redhead chuckled. "Delightful, you are really smart, just like one of my best friends. And yes, you are right, the government. All those bigot assholes who don't seem to understand how genetics works."
"And you do?" Sarah snarked.
The costumed young woman crossed her arms and answered instantly. "As a matter of fact, I do; and I know that within five or so years, the Metahuman population is going to explode and it's going to be impossible to hide their existence. Then, plenty of shenanigans is going to happen there; you know what's going to happen? I'm sure you do, you feel really smart to my abilities."
*Why does she call Mutants, Metahumans?* but she decided to shelve this away for later.
Sarah wasn't stupid, this was a test; a big one. This young woman was her ticket out of the Facility, she decided to humor her and use her to get out of here with her daughter. Reflecting on her actions for the past seven years and what she heard was happening in the labs and after meeting countless morally bankrupt big shots from the government she outlined what would happen if what the redhead said was true and that the government wasn't able to hide the truth about mutants anymore.
Lifting her gaze to the masked young woman she said, "Something similar to what happened to the jews while world war two was in full swing, concentration camps? Experimentation-" Sarah then realized that it was already happening and that she was part of the problem. She looked down at her flesh and blood who was still pretending to still be asleep and ready to burst into action if the two of them were in danger.
The costumed redhead's posture changed as she uncrossed her arms. "Now you get it? They have already started doing the same shit. It's just a matter of time until they legitimize it. But the problem is that we are not another species, Metahumans are really just that, humans, but with weird abilities to tap into the fabric of reality and manipulate it. Let me tell you, the vanilla humans don't really want to mess with those. At some point they are going to need us, they'd better not piss us off. In the end, more and more powered people will appear."
*Now I understand, she doesn't like the M word and found a new palatable one to call her people. It also sounds more politically correct. *However, the young woman's speech had some familiar undercurrent. Sarah had heard that kind of speech from someone else, in the archives of the Facility, they had records of his rallies. "You sound like Magneto."
The redhead put a hand where her mouth should be and giggled. "Dear old Erik, I like him, but no. He wants to turn unpowered people into second class citizens, just like people are treating metahumans currently. Me? I want integration and cooperation. But I am not blind to humanity's failings like his counterpart. Honestly, if I didn't care, I would pack up and leave the planet with all those people I like and I would leave the bad people to the bad things and aliens that have yet to come."
Sarah didn't like the implications that this young woman was revealing to her. *Bad events? Aliens? Why was she being so forthright?* the geneticist was scared.
"Because I need you, Doctor." The redhead finally put her cards on the table.
Sarah froze. *Wait did she just guess what I was- A telepath!* Finally catching up that her mind was being read.
The redhead walked up to her and her daughter, then as she loomed over them, Sarah asked, "I am just changing one master for another?"
The redhead crouched and stared into Sarah's verdant gaze. "I am not forcing you into anything, just like you, I am a girl trying to survive with her family from the things that have yet to come. If you accept my offer, I promise to do everything I can to shelter you and protect you from the depredations of your former employers."
When she heard that, Sarah felt hope welling up in her chest. However, she didn't dare let it go to her head, if there was one thing she learned, it was that things didn't always go like you expected them to. "You certainly are powerful… but…" The US government was powerful too, in terms of resources and control of its military and economic assets.
Sarah didn't know who the redhead worked for, but she wasn't sure that she could take her reassurances for guarantees.
The redhead laughed again. "Oh, no Doctor, let me reassure you on one thing. You are going to work for me, and no one else; the benefits include becoming part of the metahuman subrace." Her hands glowed red with light and a golden hologram construct appeared before Sarah, showing a representation of her with claws popping from her hands or shooting lasers.
"You can… give me powers?" Sarah opened her eyes and exclaimed in surprise at what the redhead implied.
She had thought herself to be one of the foremost experts in the field of genetics and that she knew everything about mutations and their consequences. But just like that? She felt excited that there might be new knowledge just waiting for her to discover. If a power existed able to manipulate biology, she hoped that she could hop onto the bandwagon; however, not at the loss of her ethics and soul. She already went through that once.
The redhead continued to speak. "Doctor… every human has the potential to become superhuman." She pointed a red clawed finger at Sarah. With eager enthusiasm she added, "I have so many things to reveal to you, to show you, but yes I can give you powers. The very same ones your daughter possesses if you want or I could enhance your intelligence."
It sounded attractive, and could become a common point that she could share with X-23. Sarah wanted to say yes right now, but decided to speak terms first. "How are healthcare and salary? Do I need to sign a contract?"
The geneticist didn't know how but she knew that the redhead was smiling when she asked her, "Doctor, how much do you think you are worth?"
For five minutes straight, the two began to hash up terms and concessions. Sarah was given asylum outside the country in a secluded base, money and a new identity for her and her daughter; employment and an important position at the redhead's table, she could veto what type of powers she got after seeing if the process to get them was safe and consulting other subjects who had been enhanced.
Sarah sighed when she was finally done, the redhead stood up and said, "Now you can tell X-23 that she can stop pretending to still be asleep."
"Grrr." X-23 swiftly came up to her feet and growled at the costumed woman, who didn't look intimidated at all.
"Girl," The redhead addressed the stabby little ball of cuteness. "Don't act like an animal and I won't treat you like one, capiche?"
For the first time ever, Sarah saw her daughter's posture slacken and lower her eyes. "Okay."
It was a strange dichotomy to the geneticist, X-23 had been guided by her instincts since the awakening of her X-gene. Seeing her become docile at the drop of a hat was frightening. Sarah asked herself if it was because of some kind of telepathic aura? Or maybe it was something more?
The redhead approached X-23 who had tensed and waited for her to strike, but all she received was a pat on the head. The costumed woman then lifted her chin after crouching to put herself face to face with the little raven haired girl and said, "I kept that Kimura bitch alive for you. But, I want to have a discussion with her first. Can you wait for me before you try to kill her?"
Sarah closed her eyes, if the telepath spoke like that to her daughter it meant that X-23 was thinking about it already. X-23, nodded and was now reveling in the woman's caressing gesture of her hair. Sarah felt a sour feeling rise up in her heart; she was jealous that she acted this way, so she came up to her daughter and put her hands on her shoulders to make her lean against her.
The redhead let go of X-23 and looked at the tall building housing the Facility. A red aura surrounded her like a cloak, she floated up into the air.
"You still didn't tell us what you are called." Sarah said.
Looking down at her, the redhead said, "My name is confidential when I am on a mission. You'll be made aware of it when we are back at the base, I have things to steal from here first."
