In the vast reaches of space, the insanely large gateway was nearly completely built, as thousands of drones were doing construction, floating near the gateway, was Taskmaster's main starship.
Inside his private office, Taskmaster was on his computer, reading the report on the gateway's process, but as he was reading, the sound of beeping came from his desk, as he turned and sees a part of the deck that was lighting up and beeping, Taskmaster then reaches his right index finger and presses it, the beeping stopped and a holo-screen appeared.
"Hello?" Taskmaster answered, as he continued reading the reports,
'Dad?' The sound of a young woman came from the call,
The voice quickly gets Taskmaster's attention as he turn to face the holo-screen, "Synthia, I thought I said I would call you next week." He said,
'Don't tell me you forgot what tomorrow is...' The young woman named Synthia, said with an exasperated tone of voice,
Taskmaster sat there, collecting his thoughts until he remembers, "It's that time again..?" He said to his daughter, with a morbid tone of voice,
'Unfortunately that's the overall problem with something that's yearly (!)' Synthia said, in a sarcastic tone,
Taskmaster then lets out a sigh of depression, as he puts his left hand on his skull mask, "I'm sorry, Synthia, I've been too caught up with the project, I forgot." He said,
'Dad, I know how important your project is, but you haven't called for nearly two months, you just keep what you're doing to yourself and never let me in the loop, and you're never home, and need I mention you said you'd be home tomorrow.' Synthia explained to Taskmaster, with a tone of wanting and concern,
Taskmaster stared at the holo-screen, wrapping his mind around what his daughter just said, "You're right... I'll be home tomorrow, I promise..." He tells Synthia, promising her with a calm and gentle tone of voice.
'OK, I'll see you tomorrow, Dad, love you.' Synthia says her goodbye, as the call ends,
With the call ending, Taskmaster leaned back on his chair and spins to face the observation window, with the sight of the near finished gateway, Taskmaster stared at it.
"Another year has passed, but soon..." Taskmaster said to himself quietly with seriousness in his voice, as he stared at the gateway,
Meanwhile, back on Earth, at the Triskelion Island,
Inside the building, Randy was doing some more of his training with Ninjor in the training room, as Randy was wearing a black tank top as he was wielding the Ataru in his hands, while Ninjor was wielding his katana in his left hand.
Watching the training in the observation deck, was Centorea, Flash, Ava and Kaikaina,
Randy charges at Ninjor, holding the ōdachi up and swings it at Ninjor, but the ninja master swiftly lifts up his katana and blocks the attack with his blade, Randy gritted his teeth as he pushed all of his weight with his sword, but Ninjor stood strong as a statue as Randy's pushing hard didn't shift Ninjor, Randy then pushes himself away, performing a backflip, as he lands on his right hand and pushing himself off the ground and flip mid-air and lands on his feet, putting both hands on the sword's handle.
As they were watching, Centorea crosses her arms, as she had an impressed look in her eyes, "I must say; I'm impressed on how much Randy has improved." Centorea said, watching Randy,
Kaikaina nodded in agreement, "Yeah, when he first got the Ataru, he could barely carry it, now Randy's can hold and use it with ease; he's gotten a lot strong over this pass month." She added,
"It's not only his sword work that got better, the Ninja Mask can improve and increase his strength, speed and reflexes, but now his body is as faster and stronger, I have a feeling that when he puts on the Ninja Mask, he going be even more powerful than before." Centorea replied back,
Flash crossed his arms as he looking impressed, "Yeah, kinda hard to believe I use to stuff him into a locker before I knew any of this..." Flash said, remembering on how he uses to bully Randy before he knew he was a hero.
"But with this new improvement physically, Randy's becoming a completely different person because of it..." Ava tells them, as she had a serious expression on her face, which made Flash, Kaikaina and Centorea turn to look at her with confused looks,
"Whaddya mean, Av?" Kaikaina asked, rising her left eyebrow with curiosity on what Ava meant by that.
"Ever since Master Ninjor arrived, Randy has become more erratic, focusing everything on his training, becoming stronger and beating Taskmaster, when he's not at school, he's doing some drills in the training room, he hardly sleeps and he hasn't eaten dinner with us for five weeks, he just has his dinner send straight to the training room, he's now becoming more and more obsessed with getting stronger..." Ava explained still having that serious look on her face.
Kaikaina and Flash looked at Ava, as they couldn't help but agree, Randy's been losing himself being consumed with getting stronger and beating Taskmaster, he isolates himself from everyone but Ninjor, who Randy always wants to train him day in and day out, never stopping or slowing down.
Randy swings his sword at Ninja downward, but Ninjor sidesteps and dodges it, Randy then swings his sword again, and Ninjor dodges it again, Randy grits his teeth with frustration as he kept slashing at Ninjor, but he kept dodging each attack with total ease, but then when Randy swings his sword downward, Ninjor quickly blocks the attack with his katata's blade in his right hand and holds Randy back as he was pushing, as he had a look of anger on his face.
Ninjor looks at Randy as he held Randy's blade back, seeing he's look of rage, "You're not focused on your training, Randell, something is troubling you..." Ninjor said to Randy,
Randy narrowed his eyes and pushes himself off and holds up the Ataru up, glaring daggers at Ninjor, "'Troubling'!? Yeah, OK, there is something 'Troubling' me! It's the fact that this training sucks! You've been training me in stealth, sword work and combat; I did it all and mastered it weeks ago!" Randy began to rant in frustration, as he lifts up the Ataru in his left hand, "Look, I can now hold the sword like it's made out of cotton, I've master the Ataru but you're still holding out on teaching me the Dragon's Leg, I'm sick of doing the same thing over and over, when are you going to teach me something new?!" He stated, as the main thing Randy wants Ninjor to teach him is the Dragon's Leg, but hasn't since they started Randy's training.
Ava, Kaikaina, Metabee and Centorea all saw that Randy was starting a fight with Ninjor,
Ninjor stared at Randy, silence filled the room, and Randy only got more angry and frustrated by him saying nothing,
Randy angrily lifted up the Ataru and drives the blade into the floor, and leave the sword standing in the floor, as Randy began to walk off in a huff, heading towards the exit, but as Randy was about to reach the exit, suddenly, with a great speed, Ninjor appeared in-front of Randy and delivers a double open palm strike to Randy's torso, catching him completely off-guard, as the blow sends Randy backwards, as his feet was dragged across the floor, until he stops right next to the Ataru, as Randy gritted his teeth in pain as he had his hands on his chest.
Flash, Ava and Kaikaina all looked shocked by that, Randy lifted up his head and looks ahead and sees Ninjor walking towards him,
"Only the master decides when the lesson is over!" Ninjor told Randy with a serious tone of voice, as he walked up to Randy, "You begged me to train you and you dragged me all the way here, and now you feel that it's not good enough!"
Randy stands up straight and then grabs hold of the handle of the Ataru and pulls the blade out of the floor, puts both hands on the handle and holds up the sword, going into a readied stance, Ninjor gets into a readied stance, prepared for what Randy was going to do.
Randy narrowed his eyes, giving Ninjor a dark look, while Ninjor stood still, until Randy sprints towards Ninjor, and slashes the Ataru at Ninjor but he merely side-steps, dodging it, and Randy began to throw a barrage of slashes at Ninjor, but he kept dodging with ease, Randy got more and more angry with each swing missing and moved faster.
"I did everything you asked for, I followed your teachings without questions, and for what!? Just for you to tell me that I'm not good enough! I mastered this lesson, and yesterday's lesson and the lesson before that! WHEN WILL I BE GOOD ENOUGH!" Randy yelled out in complete fury, as he pulls up the Ataru up to do a downward slash.
But then, with a swift move, Randy stops his attack before he could do it, as he stood in that one spot, frozen as he had a look of speechlessness on his face, as Ava, Kaikaina, Flash and Centorea all looked completely shocked at what they were seeing.
Randy's eyes were widen in shock, as he slowly looked to his right shoulder and sees tank top strap was cut as there was a slash on his shoulder, as blood began to run down his body, Randy then drops the Ataru, making a load clanking sound, as he puts his left hand on the wound, putting pressure on it, before he looks up and sees Ninjor, his body in a position where he delivers a slash, as his katana was in his left hand and was held upward, as he had slashed Randy's shoulder with great speed so fast, Randy didn't see or react fast enough.
