Arlington, Virginia
"Come on kids, we don't want to be late!"
There were times when Debra Miller simply couldn't understand her husband. His boss and closest confident, Jonathan McNeal or Uncle John as he was known to the kids, was found dead in his office this very morning, and instead of mourning his friend, he passionately insisted that they carry through with their original plans for the night, a dinner at a restaurant to celebrate their six year-old's birthday.
Surely, she thought, her kids would understand why Daddy would want to stay home after the death of their 'Uncle John', but Peter would have none of it. If she was going to be honest with herself, Debra thought it was a little disturbing.
She saw her husband standing at the door, looking more anxious than she could ever remember in their twelve years of life together, and feared that he was fighting to hold himself together after the loss of his long time friend.
"Are the kids ready?" he asked, his voice sounding as if it were a million miles away.
"Almost, honey, almost."
"I'll…I'll go warm up the car." Peter sounded as if he was a million miles away, and indeed, felt as if he were somehow sleep walking through the day.
But when he opened the door to see a large albino man in a red suit and tentacles, accompanied by a giant purple man with metal claws on his hands, Peter awoke to the world instantly.
&
Marvel 2000 Presents
Force Works 29
Relative Threats
Finale
&
"You have something we want," hissed Omega Red, his tentacles hanging in the air threateningly, "and if you do not deliver, I will allow my associate, Crule, to dine on your family while you watch."
"I…I…I…" Peter's heart was hammering in his chest as he struggled to protest his innocence, scream or even form a complete sentence, but he simply stood there, like a deer in headlights.
-Blink!-
Omega Red and Crule watched in surprised as the former X-Man Clarice Ferguson appeared in-between them and their prey, who preceded to tackle the middle aged man inside his house and then slammed the door.
"Oh, now it's a hunt!" Crule smiled as he raised his hand to smash the door apart.
"No, this isn't a hunt…" steel hands grabbed Crule by the wrist and pulled him into the air. The immortal mutant looked up just in time to catch a wave of energy to the face. To his credit, Crule was a man of considerable mettle, and he never screamed as the relentless energy began tearing away the flesh from his face and boiling his eyes in his sockets. The steel hand finally released Crule's wrist, and he was propelled towards the ground at terminal velocity while missing most of the skin from his upper body, "…this is more like a slaughter."
Omega Red watched Arsenal come down on his teammate like a missile and debated his options. Where there was one hero, there were bound to be others. He turned to retreat…and saw a Human Rocket blocking his path.
"Who tipped you off?" growled Nova.
"You were an idiot to get this close to me!" Omega Red wrapped his coils around the hero, "your strength won't matter against the power of my death spores!"
"Oh?" Omega Red's head snapped back, and through his swimming vision, saw that Nova's helmet had sealed around his head, "good thing my monkey suit doubles as a biohazard suit then, huh?"
Nova backhanded Omega Red across the face. He then grabbed the groggy Russian by his hair, and drove him face first into the pavement.
Brushing his hands off, Nova glanced around, looking for Arsenal and when he found him, Nova's eyes became as wide as saucers.
"Arsenal, stand down!" Nova shot towards his teammate like a bullet and grabbed him around the waist, pulling him off of his foe, who had been literally pounded into the ground. Nova saw with disgusted how Crule's skull had caved inward like a rotten Halloween pumpkin.
"Get off me!" Arsenal burst free, and swung around with a fist aimed at Nova's head.
Nova caught the fist in one hand, and growled, "What the hell is the matter with you? Did you see what you did…?"
"Back off, Rider," Arsenal wrenched himself free from Nova's grasp, "Dani told me he was an X-ternal, he's immortal. I doubt I hurt him half as much as he deserved."
"You just beat someone within an inch of his life!" Nova snapped, "we don't do that!"
&
"That's it heroes," Fantomex adjusted the scope on his rifle, "keep arguing. That gives me all the time in the world to decide which one to take…"
With several custom made bullets in the chamber, the former Mossad assassin debated whether or not to take a kill shot. He'd come to this place in hopes of gaining information that would have been invaluable to the Brotherhood, but while that was now rendered impossible, killing a member of Force Works would certainly give him greater statue in the ranks, and it certainly wouldn't hurt his reputation.
