Chapter 3

Taskmaster pulled himself off the ground after a night of twisting and turning on a cave floor. He cracked his back and stretched before getting on his feet. Most of the squad was still sleeping so it gave him some time to think to himself. Whoever the mole was clearly sabotaged their plan at Spectrum base, he still had a growing list of problems. The most likely place the targets were staying was in the Latverian capital Doomstadt, the name really shows how much of an ego Doom has.

He heard a small tapping sound near the entrance of the cave. He went to investigate with his hand near his holster. The taps got louder and louder with each subsequent tap. He finally saw that it was just Moonstone throwing chestnuts at trees, shattering each with impact and causing bark to fly off.

"Sorry Skullface did I wake you" Moonstone quipped

"Nah the cave floor is mostly to blame" Taskmaster said sitting next to her "you feeling ok after that fight"

"Yeah" she said in a strangely insecure way "No, I've been waiting for that fight for twenty years and I went out like a punk" she said leaning into a more vulnerable position

"Since you were a kid?" Taskmaster couldn't deny that he was somewhat curious "what's the story behind you two?"

"She's an egotistical, irresponsible, deceitful, selfish woman masquerading as a hero to half the galaxy" Moonstone said with anger "...She's my mom"

Taskmaster was completely stunned from shock. "What?"

"She abandoned me and my dad when I was four," Moonstone confessed. "I could've lived with that if I didn't have to hear everyone talk about what an amazing hero she supposedly was for the next two decades, while also growing up with powers. Anyway my dad worked himself constantly to send me to college, and powers didn't help with that" she exhaled as if a large weight was lifted off of her "I'm pretty sure it was the main reason I was chosen for this mission"

"I'm sorry, no one should go through that" Taskmaster said without a second thought. That was an insane story. Something clicked in his head, if this is how Captain Marvel's daughter thinks of her after getting abandoned then imagine how much Jeanne is gonna hate him if he doesn't succeed and prove himself….. By killing two heroes.

"...Thanks" Moonstone thanked. "I'm sorry, you didn't ask for my life story"

"It's fine" he said shrugging it off

"I heard what you and Red guardian talked about yesterday, super hearing" she gestured to her ears "it's great that you're actually trying to be with your kid, world renowned terrorists are still better than nothing"

"HUUUUUU" a loud yawn came from inside the cave

"We better get going" Taskmaster said going into the cave, Moonstone following. Apparently Sabretooth's yawn was loud enough to wake everyone. "Morning troops' ' Taskmaster said like a drill sergeant "we got a long hike". Which was true, the capital was about twenty miles away and was gonna be a painful hike.

Suddenly a familiar sound was coming from his communicator "It's Hayward and Rambeau" he said, even through his voice modulator everyone could hear a level of fear in his voice. Taskmaster answered "Hey Hayward" he said. The rest of the squad started to sweat and feel the back of their necks, terrified the bombs were gonna go off if they didn't word this right.

"Taskmaster, did you make it to Spectre?" Hayward said in an authoritarian and stern voice.

"We've successfully made to the base but we are still waiting for them to be in a perfect position" he worded in a way that might keep them alive

"I know you failed," he said, making Taskmaster's heart stop. "Find them again and finish them, if not then you know what happens" he said as a clicking noise came through the communicator, he hung up.

Taskmaster desperately tried to figure out a new plan of attack for them in his head. Maybe have U. and Red Guardian create a distraction to draw Rhodes out, where he and Black Cat would catch Rhodes by surprise and the four of them would take him down. Danvers would follow and Moonstone could get her to the ground, where both she, Sabretooth, and Killmonger could work together this time.

They didn't waste another moment in the cave, they got all their stuff together and got back on the move. They made it about six miles before they stopped again. Killmonger grabbed Taskmaster's shoulder and shushed him before he could say anything. He pointed out two Latverian soldiers on patrol "we need those uniforms" Killmonger said. He gestured for U.S. Agent to follow him and they each took out a soldier without damaging their uniforms. They removed the uniforms and signaled that it was safe to come out. Killmonger had a set of keys around his finger, he clicked one of the buttons and a car nearby beeped. They made their way through some bushes and found an armored vehicle. Taskmaster was able to hotwire it pretty easily. "All aboard" Killmonger said with a grateful laugh

They took turns driving on a mostly empty highway. They had to have plowed less than an hour ago, the road was clearer than any road he saw in America, Sweden, or even Russia.