Ninjor sheathed his katana and looked at Randy, "The lesson is over, we'll start again tomorrow unless you still think my teachings are a waste of time..." He told Randy, as he turned around and walked away, leaving the training room and leaving Randy there, with a look of stunned on his face.
Sometime later, now back in the med-bay, Randy was sitting on a table with his shirt off; as Dr. Grey was at Randy's right side, stitching up Randy's wound, with him have a serious scowl on his face, as he ignored the pain.
Entering the med-bay, was Flash, as he wanted to check in on him, Randy looked up and sees him, just went Dr. Grey was finishing putting Randy's stitches and puts a pad over them.
Then one of the medical staff walks up and takes the tray of surgical instruments for cleaning, Dr. Grey turned and sees Flash, and quickly perks up and stands up,
"Ah! Mr. Thompson, how wonderful to see you, I didn't get enough information since your last visit, finally decided to let me take a fist-full of the Symbiote study!?" Dr. Grey asked, extremely excited and hopeful to get more time to study the Symbiote and Flash's biology through very... 18+ rated means...
Flash looked at Dr. Grey, with Blank White Eyes and his nose disappears and he looked nervous and scared at just being the same room as Dr. Grey, considering Flash and Jaime's experience when they were under her care.
"N-n-no! I-I was just c-c-checking on how Randy was d-d-doing..." Flash tells her, as he had a cold sweat of fear.
"Aw well, y'know my door will always be open..." Dr. Grey tells Flash, happily until she walked over to Flash and leans her head uncomfortable close to Flash's right ear, "... Always..." She tells him, in a whisper as she walked out of the Med-bay.
Leaving Flash standing there, shaking in terror as he looked at Randy, "She haunts my nightmares..." He tells him, as he shakes it off, as his eyes goes back to normal, and his nose reappears.
Randy looked at Flash with a blank expression on his face, as Flash walked up to him, while he gave Randy a straight face.
"So, how you doing?" Flash asked, awkwardly, breaking the ice that was being made by Randy's serious aura.
Randy just gives Flash a dour look, "Look, I know your gonna ask me, 'Are you alright?', and you're just gonna shrug me off and say 'I'm fine, don't worry about it', but your just gonna keep hounding me until I say I'm not, so to make a expected answer, no, I am not..." Randy tells Flash, in a very bitter tone of voice.
Flash looked at Randy with a unfazed look on his face, but then gives a serious look, "Look, Randy, I don't aim to speak for anyone on the team but after seeing what went down, you've got some issues you need to work on." Flash explained to Randy, feeling that Randy needs to talk about what's bothering him.
Randy stayed silent, as he puts his shirt on and gets off the bed and glares at Flash with a cold scowl, "Alright, the issue is that I am not good enough, the issue is according to Ninjor, I'll never be good enough, the issue is that people tend to get hurt because I was fast enough to do something, and with how I am now, I'll never take down Taskmaster, I'm basically alone!" Randy ranted, in a tone of raising anger.
Flash then have a defensive look on his face, "You're not alone now! You've got all of us with you but you're letting this whole 'Want for revenge against Taskmaster', drive you crazy, snapping and taking it out on us when we're just want to help ya!" Flash argued back at Randy, throwing his arms in the air.
"Oh, so what, you luck into our world when some alien leech latches on to you, you think you've got wisdom of a real hero (?) Well, here's a little reality check, Thompson; anyone can put on a mask and call themselves a hero, but you think yourself a hero? You have no idea what most of us have gone thought, the only bit of baggage you've got is that you're parent aren't around (?) Cry me a river, football boy! You're the furthest thing from hero..." Randy ranted, getting up in Flash's, narrowing his eyes at him.
Being told that, Flash felt a whole of anger, glaring right into Randy's eyes, gritting his teeth as he clenches his fists at the Symbiote comes out and covers him, Randy stood his ground, as he was ready to fight Agent Venom.
Silence filled the room, as the two glares at each other, until Venom says something that Randy didn't expect him to say.
"Randy... (Sigh)... Grow up..." Agent Venom tells Randy, in a firm tone of voice, as he turned around and walked away, leaving Randy standing there, looking surprised.
This shows that Flash isn't the bully jock he uses to be, ever since Symbiote found him, coupled with being given a chance by Fury and the team to be the hero he's always wanted to be, and with that, he becomes a better man for it, a better man than Randy's being right now.
Venom exits the med-bay, but unknown to him, Nick Fury was standing with his back against the wall, with his arms crossed, as he listens to that little scuffle.
Sometime later, now in a conference room, A-Bomb, Ava and Centorea were sitting around a table, with hundreds of files on it, as they were trying to find something that connects to Taskmaster and a decommissioned project S.H.I.E.L.D. had buried for years.
"I've pulled up all records from 10 to 20 years ago on trans dimensional experiments in the the northern hemisphere." Ava tells the two of them, with a calculating expression on her face.
"That still leaves the south and west to undergo," Centorea listed down, as she was holding up some files in her hands,
A-Bomb then sighed exhaustedly, as he ran his hands down his face, and leans back on his chair. "Two weeks on this and we haven't found anything, why does everything in S.H.I.E.L.D. have to be so covert and secretive?" He said annoyed,
"Expect for this time, S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to give you leeway." The sound of Nick's voice was heard, getting Centorea, Ava and A-Bomb's attention as they turned and sees Nick entering the room.
Centorea looked at the director, "Sir?" She asked, wondering what he meant by that,
Nick then puts files and memory cards on the table, Ava then takes one of the files and opens it up, reading it, there were documents and blueprints on a portal device.
"It was called Project Nexus, S.H.I.E.L.D. funded a research project from a scientist who theorized the existence of an alternate dimension that correlates with our own, it sounded far-fetched at the time, but the man was one of the most brilliant minds of his age and he knew how to break through the barrier from this world to the next." Nick Fury explained to them everything.
Ava raised her left eyebrow, "If that's all, then why the countless walls of security on this, if it was merely just for research?" She asked convinced that there's still much more to what Fury was telling them.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. funded the project but we left him and his team to handle it, with a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to monitor and report the progress or if need be, blow the whistle if it went downhill." Nick tells her,
A-Bomb leans forward and looked at Nick with a straight face, "So I'm guessing it went downhill anyway." He said, figuring that out.
"The portal was completed after two years of work, it was ready for its first test of sending a living being through it, the head scientist wanted to be the one to go through it, as the portal was checked and cleared for testing, I allowed him but I had two agents go through with him. They passed through without a hitch except after they came back, something on the other side shook them to their cores, one of the agents and the head scientist came to me, demanding that they make another portal only this time, much more larger than the first, but the other agent was beyond terrified, rambling like a mad man." Nick explained,
A-Bomb and Ava turned to look at each other, before they looked back at Nick, "And what was on the other side?" A-Bomb asked, suspicious and uneased,
"I don't know, but what I did know is that they saw something on the other side, something that clearly wasn't meant to be found, I made the call to pull the plug on Project Nexus, but agent didn't take it sitting down, he and the head scientist powered up the portal, full power, the rest of the team of agents tried to stop them, but then the portal was overloaded, causing an explosion that killed nearly everyone in the facility." Nick finished,
Ava narrowed her eyes at Fury, "Why now, Fury? We've been chasing down what any of this is about for months, and now, all of a sudden you tell us after you made it clear that this should be locked up and buried, what's the angle?" Ava said, wanting an answer as she stands up.
Nick gives Ava a serious scowl, "Because this is starting to make you turn against one another, and Taskmaster is determined to unbury it, we need every advances we can get if we're going to keep history from repeating itself." Nick tells her, as hearing Randy now on the edge of fight his own allies, this matter had to be sorted now.
A-Bomb and Centorea takes a couple of the files and goes through them, there was a lot of info on Project Nexus, the people who work on it and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team that monitored it, but the name for the head scientist was blank.
