off, "Now, do you think you could help us?"
"What do you need help with, exactly?" Dr. Trekker asked
Dani took a picture of Sublime out of her belt and handed it to Dr. Trekker, "We're looking for this man. His name's John Sublime, and he's been known to experiment on both humans and mutants."
"Ah, yes. I would know this man even if my mutation didn't include perfect memory and instant recall." Dr. Trekker replied as he took the picture in his hand, "Sadistic bastard, from what I understand."
"Does that mean you can help us?" Dani asked.
"I'll try. I have many sources, but you understand I have to be careful. Force Works' high profile nature could expose the precious contacts that I have spent a lifetime obtaining." Dr. Trekker explained
"So...that's a no?" Nova said with a raised eyebrow.
"We're thankful for any help you can give us Doctor." Dani quickly stated, "Can your men drop us off on the East Coast?"
"You have been out of the loop for a while, Moonstar." Dr. Trekker chuckled, "We have a 'door' in Metro City, as a matter of fact. That old door we let the M.L.F used was chosen because of the smell. One question, Moonstar?"
"Yes?"
"What does he mean to you?" Dr. Trekker asked, "I mean, how has Sublime pissed so much that you would come to me? I'm somewhat off the beaten path, so to speak."
"He's...just someone who needs to be stopped." Dani replied.
"Well, that was the most surreal experience of my life." Nova stated as he and Mirage stepped thru a portal out of 'Nature's Gifts' and into a back alley at Metro City, "Think that Dr. Trekker can find Sublime?"
"Maybe. His mutant power's is kinda like Taki's and Forge's combined. A computer like mind able to create any technology he wants. He's used it to create a large underground empire." Dani explained, "I was actually hoping to establish more of a relationship with him today, but I'll just have to wait and see."
Dani, are ye there? Wolfsbane asked over the special psi-link the two young women shared.
I'm here, Rahne. What's up? Dani replied
Taki's may have found Sublime. Rahne informed her, We're in the hangar now.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter now what Trekker finds." Mirage stated.
Within a span of several minutes, Mirage and Nova were back inside the Workplace and then comfortably situated in the Stealth Wing.
"Taki's already programmed the coordinates into the flight computer, so if everyone would just strap in we'll be on our way." X-Treme said as he started the pre flight check on the Stealth Wing and flicked on the navigational computers, "You okay, Bobby?" Adam asked in a hushed tone to his co-pilot.
"Not yet. But I will be when we finally get Sublime." Arsenal replied.
"So, how exactly did you find Sublime?" Mirage asked as she strapped herself into her chair with Taki sitting next to her.
"Well, Rahne was able to get me the Shield file on Sublime. Before he started doing his illegal experiments, he gave a few speeches, some of which were recorded." Taki explained, "So, I had a copy of his speech patterns to work with."
Mirage didn't know where Taki was going with this, but she was already dreading the answer.
"Using those, I hacked into ECHELON and programmed it to find Sublime's voice patterns." Taki continued, "Once it detected him using his cell phone, I traced the company that provides his service and located him from there." He casually stated, as if he was explaining how he programmed his VCR.
"Wait a minute, isn't ECHELON that NSA toy that monitors all phone calls and emails world wide?" Kymaera asked, stunned.
"Correct." Taki replied evenly, causing the eyes to bulge of everyone who was listening. Dani almost tore the straps off her seat when she heard that.
"Taki! What the hell do you think you were doing!" She yelled at him as she stood up and finger into his chest, "You could have endangered the entire team with a stunt like that!"
"Not at all." Taki said evenly, "I know what I'm doing. The NSA had and has no idea I was ever there. Trust me."
"I don't care! Don't. Hack. The. NSA!" Dani ordered furiously.
"What about private industry?" He inquired. Dani calmed down and put her hand under her chin,
"Feel free. Just don't get caught or expect me to back your ass up." Dani finally said
Ten minutes later, in the America Mid West
"We're coming up on the coordinates now." X-Treme said as he guided the Stealth Wing down from the clouds, "So get ready everyone."
Get ready. It's something far easier said than done. The team expected to see something along the lines of an abandoned factory, a trashed and dilapidated building out in the middle of nowhere, because they really were out in the middle of nowhere. In short, they were expecting something that said 'evil hideout'. What they did not expect, and actually saw from the cockpit, was a well-kept and carefully maintained building with a sign out front reading 'Mother of Hope Mental Rehabilitation Clinic'.
"What the hell is going on?" Dani asked as she looked down from the cockpit, "Sublime's hiding out here?"
"He must be." Taki stated, "I traced his position here using the cell phone towers of his providers. 90% of his calls have come from this general location." Taki entered a few commands into his tech pack and brought dozens of files on the hospital, "But...I've just reviewed their staff list, don't ask how, and I don't seem him on it."