Turning to the other woman guarding Kimura's struggling body, the redhead hollered, "Silk!" The black and white armored woman turned to her and then with a voice that brokered no misunderstanding of what she wanted, the redhead said, "Guard them," She pointed at Sarah and X-23. "kill that bitch Kimura if she looks at your charges wrong."
Silk nodded, raised a hand an arc of blue electricity appeared from it. "I will put her down if she tries anything."
"Good, dear. I will be back in ten." And the redhead disappeared in a flash of blue light.
"Mother?"
Sarah looked down at her daughter who looked at her with a serious expression, as usual.
"X-23?" Sarah raised an eyebrow.
"I want the same outfit she wore." The little girl asked.
Sarah facepalmed.
# # #
Back with Jean...
Appearing in what was left of the lobby, I looked around at the grey walled room. The acrid scents of smoke and burned plastic was everywhere, I didn't land on the floor tiles, they seemed to be scalding. Any decorations or plants inside had been destroyed by the explosions still wracking the installations.
"I'm never going to piss off Sarah Kinney." The woman had completely trashed this place, it must have taken weeks of preparation to plant all those explosives at strategic locations to spread as much destruction and panic as possible. There were dead people in the corridors and other sections of the Facility as I delved inside. Most of them killed by the explosions, debris crushing them or because of the monstrous genetically engineered animals attacking them.
I was being attacked too, by some kind of preternaturally fast dogs (?) trying to get a piece of me. From the minds of the surviving scientists those were animal-mutant hybrids developed for the express purpose of hunting and killing mutants. *Wow, those fuckers are all going to die just for creating those.*
What was worse? They made them able to locate X-genes bearing individuals, so that means every human on the planet. I mean how stupid are those people? They make those dependent on mutant DNA and flesh and expect for nothing to go wrong? What if a breeding pair escaped?! I was already imagining an outbreak of mutant animals spreading through the world eating humans and causing our extinction. My mood darkened. My Phoenix Powers sang and bid me to erase this place and clean the taint created by those scientists playing god with life.
I was not some Resident Evil character so I simply willed them out of existence by finding them with telepathy and disintegrating them all. Then I proceeded to sift through the minds of every scientist in the Facility, some knew new stuff that they didn't intend to share with the world, mostly cloning techniques, longevity or regeneration serums, material science concerning Adamantium and some sort of organic metal to be used for different military projects.
"They are giving me more and more reasons to turn this place into a smoking crater." I said to myself as I was already plotting how to destroy this entire area.
Any surviving computers and servers I found I stored in Goldie. I killed the scientists trying to salvage their work as most of them were repugnant people. My quick trip brought me to the depths of the Facility and to the panic room of a certain Doctor Sutter. A tall amber eyed man who had surprisingly got some sense of ethics and decency. "How strange."
In the room with him was Adam Harkins, the guy responsible for the creation of the Predator X project. He has dealings with the start up of the organization called the Purifiers and Weapon X. I didn't lose any time and ransacked their minds then I killed them by crushing their hearts in their chests with my TK. There was nothing left to retrieve in this place, so I teleported out of the Facility only to see that Cindy was fighting with a freed Kimura.
"What the hell?" I exclaimed.
# # #
(X-23)
15 minutes earlier…
X-23 looked between her family unit, her 'mother' and the other young woman guarding them, then at Kimura who looked at them with a baleful glare that she answered with her own by slowly popping her adamantium coated claws. This had been a longtime coming, their positions had switched. After all the abuse and ignoble acts Kimura had done to her, X-23 was feeling relief for the first time and the fires of vengeance burning through her heart. She had dreamed and yearned to kill the dark haired witch since she was introduced to her. She was a bully and an ugly human being.
X-23 was pulled out of her train of thoughts by her mother who tightened her hold on her shoulders. "Mother?" the little girl asked, lifting her head to look at her mother's face.
Sarah looked down and smiled at her. "We are free now, X-23." She caressed her daughter's long hair.
X-23 closed her eyes, finally able to show emotion since there was no one who could hurt her anymore and even if there was she would take care of them; the presence of her red haired ally and her associate unit was reassuring. They had taken down Kimura so fast, better than her poor past attempts. She felt that fighting the redheaded unit would be folly, that was what her instinct told her. She acted and smelled like a bigger predator, from her body language and way of talking, it was clear that anyone in the Facility wouldn't be able to survive an encounter with her.
As for her partner, the known one (X-23 wouldn't put it past the redhead to have more operatives) guarding her mother and herself, she didn't seem as dangerous, but appearances could be deceiving. The little girl focused her eyes back on their guard. No one would think a seven year old could be a murderer after all. After eyeing their female guard, X-23 deduced that she was stronger than she appeared, somewhat more agile and faster. "I know."
X-23, for the first time initiated physical contact by putting her hands on Sarah's. It surprised the woman who chuckled delightfully and she said, "To remember this day, I think you should be given a name."
"What?" X-23 asked in surprise, disentangling herself from her family unit.
"X-23 is your slave name, a number code that those people I worked for gave to you as they consider you a thing, because to them you aren't a person. But you think, breathe and you can love, a weapon has no emotions. I can see that you love me."
X-23 tightened her hand on her mother's and considered what she just said. "A real name?"
"Yes." Sarah nodded and waited for her daughter to arrive at some kind of conclusion.
The little girl's eyes shone with eagerness. "I want a name."
Sarah smiled, it was the special smile that was reserved for her and only her. The geneticist opened her mouth and said, "What about Lau-"
X-23 stopped paying attention as the smell of a flame burning, it came from the direction of Kimura who had a crazy smile on her face. She popped her claws with a 'Snikt' and put herself in a combat stance that surprised Sarah.
The web fluid the black haired enforcer had been covered with caught fire and their guard cursed. "Fuck!"
Kimura ripped the flaming spider web like material from her and stood up. "I'm going to fucking bury you, bitches!"
"I'd like to see you try." Then the black haired woman took a knife from her belt and observed the costumed woman.
X-23 attempted to walk toward Kimura and help their guard but her mother kept her from going. "If our redheaded savior asked her lady friend to guard us, she must be able to deal with Kimura. Watch."
Reluctantly, X-23 nodded but stayed alert and observed the two women fighting. The spider woman, she could only be called this because her costume was themed like that lunged toward Kimura, released a salvo of white webbing at the woman's arm holding her combat knife. Kimura dodged right, but was caught by another salvo on her right knee, the spider woman pulled as she bounced off the tree trunk she landed on.