"Everything you need is all there," Nick tells them,
"There's still one thing I want to know and I want you to tell me, who was the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that went rogue?" A-Bomb asked Fury, as he had a serious expression on his face,
Nick sighed, as he closed his eyes, "His name was Agent Anthony, one of the best agents S.H.I.E.L.D. had ever had, he was a good soldier but whatever he saw, it broke him in ways you fathom, but he, along with most of the team, die in the explosion." Fury answered,
"You said most of the team, so that means some agents survived." Centorea mentioned,
"There was only one survivor who was in S.H.I.E.L.D. care and wasn't anywhere near where the facility when it exploded." Nick said,
"So this guy is still around?" A-Bomb asked,
"His name is Richard Dodger, it took five years to help him, and after he left S.H.I.E.L.D., went off the grid, but I've kept tabs on him, he's held up in the boreal forest region of Canada." Nick tells them,
A-Bomb and Ava stared at Fury,
"I've given you the tools; I trust you won't waste them..." Nick told Ava and A-Bomb, as he turned around and walked out of the room,
Leaving A-Bomb, Centorea and Ava there, as A-Bomb went through the files and finds the file that had Agent Dodger on record,
Ava sees that A-Bomb had a look on his face, and had a concerned look, "Rick, I know what you're thinking, you wanna find this Dodger guy, but considering what he's been through, us showing up and talking to him will likely do more harm than good." She explained to him, with what Fury said, if they find him and tell him that someone is rebuilding Project Nexus, he could have a psychological breakdown.
A-Bomb gives Ava a straight face, "I know that it would be selfish to find a man who doesn't wanna be found, but right now, he could have information on Project Nexus and ways we could stop it. I know it seems like a horrible idea, but this is the advantage we've been looking for, we can't let it pass, but I promise we'll do this as gently as possible for Agent Dodger." A-Bomb assures her,
Centorea crossed her arms, as Ava, despite how she feels, knew A-Bomb was right, she didn't like it, but she knows is would help in the long run.
Meanwhile, in the dead of night, Randy snuck out and when for a walk in the park, as he had his hood up, having a brooding look on his face, he walked up to a park bench that was near the lake, he sat there, his head filled with swirling emotions, with Ninjor, with Flash.
Randy leaned his head back and rested the back of it on the bench and stares up at the night sky, as it was full of stars, Randy now had a tried look, as he sighed and pulls his head up.
He turned and he saw, to his surprise, was Alice, as she was stand near the lake, as the moonlight reflected on the lake, sparkling and illuminating Alice, as she had a smile that had such serenity.
Randy's eyes were widen as Alice looked so beautiful, he suddenly forgotten his anger and everything thing else, as he stands up and walked to Alice, "Hey, Alice," He said,
Alice then snaps out of her world and turned to see Randy, "Oh, Randy, I didn't see you there," She said, with a smile,
Randy takes off his hood and gives Alice a smile, "Ah, I was just walking around, gotta lot of thinks running in my head, just needed to clear my head, but then again, with me, clearing my head is quick and doesn't that much effort (!)" He joked, as he shrugged his shoulders, which made Alice laughed a little,
"So anyway, whaddya doing out this late?" Randy asked Alice, wondering why she's out by the lake at this time of night,
Alice turned to look at the lake, as it was glimmering, "This place is my favorite spot in all of Jump City, the lake is at its most stunning when the moon is full and there are no clouds in sights. I like to come down here, with how loud and busy it can get in a city like this, around this time, there's such a peace around here, reminds me of the motherland." Alice tells him, as she's found a piece for her to call her own for a bit, that helps remember her of Russia.
"Fair enough, I mean I wouldn't mind having something that reminds me of my old town of Norrisville," Randy mentioned, looked a bit down, Alice notices he's look and looked curious, but Randy notices Alice noticing him and quickly shook it off and gives Randy a reassuring smile, "So, how's things?"
Alice smiled, "Well, I've been hoping to find a part-time job for a local florist, but haven't found any." She tells him,
Randy looked surprised that Alice is looking to have a part-time job, consider that most high school students focus more time on their studying, he found it admirable that she's looking for work, considering she's part of the exchange program and doesn't need to pay for school.
Randy puts his hands in his jacket pockets and looked impressed, "You are something majorly special, Alice Gehabich." He tells her,
That made her happy to hear, but Alice looked back at Randy, her smile drops a little, which gets Randy full attention, did he say something wrong? "The way you talk to me, it reminds me of my Grandfather, he would see me, when I go over his expectations, and sees me like a bird that could fly as high as possible, such freedom but courage... He was so proud of me and I was blessed to have him for a grandfather..." Alice tells him, having a deep and longing small smile on her face, as she looked down at the ground,
Randy had a straight face, staring at Alice, she was unlike any girl he have ever met, gentle and kind spirit one who have traveled from her homeland to an unknown place and chooses to face it with nobility and courage.
In a way, Randy and Alice were kindred spirits, Randy left Norrisville to travel to a place he knew nothing about, though he was hesitant to face what came after, he adapted and persevered.
As he reaches his right hand up and cups Alice's chin, lifting her head up, where she faces and looks right into Randy's eyes, "And I'm happy to have met you..." He told her, with confidences in his voice, meaning that fully.
Alice stared, at her face brightens up, as she kept staring in Randy's eyes, smiling, Randy stared but, until he looked down at his hand that was still cupping Alice's chin, and quickly realized what he was doing, pulling his hand back, and rubbing the back of his head with it, giving a awkward smirk, as his face blushed a bit.
"Anyway, I need to head home," Alice tells Randy,
He nodded in agreement, "Yeah, sure, then I guess I'll see you at school." Randy replies back,
Alice turned and started to walk away, as she was looking over her left shoulder and gives Randy an smile while waving, "See you at school," She bids goodbye to Randy,
Randy smiled as he lifted his right hand and waves back, Randy was glad that he saw Alice, as he feels much better now, but before Randy turned and walk away, he noticed as Alice walked passed a couple of thug looking guys, who notice her and began to follow her, Randy's eyes widen, those guys were gonna get the jump on Alice.
Randy had a look of determination as he quickly moves,
Now outside the park and in a neighborhood part of the city, it started to rain, as Alice was walking down an alleyway for a shortcut, Alice pulls her coat up close to keep warm, but those thugs kept following her, where Alice quickly notice and started walking fast, but so after three more thugs comes out for the shadows and started following her to.
Alice started to get scared and the thugs were getting closer, so she began to run but they ran as well, until she was cornered into a wall, she turned and sees them circling her, most of them had smug looks on their faces.
One of them grabs Alice by her right shoulder, "Get off me!" She yelled out, as she reacts and threw her right elbow back, hitting the thug in the face, she turned and kicks another thug in the crouch, but most of them comes in and grabs her by her arms, restraining her.
One of the thugs takes out a switchblade and they shove Alice against the wall, as she looked terrified, but before the thugs could do anything, from behind, chains and a familiar red scarf comes in and wraps themselves around each of the thugs, and then each of them got pulls off their feet and were dragged away from Alice, who quickly turned and sees what was happening.
The chains and scarf release them, the thugs quickly got back up, where jumping from a building and landing before them, was the Ninja, who had a serious look in his eyes, the thugs quickly charges at him to attack him, but Ninja quickly blocks one of them, who threw a punch at him, with his left forearm, and where Ninja throws a strong right punch to his stomach and lifts him off the ground and tosses him into some trash, Ninja crouches and spins his body and delivers a left kick to the next guy that came at him, knocking the wind out of him, Ninja then rolls and flips off his back and stood backward, where he clocks two more thugs with a double back punch over both shoulders, Ninja then blocks a punch from the guy he kicked, and he response in kind with a right punch.
Alice watched the whole fight, looking speechless,
Ninja then turned and sees two thugs coming, he quickly turns around, jumps backwards, where he lands on his hands and performs a double kangaroo kick, knocking both guys off their feet and smashing into windows that were beside Alice, who looked amazed by Ninja, Ninja then lands a left uppercut to the last thug, knocking him out.
With all the thugs beaten, Ninja turned and sees Alice, who began to walk towards him; Ninja quickly retreats into the shadows of another alley,
"Wait," Alice said, as she was hoping to talk to Ninja, she followed him to where he when, but when she got around the corner, to her surprise, Ninja was gone,
As it was still raining, Alice looked around, hoping to find him, but lowering down behind him, was Ninja, who was hanging upside down with his scarf.
