Hydra Island
June 19, 00:43 ECT
Hydra Island was one of the major bases for the terrorist organisation known as HYDRA but was currently under new management. Several armed men wearing serpent masks had the HYDRA soldiers completely surrounded; among them was Crossbones, a.k.a. Brock Rumlow.
"Our sublime Master proclaims he will depart this facility if…" said one of the masked men with a small smile. "One of you beat his champion in single combat."
Crossbones pushed past his men and made his way to the arena. "Just make it interesting."
When he entered the arena, he saw his opponent was a rather skinny-looking man. Behind him was a woman with green hair.
"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked.
"Oh, I can assure you we are serious," said the masked man.
Crossbones narrowed his eyes before turning to face an opponent and cracked his neck. He then saw the green-haired woman inject a man with some chemical. He instantly cried out in pain and started to transform.
His skin slowly turned into green scales, and he grew in size and muscle. His head transforms into that of a snake, a King Cobra, to be more precise, and his hands turned into claws.
King Cobra immediately launched himself at Crossbones with unbelievable speed and slammed his fist right down on top of him. Crossbone practically buckled when he tried to block it and swung a few blows himself, but they had no effect.
King Cobra then grabbed him and punched him hard in the stomach, followed by a few quick blows to the face. He then grabbed his arm and tossed him right across the arena. Before he could recover, King Cobra was right on top of him, tackling him into the wall. He then grabbed his face and tossed him across the arena once more. Then, he dealt the final blow, knocking him out cold.
"Hail Seth," said the master man. "Hail Seth! Hail Seth!"
Soon, all the other masked men began to follow the same chart. Looking down from the floor above was a muscular man in a green cape, looking down and smiling.
Caribbean Sea
July 22, 20:08 ECT
Flying over the Caribbean Sea was the Quinjet, and in it was the Secret Warriors, who were now starting their first official mission.
"We're approaching the Hydra Island," said Crystal, sitting at the navigation controls.
Patriot just sat there, somewhat excited to be leading the mission.
He began thinking back to their debrief with Natasha Romanov, a.k.a. the Black Widow.
"Hydra Island," said Black Widow with a thick Russian accent, "is one of many HYDRA bases around the world. However, until recently, all communication coming to and from the island has been severed. SHIELD has been observing the situation and has yet to come up with an explanation, but we can tell that the facility there is still fully operational and working twice as hard as before.
"This is where this team comes in; this is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report; if the Avengers or SHIELD needs to intervene, it will. The plan requires two drop zones."
"So who's in charge?" Patriot asked.
Black Widow and Vision looked at one another.
"Work that out between you," said Black Widow.
Patriot smiled, seeing this as his opportunity to shine.
"Drop Zone A in 30," said Crystal, which brought Patriot back to the present.
Spider-Man then rose to his feet and pressed down his spider insignia. Instantly, the red on his suit turned black as he activated the stealth tech.
"Ready," he said.
"Putting Quinjet in stealth mode," said Torch.
The ship instantly cloaked as it began to fly close to the island, and then the hatch opened. Spider-Man instantly jumped out and then spread his arms, spreading out his web wings, which allowed him to glide down towards the island.
A minute later, he landed on the beach and quickly made his way to the nearest motion sensor, which operated the weapon systems. He then inserted the jammer into the motion sensors, causing the scanners to go on a continuous loop.
"Heat and motion sensors are patched," he said over the comm. "Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in."
The Quinjet then hovered over Drop Zone B on the other side of the island, and the hatch opened once more.
"Drop Zone B," said Crystal.
Everyone rose to their feet, and Patriot began to attach a safety line to his belt. Torch then pressed down on his four logo in his blue suit and turned black.
"How cool is this?" he said, looking at Crystal.
"Very impressive," she smiled and then pressed down on her belt buckle. Instantly, her yellow suit turned black as well, "but two can play that game."
"Touche," said Torch.