"Well, I screwed up. We should have used some recon first." Dani mumbled, "X-Treme, pull away. We'll come back later..."
"Set us down, X-Treme." Nova said as he stood up out of his seat, "now."
"What? No way in hell, bucket head." Dani snapped, "We're not just waltzing in there like this. We'll come back later and check the place out at night."
"We've already lost the element of surprise, Moonstar," Nova explained, "And look out the window. The Stealth Wing's freakin' people out some kinda bad already, and it'll look bad for us on the six o clock news if we buzz random residences."
Dani looked out the cockpit window, and saw exactly what Nova was referring to. Patients were pointing at the Stealth Wing while what Dani guessed were security guards stood on the grounds eyeing the Stealth Wing suspiciously with their hands at their sides resting on their firearms. Dani could smell the media circus already.
"Besides Dani, we already know Sublime is ready for us." Taki stated, "Otherwise you wouldn't have been so ready to go gung ho after him to begin with."
"Besides, he's here." Arsenal snarled, "I can feel it."
"Okay, take us down then." Dani sighed. As X-Treme lowered the Stealth Wing to the ground, Dani faced her team, "Alright, I know this is a little unusual, walking into what's likely a trap but.... they know where to send the bill if we're wrong." She explained, "Even if Taki's right and Sublime is here, we can't just go barging in. We have to play this by ear."
"And right now, you're fondly remembering your wild and wacky days in X-Force and unaccountable destruction, aren't you?" Kymaera asked with a raised eye brow and smirk.
"No comment." Dani said as she lowered the ramp, "Remember, enemy territory. Smile, nod and be ready to kick some ass at a moment's notice."
As Dani and the team stepped down, they were met by a handful of security guards and a tall, African American woman wearing a plain white lab coat.
"Force Works, correct? I recognize your pictures from Newsweek." The woman said, "I'm Dr. Grass, may I ask why you're here?"
"The boss lady needs to relax some." Speedball quipped without missing a beat.
"We have reason to believe a wanted criminal is on the premises." Dani explained, ignoring Speedball, "we'd like a chance to investigate."
"Well, if you think it's necessary, we'll escort your team around the building, if it will reassure you that nothing is amiss." Dr. Grass said politely, "A question, if I may?"
"Yes?" Dani replied.
"I've seen Force Works several times on CNN and Fox news." She explained, "I thought you had nine members, but I only see eight."
Dani looked back towards her team and noted that X-Treme was nowhere to be seen. Everyone else was just as surprised by this revelation, though they hid it well.
"He's...out sick today." Dani said, easily lying thru her teeth.
"I thought..."Tarene said, but Kymaera quickly clamped her hand over Tarene's mouth, "He was throwing up some kind of bad, if you must know. I doubt he'll be with the team for a while."
"I...see." Dr. Grass replied, "Well, if you'll follow me, I'll escort you around the grounds and hopefully provide some reassurances that there are no 'villains' laying in wait."
"I don't like this approach one bit." Taki whispered to Speedball.
"Me neither, buddy. But what are our options otherwise?" Speedball replied as they made their way towards the main building, watched carefully by the security guards, "storm a mental institution? I gotta agree with Nova, that would look great on the seven o' clock news."
Once they reached the main building, Dr. Grass stopped abruptly.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask that two of your members stay here in the lobby." Dr. Grass said, "Kymaera and Wolfsbane. I mean no offense, but many of my patients are quite unstable. The last thing they are to see are women who could be mistake for delusions."
"Excuse me?" Kymaera snapped, "I'm just blue, not some inhuman monster, and Rahne can just stay in human form like she is now."
"Leaving them here is not acceptable." Mirage stated evenly.
"And possibly exposing them to the patients in my care isn't acceptable to me." Dr. Grass stated firmly, "Either they stay here, or this is as far as you go."
"We'll wait here, doctor." Rahne stated. Rahne then shifted slightly to her transitional form and used the psi link she shared with Dani, We'll be fine, Dani. I'll stay in contact with ye and we'll be there in a second if ye need us
Beneath her mask, Dani scowled. So far, they hadn't even found Sublime yet, and they were already down three people.
"Now that that's settled, lets get on with this 'tour'." Arsenal snarled, "Sublime's here somewhere, I know it."
"I don't know who you're talking about, young man, but I'm more than willing to prove you wrong." Dr. Grass stated, not offended by Arsenal's tone in the least.
"Then you won't object if I use my tech pack to scan the complex during the tour?" Taki asked, largely for the appearances of appearing considerate, "they'll be un invasive."
"Not at all, Wiz Kid." Dr. Grass answered, "In fact, should you find something amiss, please inform me."