Kimura received a heel kick in the face at the same time, but wasn't immediately hurt by it thanks to her durability. The enforcer caught the foot and slammed the spider woman in the ground and was about to stab her savagely with her knife, but received a shot of webbing in her face, blinding her. The spider woman rolled back, then launched herself at Kimura and hit her with a powerful jab to the ribs and jumped and kneed the black haired woman in the face making her fly and slam into the ground beside X-23 and Sarah.
Kimura stood back up, but for once her lauded durability showed a weakness and she was bleeding from the nose. It was a first for X-23, to see her bully in such a state and she couldn't help but cheer the spider woman.
"Stand down." The spider woman commanded Kimura.
The facility's enforcer ripped the spider web from her face and glared hatefully at her foe, then spat on the ground. "Never."
"Then I will no longer hold back." Spider woman said as familiar silvery tipped nails deployed from her fingers. The clawed ends then generated some kind of blue energy field.
Kimura's eyes popped out of their sockets. "You-"
She didn't see the spider woman move, she received an uppercut under her jaw that sent her six meters into the air. The spider woman jumped and when she arrived at Kimura's height performed a hook kick aimed at the center of her body. Kimura went crashing down into the trees and bushes ten meters from the scene. Before Sarah and X-23's eyes the spider woman suddenly disappeared from view. But the little girl with her superhumanly acute senses could still track down their guard by scent and the depressions of her boots she left in the ground.
"What the hell?"
X-23 and Sarah looked up, only to see the flying golden costumed woman from earlier. She descended gracefully to their side and asked. "Why is Kimura free?"
"She had a lighter." X-23 explained quickly.
"Ah, I should have put her to sleep before leaving, I guess. She's going to suffer, I informed Silk of all her weaknesses before coming to save you two.
A blue field of light could be seen from afar, the smell of ozone was distinctive enough for X-23, the scream of someone could be heard from afar and the redhead laughed. "She had her chance to surrender."
X-23 nodded at that, then she looked at her mother, retracted her claws and went to hug her; Sarah engulfed her in her embrace. Then the two of them looked behind them as they heard someone walking and dragging something toward them. It was the spider woman, the one called Silk. An apt codename, X-23 realized. Kimura was unconscious and bloody, in Silk's hand was a severed arm.
She quickly arrived at where everyone was. "You came back early, Phoenix." Silk said out loud.
Laughing, Phoenix answered. "I told you it wouldn't take much time. It's time to leave. I guess, I don't have time to speak with Kimura, but I can at least do something like this."
X-23 and Sarah now knew each of their codenames, and realized that they were related to the symbols on their costumes.
"Gimme her arm." Phoenix commanded.
Something strange happened after Silk handed Kimura's arm; Phoenix' costume suddenly came to life and tendrils of gel like golden substances latched onto it. X-23 didn't know what happened clearly, was it eaten or absorbed?
It seemed to frighten Sarah who held onto X-23 protectively. "Hmm, self molecular manipulation and a minor form of density control. Good powers, but with glaring weaknesses."
X-23 felt no threats coming from Phoenix; just more curiosity. As for her mother, she just looked at their savior with suspicion. "What was that?" Sarah asked.
Phoenix turned toward her, X-23 had the impression that she smiled at her mother from her amused posture. "Ah, this is my other partner, Goldie. She's not dangerous to my allies, I can assure you."
Sarah seemed to slightly be reassured by this announcement. "I see." Then X-23 saw the professional part of her mother rear its head. "Will I be able to study her more in depth?" She was used to it, it always happened when something interested her.
Phoenix's stance instantly became more protective and guarded. "Non-invasive scans are fine with me, but nothing more."
Sarah took X-23's hand and walked up to Phoenix, then poked at her costume. The little girl got the impression Phoenix just rolled her eyes.
"You are wearing some kind of inorganic amorphous organism." Sarah said aloud as she pinched at the rubbery gel like costume. Her tone was clinical and distanced.
"And she understands every word you say." Phoenix said disapprovingly.
Sarah looked up and there was an excited lilt in her voice. "Symbiotic relationship?"
Phoenix sighed. "Yes, we will talk shop later, Doctor Kinney."
X-23's mother nodded, recognizing that it wasn't the time or place for experiments. "That's fair."
Phoenix crouched and touched Kimura's head. A flash of hot orange and gold flame surrounded her and for over one minute it continued to burn. Sarah asked what she was doing, and X-23 was even more respectful of Phoenix who explained that she was depowering her. Then she woke up Kimura.
"Wakey wakey." Phoenix slapped the black haired woman.
Kimura's eyes fluttered open, she held on the cauterized stump where her left arm should be. "Shit."
X-23 had to hand it to Kimura, she was mentally resilient. Phoenix who had kneeled at Kimura's side said to her, "Well yeah you've done and fucked up Kimura."
The atmosphere became heavy, the little girl literally saw how the predator in Phoenix changed place with the affable and personable young woman. X-23 decided that she wouldn't ever try to become her enemy.
Kimura's bleeding lips pursed. "Then kill me and be done with it."
"There's something I want to know." Phoenix asked with a cold tone.
"Fuck you." The dark haired woman spat on Phoenix' face but it didn't reach her mask and was simply deflected.
Phoenix pointed a finger at X-23. "Was it fun to abuse X-23? To do the same shit your dad did to you?"
The little girl felt the air become warmer. "Well, you've proven that you were worse than your bastard parents."
"Shut up, you know nothing about me!" Kimura spat.
Phoenix chuckled. "Oh, I assure you I do. After all, I see your memories." She poked at the black haired woman with her clawed finger.
Sarah held onto X-23, hugging her. The little girl watched in rapt attention as the redhead worked over the person she hated the most on the planet.
"Kimura, you are a bully." Phoenix began. "A product of your past… after being kicked around by your alcoholic father and uncaring mother and at school by your schoolmates in your childhood you decided to make another kid as miserable as you felt. They really beat all that was good out of you, I guess; your grandma, what would she say if she saw at you now?"
Narrowing her eyes, Kimura tried to get up but it seemed she couldn't move. "..."
Phoenix emitted a cold laugh that wasn't at all reassuring. "She would disown you and spit on you I guess."
"Shut up." Kimura said, if her eyes could kill, Phoenix would be dead a hundred times over, X-23 felt.
Phoenix didn't seem to want to stop. "You found your way to the Facility and you were given control over the life of a young girl. You became the very thing you hated and feared growing up. X-23 played the role of your victim. Like you, she didn't deserve that horrible life, no child does, remember? But you didn't care. Even though you knew all too well the pain she suffered, you enjoyed inflicting it. You still enjoy it. That's why you are a bully and that I consider you a pile of shit."
Kimura tried to get up and struggled. "I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU." But it was as if she was paralyzed from the waist up.
Phoenix laughed. "You can't."