"The problem with you Israelis is that, sometimes, you're too perfect," Fantomex froze, and then held his hands out wide, and stood up slowly. He hadn't heard a gun, but then, he didn't doubt that anyone capable of sneaking up on him. Turning around, Fantomex was a little surprised to see that it hadn't been a member of Force Works who'd snuck up on him, but a middle aged man wearing a Giants T-shirt and jeans. The gun pointed at him wasn't even a Shield issue blaster, just a regular Desert Eagle.
The man hardly looked like anyone remarkable, until Fantomex reminded himself that that was exactly what the best spies looked like. Anonymous, undistinguishable from the sheep until the time he's called upon to play the wolf.
"If you'd have picked a less perfect sniper's nest, I might never have found you."
"Bruce Hoffman, correct? I was told you were working as a consultant for Force Works."
"Just as a consultant," Hoffman shrugged, "Look, I know why you're here. But I want to know who tipped you off. Tell me that and you can go."
"What makes you think the Brotherhood didn't send me?"
"Don't insult me," Hoffman snorted, "if your people had sent you, there'd be more muscle here. No, you got tipped off by someone and decided you wanted that information for yourself, to leverage a better deal from the Brotherhood for yourself."
"You're a harsh judge of character."
"Well, I have heard reports about why you left the Mossad."
"…"
"I'm giving you a pretty sweet deal, kid. Just give up who tipped you off and you can leave."
"Is that so? You're an old man with no offensive powers and I'm a young, trained assassin with powers that compliment my chosen profession," Fantomex remarked, "you're in no position to threaten me."
"You'd be surprised," Hoffman smirked, and without hesitating, fired at Fantomex's shoulder. The Israel mutant's eyes went wide as he felt the bullet hit his shoulder when it should have harmlessly passed through.
"You were certainly right when you called me old. And I didn't get to be my age by being an idiot."
"Point taken," Fantomex grunted as he pressed his hand against the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding, "I was tipped off by an information broker who calls himself Mycroft. I suspect he was using me as a fallback option, but I still saw an opportunity and took it."
"That's what I thought," Hoffman waved his gun dismissively, "now get out of lost, and remember that you owe me for not putting a bullet through that thick skull of yours."
&
"Sorry about the tackle," Blink cracked the front door to access the situation and then turned back to the terrified Peter Miller, "but I had to get you away from those bruisers before my teammates could stop 'em."
"Why…why are you here?"
Blink was about to reply, when tapping, a gentle rapping on the front door.
"Hold on."
"Wait, it could be a villain!" Peter shouted.
"Villains knock down doors, not on them" replied Blink as she opened the door…to reveal Mr. Sinister, arms at his side and casting a scowl down at the young mutant.
"Oh god…"
"I didn't know you had a sense of humor, Mirage," Blink observed.
"Just trying to keep you on your toes," the image of Mr. Sinister disappeared, and Mirage casually stepped through the door. Standing behind her were Sabre and Technocrat
"You were off about four inches on the height," said Blink, "and you didn't capture sublime sneer. It's even worse than Technocrat's."
"Hmm," grunted Taki, while Sabre just smirked.
"I'll keep that in mind for next time," Mirage turned her head to Mr. Miller, "I'm sorry to intrude like this…but we need to examine your records. We weren't able to find any black list your employer may have created and think we might have better luck if we look through your financial records."
"If there was anything there, I'd tell you!" Miller insisted, "please, can't we do this later? This day has already been bad enough and my kids…"
"Whoa, cool! Real life super heroes!"
"Matt, Katey, go to your rooms!"
"But Dad…!"
"Now!"
"Mr. Miller," Dani kept her voice low, so as not to be overheard by prying ears, "the sooner we find this information, the safer you and your family will be. As long as your day might have been…I can promise you it's been longer for us."
The assistant opened his mouth to retort, and then sighed. With a reluctant nod, he waved for Sabre and Technocrat to follow him.
"We'll let you know the moment we find something," said Taki.
Nova tapped on the door as he strolled inside, "Blink, go help Arsenal keep an eye on 'Red and that purple freak outside. When X-Treme and the others get here, have them help out."
