Washington DC

"You gave me your word, damn it!"

United States Senator Author Marshall, a former serviceman, was usually a man blessed with infinite patience. Nerves tasted by combat had served him well in his political life, he found. No matter what his opponents hurled at him, vague threats, righteous condemnation, none of that compared to bullets brushing past your ear at midnight in a foreign jungle.

But there were a select few, filled with such self righteousness about their cause, at the exclusion of all else, who managed to get under his skin. In his opinion, they allowed their noble (or sometimes not so noble) cause to consume their entire vision. In the words of his idol, Winston Churchill, they were fanatics, unable to change their mind and unwilling to change the subject.

"How are we going to accomplish a damned thing if you roll over like a dog the first sign of opposition?"

And unfortunately, he was (figuratively) trapped with one inside his office now. Jonathan Howard McNeal. The lobbyist came from old money (that's why he could afford three names, thought Marshall), which meant he had the wealth and connections to pursue any cause he wanted as passionately as he wanted. In this case, his obsession was mutant rights, and Author was left to explain the political realities of the world to the man.

"We can't accomplish a damned thing if we throw away our political capital on useless gestures. A non-binding resolution censuring of Syria for the death of a single mutant kid?" Marshall snorted, "kid deserved better, but it's not something to lose any sleep over. You might as well spit into the wind for all the good you're doing. Mutants aren't a charity case right now, in case you hadn't noticed!"

"It's not just that," roared the self righteous lobbyist, "every pro mutant bill gets killed in committee, neutered or voted down!"

"You're not telling me anything I don't already know, son," sighed the tired Senator, "but that's the way it is. Unless you got some pictures of congressmen and a goat, that's the way it'll stay."

"Oh, I have more than 'goat pictures'," spat the embittered Lobbyist, "I know the exact amount of hypocrisy that pervades all of Capital Hill, and I'll tell you one thing Senator, I have been silent long enough!"

Before the long time senator could get in another word, his guest left the room with a loud slamming of the door and feet stomping away.

Marshall tapped his fingers on his desk thoughtfully. In all the time he'd know McNeal, he'd never known him to make vague threats. Marshall found his interest and instincts were peaked, and knew better than to ignore both.

He reached for his phone, and dialed a thirty year old unlisted number, and said simply, "Sam? I need a favor, fast."

&&&

Marvel 2000 Presents

Force Works 27

Relative Threats

Part 1

&&&

Miami, Florida

Charlie Burlingame grunted an energy blast impacted his diamond hard, ebony stone body. The hero known as Charcoal shrugged it off, and resumed his battle. Two giant robots, twelve feet tall and made of gleaming silver steel, bore down on him with a cold, robotic focus.

He, along with several of his teammates, were currently raiding a secret A.I.M warehouse they'd uncovered several days earlier. Advanced Idea Mechanics had hidden one of their many secret labs underneath underneath an unassuming air strip (Charlie was amazed how they casually used their advanced technology to operate in plain site, at least at first. These were evil mad scientist, after all) and it was decided that the soon the place was smashed, the better.

Thankfully, Force Works had more than enough members to do the job right. While one half handled evacuating the civilians and getting them to safety, the other half assaulted the base itself.

"Okay, lets turn up the heat!" Charcoal ignited his flame powers, covering his body in white hot flame. The idea was to give himself some breathing room, get the damn things to back down, but that wasn't happening.

"Oh yeah, robots with a sense of self preservation are kinda pointless," he murmured to himself, "hey, Star Man, little help!"

Charcoal squinted as two bolts of energy lanced through the heads of the robots. He looked over his shoulder to see Nova the Human Rocket hovering there, his hands smoldering with energy.

"Thanks, those mechs were stubborn."

"Transformers," Nova corrected.

"What what?"

"Faceless robot are transformers," Nova corrected with a straight face, "not mechs."

"…okay." Charcoal coughed light, "gramps!"

"Youqueensfinallydone?" A strong wind blasted across the faces of the two heroes, and when they opened their eyes, Kim Mai, the speedster Sabre, stood before them, a trail of unconscious bodies littering the floor behind her, "Ifinishedagesago!"