Torch activated his flames and flew down, followed by Crystal, who used the wind to slow her descent. On the other hand, Patriot used the safety line to lower himself down gently to the ground, but A-Bomb chose not to do that. Instead, he jumped towards the ground, causing everyone below him to move out of the way. He hit the ground with a massive boom, creating a small crater in the process.
"Knew I didn't need a line," he said.
"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped us with the convert," Patriot frowned.
"Spider-Man, Drop B is go," Crystal informed him.
Spider-Man was climbing up a cliff, which was rather easy thanks's ability to stick to any surface.
"Head for the base. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASP," he ordered.
"Roger that," said Patriot.
They began to make their way through the jungle towards the base. A-Bomb then heard the sound of a snapping tweak.
"Wait, did you hear that?" he asked.
"Uh, no," said Torch.
They heard gunfire.
"I think we all heard that," said Crystal.
"Okay, now, what do we…" said Torch as he turned round to face Patriot but stopped when he saw that he had disappeared. "What? Where did he go?!"
"Swing wide! Stay clear!" Spider-Man ordered as he ran through the jungle.
"Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Patriot," said Torch and took off before anyone could stop him.
However, as he ran through the jungle, he accidentally slipped on some mud and skidded down the hill. He kept on sliding until he reached the bottom of the slope, where he came in between a squad of Serpent Society cultists and Crossbones and his HYDRA hitmen.
"So much for the stealth thing," he said as he looked up at Crossbones.
Crossbones immediately fired at him, and he quickly took off, but soon, everyone fired at him. Fortunately, A-Bomb jumped in and tackled Crossbones and then quickly slammed into a tree. Crystal then jumped in, firing bolts of electricity at the Serpent Society cultists.
Torch was still dodging the bullets while firing fireballs down at the enemies below. Patriot then jumped down from the trees and kicked a HYDRA right in the chest.
"What's wrong with guys?!" Patriot yelled as he slammed his shield into a second HYDRA soldier. "Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead and vanish into the jungle?"
"That's what you were doing?" said Torch as he fired another fireball. "Way to fill us in. In case you forgot, we're not mind readers."
A cultist was now making his getaway, but then Spider-Man landed right in front of him and shot him with some webbing.
They quickly tied up Crossbones, his men and the cultists to a tree. They had to use rope since Spider-Man's webbing dissolved after an hour, and they couldn't afford to let them know their presence.
"I recognised those uniforms," said Patriot, looking at the cultists. "They belong to the Serpent Society."
Spider-Man folded his arms. "I'm very certain that Black Widow would have informed us that Hydra Island would have been taken over by some crazy cultists who believe that their leader is an Egyptian God reincarnated in human form."
"Agreed," Patriot nodded. "Obviously, the Serpent Society muscled in and took over HYDRA operations on the island."
"Then I suppose the mystery is solved," said Torch. "Let's call in Widow, and we'll be back in time for—"
"We still don't know why the Serpent Society took over the island," Patriot reminded him. "We don't leave, not until I know why."
"Until you know why?" said Torch, raising an eyebrow.
"This team needs a leader."
"And it's you?" Torch scoffed. "Dude, your 16-year-old who ducked out on us without a word."
"And you are a mature 19-year-old?" Patriot counted. "You blew your cover the first chance you got."
Crystal looked at A-Bomb. "Don't you want to lead?"
A-Bomb shook his head. "You?"
"After the White Ghost fiasco?"
"Don't sell yourself short. You did fine," A-Bomb smiled.
"Thanks, but I don't think I cut out to be a leader."
"You don't even have superpowers!" Torch argued.
"And since when does superpowers matter?" said Patriot.
Spider-Man then placed himself in front of Patriot and Torch. "How about we don't argue about who the king of the mountain is in front of the bad guys? It's embarrassing."
Patriot and Torch narrowed their eyes at one another but remained quiet.