"Oh, of that there is no doubt." Taki thought to himself
"This whole setup smells." Kymaera said as she stood impatiently in the lobby waiting room, "That lady's hiding something, I know it."
Rahne let out a tired yawn and sat down in a chair, "I nae so sure, Nita. Taki could be wrong, ye know. And I've worked wit' a lot o' doctors, Dr. Grass askin' us t' stay here's nae that outlandish."
Namorita stretched her tired arms out and slumped into a chair across from Rahne, "Yeah, but still, I don't like it, Red. It's just asking for trouble."
Kymeara rubbed her dreary eyes and then looked towards Rahne, and saw the young woman was slumped over unconscious. Kymaera naturally attempted to stand up, to signal her teammates, anything, but her arms and legs felt like rubber and nothing worked. The young woman who could lift tanks without breaking a sweat fearfully found herself unable to command any of that considerable power. In fact, her strength was quickly being drained out of her by some unseen assailment. The blink of an eye later, Kymaera herself was unconscious, and she never knew what hit her.
A white mist swirled around the two young woman and congealed into the image of a twenty year old, white blond haired man wearing a gray leather uniform while the Roman numeral ten on his shoulder.
"Two babes sleeping like babies." He smirked. He pressed his head to his hand and activated the headset attached to it, "This is Ten reporting. Wolfsbane and Kymaera have been neutralized."
"Excellent. Join the others and we'll precede with the ambush." A voice replied over his comm. unit.
"...all our equipment is state of the art, with some of the best trained staff to be found anywhere." Dr. Grass said proudly as she and Force Works walked the halls of the institution. Since the tour had begun, the doctor began talking Force Works' ears off, proud of every minor detail, and proudly proclaiming that the institution was the nation's greatest hidden treasure. Force Works, by in large, was uninterested. Wiz Kid was the exception, and he prodded Dr. Grass for information almost every chance he got. No one really understood what they were saying, though, as it entailed highly detailed psychological information.
"Maybe Sublime checked in here for some R&R and he killed himself after listening to this chick." Speedball quietly quipped to Arsenal. Arsenal glared daggers back at Speedball, who quickly shut the hell up.
"You happen to know what happened to X-Treme?" Dani whispered to Nova.
"Don't ask." Nova replied. By now, the 'tour' had reached the cafeteria and Taki's sensors hadn't discovered a thing, nor had Force Works.
"One last question, have you made any strides in treating schizophrenia, otherwise known as multiple personality disorder?" Taki asked
"Oh, we've actually made a lot of head way there. You see..."
Dr. Grass prattled on, but Wiz Kid wasn't listening. He morphed the section of his tech pack around his wrist into a laser, and wordlessly blasted Dr. Grass in the chest. Dr. Grass fell to the floor, her chest smoking heavily.
"Wiz Kid, what the hell did you do that for?!" Dani demanded as she rushed towards Dr. Grass. Taki put a techno arm out to stop her, preventing her from ascertaining Dr. Grass' situation. The entire room was in an uproar, with patients doing this or that, but all wisely kept their distance from Force Works. In fact, almost everyone in Force Works itself was dumbstruck by Taki's actions as well.
"Dr. Grass was likely leading us into a trap. She didn't know the difference between M.P.D and schizophrenia." He explained, "That, and my scanners can't seem to pick up anything."
"That's it!" Dani almost screamed, "that's your entire case?! Wait...Rahne!"
Almost on cue, the floor beneath Nova and Speedball buckled and heaved, and a giant eight-foot man wearing a gray leather suit marked by the Roman numeral seven emerged from the floor and grabbed Nova and Speedball in one hand each. The behemoth fell back down the hole he made, and moments later the sounds of combat could be heard.
"That, and I'm never wrong." Taki explained as he created another pistol with his tech pack. He felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end, and felt a slight breeze. Before he could prepare a proper defense, a hundred super fast blows were rained on him by a blond woman with the number four on her uniform. Not even his automatic defense protocols could save him from unconsciousness.
"Dani! Who're the badguys?" Tarene asked, very much confused. The patients' reaction to the fight had varied wildly, with some running wildly, other outright ignoring the fight, but no one directly challenging her. At least, not to her face. The confused Tarene failed to notice a black haired young woman sneak up behind her before it was too late. She pounced on Tarene and pressed her hands to Tarene's temple.
"Time for some brain freeze honey." The woman stated. She activated her ability to project freezing cold and chilled the water in Tarene's veins to near freezing. The effect was every single pain receptor in Tarene's head screamed like a wounded child. Totally unprepared for such an attack, Tarene blacked out from incredible shooting pain and the black haired woman just let her drop to the floor.
"What an..."
A blast of pure red hatred smashed into the woman before she could finish her sentence and sent her sprawling.