"Oh, you sure taught those faceless henchmen a lesson," Charcoal groused, "good job. I graduated from beating up red shirts years ago. Maybe someday, you will too."

"Yeah, says the back stabber. How many classes did you take for that, or does it just come naturally?" Sabre sneered, "hero's in my blood, Rocky."

"That's enough!" Nova snapped quickly as several shots rang out. Nova pointed down the corridor where a half dozen A.I.M agents were wielding nasty looking weapons and pointing them right at the three heroes, "we haven't finished yet!"

"Gimme one sec…" Nova realized what Sabre was about to do, but even the Human Rocket wasn't fast enough to grab her before she dashed towards the remaining agents…only to ricochet off an invisible wall like a bug off a windshield.

"Damn it!" Nova slammed into the force field full force, placing himself between the force field and the unconscious Sabre, who was sprawled out on the floor and couldn't have been a more tempting target. Nova battered the force field with all his impressive strength, and while the entire compound seemed to shake around him, the energy wall never wavered, "damn speedsters never have enough blood for legs and brains!"

A burst of energy passed through the field and struck Richard Rider in the center of his chest, bringing him to his knees. He forced himself to his feet as he saw six samilaer weapons being trained upon him through the force field.

"This shield is strong enough to hold the Hulk!" boasted one agent, "not only will you never be able to beat it, but we can still attack you from behind it!"

"I never would have guessed," Nova said through gritted teeth, "time for some shut eye, then!"

"What…"

-Blink!-

"Shut eye?"

Clarice Ferguson, AKA Blink, emerged from her teleportal, landing feet first on the agent of AIM training the plasma cannon on her leader. She then spun on her heels and let loose a sweeping kick that disabled another two. With an almost casual gesture, she threw two of her javelins at two of the terrorists, causing them to blink out of existence for the briefest of moments before returning unconscious. Blink's method's of teleportation could be very harsh when he wanted it to be.

"One liners really aren't your thing, Nova."

"No one respects their elders," Rich sighed.

The sole remaining agent was fast enough to bring his weapon to bear. He aimed it towards Blink, but the heroine ducked beneath the blast, destroying the force field controls behind the heroine, just as she's intended. One expertly delivered uppercut, and it was finished.

"Well done, Blink," Nova observed as he stepped forward, "you shadowed us perfectly, took them down with no injury, and I didn't even half to tell you to shut down the force field."

"Mr. Creed always said the best fighters don't choose between being fast or being smart," Blink explained with a slight smirk, "they do both. Do we have them all?"

"Doubtful. This is A.I.M., nasty surprises are their stock and trade. That's why I sent our 'great warrior' ahead, just in case."

Blink pointed down the corridor, "About fifty yards down that way, and hang a left is where I think he'll be. The fields there hamper my powers, and that feels like the hardest place to get to."

"Can you still push through?"

"This close? Absolutely."

Nova reached out and grabbed Sabre by the back of her uniform and held her a few inches off the ground, "Why don't we all go together?"

Nova glared at Sabre, who rolled her eyes with annoyance, "Fiiiine."

-Blink!-

Nova readied himself for anything as they came out of the jump. He honestly wasn't too surprised when he saw that they were in a room filled with rows and rows of indigo spheres suspended in midair, a half dozen men in each one floating as if they'd drown. After all his experiences as a hero, Nova honestly thought what he was seeing barely qualified as 'weird'.

But A.I.M wasn't about to let Nova reflect on it too deeply. What could only be described as an alien disco ball emerged from a panel in the ceiling, scanned the young heroes, and projected a sphere of solid energy.

"Stick together, he says. Yeah, make us one target. Pure genius," Sabre mocked as she pressed her hands against the field. Charcoal tested the field with a few blows, but said nothing. He already knew he couldn't fire up in such close quarters without burning two of his teammates (not that he wouldn't have minded an excuse to give Sabre a hotfoot, but Blink seemed alright enough).

