Colorado, USA. The residence of Margaret Moonstar and William Lonestar
"We have to tell her," Margaret told her husband as she pulled a steak out of the fridge, "for Heaven's sake, she's our daughter!"
The two parents of the super-heroine Mirage were starting dinner as they discussed their state of affairs. Lately, the subject of their daughter came up more often than not.
"It's not like we haven't tried," William defended, "she barely returns our phone calls and emails, and when she does she's so hurried I can barely get a word in edgewise!"
"I know, I know," sighed Margaret, "running that team of hers is hard work. But still, we can't keep something this…"
"Big?" William offered with a hint of humor.
"Thin ice." Margaret snapped reflexively, to which her husband only smiled mischievously.
As their conversation continued, the entirety of their homestead was constantly and quietly monitored by specially designed security scanners that registered everything from body heat, moisture in the air and even the state of the houseplants. At the insistence of Nova, Kymaera and Speedball, the homes of all close family members were protected with state of the art devises that would alert the team to any and all potential threats to their loved ones, who were perhaps the greatest weakness of any hero. The systems were small and un-obstructive, unnoticeable even to some who were looking directly at the system itself, yet powerful enough to scan for any abnormalities two miles in any direction, smart to recognize any friend that might come along unannounced and relay all that information back to the Work Place Tower in less than three nano-seconds. Wiz Kid, the designer, while reluctant to call the system fool proof, was immensely proud of the system, considering it one of his finest works to date.
As the two began dinner, the alarms watched vigilantly as always. Then, suddenly, six different scanners set to detect six different intrusions, among them teleportation and mutants of Alpha level or higher, screamed.
Marvel 2000 Presents
Force Works 22
The siege of Metro City
Part 1
"The first Gauntlet."
Metro City, The Work Place
"Bobby, why are you giggling?"
"Nothing, it's nothing."
"You're a lousy liar, you know that?"
"Some might say that's a good thing," Bobby replied, still resting his head on his hands as he smiled contently at the ceiling
"Not me, spill."
Bobby Greggs crooked his head towards his companion. The undisputed leader of Force Works, Danielle Moonstar, AKA, Mirage was sitting nude beside him, her legs drawn up to her chest as he rested under the sheets.
"I just think it's funny that a woman who can look death in the face would be so nervous as to ask 'was it good for you too'," Bobby explained, "and actually mean it."
"Yeah well, I'll level; I haven't had much experience in the arts carnal," Danielle leaned down and rested her head on Bobby slowly, physical intimacy in small and somewhat unfamiliar steps, "most men seem to think I'm carrying a pair down there."
Bobby chuckled softly, "I think I can testify otherwise."
"Not what I was looking for."
Bobby gave a dismissive snort, "Don't think for a second being a hard ass in the field makes you any less a woman or decent person. You've got nothing on the drill sergeants at Fort Bragg, and it's because of your leadership we actually managed to stand up to the Avengers. You might be in ass in battle, but that's better being too slack."
"I suppose," Dani replied unconvincingly.
"Dani? Two things. One, you're even more beautiful when you pout," Bobby began, "and two, I have a healing factor."
Danielle leaned in to kiss Bobby's face, "You really know what to say to a woman…"
"Alert F! Alert F!" The entire building filled with the loud booming noise of alarms.
"Alert F? What's alert F?"
It took the pair only a few seconds to remember their alert system, which was far from complicated. The blood drained from both their faces as they remembered exactly what 'Alert F' stood for.
"Family!"
A minute and a half later, the Stealthwing alongside Nova the Human Rocket tore out of the Workplace Hangar. Nova, slammer and faster than the Force Works' transport, peeled away and was gone from sight within seconds. Even the most untrained eye could see the desperation in their flight.
Below, on the street level, hordes of men and women marched towards the front entrance of the Work Place. They were of mixed ethnic descent, some Hispanic, others African American or Asian mixed in with Caucasians. At first glance, they looked normal. But their features were hard and rigid, as though their faces were formed from solid steel. They made their way into the Work Place, unobstructed by the security system designed to withstand scores of Sentinels. There was nothing to stop them as they obeyed the commands of their silent master, and went about their work.
Force Works' departure hardly went unnoticed by those who were within Metro City itself. Christopher Bedlam, self-titled King Bedlam, watched the snow white trail of jet exhaust break down in the early morning sky. Taking a bite of his breakfast apple, Bedlam realized he never felt more alive. Today was the day he and his allies seized their destiny. They stood atop an old row house several blocks away from Force Works' headquarters, laying in wait. Lodestone blazed with electrical energy, seeing the battle to come as one small yet vital step to reclaiming her long lost son from his crime-lord father. Warhead smoldered with power, eager to avenge his brother's death at the hands of Nova. King Bedlam chuckled silently to himself, his telepathic powers having long ago divined that Warhead had no brother, simply false memories implanted by the people who'd made him into the hulking powerhouse he now was. Unknown to the radioactive cyborg, he'd 'avenged' his brother five times over. Smiling Tiger just growled, eager for the kill as the super strong lady ninja Delilah stood silently with her arms crossed. In contrast, the once Thunderbolt Charcoal dreaded the coming confrontation. He was the closest thing to a decent person in the entire Cabal, recruited not only because his strengths matched the weaknesses of a particular, but because Bedlam wanted a team whipping boy that would draw attention away from himself. In any case, Bedlam knew he could count on Charcoal to do his part, he'd seen to it personally.
And then there were the recent additions that he'd recruited since his Cabal assaulted Tartarus. A young man in a Harlequin costume who kept raking two dark blue knives over one another, and a young blond woman in sleek yet ancient blood red armor. She kept an old, burlap sack tied to her belt with an odd brown stain at the bottom. King Bedlam knew better than to ask what was inside, though he had his ideas. Anyone who could balance the power of Tarene was a welcome addition, in any case.
King Bedlam didn't concern himself with exactly why Force Works had shot out of their headquarters like a bat out of hell. With any luck, they'd exhaust themselves and upon returning would be easy pickings. King Bedlam didn't allow himself to dwell on that thought too long. He knew in his gut that Force Works would never be easy prey.
But all the same, that's all they were now. Prey.
And in a hotel room across town but still within view of Force Works' tower, a young woman of Vietnamese descent took a slow drag of her cigarette. She'd just been informed of Force Works' departure, and remembered enough of her grandfather's old war stories to recognize the calm before the storm. And in her gut she felt it was shaping up to be one hell of a storm.
She was on pins and needles, truth be told. Never before had she tested her mettle in this way, nor did she have any idea what to expect. But there was a good fight to be fought, and in truth, that was all she needed to know. Her grandfather would be ashamed at any less.