Kimura then closed her eyes and screamed. "W-what? My powers?!"
"I am also a biokinetic, I took back what the facility gave you." The golden costumed woman stood back.
"GIVE IT BACK! GIVE MY POWERS BACK!" Kimura shouted at the top of her lungs.
X-23 suddenly lost all fear toward Kimura, her bully, her abuser. The woman who had made her feel like her life was hell. She looked weak and completely at the mercy of Phoenix, it was a big change in her worldview.
Phoenix crossed her arms and looked down at the Facility enforcer. "You are done Kimura. But I decided to go further and beyond, to give you what you deserve, just like a certain white queen I respect did to you in another reality. You wanted to kill Doctor Kinney, thus taking the one person that loves X-23 from her. Now I'm returning the favor."
Phoenix snapped her fingers, then said, "And just like that, she's gone."
Kimura looked up at Phoenix, tears flowing from her eyes. "What… what happened?"
"I've taken your grandmother from you… the only person who ever showed you love and kindness… and in her place, I've left a deep void that will cause you pain. Do you feel it?" Phoenix said with the most cruel and indifferent tone X-23 had ever heard.
"Why?" Kimura continued to cry.
The little girl was surprised that such a monster could still cry.
Phoenix laughed. "You shouldn't ask me that. This is obviously revenge."
The golden costumed young woman turned to the little girl. "Now X-23, she's yours. Be quick, we need to leave."
X-23 tried to walk up to Kimura, but her mother held onto her. "Mother let go." The little girl said.
Phoenix intervened. "She needs to do this Sarah."
"She's just a child." Sarah Kinney tightened her hold on X-23.
Phoenix nodded. "Yes, I agree. But she was robbed of her innocence by that bitch long ago and she needs to put the Facility behind her. I know how she feels, I killed the man who made my life hell with my own hands. She might resent you if you don't let her do it."
Sarah then looked down at her daughter who stared back at her. She must have seen the resolve in her daughter's eyes, because the geneticist let go. X-23 strode to Kimura, and looked down at her.
The crying woman sniffled and said, "Do it kid, kill me. In the end, you and me, we aren't that different."
SNIKT. X-23 popped her claws. "I am nothing like you." And she plunged her claws into the woman's heart, eliciting a grunt of pain from her.
The young girl then watched as blood escaped the woman's mouth and the light gradually went out of her eyes. For five minutes X-23 didn't move and when Kimura's eyes went completely dead, she stood back and slashed the air with her blade, spraying the snow with red blood. "I'm done."
"Then let's go, enter the portal." Phoenix said as a golden aperture simply came into being.
Silk was the first to enter after hip checking Phoenix, who waited for the two to enter. Sarah looked at her daughter and said, "You will leave the Facility behind you now."
X-23 nodded. "Yes mother, what was the name you were going to give me?" Looking behind her, she looked at the tall white and grey building where she had grown up and then shrugged.
"Laura, your name is Laura Kinney." Sarah kissed her daughter's forehead.
"Thank you."
X-23 died and now Laura Kinney had taken her place. As for the Facility, Phoenix simply waved a hand and it started to shine with golden radiance that spread all over the buildings and the entire area around it. Sarah and Laura entered the portal and found themselves in a hangar with a lot of people running and checking vehicles looking like futuristic helicopters. They heard a great detonation coming from the portal and saw Phoenix pass through it with a pep in her steps.
"There's always a boom." She said as her mask disappeared.
Laura agreed with Phoenix, as she looked at her face, she couldn't help but notice how young she looked. Phoenix walked up to her and said, "Hello, my name is Jean Grey and I welcome you to my humble base." She held her hand to Laura.
"Laura." The young girl took her hand and shook it. "Thank you." The young girl smiled, turned her back and ran to her mother.
Cindy immediately placed herself at Jean's side and snaked her arm around her waist and said, "It's over, right?"
"I am done cleaning up after SHIELD, now I want to focus on my family, my friends, and you."
"Good answer." Cindy took Jean's hand, pulled her to herself and kissed her full on the mouth.
END OF ARC 2: HYDRA'S FALL
Interlude 1
(Hydra's remaining members)
December 26th, 1996
07:15 PM
Baron Von Strucker landed on the teleportation platform in a heap. Under him, Valentina de Fontaine writhed and finally pushed him away as he was too heavy. The man rolled until he was on the stone ground, the atmosphere was cold and dusty. Strucker looked around himself for a moment and took a device from the inner breast pocket of his black vest, adjusted his monocle over his right eye and looked at the screen. On it was the list of Hydra's facilities around the world.
They should have arrived in the Berlin facility but it seemed that they had landed in a remote or mothballed base. The more he scrolled down, the more Strucker's scarred face darkened. The Berlin facility was offline, Oslo, Rome, France… even the South American bases. The only bases left were the Russian one where he and Madame Hydra had just teleported to, and the Japan base. It took everything in him to not crush the device in his hand.
"What's wrong, Wolf?" Valentina de Fontaine, looked worriedly at the Baron.
She was still in shock about what had just happened to them; Valentina had thought that it was going to be a normal council meeting, where she would be able to needle some of the more useless members or obtain more concessions from them. But no, it went sour after some of them had discovered that they had missing members; then everything went to shit when armored mercenaries stormed the place. She had briefly seen someone who she had thought was off the board, a young Peggy Carter, who had recognized her too.
Von Strucker looked at her, Valentina stepped back as his gaze was hard and full of anger. "It seems that our enemies took a page from our own playbook and launched a blitzkrieg on almost all of our facilities."
Valentina's ire rose as she heard what happened. So much time and work had gone into the restoration of their organization, she could scarcely believe that such a monumental set back had happened. "They dared?" Valentina hissed.
Strucker looked at her, tightly controlling his expression. He dusted his business suit and straightened it. "That was unexpected of them."
Valentina moved and slapped him. "Unexpected? UNEXPECTED! The damn Captain is back and instead of fighting to the end, we fled!"
Von Strucker held onto his cheek and stroked it, he didn't retaliate against Valentina, he knew she was still going through shock. He acknowledged her observation. "Rogers seems to be back, yes." Though Von Strucker still doubted that it was truly him; still... the Baron had seen stranger things happen in his long life. "And this is just a tactical retreat. We will do what we have always done when met with a setback, we will rebuild, our heads will regrow and spread-"
Valentina interrupted his rant. "I doubt it will be that easy, Wolf… He isn't alone now, I am sure that you saw her, Peggy Carter was somehow there, healthier, younger, taller and more powerful, on par with the captain."