A glance to his side told Nova that Blink was straining, sweat beading down her head. He could also see that she was still battle worthy, no doubt having survived situations far worse than this one. He didn't have to worry about her right now, even if she was a little tired.

"Vibraxis? Care to make an entrance?"

A blast of pure seismic energy, sounding like an onrushing train, sliced through the air and destroyed the devise holding Nova and the junior members of Force Works back.

The self styled master of vibration (and zero fashion sense as he wore a green spandex suit with yellow control bands and high yellow collar) suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere and proudly declared, "These villains will tremble before my vibrational might!"

Raising his gauntlets and preparing to unleash said power, Vibraxis was stunned to find the remaining A.I.M agents already unconscious.

"Sorry dude, I cannot tell a lie," Sabre wiped her hands off, "I did that just to shut you up."

"Hmm, you most likely did these wrenches a favor," Vibraxis crossed his arms across his chest. In Nova's mind, he almost looked like he was trying to find a dignified way to pout, "my power is a terrible thing to behold."

"Okay, I give up," said Charcoal, "how'd that loud mouth sneak in here? It was like 'bam!'"

"According to our team genius, Vibraxis can focus his vibrations inwards, allowing him to alter his dimensional frequency, moving him out of phase with our reality and as a result, becoming invisible and intangible," Nova explained as if he were reciting it memory.

Charcoal scratched his head, "But how…?"

"It doesn't make any more sense to me," Nova shook his head, "just go with it."

"And we're sure he's not a villain?" Blink asked with a slightly amused tone, "because his mouth puts most villains to shame. Not even Apocalypse was this…verbose."

"At least he managed to wait a little bit before exploding," Sabre observed, "I like that in a man."

"Did not need to hear that," Nova activated his communicator, "Mirage? We're wrapped up here. We shut them down before A.I.M could…" Nova looked around at the globes, and realized he had no idea just what A.I.M had intended to do. All things considered, it was probably one of the few times he was actually proud of his ignorance, "…do whatever it was they were gonna do."

"How'd the rookies do?"

"As expected," Nova glared at Sabre, "definitely as expected."

&&&

SHIELD arrived only half an hour later to secure the base. Within the hour, Force Works was in the air and on their way home.

"Man, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat," Charcoal leaned back in his chair, "We've busted about a half dozen bad guy bases just this week."

"We've pretty much tapped dry the people we tagged from the Bio-Genes' meet," Mirage answered, "we just wanted to evaluate you guys one final dry run without anything too major hanging over our heads."

"Our performance against the myriad of foes we've faced should have convinced you of our competence by now," Vibraxis protested, "when do we face foes worthy of our power?"

"Soon enough," Mirage felt the Stealthwing touch down in the hangar, "Everyone take five, we're done for now. Charcoal, I'll need you to meet me in my office in an hour."

"Someone's in trouble," Sabre teased maliciously. Before anyone could retort, she vanished in a blur.

"Someone's already trouble," growled Charcoal as he stood up. He was about to stalk off when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about her, kid," Nova assured him, "me and Dani both know who the least valuable rookie of the year really is."

&&&

"About time you two got back! Give me a second…" Namorita signed off on several contracts, and then handed them back to her assistant, "make sure the background checks are complete before we finalize. We can't be too careful."

"It's so sexy watching you be smart," Nova gave his girl friend a light kiss on the lips, "how's corporate goin'?"

"We're in the black, handsome. World Watch's more relevant than ever now that they've got a stick to go along with the soft walking. I've even got an appointment with a big mutant lobbyist," 'Nita looked towards Dani, "speaking of appointments, we have a 'guest' waiting in my office."

"What kind of 'guest'?" asked Mirage.

"The kind that suddenly appeared, and with enough authority that I can't cave his ribcage in on a whim."

"Oh, lead on, then."

When Namorita opened the door to her, no one was too surprised to see Joey Chapman, director of the United Nations strikeforce team Excalibur, leaning back in one of the office chairs, his feet lazily resting on the desk.

"Can we help you with anything, Chapman?" Mirage needled, "according to some reports I've heard, you need all the help you can get these days."