"Nova! Nova, what's the situation!"
The members of Force Works, save Rahne and Bobby, found themselves surprised at the level of emotion their leader was displaying as she shouted into the plane's long distance radio. They imagined their leader as a woman who could walk into hell without breaking a sweat. To see this one woman unnerved unsettled them all. No words of comfort could be offered over the roar of the engines, as they were pressed to maximum output.
"Dani, this is Nova. I'm at the ranch and your parents are fine," The voice of Nova the Human Rocket informing her that her parents were fine was like a Heavenly choir to the young Cheyenne. She let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding and slumped back in her chair. But only for a moment.
"Any idea what set off the alarm?" asked Mirage.
"None whatsoever boss, but you'll wanna get here ASAP anyways."
Mirage didn't press further. Truth be told, she was happy to have an excuse to see her parents, whom she hadn't had a serious conversation with in weeks, months even. The illusionist hero leaned back and concentrated on slowing down her pounding heart.
The Stealthwing settled into a silent hover above the ranch, and the team descended as Arsenal helped Mirage to the ground. Though her demeanor was stoic, inwardly Danielle was a conflict of emotions. She was happier than words could say that her parents were fine, but felt a little guilty that it took a false alarm to bring her back home.
But she assured herself things would be fine and normal, even if all her parents intended to do was whine like other parents about how their neglectful child never calls. It was an illusion she held to as she and her team entered the cabin, saw Nova sitting comfortably in a recliner nursing a cup of coffee across from her parents, who were talking the ear off the Human Rocket about embarrassing youthful indiscretions of their daughter. The illusion of things being fine and normal shattered when Danielle saw her mother's bulging stomach.
Danielle's jaw dropped to floor, "Mom…?"
And could say nothing more.
"Dani!"
Both parents were on Mirage instantly, with loving hugs that failed to do anything to relieve Danielle's shock. When they finally stopped, Dani found the words she was looking for.
"You're pregnant? How did this happen?"
"Vell you see," Speedball began, with his best 'Einstein' imitation voice, "zee mommy, she does a bad thing with zee daddy, and…"
"Shut it!" Danielle snapped, "mom, dad, how come you never told me?"
While Force Works watched this impromptu family reunion with smirks of amusement, Wiz Kid issued several silent mental commands into his tech-pack. Always suspicious, the teenage genius wasn't convinced it was just a false alarm that had brought them out here.
"How come you guys never told me I'm having a…" the fact that she didn't know the gender of her future sibling was like a blow to Mirage's gut.
"Brother and sister. Twins," Her mother explained, "and we tried! But you were always so busy, and we didn't want to just drop it on you!"
"Two more Moonstars?" Kymaera chuckled, "look out world!"
"And finding out like this is better!"
"Dani, we need to go." Wiz Kid's voice was always serious, but even the most naïve of members could recognize the sharper tone.
"What do you mean? Can't it wait…?"
"Now, Dani!"
Danielle looked towards her parents, "Mom, dad, I…we…we have to go. We'll talk later."
Like all good parents, they told her to be careful as the team rushed out the door.
"Are ye alright?" Wolfsbane asked her long time friend.
"Yeah, I'm fine," It took less than a second for Dani's leadership skills to take back over. Wiz Kid had summoned the Stealthwing down and they piled in as quickly as they could.
"Wiz Kid! Sit rep!" Mirage ordered.
"Someone's has control of the Work Place," Wiz Kid explained as everyone strapped in, "they triggered only three of a dozen fail safes and passive ones at that. They know what they're doing, and have free reign in our headquarters."
"Are you sure?" Kymaera asked hesitantly, "maybe you've got a bug in the system or something."
"One that happens to lure us as far away from home as far as possible? How likely is that in our profession?"
X-Treme slammed the accelerator throttle forward so hard the entire team was thrown back in their seats, "Not damn likely."
Twenty seconds later, Colorado wasn't even a dot in the distance for the team.
King Bedlam watched with his Cabal as the Stealthwing returned, far sooner than he expected, in truth. Not nearly enough time for a mission, he knew. Perhaps they went somewhere for an early breakfast?
No matter. He nodded to Paradigm, a mutant technomaster who was ironically infected with the techno-organic virus. The young man of gold and black was a follower who knew what to do. Paradigm reached out with his powers, and began to quickly seize control of Force Works' most valuable and vulnerable asset at the moment, their jet.
Totally ignorant of the threat posed to them by Bedlam's Cabal, Force Works' attention was completely focused on their tower. The Stealthwing circled around the twenty story building that had until recently been their sole sanctuary in their chaotic lives.
"See anything?" Mirage asked as she looked out over X-Treme's shoulder at the Tower outside the cockpit window.
"Nothing," Answered X-Treme.
"I can see detect some movement on the lower levels," Wiz Kid informed the team, "All remote scanners have decided to deactivate themselves. I can't tell what's going on inside."
X-Treme observed a red light flashing in his consul with alarm, "I think I've got a pretty descent idea!"
The Stealthwing pulled away from the Work Place Tower seconds before some half dozen laser turrets alongside mini-missile launchers emerged and strafed the Stealthwing's former position. The aircraft pulled up hard and fast, quickly removing itself from the kill zone as the sky exploded with a blinding display of weapon's fire one might associate with midnight bombing raids over Baghdad as opposed to an American city.
"Good work Adam," complimented Mirage, even though her stomach was churning and she was forced to hold onto a handlebar attached to the pilot's seat for dear life.
"That… wasn't me."
The world of Force Works jerked sharply to the left then upwards towards the Heavens in a sharp, terrifying climb.
"Nova!" Dani was only barely able to force her teammate's name out through the stress of the Gee forces and strain of barely holding onto the handlebar that kept her from becoming a big red blot in the rear of the cabin.
The Human Rocket needed no orders, however. He activated his flight powers and went into action in seconds. First, he grabbed Moonstar and strapped her safely into one of the seats, and blasted out the exit hatch. Nova was outside, just about to reach for the ship when it plunged into the clouds underneath at breakneck speeds, the orange blaze of the thrusters glowing even brighter as it ran a collision course to the earth below.
Nova shot after it, and within seconds was flying parallel to the aircraft. He pressed backwards in hopes of flying the craft, and felt his heart skip a beat when he felt the steel crumble against his skin. Instinctively he knew what the problem was. While he was strong enough to move the aircraft any which way he desired, the metal was a different story compared to him. It was like trying to move a Ming vase with a backhoe, or to be more accurate, a Ming Vase that was traveling over two hundred miles per hour.