The monocled man couldn't refute that Valentina was right; that group led by Peggy and the (maybe) Captain had technology surpassing their own and there was something more worrying… the appearance of a younger agent Carter with abilities on par with her paramour meant that, "Someone has rediscovered how to make the Super Soldier serum and somehow rejuvenated the senile old bitch."
They kept silent as that supposition made them more afraid than anything else. Von Strucker was the first to speak and to walk up to the end of the room they were in. "We must see if our compatriots are safe."
"Somehow I doubt it…" The Baron heard Valentina say from behind him as she followed him.
Opening the door, they were confronted with a flight of stairs that they had to take, after a really short hike they surfaced into another room that looked like a laboratory, it was dusty, and dark. Fortunately there was a breaker box near the door that the Baron stood in with Valentina. He pulled the lever up, and with a loud sound, the lighting system came on, flickering slightly.
Cardboard boxes and crates were piled everywhere on the work tables and the ground; on the ceiling silvery pipes spread like a spiderweb, as he visually followed them, the Baron found an oval shaped structure against the farthest wall of the lab room. As the two Hydra council members walked up to it, they noticed how cold it got as they approached the machine; because it was obviously a mechanical creation. As they stopped before it, Von Strucker saw an obvious window port, he rubbed a finger over it. It was crusted with ice that melted to the warmth of his appendage.
The Baron narrowed his eyes as he saw the face of a man when he cleared the port. A familiar man, then cleaned the plate with the subject's designation and smiled.
"Is that a cryogenic chamber? It looks like one." Valentina looked at the instruments and computer linked to the oval box. Walked up to it and found that there was a book on the desk the computer was on. She took it and leafed through its pages. Her eyes widened and she moved to the Von Struckers' side.
She pushed the book into the Baron's hands. "This is the-"
Von Strucker was still grinning as he said, "Зимний солдат (Winter Soldier)."
The man chucked, kissed the woman's right cheek and pointed a finger at the cryogenic chamber. "Isn't it wonderful? We may have lost a lot but fate conspires to give us the means to return on top."
Valentina shook her head, the man was already getting presumptuous at this extraordinary find. "Wolf, we will need more than that if we want to reach our goals, and it might not be in our lifetime and don't forget… we are fighting a superior enemy who has a telepath at their beck and call."
The woman had doused Von Strucker's enthusiasm and she was right to do so. Carter's faction in SHIELD had counterattacked them and found everything they needed to take down Hydra and its associates thanks to that meddling teenager. Pierce had failed to contain her and in just a few days they had turned the tables and only Valentina and himself were left. "If we stay careful, we can win this."
Valentina looked at him in the eyes and searched for the overconfidence and bravado that she was used to confronting in the men of the Hydra council. Wolfgang Von Strucker had a superiority complex and was arrogant to a fault, he frequently underestimated his enemies in the past and it resulted in his defeat. But this time she found determination shine in Strucker's gaze. The man was hopefully going to be careful this time.
Valentina acquiesced. "All right, I will trust you to do what it takes to get us out of this bind, but I will be monitoring you."
Strucker gave her back the book with the control phrases, kissed her on the lips and said, "That's why I like you, Val. You are always here to catch our mistakes."
Interlude 2
(Emma Frost)
December 20th, 1996
Emma wasn't happy, she had been walking on cloud nine for two whole months but then fate decided that she couldn't have nice things because her boyfriend had died in a car accident one month ago.
Emma had a secret, she was dating her teacher, Ian. He was a handsome brown haired man, with a square jaw, delicious amber eyes and a rock solid body; the man clearly took care of himself. At that point she was a telepath and couldn't stop herself from falling in love with how beautiful of a person he was inside. Thanks to Ian, Emma's grades went up as he helped her study or gave her tips. Emma didn't know how to make him know she was interested, but as a more mature man he had seen the signs and told her that he was older than her and her teacher and that they couldn't be in a relationship.
It hadn't deterred her in the least and as a result, Emma practically hunted him. His seduction had been slow and subtle, Emma knew how he thought, what he liked, Emma could maneuver him however she wanted. Ian fell for her one month later. They had strived to keep their relationship secret. However, it seemed they hadn't been as careful as they should. Somehow, Winston Frost, Emma's father, learned of his daughter's escapades and interests. And it was a month later than Ian died from a car 'accident.'
Emma didn't believe in coincidences. Ian had died the day Emma had decided to give him her virginity. She had been inconsolable for a month, her grades had tanked and she didn't seem interested by school, nor in socialization. Her father even dared to tell her that she was tarnishing the family name.
She was in his study, looking at his forehead to not watch him in the eyes. Winston Frost was being his asshole self like usual.
"You will straighten yourself, young lady! Your behavior has been inexcusable as of late." The spittle coming out of her father's mouth as he shouted at her almost reached her.
Emma stayed silent and tried to look sufficiently chastised for him to be satisfied with his dressing down. "Yes father…"
Winston's eyes narrowed, he sat on his chair and leaned into it; cold gaze on Emma. "Now get out of my sight."
Emma stood tall, turned heel and left her father's study. She hated the man, their majordomo was more of a father to her than that horrible man. On the way to her bedroom in the east-wing, Emma crossed paths with her father's bodyguard. As usual she scanned his mind for dirt on her father, old habits die hard; what she learned made her stumble after passing the man. He felt smug and glowed over a job well done and hoped that her father would give him what he promised after he got rid of his gay kid...
The young brunette's eyes widened. *Christian… no!* Emma cried inside.
Emma walked faster through the corridor, and reached her bedroom, opened the door and once she was inside locked herself up. Leaning against the door, she slid down and sat. Putting her chin against her knees, she started to cry. She had to get out of here! This house! Her father was a monster! But first she needed to calm down and think. But just thinking about her brother being gone now, made it impossible.
January 15th, 1997
She had everything ready, an armored suitcase, her favorite clothes, her ID/driver licence and her passport; Emma had even siphoned money away from her trust fund to new accounts in the Bahamas. As a result, she had twenty grand in the bank and was about to leave. Emma put her hands on the steering wheel of the sports BMW, checked the fuel gauge, and put herself at ease.
This was her personal car and she was damned if she would leave it in the hands of her vile father. Wait, calling him father was too much for her. *Let's call him the sperm donor now.*
As usual, Emma left the house in her car, pretending to go shopping. None of the guards or her family knew that she intended this to be the last time they ever saw her. Emma had left letters for Cordelia, her sister and her mother, if she could be sober for one minute. Though she couldn't judge the woman now that she had her eyes open about the moral bankruptcy of the sperm donor.