"Thank you," said Spider-Man, sounding somewhat relieved. "Now we know who took over Hydra Island, but we don't know why, so I agree with Patriot that we should investigate more. The only question is how we are going to infiltrate their facility without them knowing."
"I can help you in that regard," said Crossbones. "I can show your way into the facility for a secret entrance."
"And we should trust you. Why?" Patriot asked.
"Because the truth is you won't begin able to get anywhere near our base without my help."
Everyone looked at one another, and while they weren't entirely thrilled with the prospect, they didn't have any choice.
Meanwhile, Seth watched as his men moved shipments across his new facility.
"Supply master, he approaches," one of his men informed him.
"Activate the radio jamming net," Seth commanded. "Nothing must interfere."
The man bowed and left to carry out his orders.
Meanwhile, the young heroes had managed to reach a vantage point overlooking the facility, thanks in no small part to Crossbones.
Patriot pulled out some high-tech binoculars to look down at the facility and could see a lot of crates being moved to the landing bay.
"Look at all that product," he said. "A buy is going down, and the question remains who they're selling to."
"We need to identify the buyer," said Spider-Man.
"Just what I was thinking," said Torch.
"Yeah, you're the thinker," said Patriot.
Torch narrowed his eyes. "Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would be focusing on getting answers."
Crossbones then shoved a large, fake stone out of the way, revealing a secret entrance.
"Answers of this way," he said and made his way down the tunnel.
"So when out taking orders from a HYDRA goon?" Torch asked questionably.
Patriot just merely shoved him as he followed Crossbones down the tunnel.
They continued to follow Crossbones until they reached the door he opened. They soon found themselves inside what appeared to be a locker room, and Patriot looked out the door into the facility.
"All clear," he said.
They made their way into the facility towards the loading bay.
"Okay, here's the plan…" said Patriot.
Torch scoffed. "Whatever your plan is, I've got a better one."
"You have even heard it!"
"I don't need to hear it in my plans; it's going to be better."
"A great chain of command you got," Crossbones scoffed.
Spider-Man face-palmed himself and stepped forward. "Can you two quit arguing for five minutes, especially since when the bad guy's headquarters? I'll go to the computer room and find out what they're making; Johnny, you come with me for backup."
"Fine," said Patriot and Torch.
Spider-Man fired some webbing and made his way to the second level, quickly followed by Torch, who flew after him.
It didn't take them long to find the main computer room, and Spider-Man quickly knocked out the man in charge of the room. He approached the computers and began hacking them while Torch watched the door.
Patriot and the others had snuck into the loading bay and watched Serpent Society unload a large shipment.
"It's a massive shipment," said Patriot.
"But they're only taking new products off the line," A-Bomb pointed out, gesturing to the boxes they were hiding behind. "They're not touching this stuff."
"Maybe freshness counts?" said Crystal.
"Helicopter is coming," said A-Bomb.
Sure enough, they could see out the window that a helicopter was approaching.
Back in the computer room, Spider-Man had just finished hacking computers.
"You got anything yet, Webs?" Torch asked.
"I've got chemical formulas; one of them seems to be HYDRA's attempt to recreate the super soldier serum, and the other is…" His eyes widened when he saw the chemical composition, "the Jackal formula from Scipro-Genesis. If this stuff is mixed correctly, it can stabilise the failed super soldier serum, making the user three times stronger and by incorporating animal DNA again the characteristics of said animal."
"Okay, but how did the Serpent Society get their hands on the Jackal formula?" Johnny asked.
"Our mystery buyer must be the Serpent Society supplier," Spider-Man concluded, immediately reaching for his radio. "Spider-Man to Patriot, we've got—" He stopped when all he got was static. "Static."
The helicopter soon landed, and the Serpent Society buyer revealed himself to be none other than Taskmaster. He wore a white hooded cloak and wore a metal skull-like helmet. He then approached Seth, who stood there with King Cobra and Viper.
"Lord Seth," he acknowledged.