While Nova tried to force the Stealthwing to pull up from the outside, Arsenal and X-Treme struggled with the controls inside, pulling with all their might to get the wing flaps up. Only seconds before it would have been too late, whatever seized control of the craft relented. Every vein in X-Treme's arms presented themselves and he roared as he just barely pulled the Stealthwing out of its nosedive. The high tech aircraft shot down 33rd street, its wake overturning parked cars, bowling over morning joggers and doing more to wake early morning commuters than any cup of Joe ever could.
But Force Works wasn't out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. With the end of the block rushing towards them like a freight train, X-Treme jerked the controls and the plane pulled up harshly, barely avoiding spearing the office building at the end of the block. Window panes exploded outwards as the Stealthwing climbed the face of the building with only inches to spare. The high tech aircraft shot high into the air like a bottle rocket, when, without warning, the engines died.
Tarot watched with disgust as Paradigm commanded Force Works' jet, treating it and it's cargo like a cat might play with a mouse. She truly loathed the road vengeance was leading her down, but couldn't bring herself to voice those opinions, even when the lives of two former friends were at stake.
"That's enough," King Bedlam finally ordered, "bring them down before they can gather their wits and abandon ship."
"As you wish, Christopher." Paradigm answered emotionlessly.
The Stealthwing fell towards terra firma like a rock, it's occupants filled with a healthy dose of fear but none bothering to scream. Adam Sol worked fervently at the controls, trying to get something, anything to work. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the engines kick in. But he drew in even more air when he realized that the nose of the plane was pointed directly at the ground, approaching faster by the second.
He screamed this information back to his teammates, and only word managed to slice through everything in the hopes of saving their young lives.
"Speedball!"
Not two blinks later, the Stealthwing, along with Nova who tried in vain to halt the descent, crashed into the Metro City Museum of Natural History at full speed. Jet shot erupted from the engines in all directions before igniting, transforming the building from a work of art to a raging inferno. The flames spread like a brushfire through the museum, burning hot enough to turn humans to ash within seconds, and the blaze was still in its infancy.
Not so deep inside the Work Place, the commandeered headquarters of Force Works, a single man who once had brown hair and oval glasses watched Force Works' crash and observed the Cabal slowing moving towards the crash site while tin men and women around him went about their programmed work.
The man felt as though fate itself was intervening on his behalf. He'd assumed control of their Tower easily enough, but with all the fail-safes built in by that little cripple, he knew he only had an hour at best before he was discovered. Stumbling across their emergency protocols by chance, the once man was easily able to lure the team away and seize control. And by the time the self-described heroes had returned, they found themselves entangled by another foe.
Heroes…if the once man had any salvia after his many transformations, he'd spit on the idea. Force Works were no heroes. They and their kind, were the single greatest threat humanity. And the traitors who allied themselves with these abominations were even worse in his eyes. They were gifted by fate, and decided to use those gifts against humanity!
The once man would take no chances with this coming conflict. Observing the Cabal closely through high-powered cameras that displayed their features upon monitors as if they were right next door. He decided he would allow them to soften up Force Works, before his own soldiers swooped down and eliminated both teams. As far as first blood went, that wouldn't be half bad.
King Bedlam and his Cabal strode towards the charred husk of a museum down Columbia Pike like marauding warlords surveying their latest conquest. People abandoned their cars in the street as the deadly group sauntered down the street and even the bravest cop hesitated to do anything before backup arrived. The power and evil that seemed to radiate off them was almost tangible.
Standing at the outer most edge of the Museum's footsteps, King Bedlam the burning building as a victory slash funeral pyre. All his months of work, training and careful preparation accumulated to this moment. Still, the self made king wasn't about to let his joyous mood override his common sense. Confirm the kill above all else.
"Chucky," King Bedlam emphasized the name in an almost playful manner, well aware of how much Charcoal loathed that particular nickname, "be a sport and bring out their corpses, will you?"
Charcoal lumbered forward and into the fire, his hulking obsidian form not the least bit affected by the raging fires. Charcoal knew better than to resist Bedlam in any fashion. Whenever the thought even crossed his mind, his head became a mass of crippling confusion and uncertainty. Better than obey, he thought instinctively, than to be crippled like that.
The Cabal watched Charcoal stomp into the burning corpse of the museum, and then waited patiently. One minute passed, then two. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there was a crack of thunder that startled all the villains but one, and the clear morning clouds became ominous and disgorged a virtual monsoon upon the museum and only the museum, dampening the raging fires.
Then came a sound like a muffled explosion. Once, twice, and then Charcoal was ejected head over heels through the air to land several feet in front of his fellow members of the Cabal, his ebony body smoldering and cracked while he floating in and out of consciousness.
The gathered villains watched as the flames parted to reveal a beaten, bloodied and very pissed off Force Works. Their bright and colorful uniforms were marred by soot along with more than their fair share of cuts and bruises. Although it was nearly invisible against the backdrop of the raging fire, Bedlam knew that it had been Speedball's forcefield that protected the young heroes from both the crash and subsequent flames.
The moment Mirage saw Bedlam's Cabal, her mind was racing. The radioactive powerhouse Warhead. Delilah, superstrong assassin. Paradigm, techno organic master of machines. Lodestone, fury with magnetic power. Smiling Tiger, urban stalker. Tarot, mutant master of the arcane. Charcoal, fiery power with strength to match. And two new additions that worried Moonstar, the powerful and skilled Examplar Conquest and the utterly insane Madcap.
"Fitting, isn't it?" Bedlam mocked, his deep and throaty voice easily making itself heard over the crackling fire, "it was in this museum that your team had it's first mission. And in its ashes… is where we're going to put you in the ground."
"We don't have time for this Bedlam," Mirage answered back as Force Works stood only a few yards away from the burning entrance of the Natural History Museum. The raging fire was like a searing wall unto itself, held back only by Speedball's powers and then only barely, "surrender, now, or we'll go through you. And I won't be responsible for what happens."
"Now, now, Danielle, do you think we came all this way just to surrender?"
Mirage wasn't too surprised that King Bedlam knew her real name, but she was concerned about the fact that he hadn't claimed any credit for taking control of their tower. Bedlam might be a slow and careful planner, but he was also a gloater. He'd happily boast about how he had assumed control of their haven or whatever. Which meant a third factor. Which meant as bad as their situation was, it was going to get much worse before they got better. But first things first. Get past Bedlam, access the situation and decide what to do from there.
With an inferno behind her and a cadre of deadly super-powerful criminals in front of her, Mirage instantly knew what to do to reclaim the advantage.
"Force Works! Omega-six!" Dani snapped. But what happened next startled the heroes.