She promised Cordelia and her mother that she would find a way to free them from him. Her elder sister, Adrienne could get fucked by the nearest elephant for all she cared, she was as monstrous and sadistic as their father. When Emma left Boston well behind her she sped up on the highway, grinning in victory as she was finally away from her family for good.
January 18th, 1997
Emma was taking the long road, she passed Watertown and stopped in Worcester, a somewhat big city in central Massachusetts where she changed her car's license plates and gave it a new midnight black paint job. Emma then continued to take random directions until she ended up in Westchester county but something there made her wary of staying for long, as if someone was reaching out for her mind.
The brunette unconsciously batted away the reaching metaphysical hands that were seemingly trying to grab her. Then Emma realized that it was someone like her trying to scan her from afar, she quickly left the town of Bayville as fast as her sports car allowed.
January 21st, 1997
After staying in motels for a while, Emma finally reached New York. However, it was more expensive than she remembered. Now that she lived on a budget, she started to understand how the little people lived. She needed to find a job for the time being and a cheap apartment. Her travels stopped in Queens, in Middle Village where she found herself in a just renovated apartment complex between Juniper Valley road and the Metropolitan Avenue on 78th street.
It was a tall six-story residential building made of tan bricks. Its distinguishing feature was the round-arched windows on the third and sixth floors, with a "handsome unifying foliate band course." On the ground floor was the Italian Cafe Signora, which had a cheery firehouse-red façade and blue awnings; some of her neighbors worked there as it belonged to the owner of the apartment complex as well. As for Emma, she was now living on the third floor, in apartment ten that was pre furnished. The telepath was now extremely suspicious as this apartment's rent was only $400 per month and strangely the other tenants were all women.
It seemed that there was a story there, and Emma got it when she mind surfed in her neighbors' heads. Most of the women had been freed from slavery and were ex-sex workers given a new lease on life by the two owners of this complex that had opened an organization to help young women in need. They were given work and the opportunity to finish their education, the lower price of the apartments' rent was to help get them situated. Emma realized that someone was doing her a huge favor and that somehow they knew that she needed this place. It scared her a bit but she had no choice now, she was committed.
Interlude 3
(SHIELD's Fate)
White house
January 6th, 1997
Peggy exited the oval office. It had been a tough meeting with President Clinton and his staff. She went to sit on one of the nearby sofas of the waiting room and leaned into it with a sigh. To say that Peggy was tired was an understatement, after they had captured all the high ranking Hydra officers, Jean Grey released the most damning and damaging evidence in Europe under the name of the whistle-blower called 'Anonymous' then it was the USA's turn.
The country was in shambles and the media had been running with the story constantly as new evidence was released over time, confessions were made for leniency by most of the remnants of Hydra who were caught. Some tried to flee the country but were easily stopped by the border police or the NSA. A lot of businesses had gone under as a result of their owners being arrested for treason and embezzlement. The USA was now guaranteed to see a mini recession in the coming months. It was due in part with Jean's takedown of the Merovech Investment Group that was run by Baron Von Strucker; they had a lot of fingers in American interests.
She laid the blame on Hydra about Camp Lehigh being turned into a crater to protect Jean, not wishing to shine the spotlight any further on her. Now with her financial status and apparent ease of slipping past country borders, Jean wasn't worried about any prosecution from her home country. Though Peggy worried about the money she had illegally obtained from Hydra's fund.
Jean had refused to hand over the money she had stolen from Hydra and there was nothing that Peggy could do to coerce her. It would have helped in clearing everything up, all they had was the evidence she had gathered from Europe, the politicians whose heads she had mined for info and the base full of traitors that had been recovered.
Peggy adjusted her choker, it was a tad constricting, then she looked at the two bracelets on each of her wrists; they were holographic devices in the form of jewelry with the task of masking her youth. She looked just like she did some weeks ago before landing in Pierce's clutches. Speaking of Pierce, the man had vanished, Peggy tracked his family and they were in the UK while he fled somewhere her people could not trace. *He went off the grid."
SHIELD was in peril because of him, his actions and career were all now under review and the results found were damning. Bribes, assassinations, fraud, human experimentation, funding foreign terrorists whose actions could be traced to the most heinous acts in the USA and its allies. Most but not all were of their doing, it was always to affect the political map of the world; Hydra spread war, fear, famine and just like magic they swooped in with their helping hand open. It seemed to Peggy that they had learned since their defeat and wanted to pretend to be the good guys.
It was disgusting.
The president wasn't happy, the Secretary of Defense wanted her head and the military still worshiped the ground she walked on. Peggy laughed as she realized that her meeting Jean may have either saved this country or doomed it. As most of the first world countries were still reeling from the revelation of Hydra's manipulations, Peggy thought about the World Security Council and its members, some of them were Hydra agents who were all under investigation. So now, that organization was made unviable to supervise SHIELD and they needed new backers.
Peggy was still musing about SHIELD's fate when her mobile notified her that she had received a message. She took the device from her purse and unlocked it with the scanner on the side of the flat device. The prototype smartphone was a gift from Jean who intended to market such devices. The ten inch screen came to life, a notification appeared and informed her that it was from Jean.
[Hey, good afternoon Peggy, I'm looking for a good spot to build a house, do you know any good places in Queens where I can build a mansion?]
The SHIELD director slowly answered, she was still getting used to the touch screen. {As a matter of fact I do, but wouldn't you prefer to come back to live in the Penthouse that we had you in?}
Peggy instantly received an answer. [Nope, I don't want to make it easy for anyone who knows about some of my skills to bug the place. No, I want to create a place for my growing family.]
*And under your control.* Peggy realized, this little girl was now free to do what she wanted. Images of the nuking of Camp Lehigh and that big crater in Berlin's outskirts were flashing through the director's mind. No, she couldn't leave the girl without supervision at all and if she stayed with SHIELD, Jean wouldn't tell her what she was up to.
*I think it's finally time that I pass the torch to someone else.* It was a toss between Fury and Coulson at this point.
Peggy was tired of fighting, she wanted out, she wanted a life with Steve. After receiving this new lease on life, there was no way that she would squander it with doing what she was doing now. The director began to type her answer to Jean and basically told her that she was going to assist her choosing a new terrain and that if she was open to having her live with her, she was thinking of leaving SHIELD and marrying Steve after the politicians and military were done with him.
[Sure, the more the merrier. Mom and my sisters are so going to help you with that wedding thing! Oh and by the way, I'm waiting for the official message about Steve being found…]
Peggy laughed at the message, she was about to answer back when she heard the door to the Oval office open. It was General George Hammond, a man with the start of a case of baldness, the medals on his air force uniform gleamed, almost blinding Peggy. "Director Carter, Ma'am. They are ready for you again."