"Cute," Chapman stood up so that he could look Mirage in the eyes, "First, I wanted to thank you for dropping the Bio-Genes off on my doorstep and expecting me to cleanup. Do that again, I'll hand them right back."

"We both know that's a bluff, so why are you here?" Mirage shot back, "because to be honest, we're pretty busy doing your job."

"Just thought it fair to warn you," Chapman pointed his hand at Mirage like a gun, "you kids throwing your weight around is making some very powerful people very nervous, and they have itchy trigger fingers. Step out of line, and I will glady take you and yours down. Remember that."

Mirage narrowed her eyes at the former hero, "You get one shot, Chapman. Then I'm coming for you."

"That's all I'll need, luv." And with that, Chapman vanished.

"Nova? Tell Taki he can close the hole in the security net we left for Chapman," Mirage ordered, " then have him sweep the place for bugs or any other nasty trick that limey ass might have left behind. I'll be in my office."

&&&

Leaning back in her chair, Mirage looked out her window at the city below. It had taken some time, but the damage that it had incurred from previous battles was all but gone from her vantage point, but Mirage vowed not to let the memory of what had been fade from her mind. She knew that she'd failed her team and her responsibilities by taking the world on her shoulders. She willingly gave up some of her responsibilities, but that did little to settle her nerves. As much as she trusted her teammates and their abilities, Dani had come to realize she was a control freak. That realization was perhaps the only thing that prevented her from taking those responsibilities back.

"Uhh...Mirage? I'm here," Charlie knocked on the door as he let himself in, "you wanted to see me?"

Danielle spun her chair around, "Yeah, come on in."

"So, what's this about?"

"Probably one of the most important things in your life right now."

Charcoal opened his mouth to speak...

"And if 'high school education' aren't the next three words out of your mouth, I may have to hurt you."

Charlie slumped in his chair, "Do I have to? I mean..."

"Don't even start," Danielle shook her head, "you're our responsibility, Charlie, and you need an education. And you actually help me with another problem."

"What's that?"

"Tarene. We've educating her with private tutors, but to be honest, that's not what she needed," explained Dani, "you two will be attending the same school and some of the same classes. Due to her...inexperience I wasn't comfortable sending her to school alone. I'm going to need you to look out for her. Think you can do that?"

"Sure," Charlie rubbed his chin in thought, "though this is probably the first time in history a black kid's been asked to safeguard the virtue of a white girl."

A psychic arrow flew over Charlie's head.

"Not funny. I'll get you your class info and other stuff later, but I'd brush up on, well...everything if I were you."

"The cool kids get to fight crime all day," groused Charlie as he left the office.

"What was that, young man?"

"Nothing!"

&&&

Several Hours later, Washington DC

"Thank you, keep the change."

As the cab drove away, Namorita took a moment to straighten her business casual suit. First impressions were always key, regardless if one was trying to land a job at McDonalds or meeting a world leader. So concerned with making sure her appearance was correct and proper, Namorita never heard the jogger approaching until he ran into her full force, spilling his water all across her chest.

The two tumbled to the ground, but the jogger was first on his feet.

"Senorita, I so sorry…," the man said frantically in broken English, "I not look where I going! I no mean to…"

"It's alright," Namorita picked herself up and tried to brush some of the water off, "accidents happen. Don't worry about it."

The young man apologized profusely as he stumbled away. Namorita looked down at the wet stain and sighed heavily. At least it was only water. It would dry soon enough, and she could go about her business.

"Neptune, what a lousy way to start a meeting."

&&&

Namorita tried her best to forget about the young Hispanic man who'd run into her. She didn't watch him leave, and had begun to forget his face.

However, had she followed him only two blocks, she would have seen him enter a parked van, its innards the envy of spy agencies the world over. Inside was a single occupant, a young Asian women garbed in a blue suit.

"I think you enjoyed that a little too much, Arrowsmith."

"Hey Savant, I'm not the perv who suggested this op," Arrowsmith winked at his teammate, "but I did manage to cop a feel too. Did it work?"