"Taskmaster, the shipment is ready," he said as Viper showed him the Serpent Serum. "The new super soldier serum?"
"A complete success," said Seth, gesturing to King Cobra. "Our friends will not be disappointed."
"This is a game changer," said Taskmaster. "Finally, we can go toe to toe with the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men."
Patriot and the others were on a platform overlooking a window that looked down into the landing pad. He was using his high-tech binoculars to get a good look at the buyer, and he instantly recognised him.
"Taskmaster?!" he gasped. "He's the buyer." He instantly regretted the radio. "Patriot to Vision, do you read?" However, the only thing he got was static. "I can't reach the Avengers, Spider-Man, or Torch. Comms are jammed; we need a plan now."
"I have a suggestion," said Crossbones.
He suddenly jumped down and landed in the middle of the loading bay, attacking the Serpent Society goons.
"What is he doing?" A-Bomb asked.
"Doublecrossing us," said Patriot.
King Cobra smashed through the windows and landed on the platform they were currently standing on, causing them to land in the middle of the loading bay with Crossbones.
"So much for covert," said Crystal.
"Destroy them!" Seth commanded.
King Cobra immediately chanced upon him, and A-Bomb met him head-on. Patriot and Crystal turned to face the Serpent Society goons, who immediately fired at them. Patriot used his shield to block the bullets, and Crystal immediately fired bolts of electricity at the goons.
Crossbones smirked beneath his mask as he made his getaway.
Torch suddenly swooped in, tossing fireballs down at the goons, but then Taskmaster by a cable wrapped around his ankle. With one good pull, he slammed into the ground and drew his sword as he approached him.
Spider-Man then quickly swooped in with a dropkick, but Taskmaster quickly drew his shield and blocked it, but the impact did push him back.
"Spider-Man, surprised to see you here," said Taskmaster. "Always pegged you as a lone hero."
"Hey, I can play well with others," he said and immediately fired some webbing.
Taskmaster then charged in, swinging his sword, and Spider-Man quickly somersaulted out of the way.
"Guys, can you read me?" Spider-Man asked over the radio.
"We hear you, but how did you get past the jamming?" Crystal asked.
"I'm using the same frequency I used to track my spider tracers; it's not a normal radio signal that can't be blocked," he informed them. "Unfortunately, it only works in short range, so we can't call the Avengers. I suggest that we regroup now."
"Not yet," said Patriot, who, in all the commotion, managed to get onto the landing pad.
"Captain America must be desperate if he sends the likes of you here," said Seth as he and Viper confronted him.
"Underestimate me at your peril," said Patriot, raising his shield.
"This is beneath me," said Seth and then turned to Viper. "Viper, take him."
Viper smiled and charged in towards Patriot, who easily blocked her attack.
"Patriot, we need to leave now!" Spider-Man ordered.
Patriot, grudgingly, dropped a flash bang just as Viper attacked, blinding her and Seth. When the light was gone, they discovered that Patriot had also disappeared.
Back in the facility, Spider-Man fired some webbing at some Serpent Society goons.
"We need to get out of here. Johnny, clear us a path!" Spider-Man ordered.
Torch then flew in, firing several fireballs at the goons that were blocking their exit, and all of them began rushing towards it. A-Bomb was still battling against King Cobra, but they managed to get a hold of him and tossed him at the goons chasing after them.
He quickly followed the others to the secret passage and immediately locked the door behind them. They then quickly made their way down the tunnel, and a few seconds later, King Cobra smashed through the door.
The Serpent Society goons began firing at them while King Cobra chased them down.
"A-Bomb! The supports!" Spider-Man yelled.
A-Bomb immediately began smashing the support beams, causing the cave-in. He quickly rolled into a ball and chased after the others to avoid getting caught in it.
The Serpent Society goons had to retreat in order to avoid the ceiling crashing down on them, and their path was blocked soon. King Cobra narrowed his eyes and made his way back into the facility.