"I'm coming." Peggy said, feigning tiredness of her body and for show struggled a bit to stand up.
She crossed the distance between the sofa and the door, leaving marks on the carpet. Peggy prepared herself mentally and put on her game face; as she entered the oval office, she told herself that it was for the last time.
Interlude 4
(Wanda Maximoff's new best friend)
January 15th, 1997
At first, Wanda thought that she had gone more crazy when that stubborn redheaded girl that only she could see appeared one day and continued to speak to her even though she had been ignoring her. But the visible changes in her room and the fact that she could interact with the orderlies by pranking them was proof enough that she wasn't losing more of her sanity.
Jean was her name. She appeared generally in the afternoon and spoke to her about everything, fashion, she even showed her TV shows and brought her books that she could read, mainly about new age Wicca and spiritual stuff. And right now Jean was teaching her about meditation and how to ground herself; it was difficult for Wanda, she had so much hatred and anger in her heart. Jean often had to calm her down forcefully when her power was running amok.
"You don't seem to be able to calm down at all. Still we saw a net improvement in your control." Jean said as she floated in the air with her legs crossed, she wore a black tight tank top and painted on dark blue jeans ripped at the left knee. Wanda's new friend was attractive and when she looked at her pajamas, she felt that she couldn't hold a candle to her.
Jean looked like a young adult, she had more curves than Wanda who felt like a gangly beanpole, and Wanda was envious of her figure. Even more so because Jean hadn't been interned by her family because she couldn't control her powers and got to live happily with them while she withered in this stuffy place.
Wanda remembered the moment when she was betrayed by the man she trusted the most. She remembered how her brother had pleaded with their father not to do it and leave her in this asylum. Wanda had since promised herself that she would kill the man and make him regret his decision. But first she needed to control herself, then her power as Jean had explained it to her. The redhead was teaching her something called Taoist meditation, an ancient art of practices born from the Chinese philosophy and religion of Taoism.
Its methods ranged from concentration and mindfulness, to contemplation, and visualization. They were designed to bring the practitioner into harmony with the Source of all life. But as usual right now she couldn't reach balance, sure she was less of a raging maniac than when Jean had appeared last year, but she was feeling so angry!
"What can I do about it?" Wanda asked with a whine as she massaged her temples.
Jean landed on the linoleum floor and stood up and sighed. "Well, I already began to work on it… but I think you can't reach balance because of your current location."
The redhead looked at the cell room we were in, the white walls, the lone shelf filled with books and a closet, the one person bed, the sofa and the table with a chair. Jean looked disgusted by the place, and Wanda agreed with her. But something bothered her by what she said, *How will she change our location?*
Wanda cocked my head. "What?" She floated up, at least she could do basic controlled telekinesis now, she wasn't able to do as much before.
The green eyes of her best friend focused on her. "Wanda, do you want to leave this place? Come with me?"
Wanda stood transfixed by the question for five long minutes, Jean was now used to her freezing like that while she thought. She gave her space until Wanda trained her verdant gaze back on her friend. Looking manic and disturbed by the question whose answer should be obvious, the auburn haired girl said, "That's not possible. I tried to escape before, they got someone who is immune to my powers somehow, and they always, always, always catch me."
Jean approached and hugged her. That felt real, but there was no warmth that she could feel from her friend's body, no scent that Wanda could smell; that was why she still had a seed of doubt that Jean was still a product of her imagination and of how lonely she was.
Jean stepped back from her, smoothed Wanda's auburn locks with a hand and flicked her forehead. "I am not hearing a no, so~."
Wanda felt something behind her, she turned and at the same time, a golden portal slowly opened where the cell's door was supposed to be, on the other side was a garden. She stood there watching the green grass and the flowers, golden sunlight made the scene look out of a painting.
"You should pack your bag, don't you think?" Jean said from behind her.
Wanda who was still looking at the landscape in the portal didn't move or turn to the redhead who was being patient with her.
"Jean?" Wanda said in a frail voice.
The redhead walked up to her and hugged her from behind, placing her arms around her. "Yes hun?"
Wanda leaned into her friend. "You are real right? You are not my imaginary friend or…"
Jean chuckled and kissed Wanda on the top of her head. "Wanda, pack your things. I will meet you outside and I promise you, I am as real as it gets."
Wanda wanted to believe, believe that her new friend was real. Originally, she had gone with the flow and accepted her presence as she had appeared after Christmas and started to talk to her. At first she had ignored her, then when Jean had started to interact with her things and the orderlies to start a prank war, Wanda began to interact with her. Jean taught her rudimentary knowledge about her powers, taught her to not be afraid of them, that it was what was causing her to be unable to manipulate them at will.
Then Jean had started talking about her life, her family, friends and her two girlfriends Anna-Marie and Cindy, how she heard about her because she had met her dad; that had pissed her off and Wanda had gone right back to ignoring her. But Jean was stubborn and told her how she met her father and that he had tried to recruit her but she had skillfully made him not want to do so as she had subtly insinuated that she would take his organization from under him. That had made Wanda laugh and… grudgingly speak to Jean again.
Jean gradually inserted herself in her life and made it interesting, there was no way Wanda would give that up; so she took a leap of faith and moved, she went to her closet and took her old suitcase, the one she arrived in this facility with and began to load it with her clothes and spare shoes. She made her book filled shelf float, guiding it with her telekinesis and then stopped right before the portal.
"Nervous?" Jean asked as she passed an arm around Wanda's waist.
Wanda nodded. "This is a big step."
Wanda stayed in the same position for another ten minutes looking at the beautiful garden, she even noticed the giant tree roots and that this place seemed to be inside a cavern illuminated by giant crystals. It was as if she was dreaming, it had happened to her before, she had dreamed of such a place that offered her freedom. Wanda would be wary if she couldn't feel Jean's arm around her waist.
The auburn haired girl turned her head to her friend and asked with a vulnerable voice, "You are really real?"
Jean's smile was simply dazzling as she answered, "Take a step in, I will be there physically. I promise this is real."
Wanda nodded. "Okay."
Jean let go of her and the girl simply entered the portal with all her things floating around her. The portal closed once she was through, her feet landing on a stone road leading to a white colored gazebo. From afar, Wanda could see that someone was waiting for her there. She walked silently toward the small structure, as she did so she felt the breeze coming from the mouth of the cave and the sunlight coming from the giant yellow crystals embedded in the walls of the cavern the giant tree found itself in, roots were spreading all over the cave, hiding some of the grey colored rocky walls.