Savant turned towards the wall and began adjusting several knobs, "I started receiving a few seconds ago. Those nano-bots the water was laced with take a few minutes to get into position."

"So they'll swim through her blood to her ear, and transmit everything she hears to us as well?" Arrowsmith squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, "don't mind saying this creeps me out on all kinds of levels. And I thought stem cells were disturbing..."

"I was upfront about the questionable ethics of this entire thing to begin with," Savant snapped, "now be quiet. I'm starting to get a signal."

Savant turned a dial so her teammate could listen as well.

"…you for agreeing to meet with Mr. Miller."

&&&

"The honor is mine," replied 'Nita, "I understand your boss, Mr. McNeal, is a very busy man. I was honored he asked to meet me in person, especially on such short notice."

"He…he is," Millar wiped his forehead and lead Namorita up the stairs towards his office. The lights flickered slightly as they made their way up, "so busy he doesn't find the time to pay the electric bill sometimes."

When they reached the office's main floor, Namorita couldn't help but take notice of the empty desks and virtually empty floor.

"Tell me, Mr. Miller, is there any relation between this sudden meeting, and why none of your other employees are here?"

The skinny assistant wiped a line of sweat from his brow, "I...I'm not sure...what you mean?"

"Don't let the hair fool you," sighed Namorita as she put her hands on her hips. As cousin of the mighty Namor, that was all she really needed to do to look intimidating, "I ran a multi-national business for months, and did so very well, if I do say so myself. I sense something very fis...off about this entire situation. So either explain right now, or I'm leaving."

With an audible gulp, Miller began, "As you know, my employer is a mutants right lobbyist. One of the few. And as many people suspect, he's a mutant himself."

"I can't say that surprises me. Does he need protection? Death threats?"

"It's...it's about his powers," Miller explained, "you see, somehow, I don't know how, John can see genealogy. He can see a person's entire family tree with just a glance."

"Really? I've heard of some odd powers, but..."

"Just trust me," Miller insisted, "I'm not lying. As you can imagine, he's been in a position to see nearly every member of congress, and nearly every other lobbyist on Capital Hill."

"With due respect, I fail to see what this has to do with me."

"Perhaps I didn't explain the situation clearly enough. John's vision, it lets him see everything he wants about a person's family tree. Who has cancer. Who had an affair that resulted in an illegitimate child. Who...has a mutant sibling, nephew or son."

Namorita almost did a double take. Two people listening several blocks away nearly choked on their drinks, and then began listening like their lives depended on it.

"Given the current anti-mutant sentiment, you can imagine what influence such a thing might have," Miller explained nervously, "despite how much we expect our lawmakers to lie to us, people are genuinely shocked when it's revealed."

"I sure as hell hope your employer doesn't expect us to assist him in blackmailing the family members of mutants," 'Nita curled her lip in disgust. She knew politics was an ugly business, but it would be a cold day in hell before she casually accepted it. She spun on her heels, and was about to leave when Miller grabbed her wrist, desperation written across his face.

"Wait, please! That's not why you're here!"

"Oh really?"

"Well, it is," the assistant confessed, "but it isn't. John really respects what you youngsters have done. He thinks he can convince you to help him, but I think you could talk him out of this foolhardy action! Please, for the sake of countless families, try!"

Namorita looked into the man's eyes, and knew instantly she couldn't in good conscience just leave. With a heavy sigh, she relented.

"Okay, where is he?"

"Thi...this way," Miller was sweating worse than before, but it was hardly surprising. Namorita couldn't imagine how long this man had known what his employer intended to do, but was powerless to stop him. When he opened the door, the young princess prepared herself for a long and hard idealogical battle. Thank Neptune she'd been a member of the college debate club, she thought dryly.

But when they saw Jonathan Howard McNeal slumped over his desk, 'Nita knew instinctively words were no longer important to him.

"John?" whispered Mr. Miller. He rushed to his friend's side and tried to take his pulse "John?!"