"So you guys like Football?" Killmonger broke the silence

"I'm more of Soccer guy," U. answered. Everyone looked at him in shock "yeah and I'm proud of that" he said getting a small laugh out of them

"I used to play volleyball in school, but got kicked out when I spiked the ball at someone and accidentally… you know" she said imitating someone's neck breaking "I also got expelled"

"Hey at least you eventually finished school, I joined the army at seventeen" U.S. Agent confessed

"I was in Vietnam, like half a million guys did that" Sabretooth mentioned

Taskmaster started to ease up a little "I didn't make it past the eighth grade, my dads pulled me out once they saw I had abilities and trained me to be a mercenary"

"That's sick" U.S. Agent said in shock "no one has the right to do that"

"Yeah but what can you do" Taskmaster said trying to brush it off "I hoped I would do better than them but I'm not so sure I could if I tried" he said leaving things in an awkward place

"My brother murdered our father" Sabretooth confessed "all because dad killed our mother, can you believe that kid" he said completely arrogant and mislead

Taskmaster scratched his head trying to conceive an answer "that's rough buddy"

There was a bit of an awkward silence "I'm guessing none of your kids are going into the supervillain gig" Black Cat quipped trying to lighten the mood

U. seemed a little offended by this "I'm no supervillain"

"Right I'll make sure everyone knows that after we're finished killing two of the world's greatest heroes" Black cat quipped

"They are going against our government and threatening American lives, if it's a choice between my idol and my country then it's not much of a choice" he said with passion. "Ugh but no, I mean do you know what supervillain tuition is these days" he tried to quip but it was obvious that he was just trying to avoid a tough topic. No one laughed.

"I used to think the same way" Red Guardian said out of nowhere "it backfires"

"What's that supposed to mean?" U.S. Agent asked in a harsh tone

"Too much trust in government is a bad thing, I should know," Red Guardian stated before leaning back. Sabretooth gestured for him to keep going, you don't say something like that without explaining. "I was the great hero of Soviet Russia, the one destined to bring the once great nation to world leadership" he started to tell the story "but the higher I got in government the more awful things I saw. They were abducting and forcing children, little girls, to grow into loyal soldiers. I only knew about it a couple months but I hate myself for even waiting that long. I was able to rescue a lot of them, including two that I basically raised in those two months, and exposed what they were doing to your government" he said, pointing at U.S. Agent. "After I turned over all the information I had and helped lead an attack on the soviet facility I was expecting a place with the Americans. But no! I was arrested for conspiring with Soviet extremists and spent the next two decades in jail"

U.S. Agent sighed "I didn't know about that, I'm sorry" he genuinely said

"...it's alright" Red Guardian said "I actually never thanked you for saving my life back at Spectrum" he said "all of you"

"Yeah, that actually was pretty cool" Moonstone said smiling for the first time on the whole trip

"Well we're mercenaries, criminals, and terrorists…. Not psychopaths" Taskmaster quipped, giving everyone a small laugh. He smiled under his mask, even though none of them could see he liked to think they knew. "But I was diagnosed when I was fourteen" he added

"Ten" Killmonger added

"Eleven" Moonstone added

"Six" Black Cat added

"Alright you win" Taskmaster said praising Black Cat

"Thank you, I will happily take over for Bulleseye who was diagnosed the same day he was born" Black Cat said giving everyone a laugh

"haha" U.S. Agent finished laughing "haha… Thats a man who was just alive yesterday"

They eventually made it within five miles from the city of Doomstadt. Kar…. Moonstone searched from the sky to find an area for them to camp. After seeing a barn she flew down and led them to it. While most of the squad went straight to the barn, Walk….U.S. Agent went to the house next to it. He knocked on the door and waited for an old couple to answer the door "the east barracks are completely overstock and my unit needs a place to spend the night, can we use your barn" he said in Latverian