"Where is he?!" Arsenal demanded, screaming at the top of his lungs. He was beset by a black man who could project flame and a white male armed with optic blasts of his own, but Arsenal was more than able to ignore them in his steel form, "Sublime! I know you're out there!"
"Well, it looks like my little pet project's come back home." A familiar voice stated. Arsenal spun around and saw the object of his search.
"Tell me Bobby, how are your friends finding my allies, the Eugenix?" Sublime asked as he casually stepped out of the shadows of an entrance way into Arsenal's field of vision, "I hope you didn't think that I would just wait in some corner for you and your Force Works friends to come get me. But then again, I didn't select you for your brains."
Arsenal replied with a snarl and an optic blast that hit Sublime directly in the chest. Sublime only chuckled in reaction.
"I'm afraid that I made a few adjustments to the dear Mrs. Woods' eyes before I gifted them to you." Sublime smiled.
-Snikt!-
Arsenal, still ignoring the men blasting him with energy, waved his bone claws in front of his face and spat, "You know, for once, I actually want to do this the hard way and use these things."
Sadly, before he could make good on his threat, the woman he had blasted early managed to partially recover and lashed out at his steel form with a blast of pure cold.
"Arrgh!" Arsenal screamed in pain as the sudden shift in temperatures in his steel form sent pain shooting thru his entire body. Acting solely on instinct, Arsenal shifted into human form to let his healing factor deal with the pain, and they were on him in an instant. The superfast woman who had beaten Wiz Kid down preceded to beat Arsenal down at the speed of sound while another silver haired male with sharp nails leaped on Arsenal's back and started to tear into his flesh, drawing blood.
"The things we do for friends, eh?" The silver haired male joked to the superspeeder.
"Shut up and focus, one!" She ordered, "he's..."
She was going to say 'still dangerous' but never got the chance. Arsenal snapped up, ignoring the barrage and unleashed a wild optic blast. The blast tore thru the cafeteria, destroying chairs, tables and parts of the wall and ceiling. Before Arsenal could press his attack, he felt a powerful blow to the back of his head and swirled into unconsciousness. Dr. Grass was standing over his prone form, and she looked around the room, pleased with herself and her team.
"Good work, Eugenix." Dr. Grass said as she body started to shift. Her hair turned to a light purple color as did her eyes, and a double helix tattoo appeared down the left side of her face and metal body armor revealed itself around her body, "You've done your leader proud."
"What about Nova and Speedball, Genecide?" Four asked.
"Seven's dealt with them already and is taking them to the holding cells." Genecide answered, "Gather up Force Works and take them to our holding area."
"I wonder who beat this one, that's got to be some bragging rights." One commented as he grabbed the back of Mirage's costume and dragged her limp body away while his teammates gathered up the defeated Force Works
"I must say your team performed splendidly." Sublime said as he walked forwards, lightly clapping, "But what about their last member? You don't honestly think that he called in sick today?"
"No, but he's out numbered twelve to one." Genecide replied as she looked down at Arsenal's limp body, "What's more, we have his teammates. I'm not worried at all."
Next issue: Outnumbered 12 to 1 in hostile enemy territory, its X-Treme vs. Eugenix. Come back next issue and learn just how lopsided the odds really are
Work Letters
Force Works #8 by David Ingram
THE GOOD: The fight scenes in this issue are great. I loved reading every bit of them. Seeing Lodestone again so soon was a treat because she was a good character in Russ's Scarlet Spider arc. I also liked how some obscure villains are getting some props. It's about time to. I'm glad to see obscure villains rising up in M2K.This title and Thunderbolts are doing the best job of that so far.
Thanks for the good words, brent. Glad you liked Loadstone and all the other villains I tossed in there. To be fair, though, I used obscure villains simply to avoid messing with anyone else's plans ;)
THE BAD: I really don't see the need for Tartarus. It seems purposeless to me even after David gave the explanation for it being around. It's feels like a very cheap Vault. It maybe sound kind of harsh, but I really like this title so I was surprised when I found something that turned me off that much. The only reason I could
stand the thing was because of the fight that happened in it. Also the whole water pressure thing is just a little too over the top for my tastes. I'm not feeling this new prison in the slightest. I hope it never shows up again in this title because it's far too good for concepts like this IMHO.
Sorry you don't like Tartarus, but it's here to stay ;). I agree that it seems like a cheap Vault, and that's because that's basically what it is. Not every country can support a superhuman prison, they gotta be budget busters! Thus, Tartarus. The 'water pressure' thing was mainly to show just how so very little they care about civil rights on Tartarus
OVERALL: Great fight, great dialogue, great villains, but bad concept.
Glad you liked most of it Brent. I hope to win you over in time with Tartarus, man. Thanks for the review!