"This is your third save by me," Ninja said, which made Alice jump, before turning around and seeing Ninja, as she laughed, "One more and you win a free Froyo (!)" Ninja joked,
Alice laughed, "Well, you always seem to be coming to my rescue, so you're basically handing me that Froyo (!)" She joked as well,
Ninja shrugged his shoulders, "Ah, I was just out for a moonlit stroll, just happen to be in the neighborhood..." He tells her,
Alice looked at Ninja with a deep expression, "You are... Amazing..." She tells Ninja, meaning that will all her being,
Ninja then had a depressed look in his eyes, "Some people don't think so..." He said, referring to Ninjor, Flash and himself.
Alice had a defensive look, "But you are, you must lead the most exciting life, a life many people dream of." Alice said, as he shouldn't sell himself short,
"It might look exciting from an outside view, but behind closed curtains, not so much..." Ninja mentioned, as the life of a hero isn't always flying into the sunset after saving the day.
Alice stared at Ninja, with a puzzled look, as Ninja was more complex than she thought, before giving Ninja a hopeful look, "Can I at least say thank you this time?" She asked, as the last time Ninja saved her, she didn't get a chance to thank him.
Ninja gazed at Alice, before nodding, Alice then moves in and gives Ninja a long and deep kiss on his left cheek, where Ninja's eyes widen in shock; he was serious not expecting that, Alice had her eyes closed, putting passion in her kiss.
Alice then removes her lips from Ninja's cheek and gives him a bright smile, Ninja had a look of speechlessness, as he was blushing like crazy, until he pulls himself upward, as Alice watches Ninja leave, still smiling as the rain poured and Ninja disappeared into the night.
Meanwhile, in Taskmaster main battleship, in Mistral's lab, Black Velocity was sitting on a chair, as his wrist were strapped to the armchairs, as he had his helmet off, while Mistral was circling around the table, looking at some test results.
"You're latest results from yesterday's training; your reaction time has been off by 44%, this there something troubling you?" Mistral tells Black Velocity, as she was glaring that him,
Black Velocity just shrugged his shoulders, Mistral stops walking in from of him and crouches down a little to meet Black Velocity at his eye level, she stares at him with a calm look, before she delivers a strong back-handed slap across Black Velocity's face, but despite getting smacked across the face, Black Velocity still had a straight face.
Mistral wasn't asking, she demanded an answer,
Black Velocity kept his straight face as he looked at Mistral, "I've been getting this bad headache for weeks now, each time they get worse and worse, it started after that blow to the head I got in my fight with A-Bomb." He explained to Mistral,
Mistral then stands up straight, giving him a cold scowl, Black Velocity's treatments and programming is all her, she views herself as an artist and with Black Velocity as her yet-to-be-completed masterpiece, and like any artist, she won't tolerate flaws.
"Describe these headaches, are they mild or violent, and the span between each of them?" Mistral asked,
Black Velocity looked down, "They get so painful, it's like my brain is trying to claw its way out of my skull, and the span was 13 hours apart at first but now it's gotten to 7 hours." He explained,
Mistral narrowed her eyes, as this really leaves her in a quite displeased state,
Black Velocity had a longing look on his face, as he lifted his head up and looked at Mistral, "Where did I come off?" He asked, this immediately gets Mistral's attention as her eyes widen in shock, Black Velocity can't remember his life before being taken in by Taskmaster and since these headache, and he's been getting this thoughts race around his head over and over.
Mistral stared at him, still widen eyed, but shook it off glares at him, "It's time for your treatment," She changes the subject, as she lifted up her left wrist and presses it with her right finger.
Then the helmet like device lowers and goes on Black Velocity's head, as he gritted his teeth in pain, as the procedure began, as Mistral watch with a very grim look on her face,
The next day, back on Earth, it was the morning and inside the SHED,
Julie, Jaime, Kaede and Metabee were in the kitchen, with Julie was putting some chomped up vegetables in Chomp's food bowl, as the baby triceratops immediately starts eating his food, which makes Julie smile.
Jaime, Metabee and Kaede were sitting at the table, as Kaede was drinking tea, Jaime was eating come cereal, entering the kitchen was Flash, who was just wearing a plain while shirt and blue jeans.
Julie, Jaime and Kaede notice him, they heard things got really heated between him and Randy, and didn't know if he was alright, Flash walked to the cabinet and takes out a bowl and cereal and turned to the table, he sat down and poured the cereal in, as he had a straight face.
Kaede then reached her right hand out and nudged Jaima's shoulder, he turned and looked at her, as she gives him a look, telling him to talk to Flash, Jaime turned to look at Flash, with a small smile.
"Hey, buddy, you okay?" Jaime asked Flash, gently,
Flash turned to look at Jaime, giving him a reassuring face, "Ahh, I'm fine, it's just what Randy say yesterday, it almost got to me." He tells them,
Julie had a concerned look on her face, "I'm really getting worried about Randy, over this past few months, he's been losing him, he's obsessed with taking Taskmaster down and getting stronger, he completely shuts all of us out." Julie mentions her worries of Randy's changing personally.
Kaede opens her right eye and looks Julie, with a serious face, "He hasn't made a joke or made a pass on me, Tula or any girl in weeks, it's gotten that bad!" She added, when Randy Cunningham isn't making jokes or hitting on girls, that's when we all should be worried!
Julie sighed as she leans against the coater, "Me, Rick, Kai, Bee and even Ava tried to reach out to him, but he just shrugs each of us off, he's locked himself in his own box, if he doesn't reach out soon, he could fall down a dark pit where we'll never pull him out." Julie said, as she puts her hands on both elbows.
Jaime, Kaede and Flash had depressed looks on their faces, until, entering the kitchen, was Randy, quickly getting everyone's attention, as Randy walked over the fridge and takes out a fruit smoothie and starts drinking, there was silence in the kitchen, Julie, Kaede, Flash and Jaime waited, hoping Randy would say something.
When Randy finished his smoothie and turned to look at the four of them, with an unemotional look on his face, "Morning..." He greeted them,
"Morning..?" Julie replied back, as she had a hopeful look, as Randy has set foot in the kitchen in weeks so this could be good.
"Heard you get in late last night, busy patrol?" Kaede asked Randy, making conversation,
Randy had a small smile appear on his face, since he made a good impression with Alice, both as Randy and Ninja, "Yeah, but a good one." He answers her, still smiling.
Julie sees Randy smile, that was good, that was really good!
Flash finished his cereal early and stands up to put the bowl in the kitchen sink, Randy noticed Flash and walked up to Flash,
"Hey, Flash..." Randy said, with a gentle look on his face, Flash turned to look at Randy with a straight face. "I wanna say I'm sorry for what I said yesterday, I was angry and stupid, and I had no right to take it out on you, man, I'm really sorry... We cool?" Randy apologized to Flash for how he acted yesterday.
Flash stared at Randy, before he gave Randy a small smile, "Yeah, we're cool," He said, accepting his apology as he and Randy fist-bump,
After what happen with Alice, Randy's in the best mood he's been in in weeks.
Then, entering the kitchen was Ava with a straight face, as everyone noticed and turned to look at her,
Ava looks at everyone, "Gather everyone else to the meeting room in 5 minutes." She tells them, in a serious tone of voice as she turned to walk out of the room,
Randy, Julie, Kaede, Flash and Jaime all were at full attention, as this sounded really important.
Minutes later, now in the Triskelion, in the meeting room, Julie, Kaikaina, Metabee and Randy were all sitting around the table as Ava and A-Bomb were standing before them,
"We've got a lead," Ava tells them,
Everyone looked surprised; A-Bomb and Ava finally got a lead to the S.H.I.E.L.D. project,
A-Bomb looks at everyone with a serious look, "What Taskmaster is aiming to achieve is interdimensional travel, the project that SHIELD tried so hard to bury was a research experiment that was trying to travel through to other dimensions." A-Bomb explained what Fury told them,
Metabee looked confused as that's what Taskmaster is going thought all this trouble for, "That's it, what's there for Tasky to gain?" He asked,
Ava narrowed her eyes at Metabee, "You're missing the keyword in this whole discussion, 'Interdimensional', whatever Taskmaster's planning, it's much bigger than any of us thought." She tells him, though they know what Taskmaster is planning, the danger still reminds, now in much clearer and bigger sense.