Warhead and Paradigm released twin energy blasts in front of the young heroes. While they struck no one, they landed where maneuver omega six called several members to be. The two Cabal members reacted with a swift and precise counter attack that startled the team into inaction for a split second, but that was all the time they needed.
In that instant, Force Works lost the initiative and the Cabal wasted no time in claiming it.
The supposed Examplar Conquest, bristling with power, somersaulted towards Tarene, the force of both feet crashing into the young woman's stomach sending both combatants hurtling back into the inferno. Warhead and Nova slammed together like two runaway trains, and flew high into the air, trading punches and energy blasts like baseball cards. Charcoal picked up Kymaera bodily and slammed her into the pavement, creating one painful hole. Kymaera kicked out with both feet, catching the once 'Burning Man' in the chest.
"Nobody manhandles me on the first date!" The Atlantean princess snarled as she began pummeling Charcoal. Suddenly, she felt her foe's temperature skyrocket, and barely her hand back before it was burned. The behemoth standing before now was awash in one of the hottest fires the young woman could recall, and snarling at her, "Except maybe you."
Techno organic tentacles wrapped themselves around Wiz Kid and slung him into a nearby wall, some twenty feet in the air. Armor plating, retro-rocket boosters and pre planned programming all slipped into place, bringing Taki to a gentle hover.
Paradigm, the techno-organic mutant, flew after him with the speed of a paper airplane. Hardly a threatening pace, but Wiz Kid took no chances.
"Techno organic are you?" Taki smirked, "like I haven't thought of a dozen ways to disable someone like you."
A green energy bolt shot out of Wiz Kid's wrist attachment and slammed into Paradigm. To Taki's horror, the black and gold creature only sped up and slammed into the hero. The technological hero felt something in his chest snap, but once again, armor plating and special force fields activated, preventing his foe from infecting him with the techno-organic virus, but effectively trapped Wiz Kid within a cocoon of his own defenses.
"I am hardly a stagnate creature," Paradigm coolly explained as his form flowed over Wiz Kid's, searching and prodding for any possible entry or opening, "I have devoted myself to evolving, to learning. And I am most curious about how I will evolve, once I assimilate you."
Taki could hear the metal of his defenses groan, and he become worried what he would hear snap next.
"Hell," X-Treme muttered as Delilah threw a surprisingly skilled right cross. X-Treme deflected it with his left wrist. Without wasting a moment, he leapt over the super-strong assassin. Delilah removed two sias that were secured to her back. X-Treme removed both his axe and double bladed sword from behind his.
"Mine are bigger," warned X-Treme. Delilah charged forward, and X-Treme easily parried. What happened next surprised Adam. The superstrong woman head-butted the Shi'ar warrior and while he was stunned, wrapped her arms around his waist and used her powerful legs to propel them both high through the air. Twenty feet in the air and half a block down, they returned to the earth with X-Treme on the bottom, creating a four-foot wide pothole.
The hybrid warrior saw stars on the edge of his vision and struggled to think, let alone breathe or move.
"When will you men learn," Delilah purred as she brought her fist up slowly, "it's really not about size, it's about power."
X-Treme moved his head to the size just seconds before his foe's fist would have ploughed clear through his skull. It sounded like a bomb had just gone off next to his head, but hard trained instincts kicked in automatically. A left cross dislodged the powerful woman from his chest, and Adam was on his feet in moments.
"It's also about skill," Adam corrected her.
Delilah smiled like the lioness she was, "Then lets put it to the test."
And they did.
Speedball grabbed Wolfsbane and the two of them bounded over Smiling Tiger and Madcap, knowing that fighting with a fire to your back was pretty damn stupid. Almost the very same second reached terra firma, Arsenal slammed into them like a freight train.
"Sorry," Arsenal grunted. They dragged themselves to their feet only to see Lodestone, Madcap and Smiling Tiger only yards away.
"Looks like all that iron in your blood makes you just a wee bit vulnerable to my blasts," Lodestone shrugged, and another lightning like blast came forth, sending Arsenal flying down the street. Lodestone followed after at an almost leisurely pace.
Wolfsbane and Speedball could only watch helplessly, as their enemies were on them in seconds. Smiling Tiger tackled Wolfsbane, and the two animorphs hacked and slashed at one another. Speedball arrogantly ignored Madcap as he rushed to aid the woman he loved, and paid the price as he felt a terrible slash across his back.
Speedball cried out and fell to the ground in a heap. Even though he'd been involved in many a battle, Speedball's powers usually spared him a great deal of pain even the most powerful of his teammates often felt. Speedball, in searing agony, reached around almost in disbelief of the wound. He felt a sticky substance that couldn't be blood and felt his bubbles rushing out of he wound.
"You must be in agony," Madcap's voice sounded like that of a bad Saturday morning cartoon villain, high pitched and squeaky. He stepped over Speedball's prone form carefully, "but you mustn't think this is a bad thing. Oh no, no, no. To feel nothing, be it pain or pleasure, nothing at all, that would be infinitely worse."
Speedball raised his right hand to blast the Harlequin villain with pure kinetic energy, so Madcap decided to illustrate his point by bring his blue knife downwards, slicing into Speedball's palm and pinning the fist to the ground.
"Yeeargh!" Speedball nearly passed out, and Madcap continued with his calm explanation.
"Trust me, I speak from experience. But ironically, my King Bedlam helped me make sense of it all, my fate, my…condition," Madcap stared at his own reflection in the glowing blue knife he wielded. Speedball didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know these knives were specially created with him in mind, "you see, he helped me realize it was my mission to make others appreciate the things they take for granted. Things like pain." The insane villain raised his remaining knife into the air, "and you're my first student."
A blast of pure kinetic energy slammed into Madcap's solar plexus, and propelled him into the body of a 1998 Pontiac. The body of the car and Madcap's body folded into one another nicely like a macabre jig-saw puzzle.
Speedball couldn't care less. Mustering his strength, he grabbed the knife that pinned his hand to the street, and pulled. The Masked Marvel screamed silently as the blade came loose and out of his palm. His hand was bleeding a rainbow like substance onto the pavement while pouring out energy. Speedball was beginning to feel weaker by the minute, and he saw only one option.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated and changed back into his human form. The damage combined with his swift transformation and lack of pain was incredibly disorientating. It was as if his head was stuffed with cotton.
Robbie Baldwin heard a sound that resembled broken glass, and looked towards Madcap. To his horror, the insane monster was literally peeling himself out of the car he'd been blasted into, all the while staring at Speedball with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
"Oh, shit!"