On the other side of the cave-in, Spider-Man cracks some light sticks so they can see, and Patriot looked extremely furious with himself.
"I think it's safe to say that the cover part of our mission is over," Spider-Man sighed.
"How could my first mission as lead go so wrong?" said Patriot frustratingly.
"It's because fighting alongside Cap, you pretty much know each other's moves and know what the other thinks without talking," said Spider-Man. "However, the rest of us don't have that experience. Immediately clear of your orders, and even then, he can't expect everyone to follow you without disagreeing."
"So I'm supposed to hold everyone's hand?" Patriot grumbled. He then closed his eyes and looked at Spider-Man. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us, Pete; you're the only one who can."
"You want the solo hero to lead us?" Torch stared.
"Johnny, you know he's the one," said Patriot. "We all do."
"It is rather obvious," said Crystal.
"Could have told you," A-Bomb shrugged.
Everyone then looked at Torch.
"Okay," Torch admitted.
Spider-Man then approached Patriot and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, how can I refuse? But between you and me, I think you have what it takes to be a leader. Maybe not now, but someday."
Patriot nodded with a smile.
Spider-Man then turned to the others. "All right, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."
"Funny, I had the same thought," said Patriot.
Back in the landing bay, the Serpent Society was having trouble starting the helicopter, which had clearly been sabotaged.
"Sabotage," said Taskmaster, exiting the helicopter. "Patriot?"
"Undoubtedly," said Seth and then turned to Viper. "Find the problem, fix it."
Viper bowed and made her way over to the helicopter.
"Master, shall we send search parties after the intruders?" one of his men asked.
"Don't be absurd," said Seth.
"They'll come to us," said Taskmaster.
The two of them then left as the Serpent Society goons began to repair the helicopter.
The Secret Warriors were now making their way down the tunnel, discussing what they had just learned.
"Taskmaster is the supplier/buyer, but it still doesn't make any sense," said Patriot. "He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Jackal formula or to get Seth to do his dirty work."
"And neither of them has the chops to bond the Jackal formula with the failed super soldier serum," Torch added. "That took some major nerdage."
"I believe the expression is tip of the iceberg," said Spider-Man.
They then stopped at the entrance as blocking their path was Crossbones, who had laced the tunnel with explosives.
"I wouldn't go any further if I were you, children," he advised.
"You betrayed us!" Spider-Man glared and then dropped one of his spider bots without Crossbones noticing.
"HYDRA wants this island back," said Crossbones as Spider-Man secretly guided his spider board behind him without him noticing. "So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Avengers and Fantastic Four would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks."
"I'm not a sidekick!" Torch yelled indignantly.
"Not the time, Storm," said Patriot.
"Regardless, when the smoke cleared, Hydra Island would be back in HYDRA control," Crossbones continued. "Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect."
He was just about to hit the detonator when he was suddenly zapped by the spider bot and collapsed.
Spider-Man walked up to him and smiled. "You know the problem with you supervillain types; you talk too much."
On the landing bay, the Serpent Society finally got the helicopter operation and were now loading it with the new Serpent Serum.
"The helicopter is operational, exalted one," said a Serpent Society goon, informing Seth.
Taskmaster went to the helicopter with his sample when Torch appeared out of nowhere and began firing fireballs down at the goons. They immediately fired at him, but he was moving too fast for them to hit.
"Take the shipment!" Seth ordered Taskmaster.
A-Bomb landed next to the helicopter, knocking back a few goons as he landed and looked at King Cobra.
"Go again?" he asked.
King Cobra charged at him, but a crate smashed into his face by Spider-Man, who had swung it at him.
"Sorry, not the plan," A-Bomb smiled.
Spider-Man then charged in, dealing with a few quick hits in King Cobra's face. He tried to hit him back, but Spider-Man was way more agile and able to dodge each of his swings.