Nova closed the door after Blink, and then looked around in an almost offensive manner. Miller and his family had retreated upstairs and near as Nova could tell, no one else was about.
"Something on your mind?" asked Dani in a low voice.
"Just the fact that you primed Arsenal to go Rodney King on someone," Nova growled, "your boy's got a temper problem. Last thing we need to be doing is feeding that problem red meat."
"I know," Dani rubbed her temple, "but for now, it's best to direct him at appropreiate targets. Crule is an immortal savage, trust me he got off easy for what he's done."
"I trust you," Nova nodded, "but this can't happen again. I don't like loose cannons, and we're not going to let this happen again, are we clear?"
"Crystal."
&
"We should have done this in the beginning," Technocrat said aloud. He took a glance around the home office, noting the piles of boxes in one corner and personal computer in the other, "we acted as though this were a simple scavenger hunt…"
"Still seems like one to me," Sabre commented, "I assume that you get the computer while I get the paper?"
"Indeed. Check everything twice and should you see anything odd bring it to my attention," Taki ordered, "we need to do this fast and most importantly, right. Understood?"
Sabre head drooped, and then snapped to attention as if she had just awoken, "Wait…what now?"
Technocrat knew better than to take the bait. Wordlessly, he went over to the computer and unplugged the DSL line. The last thing he needed was someone hacking the computer while he was examining it. He removed a cord from his tech pack and plugged it into the access port, and a swirl of information sped past his eye, inundating him with its secrets.
"Found it."
Technocrat halted the information flow through and turned his head to Sabre.
"And how do you figure that?"
"I looked through his bank records. He paid every last bill on a regular basis, but every week he took out one thousand dollars for lunch expenses that he didn't spend for the last nine months. Considering the fact that he had power lunches almost every day, that adds up to a hell of a lot of money."
"I see," Taki rubbed his chin, "so you found the money he was paying to the man or woman that was keeping his black list. Tell me, do you have anything with regards who where the deceased met this man?"
Sabre looked back at the stacks of papers, then to Technocrat and then back to the papers.
"Well…obviously…I…shut up!"
Technocrat walked away with a smug expression on his face, "Truly, I shudder to think how slow you would be without your mutant powers. You probably would have mastered basic grammar just before beginning puberty."
"Hey, where are you going?" Sabre demanded.
"You were at least on the right track," Taki commented, "I can hack into his cell phone records and from there figure out his general location and go from there. Congratulations Sabre, you may have proven marginally useful."
"Found something I hope," Mirage said as Technocrat came down the stairs.
"I think we finally be within arm's length of this damned black list," answered Taki. He observed that Vibraxis and his team had returned, "it's in Washington D.C., not too far away."
"You're not going to leave, are you?" Peter Miller's eyes nearly bulged out of his head in fear, "what if someone else comes?"
"Don't worry, we'll leave a few members here," Nova reassured the man, "Arsenal, Wolfsbane, and Vibraxis. You three are on guard duty. Call us if anyone unfriendly shows up. Blink and Sabre can get here in a heart beat."
Wolfsbane nodded dutifully, but Nova could already see Arsenal and Vibraxis chaffing at the idea of being left behind.
"I am a skilled Wakandian warrior!" Vibraxis protested, "I should be in battle, not held in reserve!"
"You're a walking earthquake too and Washington's pretty historical," countered Nova, "between you and Arsenal, there's enough muscle to hold off any other attacks till we can get you backup. Unless you don't care about the fact this family may be attacked?"
Both Vibraxis and Arsenal bowed their heads just a little, and Nova knew that they'd follow orders.
&
Washington D.C.
Blink, Mirage, Sabre, X-Treme, Nova and Technocrat appeared on The Mall, within fifteen yards of the reflecting pool. As luck would have it, the crowds were thin, and Mirage was able to conceal them with a simple illusion before they drew too many prying eyes.
"We should have focused on this area from the beginning," X-Treme snorted, "after all, the people McNeal would have blackmailed all work here."
"Do tell. And which of the hundreds of thousands of business offices would you have searched first?" inquired Taki.
"Stow it," Mirage ordered, "you guys still have the scanners Taki gave us. Spread out, stick to the area he gave us and cross your fingers. Because after this, we have nothing else. Clear?"