Robbie changed back to Speedball just as Madcap pulled himself free. Speedball jumped backwards while releasing a blast of kinetic bubbles to avoid the next lunge, but Madcap's insanity provided him with a surprising degree of agility, and he easily side stepped the blast and came up only inches short with his blades. Speedball back-pedaled as fast as he could, Madcap and his blades never more than a foot behind.
Danielle Moonstar barely ducked underneath a scythe aimed at her neck, the swing so close she could feel the staff brush by her head. The lethal weapon was wielded by Marie Ange Colbert, better known to her friends and associates as Tarot for her ability to animate and bring to life the arcane cards she held to life as powerful puppets. Right now, Tarot had assumed the form of death, an irony on so many levels that Dani had to choke out a bitter laugh. Off to the side, Bedlam watched as his ladylove attempted to murder Force Works' leader.
"Letting your girlfriend do all the heavy work?" Mirage smirked as she dodged another swipe. Though Tarot was certainly a dangerous foe, Dani was well trained and skilled in regards to hand to hand combat. Holding Tarot off for a few minutes was hardly a walk in the park, but doable.
King Bedlam looked at her coolly, "We live in a world of equality, Mirage, as you well know. And it's as if I'm not doing my fair share."
Mirage rolled her eyes at the remark. Enough was enough she decided, former friend or not Mirage knew she had to stop pulling her punches and start pulling her team together while she still had one. The mutant warrior unleashed two snap kicks, one to Tarot's stomach and face, and spun to face King Bedlam.
She concentrated, summoning the energy she used to create her psionic arrows to wipe that smug expression off Bedlam's face. Normally, creating them took only a split second. Three seconds passed, then another three. It didn't take the young Cheyenne long to realize that King Bedlam, who's powers dealt with creating telepathic confusion, was directing his powers at her. Worse, he was likely blanketing the area, so while his team was undoubtedly protected; her's was hindered just a little bit. And in a battle for life and death, every little bit counted.
Dani was about to switch to the real and deadlier arrows she carried for emergencies like this when a sword slashed into her side, just below her ribs. The yellow and blue uniform Mirage wore was for more than decoration, thankfully. Made from a special combination of Kevlar and unstable molecules, it was virtually bullet proof, flame proof and knife proof but like everything else it had it's limits. Mirage stumbled back to see that Tarot had assumed the form of a Black Knight, along with a huge ass sword. For whatever reason though, Tarot didn't press the attack, rather she repositioned herself between Danielle and Bedlam, waiting for the other woman to make the first move.
Touching her side to feel how deep the cut was (flesh wound compared to past injuries), Mirage began to feel increasingly worried. King Bedlam and his cronies were proving harder to defeat than they had any right to be and they were no closer to finding out who had seized control of the Work Place. Waiting for the other shoe to drop when the first one was kicking the crap out of you sucked hard, Mirage thought. Tarot gripped her weapon firmly, and attacked.
The crimson armored Conquest strolled through fires hot enough to melt steel plating carelessly as she went about her business. Her godly powers protected that which she was carrying, and she had no desire to rush her business. After all, the burning building was no more a danger to her than the fog of an early morning.
Several feet away, doubled over on her hands and knees in pain, was the Thunder Goddess Tarene.
"Oh come now, Tarene, that was barely more than a love tap," Conquest chided. Conquest pulled her foot back and punted the young goddess through the air, her powerful bodysmashing a hole in three walls before skidding to a stop, "I knew your time with these pathetic mortals would soften you, but I didn't think they could defang a goddess of Asgard this thoroughly."
"What do you care?" Tarene coughed as she shakily got to her feet, pushing herself up against the wall as she tried to will the world around her to stop spinning.
Conquest shook her head with disappointment, "You still don't have any questions, after all this time, do you? Look at your hammer, Tarene. Do you think those striplings of fallen gods, the Everlasting, could have created such a powerful weapon?"
Tarene, against her better judgment, glanced down at the golden war hammer that she had wielded as long as she could remember (which wasn't very long at all). It never once occurred to her where it had come from. To her, it was as natural a part of her identity as her blue eyes.
"Your hammer stolen from Odin's secret arsenal, forged from the very same mold that created the sacred mjolnir," Conquest explained, "we gave it to those fools, the Everlasting, who in turn bonded it to you."
"You're lying," Tarene hissed, "you aren't powerful enough to manipulate the Everlasting, no one is!"
In truth, Tarene had no real idea how powerful the Everlasting really were. All she knew was how they haunted her nightmares relentlessly and forced her into her neophyte life. And if they could scare her, she reasoned, they had to be pretty powerful.
"Oh sweet, naïve Tarene, you have no idea of my power, let alone ours," Conquest smirked as she unfastened the sack attached to her waist and shook its oval contents out onto the floor. When Tarene saw what the objects really were, she didn't know whether to laugh, cry or vomit. Or perhaps all three.
Resting on the floor of the once proud museum undeniably dead was The Everlasting. Or to be more precise, their heads. The flesh was green and rotten, and the heat from the inferno that surrounded them began to peel back the decayed flesh, but there could be no doubt as to their identity.
"…how? Why?"
"Because it's what our father wanted," Conquest smiled.
"No!" Tarene hurled herself at Conquest, hammer in fist as she punched the armored villainess, "you're lying!"
The force of the blow carried the two straight through another wall as the two struggled back and forth. Tarene lashed out at Conquest furiously, with no pretense of skill or subtlety. Conquest blocked the majority of punches, and easily without the few that hit home.
"What's the matter sister dear? This isn't how twins are supposed to act!" Conquest mocked.
"Shut up!" Tarene swung her war mallet outwards, the blunt end aimed directly at her foe's temple. Conquest stepped underneath easily and retaliated with a left hook that shook Tarene's teeth loose and knocked her perfectly into a right hook that made Tarene see stars on the edge of her vision followed up with a devastating upper cut that lifted Tarene square off her feet where she landed on her back several yards away.
"You're…not my sister…" Tarene pulled herself up to her knees before the spinning world and revelations became too much for her, "…not my family…"
"So sorry to disappoint you, sweet Tarene," Conquest cooed as she stalked closer, "but I am. Our father, Tyr, God of War, allowed our mother to escape with only you when their tryst ended. He knew he could see through any effort she made to hide you. You see, our father was curious. What makes a greater warrior? The heat of battle or is one truly a warrior born? Nature…"
Tarene forced herself upright, but Conquest closed the distance between them in a blink. Conquest struck Tarene harshly in the gut, and a quick chop to the back of the neck. Conquest caught Tarene by her hair as she fell, and knelt down to so that the Godlings were face to face.