"So now that we know what Taskmaster is doing, the next part is stopping it, unfortunately nearly all of who worked on the portal is dead, but there's still one person who might have some answers on how to stop this thing." A-Bomb explained,
"He was a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was one of the overseers for the project's construction, building it took 2 years so he must have a good amount of information on how it operates and giving us the edge we've been looking for." Ava finished explaining.
Randy, Kaikaina, Julie and Metabee were invested to everything they just said,
"We're gonna head to where this Richard Dodger is, but this guy had suffered greatly cause of all of this, I want all of you too understand and treat him with the most patience and empathy." Ava told everyone, in a dead serious tone of voice, wanting them to understand that the most.
Kaikaina, Randy, Metabee and Julie all nodded in agreement,
"Alright, let's move out," A-Bomb tells them they were heading to find Richard,
As everyone got up and walked out of the room, Randy was the last one to leave, as he had the most determination on his face, as they finally have an edge.
A few hours later, now in Canada, it took some asking around in the local town, but they were told of a lone man living in a cabin in the east part of the forest.
The team found the cabin, where they see the cabin was surrounded with trees, and stump with an axe in it,
Metabee turned to look at Kaikaina with a cautious look in his eyes, "Let's take this a step at a time, usually when a group of teenagers who goes into a cabin in the woods, it seriously doesn't end for any of them." He mentioned, as Kaikaina nodded in argeement, as the place was pretty spooky.
Ava turned to everyone "You guys stay back, let me take the lead," She tells them, as she walks ahead to the door and knocks on it.
Then, the sound of a lot of locks being turned, until the door opens, with the chain lock holds it from opening all of the way, as Ava sees, in the gap of the door an old man, with a balding gray hair and beard and he had a very volatile look in his eyes, it didn't take a genius to know that this old hermit was Agent Richard Dodger.
"Who are you; I'm not buyin' what you're selling!" Richard yelled out, wanting them to get of his property.
Ava had a gently look on her face, "Hello, Mr. Gray, I'm Ava Ayala, I work for the same people who you once worked for... Agent Dodger..." She tells her,
The second she called him Agent Dodger, Richard's eyes widen in shock as he knew her and the rest of the gang was from S.H.I.E.L.D.
Now inside of the cabin, Richard was walking from the kitchen with a tray full of cups of tea, he walks over to the living area, as A-Bomb, Julie, Ava were sitting on the couch, Kaikaina was sitting on a chair, with Metabee was standing next to her, as Randy was standing with his back against the wall with his arms crossed,
Richard puts the tray on the coffee table, as he sits down in a chair and stared at the gang with a grim look on his face, "So what does Fury want from me? I thought I made it clear I wanted no part with him or S.H.I.E.L.D. again..." He said, with a cold tone of voice,
A-Bomb leans in with a straight face, "We know you left that life behind you a long time ago, but something has come up that needs you're collaboration." He tells him,
Richard was still giving them a scowl,
"Please forgive us for asking this, we know it had haunted you for all of these years, but what do you know about Project Nexus?" Ava asked him,
But then, Richard looked shocked and horrified as he quickly stood up and stumbles backwards, knocking his chair, he backs into a wall, "No, no, no, no, NO!" He started yelling frantically, putting his head on his head, as the mention of Project Nexus immediately bought memories to flood back like a tsunami.
Julie and Ava quickly stood up and walked over to Richard, "Mr. Dodger, we're sorry, we understand what you went through, the horrors you saw and experience, but someone is trying to rebuild it." Julie explained to Richard, trying to be understanding but tried to make him see that there's a greater threat.
Richard looked got a hold of himself as he looked at the two girls, looking confused and fearful, "Someone trying to rebuild it?" He asked, asking if he heard them right, Ava nodded,
Julie and Ava slowly and gentle takes Richard's arms and guided him back to his chair, as Randy and Metabee puts it back on its legs, he slowly sits back down, as he gather himself and looked at them.
"Someone is actually trying to rebuild it..?" Richard asked again,
Randy pushes himself off the wall and walked over to Richard, "The guy who's rebuilding it is named Taskmaster, in case you didn't know, he's a totally nutcase." He tells him who's behind all of it.
Richard took a deep breath as he's calmed himself a bit; he was shocked at first, but regained himself.
"Richard, you're the only person who was there for the portal's construction, how it operates, I know you want nothing more for that portal to never see the light of day again, you have to help up with how to stop it." A-Bomb tells Richard, with a serious look on his face.
Richard sighed, "It was a long road to help me forget what I saw, but with everything you're saying, Fury made sure Project Nexus would be buried and never found, how did this Taskmaster know about it and what would he gain from rebuilding it?" He asked,
"We don't know, all we do know is that he'll do anything to make sure it's completed," Ava tells him,
"Richard, what's on the other side of that portal, what's over there that Taskmaster wants?" Randy asked him, hoping he would know what Taskmaster wants from wherever that portal goes.
Richard began to remember, as he stands up and walks over to the window, with a long look on his face, "... What we saw on the other side... It was something powerful... Dangerous... And wanted to crossover into our dimension..." Richard began to explaining what he saw all those years ago.
Kaikaina, Julie, Metabee, Randy, A-Bomb and Ava all looked at him, with engaged looks,
"its power could destroy everything, do anything... After that we knew then and there that we made a gate to Hell... I'm sure you know the rest of the story..." He said, turning around to face them, having a feeling that they knew what happened next after they were pulled out of the portal.
A-Bomb crosses his arms, "So what's on the other side is some kind of creature?" He asked, but with a confused look at hearing that's what Taskmaster is trying to get.
Richard looked at A-Bomb with a scared face, "'Some kind of creature'? It was beyond anything from our world, after it got hold of Agent Anthony and the professor; it changed them in more ways than one..." He told them, not wanting them to underestimate what this creature is.
Kaikaina and Julie turned to look at each other with worried looks on their faces, as this truly is bigger than they thought,
"We understand Agent Anthony and the good doc tried to reopen the portal and ended up killing themselves and everyone but you in the lab..." Randy tells him, with a serious expression,
Then Richard had a somber look, "I wasn't the only person who survived that explosion..." He tells them with great sadness in his voice,
Ava's eyes widen in surprise, "Someone else survived?"
Richard sighed, "...The professor... had a grandchild who was there... who-" But then just in the middle of his sentence, as the window shatters behind him,
Suddenly, everything got slowed down, as A-Bomb, Randy, Ava, Kaikaina Julie and Metabee all looked completely horrified as they watched, as life in Richard's eyes left them, as he falls, only to have A-Bomb catch him, as blood began to sweep through the shirt on his back, Richard was shot.
Outside the cabin, a few miles away, on a hill with a sniper rifle and on his front, was Taskmaster, as he reloads and took aim.
Back inside the cabin, A-Bomb puts Richard down on his back, as the team surrounded him, Julie, Kaikaina and Metabee all have panic in their eyes, as Ava puts her left index and middle fingers on Richard's neck to find a pulse, but unfortunately there wasn't one, Richard was gone.
"No!" Randy yelled out in frustration,
Then another gunshot shatters another window, but it wasn't anywhere near the team,
"Who's shooting at us!" Kaikaina said, as she and Metabee moves and takes cover against the wall, with her taking out her twin blasters at the ready,
Randy, Julie, A-Bomb and Ava quickly moves to the walls as well, as Randy takes out his mask and puts it on, transforming, as Ava puts on her mask and changes her clothes to her outfit.
"One of Taskmaster's, just taking a guess (!)" White Tiger tells Kaikaina,
A-Bomb then smelled something in the air, as he turned to where the smell was coming from, in the kitchen as he see that the second shot hit a gas pipe from the stove, A-Bomb's eyes widen in shock.
"MOVE!" He yelled out,
As Taskmaster fires a third shot at the cabin, which hits the kitchen and ignites the gas, and the whole cabin explodes, Taskmaster stands up and straps the rifle on his back.
But then, bursting from out of the fire, was A-Bomb, in his ball form, as he goes back to normal, as the rest of the team were inside of the ball for protection, but they were forced to leave Richard's body behind to the fire.
The team looked around, gathering themselves, Ninja looks ahead and sees from afar, Taskmaster, and just seeing him, Ninja had a surge of fury coursing through his veins, as he goes into his Ninja Rage Mode.