The six heroes scattered, and Mirage began to wonder if this would all end up a waste of time.
&
According to phone company records, Jonathan McNeal had withdrawn money from his bank account within the same ten block area, and Mirage was determined to search every inch as best she could.
Moonstar hadn't made it a block when the call came over the team radio.
"Hey kids. I found our guy. You kids want to meet my by Lincoln?"
It took Mirage a moment to recognize the voice.
"Hoffman? What are you doing here?"
"Your job," answered the old spook, "good think you guys hired me to handle intelligence, 'cause you got none of your own. I found your little black list for you. Meet me at the Lincoln Memorial."
"Everyone get that?"
Two blocks away, Savant, technical genius of Defense Force heard everything, thanks to the communicator Vibraxis had lost in battle earlier.
Their goal was within reach, and all Savant could think about was how her might might misuse the information. She fought for her team, but the United States wasn't her country, not at heart. In theory, she shouldn't have cared.
But morals were always a sticking point for her. This black list represented to her the most disgusting thing about politics, the two faced lies for the sake of one's own power.
Savant pushed those thoughts aside. Whatever her feelings may be, she owed her leader everything and that included loyalty over personal doubts.
&
Hoffman stood at the feet of the monument, hands in his brown coat and a smug look on his face that Dani had seen on Taki all too often. Behind him was a man in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He kept to the shadows perfectly and seemed to use Hoffman as a buffer between himself and them.
"Mind explaining how you found this damn thing?" asked Sabre.
"I'm not the only spook to go into business for himself," Hoffman answered, "I figured McNeal would avoid private detectives as too obvious but that an ex-spook would be enough for him. After that, it was just a matter of finding the right one. My friend here…"
"No names," the man interrupted, "McNeal thought you kids would be the best people to carry on for him if he was eliminated, and gave me orders to that effect," he tossed a thumb drive to Mirage, who caught it in one hand, "That's got a list of all the politicians, on both sides of the axle, who have mutant in their closet. From what he said, there are about eleven senators, thirty congressmen and a good percentage of K-street."
"No strings attached?"
The man seemed to chuckle, then shrugged, "This is just a job to me, kid. Power's always been dealt in the back rooms and people like me have always made that possible. I've done my job, what you do with that information is on you. You're the only ones with a copy now."
The man strolled away, and no one in Force Works bothered to stop him.
"Man, after all the crap we went through, feels kinda wrong to have it handed over," Sabre commented, "what now?"
"We take this thing back home and destroy it," Mirage answered, "I'm going to torch this thing myself. Any complaints?"
"Shouldn't we think about this?" X-Treme asked, "I mean, couldn't we use this information for our advantage? It's not like the information will just go away when we destroy that thing."
"People keep family secrets for different reasons," Mirage replied, "you of all people should know that, Adam. Blink, get us out of here."
Clarice activated her mutant powers, and almost instantly realized something was wrong. Her teleportation was often described as a rollercoaster, a sudden jerk, a fast and blurry riding ending with a smooth stop. Most of the time, no one felt any discomfort, unless it was what she intended. But now, for whatever reason, she could feel them reach their destination at Force Works' Tower, and bounce back.
The team plus Hoffman spilled out of Blink's portal like crabs being pumped out of a pot and onto the lawn of the Mall, exactly where Blink had teleported them in earlier.
"Oh man…" Nova moaned, "what…was that?"
"Someone… hijacked my 'port…" Blink groaned as lay on her back and tried to bring the world into focus, "that's…never happened before."
"I suspect it was Savant from Defense Force. She's very knowledgeable about teleportation, and we bounce back to where we first arrived," Technocrat surmised.
"And they've got us surrounded," Mirage had her hands over her face, but she didn't need to see to know that they were surrounded. Fortune wouldn't have it any other way, "move fast, don't they?"
"Hey Sam," Mirage opened her eyes and saw Flashblade, leader of Defense Force standing only four feet away, her hands smoldering with power. Glancing around, she recognized Arrowsmith, Meteor, Savant and Twilight among others.