"Versus nurture. Our father gave you the power that was my birthright, and then manipulated that old God Krakkan to give me the power of his exemplars," Conquest continued, speaking of the callous manipulations of both their lives with a detached, analytical calm, "we're going to settle an age old question."
Conquest grabbed Tarene by her lapels and pitched her through yet another wall like an oversized dart, "I don't think you need me to explain the rest."
"No…"
Kha-toom! Conquest doubled over as a bolt of lightning crashed into her midsection. Tarene was standing only feet away, her eyes pulsating red and her face ugly with hatred. The rage and blood fury of war that burned in her veins was making itself known. Tarene wasn't quite sure what to believe, but the idea that her own flesh and blood might be behind all her trials, all her suffering, was simply an outrage. Liar or no, this foe had to be made to suffer.
Conquest smiled with sibling pride. She knew the rage that beat in Tarene's breast all too well. How many times had she seen it in herself, or in their father in the heat of battle? But it was something else too. To the young goddess of war, it was a good omen.
"Come sister…" Conquest removed a war whip she'd secured to her belt, "…and learn the bitter truth about the Gods and those whom they would destroy."
X-Treme dove through the air with a precise grace as he sought some breathing room from his enemy. His out stretched hands struck the ground first, and X-Treme rolled onto his side and came up into a squatting position. His hands disappeared into the folds of his ebony coat for a fraction of a second, and then his arms snapped out like whips with frightening speed.
Twin daggers sliced through the air and crashed into the purple chest of Delilah without leaving so much as a scratch. The Amazon didn't even flinch as the blades bounced off her chest as if they were mere plastic straws, not high-grade ultra sharp surgical steel. The female powerhouse drew her foot back like a place kicker for the NFL shooting for extra point, and X-Treme lean back just enough so that he could feel the body heat from his foe's foot as it passed by.
X-Treme didn't hesitate to exploit the opening he saw. He drove the palm of his left hand into his foe's kidney. Delilah then all but fell into a sweeping right blow to her gut that expelled all the air from her lungs.
And then he stopped. X-Treme didn't hesitate, rather he just froze in mid action. Adam had his arm coiled for another blow, but nothing happened.
Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his foe. The super-strong warrior woman swept her hand outwards, like she was swatting at some offending bug, and the casual strike was enough to lift the alien warrior off his feet. Adam sailed only a few feet through the air before he came crashing down on the lip of the roof of a newly purchased red 2002 Honda Accord. The metal slumped only slightly on impact, and X-Treme bounced off like a bad tennis ball. Clasping one hand on his burning spine and using the balance himself against the car he'd just ruined, Adam braced himself for a follow-up attack.
Surprisingly, it didn't seem quick in coming. Delilah was resting her hands on her knees as she sucked air back into her lungs in deep but controlled breathes, like a champion boxer readying for another round.
"What the hell was that?" she finally asked, "you might have had me on the ropes."
"I don't like hitting women." Adam said simply.
"Because of your father, right?" Delilah snorted dismissively as she stood up. The hired killer stood her ground, at least for the moment.
Adam felt a knot form in his chest. The fact that he was the biological son of a sadistic alien warlord was hardly common knowledge. In fact, as far as he knew, only a handful of people on this planet were aware of that fact. Which either meant their security had been compromised, or there was a traitor within their organization. Which was worse Adam didn't know, but he felt it best go play along with the discussion to hopefully find out, no matter how uncomfortable it made him.
"Earth's worse tyrants pale in comparison to him," Adam spat venomously, "don't think you understand for a second."
"Oh, I understand perfectly," Delilah said matter of factly, "so long as you got daddy to blame for all those evil thoughts, you can't blame yourself for your own mistakes. It's someone else's fault, not yours."
"Shut up," Adam snapped, already sick of the conversation. What did this woman know? His father put entire planets to death, violated and killed the wives of his enemies out of spite and slept soundly at night with legions of worshippers, "you have no idea what my father was like."
Delilah depressed a single button upon a silver gauntlet that adorned her wrist. Almost instantly, two sais appeared, to replace the first two Adam had skillfully removed from her possession earlier.
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Delilah pointed a single sia towards Adam like a teacher leveling a ruler against an unruly student, "But I assure you that parents only matter as much as you want them to. My own mother was weak and selfless. She put everyone ahead of herself, never rose to the challenge and never fought back. And look where it got me…"
"Why do you even care?"
Delilah smiled wickedly, "Because Metro City and its billions are going to be ours. Because when we take this city, we'll be welcomed into the inner circle of one of the most powerful men alive. And I want this to be a challenge. So give it your all like a real hero, and see just how much of your father is in you before you die."
As much as Adam loathed admitting it, his foe made a certain amount of sense. D'Ken would never spare an ounce of energy on mercy, let alone protecting others. But still X-Treme feared his heritage. Was that because his fear was genuine, or because focusing on the past and what he was was easier than looking towards the future and who he could be?
Delilah had no intention of letting X-Treme dwell on the issue too long, nor could Adam find the answer within himself. She attacked, and Adam reacted purely on instinct. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that would be the most telling way to know the truth about himself.
Delilah's head snapped to the side and a small trickle of blood as the roundhouse kick he lashed out with smashed across her face. X-Treme kept his momentum up and ducked low, spinning three hundred and sixty degrees and sweeping his foe's legs out from under her.
X-Treme laid his back on the ground before springing up with both legs. With speed faster than any human could hope to achieve, he coiled his legs close to his chest and then snapped them out precisely as he take down atop Delilah's chest. Once again she found herself without breath. Adam then reached down, grabbed the sides of her head, and very nearly broke her nose with the head-butt he delivered.
However, Delilah was hardly a rank amateur. Both her knees went up and struck Adam in the small of his back, tipping him forward where he took the brunt of a jackhammer swing full force.
X-Treme landed hard on his back and skidded several painful feet.
"That's what I thought," Smiled Delilah, her white teeth outlined with blood. Somehow it only made her look more the predator.
But, to X-Treme at least, it made her look that much more vulnerable. A subtle electrical current flowed through his body as he used his mutant ability to ignite the electrolytes of a person's, a painful and crippling attack. While he often said 'burn' when he used this attack, he only did so to fool people into thing he needed to. His eyes blazed as the energy poured from his body towards the statuesque assassin…to no effect whatsoever.
"Haven't you realized it yet? We're prepared for anything you can throw at us! We know everything about you."
X-Treme's eyes narrowed as he processed the information. Their security was compromised. Their foes were thoroughly prepared and armed. A third factor had inserted itself into the equation. There was a place for restraint. A time for caution.
And this sure as hell wasn't it.