Namorita scanned her surroundings instantly, but saw nothing out of place. The window wasn't shattered, the room wasn't at all disturbed and there weren't any drinks in the room that she could see that could have poisoned him. Nothing seemed remotely amiss, but then she was no detective.

"He...he's dead." Miller stated flatly, his voice drained, "the body's cold. But…he was alive less than two hours ago!"

"We need to call the police then," Namorita pulled out her cell phone and was about to begin dialing when Miller stopped her, "

"You need to leave. You need to leave now! Whoever did this, it was because of what he knew!" insisted Miller.

"That's no longer an issue, is it?" Namorita gave the man a suspicious look, "he's dead. Dead men tell no tales."

"But I know he copied the information down. And if they knew about what he could do, then they're out there looking for it right now!" Miller explained.

"I can't leave a crime scene," Namorita began dialing the police, "That would be a public relations nightmare, and one hell of an ethics violation. I'll need you to come up with a list of places he might have hidden that information before the police get here, and we'll go from there."

"Do you really think we should tell the police why John was murdered?"

Namorita paused, thinking the matter over before she called in the authorities, "For now, we'll just say it was because he was a mutant. It's not entirely a lie, and hopefully will stave off the fallout."

&&&

It took Namorita some three hours to make it back to Metro City. All things considered, given the police report she had to fill and several (painstakingly carefully worded) statements she was asked to give, to both the local news stations (damn slow news days! reflected the princess) and the police, it was actually record time.

But when she finally made it home, the entire team, minus Tarene and Charcoal who were preparing for school, were assembled and waiting for her in the hangar.

"Eager to go, huh Dani?" 'Nita teased as she stepped down the walkway.

"If what you said is true? Hell yes," Mirage answered, "potential blackmail material regarding congress? I don't even want to think what that could do in the wrong hands."

"Lets not pretend we're the right ones though," Blink countered, "still, I agree with Dani, better us than someone we don't know."

"Blackmail, a universal weapon of politics," X-Treme observed with an amused smirk. Half alien, he often reflected how alike his alien and human heritage fundermentally were, "any idea who killed this man? If we're not the only ones after this information, it'd be nice to know who else is."

"None. I haven't been to too many murder scenes, but his was the cleanest I've ever seen. I doubt even the FBI's meta crimes unit will get anything," Namorita removed a slip of paper from her pocket, "but I do have some possible addresses where he might have stashed his list. Our deceased lobbyist friend is...was fairly rich, but Miller organized the list have gave my by most recently visited."

Almost like a phantom, Bruce Hoffman walked into the hangar unnoticed by all. He tapped Technocrat on the shoulder, and whispered something into his ear.

"And if we do find this information?" Arsenal asked, "what then?"

"It may not matter if you don't get a move on," Hoffman interrupted, "because we know for a fact that someone else is already in the field, looking for this information themselves. Someone besides whoever killed our Washington boy."

"And how do we know that, exactly?" inquired Blink.

"I had tech boy here do a scan," answered Hoffman, "someone hit fish girl here with some nanites, probably so's they could listen in on her conversation."

Namorita gaped, baffled about how anyone could have injected her with nanites, but then remembered the man who'd spilled the water on her suit. Grinding her teeth, she mentally berated herself for falling for such a disgusting trick.

"And anyone who killed...McNeal was it? They wouldn't need to listen in because they already knew he was dead," Blink finished.

"Smart girl. That's right," Hoffman lit a cigarette, "so that's two unknowns besides us after this information. You might wanna get started, don'cha think?"

"Those bastards!" 'Nita swung her fist into the solid steel of the mini aircraft behind her, producing a large dent. She didn't have to think back too far to know exactly when those bastards had infected her with the microscopic machines, "those bastards bugged my body? Oh, I'm going to rip them limb from limb!"

"I wouldn't advise that," Taki said calmly, "the defenses in the tower have forced the nanites into dormancy. If you leave the tower, whoever implanted those devises could use them to track you, or worse."

"He's right, kiddo, you're compromised. Take it from an old spy, you'd help them more than you would us."

"Fine," Namorita rubbed her temple, "it's not like I supposed to be in the field in the first place,. I have to confess I miss the instant gratification of combat."