White Tiger sees Ninja, with a serious look in her eyes, "Cunningham, don't!" She tells him,
But Ninja bursts away with great speed and sprints towards Taskmaster, with a trail of small flames on the ground with each step he took.
The team was about to run after him, but then, from up above, an energy beam comes down and hits the ground near them, which cause them to stop, as they looked up at where the beam came from, flying in the air was Garnet, aiming her energy spear at them.
And then, something fast comes in and knocks Kaikaina, Julie and Metabee to the ground, as appear in-front of them was Black Velocity, with his arms crossed, while Garnet lands right beside him, as the two Vanguards were ready for a fight.
Taskmaster was walking to his ship until,
"TASKMASTER!" The sound of Ninja's roar of full rage, getting his attention,
As Taskmaster turned and sees Ninja, who leaped into the air, holding the Ataru high over his head and slashes it at him, but Taskmaster quickly draws his laser sword and held it with both hands and the Ataru blade and it clashes with great force, causing sparks of electricity to come off them, as Ninja was eyes filled with rage glaring daggers at Taskmaster, as he held his ground.
Taskmaster then pushes Ninja back and Ninja lands on before doing a backflip away from Taskmaster, as he goes back to normal and still scowls fury at Taskmaster.
Taskmaster was unfazed, "Again with this..?" He said, as fighting Ninja has now gotten annoying,
Ninja stood up, and quickly charges at Taskmaster, and swings the Ataru at Taskmaster, but he blocks it with his sword, holding it in his left hand, Ninja pulls back and swings again but Taskmaster blocked again, Ninja slashes the Ataru but Taskmaster blocks once again, but he quickly shifts forward towards Ninja and delivers and left kick to Ninja's stomach, knocking back a few feet.
Ninja looked up at Taskmaster with pain and anger, "WHY?!" He yelled out in frustration, why did Taskmaster have to kill Richard in cold-blood?
Taskmaster straightens up and stares at Ninja, "In war, you seize every advantage, but preventing your opponents from getting any advantage is just as effective." He tells him,
"He was a man who had suffered so much!" Ninja retorted,
"I know what he suffered through, I gave him what Fury never had the stones to, I gave Richard peace." He told him,
Ninja got angrier by what he said; making it sound like Richard was just a wounded animal that needed to be put down.
"You have no right to talk like you knew him!" Ninja yelled out, as he charges at Taskmaster and thrusts the Ataru forward at Taskmaster,
But Taskmaster side-steps to the left, dodging Ninja's blade and where he spun his body and lands an left elbow to the back of Ninja, knocking him back and causing him to stubble a bit, before regaining his balance, he turned around and drove the Ataru's blade into the ground, and decided to do this with his own hands, Taskmaster puts away his laser sword and held up his fists in response, Ninja sprints toward Taskmaster and jumps up, performing a right dropping axe-kick, Taskmaster blocks it with both forearms and pushes Ninja back, as he does a backflip and lands on his feet and ran at Taskmaster and threw his left fist, Taskmaster catches it in this right hand and holds on to it, as Ninja and Taskmaster glares daggers at each other.
"He was a good man, whom wouldn't have suffered the way he did if Fury hadn't interfered that day!" Taskmaster tells Ninja, as he throws his left fist at Ninja, who catches it in his left hand and the two were pushing against each other.
Ninja looked surprised at what he just said, Taskmaster talks like he was there, "What are you talkin' about?" He asked,
Taskmaster leans his head in closer to Ninja, glaring at him, "I told you during our first encounter, Fury betrayed me and I lost my team because of him..." He told him with venom in his tone.
Ninja's eyes widen in shock, "... You were there..." He said, putting together everything, how Taskmaster knows so much about Project Nexus, he was one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who was assigned that post by Fury, and he was the S.H.I.E.L.D. who went rogue.
"You're Agent Anthony..." Ninja said to him,
"Anthony 'Tony' Masters," Taskmaster said, with a straight tone of voice, being the S.H.I.E.L.D. who defected and was assumed dead for years.
Taskmaster then pushes back Ninja, as the two jumps away from each other; Ninja stared at Taskmaster, in disbelief,
"All this suffering, all this death... Wh... What do you hope to gain from any of this..?" Ninja merely asked Taskmaster, why do all of this..?
Taskmaster straights up as he glares at Ninja, as he kept silent, the silences only made Ninja angry, as he narrowed his eyes in angry,
"ANSWER ME!" Ninja yelled out, as he goes Ninja Rage Mode and charges at Taskmaster,
But then, coming in from nowhere and landing a kick Ninja's face, catching him off-guard, was Red X, as the kick sends Ninja flying into the woods, as Red X lands on the ground, before Taskmaster.
He turned to look at the skull-masked man, as Taskmaster gave Red X a nod, signaling him to fight Ninja, Red X then turned to face where Ninja was kick to and sprints after him,
Meanwhile, Kaikaina and Metabee were firing at Black Velocity with a flail barrage to try and hit him, but the speedster dodges each shot with total ease, and then turns and charges towards Kaikaina and Metabee, but before he could land a hit, suddenly he hits the air, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to fall to the ground.
Black Velocity sits up and looked up, confused on what he just hit, he looks up, and suddenly appearing was A-Bomb, who was in camouflage, stood before Black Velocity.
"Weren't we here before (?)" A-Bomb joked,
Black Velocity then speeds away and charges to Kaikaina and Metabee, as he zooms pass, knocking the two of them to the ground, as Black Velocity takes Kaikaina's blasters, Metabee and Kaikain quickly gets back up and moves to stand beside A-Bomb, all scanning around to see where Black Velocity when.
But then, a black blur comes in and snags Metabee and smashes him into a tree, cracking it in half and it falls on top of Metabee, pinning him down, then Black Velocity comes back around and takes Kaikaina's helmet, as A-Bomb swings his right fist to try and land a hit, but he misses.
Meanwhile, White Tiger and Julie were running across the area, as Garnet was flying high above them, firing her spear's energy beams at them, the two were serpentine, dodging the beams, until Julie stops and turns around, as she smashes both her fists into the ground and tears out two large rocks in both hand, Julie hurls one at Garnet, as she quickly shifted in the air, dodging, but wasn't paying attention to the second rock, as it hits her in the stomach and knocking her out of the air.
Black Velocity ran towards A-Bomb and Kaikaina and ran around them a great speed, creating a small vortex around them, sucking away their oxygen, Kaikaina and A-Bomb felt the air getting thinner, as they drop to their knees and started gasping for air, A-bomb looked up with one eye open and a look of struggle on his face, he mustered up all the strength he had a lifted up both fist over his head, and threw both of them down, smashing the ground with great force, shattering the ground, and the ground Black Velocity was running on, causing him to lose his balance and making him fall and tumble a few feet away.
The vortex dies and A-Bomb and Kaikaina inhaled the oxygen that was returning, A-Bomb stands up and turned to look at Black Velocity, who was pushing himself up, but then, suddenly Black Velocity felt a headache that was so bad, he puts both hands on his helmet, as he started to yelled out in pain, as his head felt like it was chisel driven in it and a mallet was hammering it to crack it open.
A-Bomb sees Black Velocity, seeing that he was in a great deal of pain, A-Bomb looked confused as he walked over to Black Velocity, he reaches his right hand to Black Velocity, but then, with Black Velocity roaring in pain, he turned his body, aiming his right arm and spun it in a circular motion at high speed, creating and tornado that hits A-Bomb and sends him flying back a few feet.
Ninja received a solid punch to the face by Red X, losing his footing, but quickly regaining it as he sun his body around and threw his left fist at Red X but he slaps his fist inward and jumps up and does a double kick to Ninja's chest, Ninja held his ground as Red X reaches his right hand into his belt and threw a number of shurikens at Ninja, who does a back flip, dodging one, as it hits the ground and explodes, Ninja lands on his hands and pushing off them, dodging another exploding shuriken, as it explodes, Ninja then lands on his feet and quickly reached into his sash and threw a Ninja Ring at the last shuriken, the two collide and explode.
As the smoke cleared, Red X leaps through it with his right wrist-mounted blade out to strike, but Ninja spun his body around and delivers a spinning kick, hit Red X in the side, knocking him away from him and he recovers and lands on his feet.