"You may think you know everything about us," Adam stated, "but I think I can still school you in a few subjects."
Delilah accepted the invitation gladly. She lashed out with a right rabbit punch that X-Treme side-stepped by barely inch. Bringing his left arm down over her fist and firmly locking it in place, Adam pivoted on his feet and swung his foe into a parked SUV with such fierceness it crumpled like a rusty soda can. With his free hand, he smashed his fist straight into his opponent's face and then grabbed her by the back of the neck, pulling her forward as he jammed his knee into her gut.
Delilah reacted on instinct, driving her elbow into Adam's face as he stumbled, for only a second, placed her leg behind his and swept his feet out from under him. As both feet went flying up, she grabbed his chest and pitched him towards the ground like a softball. Dust kicked up as he landed, but already he was acting. X-Treme kicked out with his right foot aimed square at Delilah's knee. She barely twisted forward and aside to avoid dislocation by her foe, but her jaw was in the perfect place for Adam's other foot. The Shi'ar warrior delivered two snap kicks that were enough to get him some breathing space.
"So tell me, when does the lesson start?" Delilah mocked.
"This is so awesome!"
Jonathon Cooley and Jose Lopez watched in awe and excitement as Force Works savagely battled it out for the fate of the city, ignorant of the implications of the battle as only twelve year olds could be. When the police began evacuating the area, the two friends slipped away together to see the action. And they weren't disappointed by what they saw. They felt like lifelong boxing fans who were seeing their first title fight. From the relative safety of an alley corner, they watched the raging battle.
To add to that, both felt as if they had a personal stake in the fight.
"Look, there she is!"
The two gasped Wolfsbane and Smiling Tiger inter-tangled, slash, punching and hacking madly at one another like the wild animals they mimicked. Wolfsbane possessed an advantage on strength, but that was easily countered by Smiling Tiger's longer claws and feral nature. The two watched in sudden horror as the two mutants savaged one another as their battle carried down the street. After what seemed like an eternity of blood and wounds, Wolfsbane kicked Smiling Tiger off her and sent him rolling away into the chairs and awnings of an outdoor café', past where Jonathan and Jose were concealing themselves.
Rahne took a moment to access her situation. The wounds were deep but healing (not nearly fast enough, she was no Wolverine) and while her foe possessed no seeming healing factor of his own, his animalistic nature more than compensated. Plus she felt an odd buzzing in the back of her head that was a constant distraction. In short, she was screwed.
"You leave her alone!"
"Yeah, you orange creep!"
Rahne felt her heart jump to her throat as two children emerged from the alley and began barraging Smiling Tiger with trash. Not only because she recognized the children as two kids she supervised during Church after school programs.
"Joe! Jose! Move!" She screamed desperately.
Wolfsbane sprang into action. Smiling Tiger was faster and closer. Two slashes was all it took to clear a path, just seconds before Wolfsbane's fist crashed into his jaw with such speed and strength she was carried over the inhuman mutant.
Landing, she threw herself towards her foe again, her vision nothing but red and obscured by blood and tears.
Within The Workplace
The secret foe of Force Works smiled as his servants began putting the finishing touches on his weapon that would mark the final solution to the mutant problem that marred an otherwise great country. It would undoubtedly be just the first domino in cleansing this planet, but it hardly looked like some majestic weapon.
No, this weapon of righteousness looked like a high tech grain silo with a giant red ball sitting atop it. Dozens of cords and wires fed into the machine, sustaining it as it began its infancy but now that it was completed, it was ready to receive every last ounce of power The Work Place could put out.
After years of working in the public arena, the not so humble man had developed a taste for the dramatic. Taking a body altered to assume the appearance of his original one, he strode forward like an American general in all the old war movies he loved so much. A big, red button awaited him and his sense of drama satisfied, he pressed it with little ceremony. Power began pouring into the devise, but the strange energy fields poured out of the tower. People from the streets stared as the sickly red sky that bled out from the tower in all directions like a plague.
"God damn, you step out town for a bite to eat and it all goes to hell," Sabre muttered to herself as she reached Mach-3, whizzing past cars down the highway as if they were lawn ornaments, inanimate obstacles easily sidestepped. Down I-66, taking the fifth exit and cutting through a few back alleys, Sabre reached Columbia Pike in Metro City, where the battle between the Cabal and Force Works was reaching fever pitch. Sliding to a stop, Sabre came to a halt past a twisted and fallen sign warning 'Do Not Enter'.
There was perhaps no better and more fitting warning.
The sight left the normally smart-mouthed speedster speechless. Buildings had gaping holes, two unnaturally leaned upon one another as Warhead and Nova fought in aerial combat. Three buildings near the Museum of Natural History were consumed in fire as energy blasts roared out of the interior like a danger laser show. Lightning lashed down from the sky, igniting more fires and at least three buildings that Sabre could see leaned up against one another unnaturally, their foundations rocked by the massive amounts of power that was being so casually tossed about. Sparking power poles littered the ground as Wiz Kid and Paradigm traded blasts, missiles and other forms of weapons back and forth carelessly. If anyone noticed the blood red sky that blanketed the city, there was no indication.
Sabre was shocked into inaction by the breath and depth of all that was happening. There was so much to do, the threat so overwhelming…
Then she reminded herself that's not how her grandfather would think. Not how heroes think. Sabre saw Charcoal and Kymaera going at it, and decided saving her fish butt was as good as place as any to start.
Charcoal grabbed Kymaera by her suit and smashed her into the ground. Kymaera, badly dehydrated felt her lungs burn and her body went limp. Her will was impressive, but her body didn't want to respond as Charcoal lifted his fist again, ready to finish the job. But he hesitated when he felt a stiff breeze on his neck.
"Bug…" Sabre concentrated, gathered air pressure around her body like a force field as she traveled at super-sonic speed towards her enemy. He couldn't hope to hear her, but she liked to talk trash anyways, "…meet wind shield."
Namorita covered her face as Charcoal exploded like a shrapnel bomb moments before he might have killed her. She opened her eyes and saw a short young Vietnamese woman in a dark blue suit with a slashing sword with a pair of flight joggles over her head. Kymaera recognized the suit in the fringes of her memory, but brushed that thought aside for now.
"Who…are you?" Kymaera gasped, only to realize just how dehydrated she really was.
"Hold on," Sabre's image blurred, and she returned with a bucket of water she unceremoniously splashed in Namorita's face, "you know, if you really wanna stop the bad guys, you could just wear a wet shirt into combat. You'd at least have a decent excuse."
"Noted," Kymaera growled as she brushed a damp strand of hair out of her face as she felt the strength returning to her limbs, "now who are you and what do you want?"