Still fighting for control of her stomach, Dani rose to her feet and sighed heavily, "you know, this is the second time we've met while you guys were pulling black ops." Mirage glanced towards Arrowsmith, and remembered how Namorita described being run into by a Hispanic man, "I thought you guys were better than black mail and using experimental tech to bug people."
"We don't all have rich benefactors," Flashblade defended, "that little thumb drive may mean the difference between saving millions of innocent lives from the shadows, and sitting at home useless, waiting for the hammer to drop. You'd do the same thing in my place."
"The hell I would!" Mirage snapped, "I've bent rules, but I would never black mail someone into fighting for my ideals! When I have to force someone to stand for my beliefs, then they're meaningless! Shallow excuses for violence! I don't know you well, but I thought you and yours were better than that!"
"We do…what we have to," Flashblade said through gritted teeth.
"There are limits and lines we cannot cross!" Dani shot back, "I'm ashamed to say that I hesitated, but using this information would make a mockery of everything I ever stood for. You're welcome to watch, but if you don't step aside now I will go through you."
"That is an empty threat," Savant retorted, an energy staff in one hand, "your people are still affected by Blink's errant teleport, and we have you surrounded."
Underneath her mask, Danielle Moonstar, leader of Force Works, smiled like a fox.
"It's cliché to say 'I've always wanted to say this', but…what's my name, bitch?"
Flashblade, and indeed, all of Defense Force did a double take as Force Works faded from view like an sleep induced hallucination.
"Mirage!" Someone shouted, but it was too late. Defense Force was thrown through the air by a gravimetric pulse that hit them with the force of a tidal wave. Flashblade hit the ground like the old pro she was, hands in front of her to bleed off the momentum and rolling on her elbow, bringing her back up into a standing position.
She spun around, and saw Force Works standing tall less than ten feet away. She couldn't help but be jealous of how the light reflected perfectly off their costumes and the Washington Monument looked so right, standing tall perfectly behind them.
"Move fast…that was code, wasn't it?" asked Flashblade.
"Got it in one," Mirage aimed a psychic arrow, "you have until the count of three to stand down, and that's because I like you. One…two…"
"Three!"
The explosion came from seemingly nowhere, landing between Force Works and Defense Force. Luckily, it was just concussive force and smoke but it was more than enough to knock both sides for a loop.
"They got a chick who can see the future," Sabre coughed as she lay prone on the ground, "right."
Standing behind them was The Pantheon. Not just the three that Nova and his team had encountered earlier, Moonstar observed. There were three more men, one with an eye patch, one with an energy sword and another with a glowing flail.
"We'll take that information off your hands, dear," Atlanta stated.
"You've fought dictators, polluters, you should be better than this, damn it!" Dani snapped, reaching the end of her rope. Though she had never met them personally, she was familiar with the Pantheon's work and found that she agreed with them often, at least on an ideological level.
"Where have you been these last few years?" Atlanta demanded, "if we're ever going to fix the mess our planet's in, we need every last tool we can get!"
"And ethics aren't among those tools?" Mirage demanded, "you know what? To hell with you all. Sabre!"
Sabre blitzed forward and just as quickly, dug her heels in and skidded to a stop in front of the Pantheon. Pieces of dirt and earth rushed forward, blinding them.
"Scatter!" Atlanta ordered as psychic arrows came flying through the cloud. One struck the giant Ajax, who giggled madly before toppling over.
Blink teleported behind the swordsman and swung a javelin at his head. The man blocked it easily.
"Sorry girl, but I've been doing this stuff for decades," Ulysses smirked.
"Yeah, I scanned some reports about your organization," Blink teleported behind her foe and kicked the back of his knee. As he went down, Blink teleported again, this time directly above him and used her momentum and body weight to drive his head into the ground, "I've fought wars on the front lines while you guys were working from the shadows. You should have stayed there."
&
Bruce Hoffman ducked towards the nearest tree and did an instant threat assessment. With two super human teams present, he knew there was nothing he could do to affect the outcome. Hoffman was no slouch when it came to combat, but he was pushing it in years and doubted his involvement would make a difference either way.
"Well, I did my best," Hoffman hiked his coat up and watched the action move in one direction while he went in the other.
&
Moonstar reached into her pocket and produced a thumb drive.
"Sabre, catch!"