Ninja charges at Red X, who charges at him as well, Ninja and Red X clashes with Ninja holding up and pushing with his left forearm as Red X pushes with his left forearm, as they pushes against each other, the two were glare daggers at each other, before Ninja reaches his right hand and grabs Red X's belt quickly, Red X is caught off-guard and Ninja then moved his left and grabs hold of the back of Red X's head and Ninja shifted and flips Red X off his feet and throws him.
Red hits the ground and tumbles a bit, as Ninja looked at his left hand and to his surprise, in it was Red X's mask, Ninja was widen eyed as he looked at to see the identity of Red X, as Red X was getting up, with their back turned from Ninja.
They turned slowly, and reveal their face, with their hair tied into a bun, familiar ginger orange colored hair, as they turned completely and the face revealed...
It was Alice...
As she had a dark and serious scowl on her face, as she glares at Ninja,
Ninja was shock to his core, his eyes with complete disbelief, the person behind Red X, the soldier for Taskmaster, it couldn't be, Alice would never have done what Red X had done, they couldn't be the same person.
Ninja stared crushed and speechless, "A-Alice..?" He merely said,
Alice narrowed her eyes at Ninja, "Who's Alice?" She replied, acting like she didn't know who Ninja was referring.
Alice then swings her right hand and the mounted blade flies off and goes towards Ninja, who quickly snaps out of his state and reacted and moves his head to the left and dodging the blade, as he turned and sees Alice, who was in the air and swings her left leg and kicks Ninja across his face, knocking him off his feet, Ninja tumbles onto the ground as he lifted himself u and looked up at Alice, who stood before him with a dead serious scowl.
Ninja looked straight into her eyes and what he saw was pure stone cold ruthlessness, voided of any emotion, this couldn't be the Alice he knows, in her eyes, there's such a light that could brighten up the most lost of souls. This had to be a trick done by Taskmaster to get inside his head, after all he did know Ninja's true identify so he had to have some kind of shape shifter masquerading as Alice.
"Come on, where's that fire in your eyes? You'd always come at me with such ferocity," Alice tells Ninja, looking very unimpressed,
Ninja was completely lost, he didn't know if to attack, he didn't know if it was the real Alice or just some trick.
Alice narrowed her eyes as she got annoyed how Ninja was just sitting there, she then lifted up her right leg, high up and held her foot over her head and does a dropping axe-kick at Ninja, who widen eyed and quickly rolls and dodges, as Alice's foot hits and smashes the ground, Ninja rolls and quickly gets back up, facing Alice.
Ninja had a scared look in his eyes as he didn't want to risk hurting Alice if she was really Alice,
But then Alice uses the teleportation belt and teleports out of site, Ninja's eyes widen, as he quickly got on the defensive and scanned around the area to where Alice went, until Alice reappears in midair, falling toward Ninja, as she delivers strong right punch across Ninja's face, before teleporting again, Ninja tried to gather his bearings until Alice reappears behind him and does a swinging left kick to Ninja's left side, before teleporting again and then reappears to punch Ninja in the face again, soon Alice was teleporting and land blow after blow around Ninja, faster than he could react.
Ninja tried to defend himself but Alice was teleporting too quickly and land attacks, Alice then reappears for the last time and throws a double punch to Ninja's stomach, hitting him with great force and knocking him off his feet, as Ninja flies and smashes into a tree, Ninja could barely stand as he looks ahead and sees Alice walking towards him, still having that scowl on her face.
Alice reaches him and then spun her body around and sticks her right leg out and her foot pins Ninja by his throat, pinning him against the tree,
Ninja had one eye open, as he was struggling to breath, "Alice..." He pleaded,
But Alice stared at Ninja with a stone cold serious glare, as puts more pressure on Ninja's throat,
Ninja then grabs hold of her ankle with his left hand, and throws her foot off, but Alice drops and performs a right hand stand, as she does a spinning kick that knocks Ninja's hand away, as Alice quickly gets back on her feet and uses the momentum to drive her lefty open palm to strike Ninja's right shoulder with great force, the blow dislocates Ninja's shoulder, causing him arm to go completely limp.
Ninja had a look of absolute pain as he puts his left hand on his right shoulder, until Alice throws aright punch to Ninja's face, knocking him to the side and to the ground; Ninja struggled to move, but then Alice pushing Ninja onto his back and begins to punch Ninja in the head repeatedly.
"Enough," Taskmaster told Alice, as he walks up to them,
Alice stops punching Ninja, as she turned to look at Taskmaster with a cold glare, as she gets back up and looms with Taskmaster at the beaten Ninja,
Ninja looked up at Taskmaster, but struggled to get back up but was too much in pain, Taskmaster then gets down on one knee next to Ninja, and the two stared at each other, Taskmaster saw how Ninja complete stopped fighting the second he removed Alice's mask, he saw such crushing hopelessness in his eyes.
Taskmmaster then reaches his right hand out and removes Ninja's mask, changing back to Randy, who had a bruised left eye, blood was coming out of his nose and the corner of his mouth, Randy puts on a brave face, regardless of the face.
This was the first time Taskmaster truly meets the man behind the mask, but he stands up, looming over Ninja, "So you're Randy Cunningham..? How unimpressive..." He told Randy, as he tosses the Ninja mask to the ground near Randy,
As Taskmaster turned around and leaves, Randy sees that Alice was still there, as he had a look of plead as Alice sees who he is, but Alice looked at Randy and there was nothing, no emotion, no surprise or shocked look, Alice stared at Randy with a look of nothing.
Alice turned around and walked away, leaving Randy on the ground, with completely nothing to say and having a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Alice... No... She couldn't...
Julie leaps up in the air and threw both fists down, as Garnet quickly takes to the say and dodges, Julie's fists smashes the ground, as Garnet flew, the ear piece she had in her left ear comes on and she listens in.
Garnet then swoops down, as Black Velocity was still struggling against A-Bomb, but then, Black Velocity looks up and starts running towards A-Bomb, who jumps up and lands his foot on his shoulder and jumps off it, catching A-Bomb off-guard, as Black Velocity reaches his arms up and Garnet swoops in and grabs hold of Black Velocity's hands in her's.
Garnet then flies away with Black Velocity, leaving A-Bomb, Julie, Tiger, Kaikaina and Metabee, there,
"Left in a hurry..?" Metabee mentioned,
White Tiger then turned around to where Ninja went, and had a bad feeling in her stomach,
The team runs in, only to see, Randy slowly getting back up, regardless of the pain he was in, as he had a look of crushing hopelessness on account of what happen and what he has learned.
Sometime passed, now in space in Taskmaster's main flagship,
Alice was lying on a bed, that was in a completely white room, voided of windows or mirrors,
Alice was still wearing the Red X suit, as she had a grim expression, until, a door opens and entering the room was Mistral, as she had Alice's Red X mask in her right hand, Alice turned her head to see her and pushes herself up, give an uncaring look.
Mistral held up the mask to Alice, "You almost left this behind." Mistral told Alice, with a glare,
Alice just takes the mask and puts it on, "Where's Taskmaster? He always does a check-in on me after a mission." She asked, now sounding like a girl and not a guy, likely due to the mask having a voice modifier and not using it anymore now that her gender was out in the open.
Mistral crossed her arms, "He had more pressing matters to deal with, but he still wants a report," She tells her,
"I don't know what happen? When Ninja took off my mask, all of a sudden he just stopped trying to attack, like he didn't want to hurt me, considering how before he could come at me with the force of a raging bull... Plus, when he saw me without my mask, he called me... 'Alice'..?" Red X explained,
Mistral stared at her, before turning and leaving the room, Red X sees her and quickly stands, pointing her right index finger at Mistral,
"You better tell Taskmaster, to remember to hold up his end of our deal." Red X reminds Mistral, in a serious tone of voice.
Mistral stops and turned her head to look over her right shoulder at Red X, before turning away and continue walking, exiting the room.
As the door closes behind Mistral, leaving Red X in her room, as she sits down on her bed, with a brooding look in her eyes.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, it was night in Cologne, Germany, outside the main city, there was a private mansion, a car was pulling up on the driveway, stepping out of the car was Taskmaster, but he wasn't wearing his armor, he was in a black suit and white shirt, and his wasn't wearing his skull mask, he was wearing a helmet that white, had a face plate and opening where his white colored eyes are.