A-Bomb was then hit in the back by Taskmaster, who began pelting him with armour-piercing rounds. He kept firing, not giving him a chance to recover, pushing him back with every shot.
While his back was turned, Crystal snuck into the helicopter. She saw A-Bomb was on the ropes and quickly moved in with the electric-covered fist. However, Taskmaster saw this coming, easily dodged her attack, and grabbed her. He then continued to fire at A-Bomb constantly.
Torch was still attacking the goons, and then Patriot's shield was out of nowhere, striking Viper in the face and knocking her out cold. Seth then turned to face Patriot's shield returned to him.
"I know you are getting your hands dirty," said Patriot.
"True," said Seth and then began to remove his robe, "but sometimes even a God must stoop to conquer."
Patriot moved in, swinging his fist, but Seth easily caught it. Patriot then formed a leg sweep, which Seth dodged as well. He then tried to hit him with his shield, which he blocked and kicked back.
"What's wrong, boy?" said Seth, noting Patriot's unsettled look on his face. "You look disconcerted."
Torch continued attacking the goons, and Spider-Man outpaced King Cobra. He quickly fired some webbing in his face, then quickly fired his taser webs and electrocuted King Cobra, knocking him out cold.
Taskmaster was rolling back towards the helicopter while still holding Crystal and firing at A-Bomb.
"Thanks for the workout, but I've got a fly," said Taskmaster and tossed Crystal at A-Bomb, knocking the two of them to the ground.
The helicopter began to take off, but Crystal smiled, showing the detonator she was holding. Before she moved in to assist A-Bomb, she had placed a few explosives they had acquired from Crossbones in the helicopter.
She then pressed on the detonator, and the helicopter exploded. Taskmaster tried to regain control, but it was impossible, and the helicopter began falling towards the base. With no other choice, he was forced to bail out in the helicopter that crashed into the base, destroying it.
Crossbones had a front-row seat of the devastation, much to his annoyance.
Seth managed to overpower Patriot, and he was furious about the destruction of the base.
"I am plagued by mosquitoes!" he growled.
"Good, because this mosquito is rather disconcerted over your pain," said Patriot, breaking free from his grip.
He then jumped back and joined the rest of his team, and Seth knew he didn't stand a chance against all five of them working together.
"Another time then," said Seth and disappeared into the jungle.
Patriot attempted to chase after him, but the jungle was too thick, and there was no trace of him.
He then joined the others and smiled at Spider-Man. "We picked the right guy to lead us, which automatically makes you the right guy to explain this mess to Black Widow."
Spider-Man was certainly not looking forward to that.
Avengers Compound
July 23, 10:01 EDT
The Secret Warriors' were now standing to attention as Black Widow chastised them.
"A simple recon mission," she said to their faces. "Observe and report. You will each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then… good job."
Everyone instantly looked up and stared at her, surprised.
"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy," she said as she walked away. "How you were just to the unforeseen is what determines success, and how you choose who leads determines character."
Both Peter and Eli smiled.
Meanwhile, in an unknown location, Taskmaster was standing in front of the Cabel, which contained a single vial of Serpent formula.
"All I recovered is a single ampoule of Serpent formula," he said.
"It can be easily reverse-engineered," said C-4. "But what a vile young heroes? First Scipro-Genesis, then White Ghost and now Hydra Island?"
"Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, but three times is enemy action," said C-1. "And enemies of the Cabel must not stand."
HYDRA is a terrorist organisation that was founded shortly after the rise of the Third Reich. It was founded under the leadership of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker with the support of Johann Shmidt, a.k.a. the Red Skull.
However, the organisation went rogue and tried to take over the world themselves, but at the end of the war, it was led by Captain America. However, remnants of HYDRA remained and began rebuilding the shadows without the knowledge of the other nations.
It wasn't until secret agents Richard and Mary Parker discovered the organisation in 1993 that they risked their lives letting the whole world know. They were killed in a desperate attempt to prevent the secret from being revealed, but their message managed to get through.