"Name's Sabre, wanna help so's you guys listen to a business proposition later." Kim summarized.
"Business proposition?"
Sabre swept her hand towards the destruction, "Later maybe?"
"And I should trust you why?"
"Because I'm not going to beat the crap out of you at two thousand miles per hour."
A pause.
"See?"
"Sweet Neptune…"
Sabre followed Kymaera's eyes and saw Nova and Warhead grappling while falling in midair. Towards what looked like a still occupied apartment building. Not good.
"Back in a sec!"
Sabre raced towards the building at dazzling speeds. Smashing through the front door and up the steps. All the while Kim concentrated to keep her speed up. Tearing through the first door, she saw Warhead and Nova at the center of a large hole. The uniform around Nova's chest was burned off as the Human Rocket cocked his fist back. Warhead was underneath, groping for ground that wasn't there. To Sabre, the scene was like a three dimensional photograph, the two perfectly suspended in mid-air surrounded by bricks and other building material from the roof that was equally still. Sabre only spared a relative second to watch before grabbing the middle aged hiding under his dining room table and depositing him several blocks away behind a police barricade. As Nova and Warhead slowly inched their way farther down, Sabre searched every single room in the building and safely evacuated the residents. An elderly couple, a sick teenager who wanted to miss school, three dogs and five cats and more were saved in the span of four seconds.
Kymaera felt her heart stop when she saw her lover Nova and Warhead crash into the apartment building at break neck speeds. There was no slow motion for her. The windows on each floor exploded from the force as the two battling powerhouses smashed their way to the bottom, only to have the building cave in on top of them.
Sabre snapped back the Atlantean princess' side, "Emptied the building, what's next fish lips?"
As Namorita began to form an answer, she faintly heard 'Alert G' over her communicator. But if it weren't for her keen ears, honed by living underwater for years, Kymaera doubted she would have heard it at all.
"Shit," she swore, "Mirage just ordered us to regroup, but I doubt anyone heard it!"
Sabre smirked, "Then it's a you got me there."
"'Bush is God' is the verification code," Kymaera informed Sabre, who nodded and ran off.
"If it means anything to you, your death is nothing personal," Lodestone smiled as she floated over Arsenal's bruised and bloodied form, "your corpse will bring me one step closer to my son."
Arsenal said nothing. He had numerous cuts and slashes all over his body, he couldn't use his wings or stronger steel form because he knew she would assume control instantly and his optic blasts proved useless. All he could do was hope for an opening and then take it for all it was worth.
"Hey bitch!"
Lodestone spun around just in time to see a dumpster's worth of trash shooting towards her like a cannonball. The magnetic fields she maintained around her body deflected the majority of it, unsavory liquids and decayed substances were traveling fast enough to and had too little mass to be blocked. In all, about two pounds of the most disgusting food-stuffs and liquids that dwell only in trashcans hit the magnetic woman with a loud –splat!-.
Lodestone let loose language that would make a sailor blush, but by the time she cleared her vision, Arsenal was gone.
Tarot saw her foe Mirage disappear just as quickly, as did Madcap and Smiling Tiger. Not even X-Treme was fast enough to prevent himself from being snatched, nor could the human computer Paradigm react fast enough to prevent it. Only two members presented a real problem.
The first one was Tarene, who was battling it out with Conquest inside a burning building. But the superspeeder had a good idea what to do. She focused her aura, building up another shield of air pressure around her body like she used against Charcoal and barreled right through the two combatants. As Sabre planned, Conquest took the worst of it, slamming through walls and out of sight.
"Regroup, and Bush is God, an' all that," Kim quipped to the young Godling.
"Who…are you?"
"Roadrunner, now move your ass!" Kim zipped away, and Tarene decided answers would best be found with her friends. There was simply too much information for her to emotionally process now anyways.
"Now for a hat trick," Kim muttered to herself as she sped towards Nova. Unlike Tarene, he was doing okay for him. Emerald energy beams lanced out from his eyes that Warhead struggled against. Sdabre had to admit, without his shirt the Human Rocket looked pretty damn sexy. Nice abs, chest like steel…
"Stop it Kim, this is no time to get horny," she muttered to herself. She sped by a pile of rubble that was instantly sucked up into her jetstream. Aiming towards the mechanical powerhouse, Sabre took a sharp right at the last second, pitching the debris at Warhead. Even someone as powerful as him couldn't shrug off ninety mile per hour shrapnel.
"What the hell…?" asked Nova as he saw the scene unfold. He knew instantly that none of his teammates could have done what was done to Warhead, but then who…?
"Behind ya, sexy?"
Nova nearly jumped out of his skin (though he hid it well) and spun around to see Sabre standing there, eying his bare chest intently.
"Regroup, Bush is God and this line is so freakin' lame," And with a roll of her eyes, the young woman sped off before Nova could even question her. Looking around at all the destruction that had been wrought, Nova dearly hoped she was an ally before he too shot off and rejoined his team.
The entirety of Force works plus Sabre stood with their backs to their tower as Bedlam's Cabal approached. Bedlam thought it prudent to regroup just as Force Works was doing the same, so that they could meet force with force.
Charcoal, Madcap, Lodestone, Conquest and Smiling Tiger approached on the left with a malicious slowness.
Warhead, Bedlam, Delilah and Tarot approached on the right, sauntering forward.
"Anyone got a plan?" Speedball asked.
"Yeah," answered Mirage, "dig in and hold. Watch one another's back, and give them each a pain to remember."
No sooner had Mirage finished that statement than the entire block swiftly became a little darker, like the morning sky has just become overcast. At first, the team was ready to dismiss the observation. They were about to engage in deadly combat, after all. But they reconsidered when they saw the slack jaws of their enemies as they stared at something above the young heroes. Curiosity mixed with a sense of foreboding as they looked up to see what had struck such fear into the hearts of their ruthless enemies.
Flying high in the sky were dozens if not hundreds of armored men that under other circumstance would look comical. The sleek silver armors looked like giant eggs with wide eyes and big smiley faces painted on, but the wide eyed nature and smiles seemed to convey more a ruthless passion for their work than any sense of merriment and as for the dual plasma cannons rested upon the men's shoulders? They spoke for themselves. These maniacal egg soldiers glared at each and every member of Force Works and the Cabal, their intent clear as they aimed their weapons from the red skies.
"Man…" Sabre sighed, "…like the symbolism wasn't bad enough!"
It was then the sky rained down fire upon hero and villain alike.
Next issue: There's a third player in the Siege of Metro City, and this one takes no prisoners! But who is he, and how will Force Works stop both him and the Cabal?