"Sure, just help with winter chores" the old man said before going back inside

"Ugh maybe we shouldn't" Taskmaster suggested "they might turn us in" he said hiding his true motive, if the mole exposed them and giving them a clearer location to go too

"Dude, it's ten below out here" Black Cat said with ferocity

"I'm just saying-"

"And I'm just saying we're staying here" Killmonger said completely disregarding him

U.S. Agent and Killmonger spent the next thirty minutes chopping wood in the snow while Taskmaster and Sabretooth fed the cows. Killmonger finally finished his pile and looked toward U. "so, those soccer games huh" he said trying to make conversation "how is it possibly better than football again"

"Oh it's just easy to follow, fun to play as a kid, and if you call it football in other countries perception of america gets better"

"Still not football" Killmonger retorted

The squad made themselves at home in the barn and set up their sleeping arrangements. The old woman eventually came in with a milk crate full of bread and cheese, the second it was set down they ate like a pack of wolves given an eight pound turkey.

"Thank you" Red Guardian said before taking a bite

"Of course, you did such a nice job, you earned it" she said before leaving.

After returning to the barn and finding proper sleeping arrangements, Black Cat taking a while to settle in on a pile of hay rolled up like a cat, the squad was finally ready to get some rest. Taskmaster approached her and tossed her a ball of yarn "found that in the corner thought you might like that"

"Dude, I'm not an actual cat"

"So you don't want it"

"No no I'll keep it" she said as she hypnotically played with it. Taskmaster started walking away "hold on" Black Cat said "you think we can actually do this, those two beat us pretty hard"

"Yeah we had a setback but we'll find a way and… get this over with"

"Glad you've got some shred of confidence" she said fidgeting with her yarn "I still have a few things I'd like to do in life, what about you?"

"Yeah a few things, right now I just want to get home and finally see my daughter"

"Lucky man, I thought I was gonna have something like that with my ex-boyfriend, as you can guess it didn't work out"

"Sorry to hear that" Taskmaster said before sighing "well I've got some time to kill, what happened there"

"Oh it's the age old story, he tried to convince me to be a superhero, I tried but I couldn't keep it up" she said resting her feet on top of a bale of hay "shame, the Spider was sweet guy"

"Oh Spider-man, I've fought him before" Taskmaster pointed out

"Did you know he's Peter Parker"

"Oh…. ugh no I didn't" Taskmaster said "eh doesn't change my life too much"

Black Cat looked around "you wanna know something crazy" she said as if she had the greatest gossip in history "about a month after me and the Spider broke up he started a thing with Captain Marvel" she said with a wicked smile

"Wait What!" Taskmaster said out of shock "what about Rhodes, thats been a thing for years"

"Guess she's not committed" Felecia said enjoying every juicy ounce of that knowledge

"Woah" Taskmaster said, he knew he was participating in petty gossip but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't fun

"Wait, how old is Spider-Man now?"

"Ugh 25?" she said confused by a weird question

"Hey Moonstone, how old are you" he yelled in Moonstones direction

"29"

"That's Marvels daughter" he whispered at Black Cat

"OOOOOHHHHH" she said laughing "THAT IS LOW"

"What is" Moonstone said walking over

"Oh your mom's a slut" Black cat playfully let her know

"Eh I'll add it to the list" she said rolling her eyes, not that offended

Taskmaster walked toward the center of the barn "You guys get some rest, I'll keep watch" Taskmaster said trying to sound as convincing as possible, though with his mask everything he said sounded the same so it wasn't that hard. The squad eventually fell asleep giving Taskmaster the perfect opportunity to sneak away. He had to make sure their two targets were in the city and he couldn't risk the mole blowing his cover. Then again leaving his team alone with a mole wasn't the best plan either, his deadline wasn't just them waking up but how long it would take a mole to expose them. What would normally be a six hour deadline is now a two hour deadline; before the mole can wake up, realize he wasn't there, and alert the heroes where they were.

Taskmaster snuck away as stealthily as possible and made his way towards Doomstadt.