Mirage tossed the thumb drive to her team's fastest member, only to see it struck in mid air with an energy beam that encased it in a transparent ball of energy.
Savant fired a second shot at Sabre, who side stepped it contemptuously, only to watch in horror as the bullet corrected itself in midair and came after her.
"It's in my slipstream!" Sabre sped off as fast as her powers would carry her, hoping to lose the bullet before it punctured something vital.
"You people are starting to piss me off," Mirage snarled at Savant. Savant said nothing, producing a energy sword in each hand. She was about to attack when she was blasted from behind by the silver haired member of the Pantheon, Cassiopea.
"Okay, that was a cheap shot," she grinned with a guilty smile, "no reason why we have to go down that road, kid. I really like you guys."
"As many times as I've heard people say that, not once has it prevented them from trying to clean my clock."
Cassiopa let loose a blast of energy that passed through Mirage harmlessly. Dani, two feet to the left but concealed by illusions, released an arrow and removed the silver haired Pantheon member from the fight.
Dani moved towards where the thumb drive landed, only for an energy arrow to land in the ground inches from her hand.
"That's Pantheon property."
"Not if Defense Force has anything to say about it," Flashblade stepped forward.
"Oh, good a stand-off," Mirage grimaced, "because this mission doesn't suck enough."
&
Blink moved through the battle at random, exploiting any exposed back or opening she saw. Between Defense Force, the Pantheon and their soldiers, she never lacked for a target.
X-Treme followed her example, constantly in motion though unlike Blink, he had Jason of the Pantheon and Shadow Wind, the most skilled members of their respective to deal with. Each one sensed or knew just how dangerous the other two really were and took it upon themselves, but given their skill, eliminating one without leaving themselves exposed to the other was next to impossible.
&
Nova scanned the battlefield, looking for one man in particular.
"Gotcha."
Nova crashed to the earth like a runaway comet, meet feet from the Hispanic archer codenamed Arrowsmith.
"Ohhh crap," Arrowsmith was about to notch another arrow when Nova sped forward and snapped his bow in two.
"My girl said it was a Hispanic male who dumped some water on her that was full of nanites," Nova cracked his knuckles, "and you're the only one here that I see!"
"Hey, that's profiling!" Arrowsmith protested, "umm, I felt but didn't squeeze?"
-Pow!-
Nova brushed his hands, and then glanced towards the battle field.
"Time to clean house," he sighed.
With a man glowing with electrical energy behind him (Meteor, Nova would never forget who the man had his father's face), a man flying on a platform of solid light (Twilight, member of Defense Force) and an airship that looked like an oversized missile (who cares, member of the Pantheon) painted red with wings strapped on.
Rich flew past Meteor and Twilight at mach one, the sonic boom left in his wake bowling them over in mid air. He then arched back around towards the man in the aircraft.
To his surprise, the pilot was ready for him. Several missiles slammed into Nova, exploding with enough force to destroy a skyscraper.
Nova just barreled through and smashed into the aircraft's wing, tearing it in twain. For good measure, Rider blasted through the rear with energy beams a half dozen times. Its engines so much Swiss cheese, Nova hoisted the thing into his arms, holding it aloft until he could dump it in the Potomac.
&
Mirage eyed Atlanta and Flashblade with equal amounts of anticipation and concern. While all three of them wielded, Dani knew that hers was the weakest of the three. Psychic arrows didn't pack the punch of energy weapons, though Moonstar wouldn't let that deter her.
"It's not too late to walk away. This isn't a path you have to go down!"
"I never said I was proud of what I'm doing," Atlanta countered, "but it's necessary, now more than ever."
"I take bribes," Flashblade shrugged, "if you can get me a few million for operational costs and clout that's good enough for ongoing operations, I'll walk away."
Mirage grimaced, "That's a little out of my price range. So be it."
Atlanta saw Flashblade taking aim at her with her hands, and reacted on instinct, letting loose two energy arrows with no conscious thought whatsoever.
Flashblade barely had enough time to react, unleashing her energy blades with more energy than was necessary to deflect the arrows. The two different forces met in midair, resulting in an explosion only one woman was braced for.
"I haven't used my powers this much in a while," Mirage waved some of the smoke away, "good to know I still got it."