"We'll leave Technocrat here, he can get those things out of you," Danielle reassured her, "but while we're doing this, we need someone to run interference with public relations."

"No, You take Taki with you," 'Nita insisted, "I want these bastards stopped, and the more members we have out there, the better chance we have of that happening."

"I'll give 'em hell for you, babe," Nova smiled with a suggestive grin. He kissed his lover on the lips lightly, then turned to his teammates, "I'm ready to roll and busts some head. Teams of three?"

"Read my mind. 'Nita, can you hand me that list of locations?" Mirage scanned the paper quickly and then turned to her team, "According to this, there are three likely locations where McNeal stashed his list. A cabin in Virginia, his California office, and his townhouse in Washington D.C.

"Blink, you and Arsenal are with me, we'll take the California office. Nova, I want you to take Sabre and Technocrat to search the cabin. Plenty of places to hide something in the middle of nowhere, so I think Taki's sensors will come in handy out there."

"And that leaves me, Rahne and Vibraxis to take the town house."

"Any final questions?"

"Yeah, what do we do if we actually find this info?" Blink asked.

"Any other questions besides that?" Dani didn't bother to pretend she had a good answer. The implications of having such personal and probably damaging personal information really didn't sit well with her one damn bit. But she was even less comfortable with the idea of someone else having it, "I think we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But for now, lets go to work!"

&&&

"So…", Sabre leaned back in her chair, bored almost to tears. Small spaces didn't agree with her, especially in aircrafts, "…what do you guys think we ought to do with this list, if we find it?"

"I suspect we all know my stance," Technocrat didn't bother to look up from his consul, "I'm a firm believer in morally applied immorality. But I'm willing to respect whatever decision we reach."

"Destroy it," Nova said firmly, "when a street gang learned who I really was, my brother lost a finger. People got a right to privacy, as long as no one gets hurt. No matter how disgusted we are with their politics."

"I guess," Sabre sighed. The truth of the matter was that she really didn't care what was done with the info, it simply required too much attention on her part. So she decided like Taki to go with whatever everyone else decided. Things were less trouble that way.

&&&

Nova set the shuttle down in a clearing that happened to be within eye shot of the cabin. The place seemed a little old, with no discernable power lines running into it. Probably something that'd been in the family a while, Nova thought. As he stepped down onto the grass, he scanned the area carefully with his vision as his team crossed the distance, looking for any hidden enemies.

"Seems like a good place for an ambush," Sabre observed casually.

Nova physically winced when he heard that. The shuttle's explosion immediately afterwards was almost a foregone conclusion. Looking back at the smoldering craft, and then towards the cabin, the trio saw the air shimmer to reveal a dozen soldiers in dark uniforms and a fist insignia on their breast pockets. Standing in the center of the group were two women, one with silver hair and glowing hands, the other wielding a bow of pure energy. Rounding out the group of superhumans was a giant man in gold armor who looked like Quasimodo's twin brother.

"So Force Works is involved in this mess," remarked the woman with the energy bow, "The name's Atlanta, the lady to my left is Delphi and the big lug is Ajax. We represent the Pantheon. Is there any chance we could talk?"

"If you wanted to talk, why'd you blow up our freakin' ship?!" demanded Sabre.

"To show you we were serious," Atlanta replied, "with something like this, you're either with us or against us."

"Before we can decide, can I take care of something with my teammates real quick?" asked Nova.

Atlanta, though braced for an attack, nodded an okay.

"Technocrat?"

There was a resounding –smack!- heard throughout the woods. The members of the Panteon winced as Sabre cursed and rubbed her head.

"Thank you," Nova channeled a small part of the energy coursing through his veins into his clenched fists. With his fists pulsating with tangible power, he looked at the Pantheon with a lopsided grin, "Now, what were you saying about with you or against you…?"

Next Issue: The hunt is on! Force Works is caught between not one, but two superteams as they hunt for information that could turn Washington on it's head! Can our heroes win this race? Further more, should they even be trying?