Taskmaster was holding an bouquet calla lilies in his right hand, as he enters the mansion,
Inside the mansion, Taskmaster walks towards the main staircase, then the sound of footsteps were heard, getting Taskmaster's attention, as he looks up.
"Daddy!" The sound of a happy young woman, who was walking down the stairs,
Taskmaster looked up at the stairs, "Synthia," Taskmaster said, sound a bit happy,
Quickly walking down the stairs, was a young woman, dressed in blue jeans and a white blouse, but the person who was wearing it, was a smiling Galatea, as she reaches the bottom of the stairs and gives Taskmaster a hug, as Taskmaster gave one to her as well.
Synthia breaks off the hug and looked at her dad,
"I'm not late, am I?" Taskmaster asked Synthia, feeling that he's late coming home,
"You still have 3 hours left in the day, you're on time." Synthia tells her dad, still smiling, as she takes his right hand in her left hand, "Come on, I've got everything set up." She tells him,
Now in the dining room, the lights were off and sitting at the table, Synthia puts a plate with a cupcake on the table that had a lit birthday candle on it.
Taskmaster and Synthia sat next to each other, as they looked at the cupcake, and the photo of a Caucasian woman with long blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform as the frame sat behind the cupcake.
Synthia had a deep, heartfelt smile as she stared at the candle, with a bit of a sad look in her eyes, "Happy Birthday, Mom..." She said to the photo,
Taskmaster then takes Synthia's right and held it, as the father and daughter watched the flame flicker,
"Happy Birthday, Mercedes..." Taskmaster said to the photo of his dead wife, in a deep tone of voice, as the candle lit the room and they continued sitting.
Meanwhile, in Jump City, on the Triskelion's island, it was raining heavily,
Inside the building, in the meeting room, A-Bomb, Kaikaina, Julie, Ava and Metabee were sitting around the table, with Washington, Centorea and Fury standing,
In the center of the table was a hologram of Taskmaster, alongside it were files and profiles of Tony Masters,
"So, Taskmaster is a long-thought to be dead S.H.I.E.L.D. agent..." Metabee stated,
Kaikaina puts his right hand on her chin, with a puzzled look, "Y'know, I kinda thought Taskmaster would be a woman in disguise..." She mentions her theory of Taskmaster being a woman,
Ava turned to look at Kaikaina, with an annoyed look, "Do you know how much that Taskmaster being a woman would make no sense, and even if he was a woman, there's no reason to be dressed like a man, and it would feel like a cheap and lazy way to add a twist that wouldn't work in a million years." Ava explained to Kaikaina, in detail,
Julie nodded in agreement, "And I don't know why, but I feel that a lot of people would get really, and I mean really get upset about it..." She added,
(A/N: HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! (_))
"I should've figured it out sooner, Masters' body was never found after the explosion," Nick said, angry with himself for not realized Taskmaster's identity.
A-Bomb had a grim look, "But it wasn't just Taskmaster's identity we learned today..." He mentioned, reminding them of the revelation of Red X's identity,
"I just can't believe that Alice is Red X..." Julie said; greatly sadden by this news,
Metabee and Kaikaina turned to look each at other, both looking sad that their friend is rolling in Taskmaster's crew.
But Ava had a serious look, "We can't let this whole 'Alice' thing keep us from focusing on the real matter at hand, there's something on the other side of Taskmaster's portal and he wants nothing but to let loose in our world." She tells her teammates to not wary on the more pressing danger that Taskmaster aims to unleash.
Centorea had as worried look, "But I got a bad feeling that Alice is connected to this somehow," She mentioned,
"Maybe it does, Richard told us that there was a child who was there during the lab explosion," A-Bomb said, as he turned to look at Nick, narrowing his eyes, "... And you know who it was, don't you..(?)" He said, already figuring out Nick knows who the child was.
Nick stared at A-Bomb and the team, before sighing, "You all know who."
"Alice..." Ava said, figuring it out,
Julie, Kaikaina and Metabee had looks of disbelief of Alice being part of all of this.
"Her grandfather was Doctor Michael Gehabich, the man behind Project Nexus, after the explosion, she was alive but put in a coma for seven years, after she woke up, her next of kin took her into their custody." Nick explained,
Julie, Kaikaina and Metabee had looks of disbelief of Alice being part of all of this; her own grandfather was responsible what's happening.
"So, Alice joined up with Taskmaster cuz' she wants revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D. for what happen to her grandpa?" Metabee theorized Alice's motives,
But then, opening the door, was Dr. Grey,
"Have any of you seen Randy?" She asked them, in a bit of a panic,
The team all were surprised, Randy was beat up bad and he refused to take any painkillers before popping his shoulder back into place, where could he have gone.
Outside, on top of the Triskelion, the rain was pouring heavily, as walking across the roof, was Randy, wearing medical gown, as he drags the Ataru across the ground in his left hand,
Randy was in a state of total despair, of course he took the news of Alice the worst out of the whole team, despite only knowing her for a few months, Randy felt that Alice was the type of girl who only came around one in a lifetime, and the fact that someone as good-hearted, caring and had a spark of life in their eye that could brighten the darkest abyss, could be a soldier for Taskmaster.
Randy felt such pain, such sadness, he cared for Alice, but when Taskmaster removed his mask and Alice saw Randy's face, in her eyes, there was nothing there... no feelings, like he was just nothing to her...
Randy started to get anger, as lightning started to form in the clouds, as he lifted his head up and looked at the lightning storm, as the rain fell, he gritted his teeth the rage within him grew more and more.
All this pain, all this suffering was because of Taskmaster, he took Randy's best friend Howard, and now Alice,
'You are... Amazing... You must lead the most exciting life, a life many people dream of...' The voice of Alice echoed in Randy's head, was what she said all lies...
Randy glares at the lightning, "Come on, you've never held back at me, not once, I'm tougher than I was before, come on I can take it!" Randy yelled at the storm, as the winds blew,
Then a bolt of lightning strikes from a far, not close enough, making Randy keeping facing the storm, as he had rage on his face,
"COME ON, STRIKE ME!" Randy yelled out, as he then lifted up the Ataru high up, pointing the steel blade at the storm, no caring of the risk of being struck by lightning, "NO HOLDING BACK, FULL FORCE, COME ON!" Randy yelled out at the top of his lungs, wanting to get struck.
And then, the lightning subsided till it was gone, leaving only the rain, as Randy desperately looked around the clouds, there wasn't anything but rain, the lightning was gone.
Randy stared at the rain, gritting his teeth, until he closed his eyes tightly and began to cry.
"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Randy roared out with full fury as he droves the Ataru into the ground and he fell to his knees,
Unknown to him, Ninjor was floating in the sky, standing on his cloud, arms crossed as he watched the whole thing, Randy was now drowning... And he was not fighting to surface...
(Author's notes- This one kept getting away, but it's now here, I know I said I'll get it finished last month, I wanna say that I'm sorry it took this long, I just wanna say that I've been given new hours at my job so I had to set schedules for my free time, I just wanna say that I'll have more time for the story, and that there will be only five episodes left for this seasons, to finally close this chapter, hope you like this episode. Favourite, comment and review please)
Side-note - Today this special because my new baby niece was born!
(I do not own any rights to the characters I have just used; they are characters from their own respected franchises)
Randy Cunningham/The Ninja - Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
A-Bomb - Hulk And The Agents Of SMASH
Ava Ayala/White Tiger - Ultimate Spider-man
Julie Hayward- Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Kaikaina Grif - Red Vs. Blue
Metabee - Medabots
Tony Masters/Taskmaster - Ultimate Spider-man
Alice Gehabich/Red X - Bakugan Battle Brawlers/Teen Titans
Nick Fury - Ultimate Spider-man
Agent Washington - Red Vs. Blue
Centorea - Monster Musume
Flash Thompson/Agent Venom - Ultimate Spider-man
Kaede Nagase - Negima!?
Jaime Reyes - Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Mistral - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Garnet Toycross - Venus Blood -Abyss
Black Velocity - OC
Richard Dogder OC
Dr. Emily Grey - Red Vs. Blue
Synthia/Galatea - Justice League Unlimited