Mirage scooped up the encased thumb drive and then activated her headset, "Nova, I need your muscle here, pronto!"
Nova broke away from Meteor and Twilight like the Human Rocket he was. Mirage threw the thumb drive into the air and he caught it between his hands. His body absorbed the energy around the small thumb drive and Nova's strength was more than enough to crush the bits of metal and plastic to dust. For extra measure, Nova channeled a fraction of power through his hands, melting the remains.
"You son of a bitch!" Flashblade yelled, "do you have an idea what you've wasted?!"
"We know exactly what we've done!" Mirage snarled. She strolled to Nova's side, and the two leaders of Force Works stood side by side. The object of their conflict now so much junk, all three sides had begun to stand down.
"We destroyed information that's only purpose was blackmail!" Mirage answered, "this team may have done questionable things in the past, but this is where we draw the line! Blackmail makes us no better than our worst enemies and if we're not better than them, then we stand for nothing!"
"You naïve child…" hissed Atlanta.
"If you want to keep fighting, I'll be happy to oblige," Moonstar snapped, "but I think when the Washington police and Secret Service show up, you're the one who's going to have a tough time explaining their presence here, not me."
Atlanta looked like she had more to say, but couldn't argue with the wisdom of a speedy retreat. The Pantheon had been involved in its fair share of shadow missions and dirty wars in the past. Their objective now lost, it was now imperative that they escaped before the authorities could lock them down.
Flashblade lingered, though, alternating between looking at the ground and Mirage.
"Dani…I never wanted it to turn out like this."
"I know," sighed Mirage, "you're still a friend though, Sam. Friends get one free. We'll see where we stand next time."
&
"…witnesses report seeing the super hero team known as Force Works and several other unidentified were seen in conflict on the grounds of the Washington Monument. When questioned about their involvement, Force Works said that they had no comment, but would issue a press report about the event within the next several days…"
Peter Miller clicked the news report off and breathed a sigh of relief. This insane affair was finally over and he could sleep easy.
Mark was about ready to head upstairs for the night when he heard someone tapping on his door.
He opened the door to see Kymaera, which wasn't too startling. Mirage had agreed to post a member as a guard for the next several days. The first one, X-Treme, seemed to prefer lurking outside, though Peter didn't think all his teammates would be like that.
"Namorita, please, come in," Peter opened the door wide to allow her in.
"Actually, I would like to speak to you outside for a moment."
Peter, though a little confused, nodded and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"As you know, my associates went through your old employer's records. According to the records, John McNeal never missed a payment. On anything."
"What does this…"
"When we first me, the lights flickered in your office. You told me it was because your boss forgot to pay the bills."
"It…it was a joke…"
Namorita shook her head, "As a Sub-Mariner, I can absorb electrical energy. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up when I first met you, just like they are now."
That was a lie, but a blinking street light was more than enough to confirm Namorita suspicions.
"You're a mutant, aren't you?"
"…yes."
"And you killed John McNeal," Namorita concluded.
"…he said he'd never out me," Miller said softly, "but I doubt the people it was going to would have been so kind. I have a wife, family…!"
"Who now have a murderer as a role model," Namorita finished.
"What…what are you going to do?"
"There's nothing I can do," Kymaera answered, "there's no proof the information your boss compiled even existed, I can't prove you're a mutant and I can barely explain to the media what happened to today."
"As far as I can see, all I could do to you is destroy your family and livelihood. That's not justice. But you need to know, if we ever see the slightest hint that this isn't an isolated incident, that you've done this to others in the past or will in the future…we will come down on you like Neptune's Wraith. We may not be able to prove anything in the court of law, but we both know how low the threshold is in the court of public opinion."
"I…I understand. I never meant for it to get this far, you have to understand…" Miller said softly.
"Oh, I understand perfectly. This entire mess has shown me just how far people will go to keep secrets and how far others will go to exploit the same secrets. Just another day in politics, really."
Next Issue: Force Works encounters their most ruthless, dangerous enemies to date, the Soldiers of Misfortune!
Author's Notes: Yeah, this arc could have been better. Let's just say it sounded better in my head than it did on paper and leave it at that. The good news is that I've learned my lesson and won't be repeating this train wreck ;)