Wanda arrived at the gazebo and saw Jean waiting for her there, on the table there was a beautiful tea set and a matched pot on a silver tray, with cakes and other pastries in a box. Jean stood up and initiated one of the hugs she had gotten used to now. "Wanda, you finally arrived."
This time Wanda could smell lilac and feel the warmth of her friend. This was definitely real, her best friend had taken her from that damned asylum! "Jean, you are…"
Wanda's hand roamed all over her friend, feeling her full body for once. Jean stepped back from her embrace and was blushing. "I told you, I am real." She huffed.
The auburn haired girl's eyes widened as she remembered everything Jean had told her. How she had to kill her enemies when she had been kidnapped and how she had died and had come back to life. "Then everything..."
The redhead nodded and held onto Wanda's arms, reassuringly squeezing them. "Yes everything I told you is true."
Wanda then realized what that meant for her, she made a powerful friend. Someone who wouldn't abandon her and would show care for her; it was at that moment that Wanda latched onto her friend and asked, "C-can I stay here with you? Forever?"
Jean put a hand on her cheek and looked at her straight in the eyes. "I've got a better deal for you, Wanda. Wanna be part of the family?"
"Huh?" The girl asked with a raised eyebrow.
Interlude 5
(A day with the friendly neighborhood Metal Spider-man)
January 10th, 1997
Queens
10:21 PM
Peter swung from building to building, at his side, Cindy and their new friend Jessica Drew mimicked him. It had been surreal to discover that he wasn't the only one with spider powers, but in a sense reassuring. Sure they had different abilities such as pheromones control, gliding and their venom blast, but they could do the same thing as him with their base abilities.
To him what mattered was that he wasn't alone on his patrols anymore; the girls had started joining him with his helping people thing. He was also supported by his aunt May and his uncle Ben. But of course they had given him rules and guidelines to follow now that they were aware of what he was doing at night or in the afternoon. It was strange to see them young again; it was like being thrown back in time to when he was still seven.
So much had happened, he was dating the girl he had had a crush on for a year, he had powers and money to experiment and invent stuff; his aunt had quit her day job and both his aunt and uncle worked for Jean Grey now, the girl who had changed his life. Peter's life had been on hold for a while since his uncle's death, he had sunk into a depression and had lashed out at everything. He had had to get into a fight with his friends, had lost and had gotten put into timeout in a cell to see the light. That he had been a self-centered asshole, and that his way of repenting for his perceived crime was self-destructive and would have caused him to have a very poor life, like that poor dimensional counterpart of his who couldn't be happy at all as an always broke photographer.
Seeing what fate had in store for him made Peter rethink his choice, Jean had forced him to and then proceeded to make him owe her more by bringing back his uncle Ben. All she had wanted in exchange was him to do his best in life and being friends.
With that thought, Peter landed on a gargoyle and peered down the street, Jessica and Cindy stuck to either side of him on the edge of the roof of the small building. The three of them activated their camouflage and stopped being visible to anyone but their teammates. They faced a tall multi-storey building made of tan bricks and glass, there was an underground parking lot in obvious use. The lights of the electric sign showed that it was a combination of businesses. A restaurant, bar and nightclub.
Thanks to the surveillance and spy satellites that he had helped build, Peter's life was made even easier; he no longer felt the need to patrol all the time thanks to it as they scouted the entire Queens area for trouble. Muggings were taken care of by the spider drones that Jean had made for him and the girls. She called them bots, but they were clearly remote controlled by that new AI of hers. The one she wouldn't let them speak to.
"Hey Spidey, you sure this is the place?" Cindy's tone implied that she doubted it even though she could see it was so through her AR goggles.
The girls kept him on his toes, when they sortied they always questioned his actions and often gave him advice, but sometimes they were downright annoying, like now. It came from hanging out with Jean Grey, she usually just scanned the place with her telepathy and sorted out the guilty from the innocent and then burned a path to capture everyone. *Well, not everyone can be telepathic and have telekinetic artillery.* Peter quipped in his heart.
"Yeah, this is boring, I thought we were going to break some faces." Jessica added, she looked at him through the yellow colored lenses of her high-tech mask.
She wore a black skintight vibranium weave mesh suit with red accents on her shoulders with a high-tech spider motif made of glowing circuitry. At her wrists she had some kind of red gauntlet that boosted the effect of her venom blast. She was difficult to fight if you weren't insulated from electric shocks.
Peter's body language showed that he was rolling his eyes. "Girls, please this is serious business, okay? I'm investigating a gang."
A gang that may be under the control of another; and Peter thought that it was going to be his first foray into confronting organized crime.
"You mean we." Cindy's tone brokered no argument.
Jessica hid her mouth with one of her hands and giggled. Peter gave her the stink eye and said, "Yes, yes, we."
Cindy nodded, put her right arm before her and used her gauntlet computer that transmitted Peter's notes for a quick perusal. She had admin root access to all of Jean's technology, a benefit of being the boss lady's main squeeze.
She hummed and said, "This gang, is it the one that organized those illegal fights we heard about? The one that organizes fights to the death for rich people? I saw the file, they leave the bodies of the losers in dumpsters..."
Peter nodded, deciding to keep the full breadth of what he believed those people were doing to himself. "Amongst other things."
Suddenly Peter felt the girls' gazes on him, Cindy approached him and annoyingly poked his helmet. "You only take that tone when you don't want to tell us something."
Peter took her hand in his and gave her a look. "Okay, stop! Well... I don't want to tell you because it's just a hunch I have, nothing confirmed yet."
The girls on either side of him stayed silent, and waited for him to share his findings.
"You really want to know?" Peter sighed.
The two girls nodded and waited in silence.
Peter showed a fist and raised a finger each time he listed a crime. "Money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal brothels, illegal fighting arenas with humans and canines, scam operations and I suspect other things that I couldn't get evidence on because the spider drones didn't infiltrate all the physical locations of their operations. This shows evidence of multiple gangs working together and we might have to take out the big boss first."
Cindy whistled. "Crap, we are going to have to get help for this Spidey."
*Says the girl who destroyed multiple Hydra bases with her girlfriend.* Peter mocked in his heart.
Peter found that Cindy was a rather... vicious individual, and desensitized to violence because of bad habits she picked from the brutally efficient Jean who had suggested or showed her assassination techniques. The girl could take you out as if you were nothing by pressing some nerve on your body or shock you into submission with her venom blast, at least she didn't try to use her silk thread like a garrote wire anymore. Pete shuddered as he remembered how she silently took down a mugger three nights ago. She silently used her thread to descend in the alley and caught him with her web thread and dragged him up and let him hang until he lost consciousness.
Of course it was Peter's job to reassure the frightened old couple that was being mugged. Cindy was a rather timid individual who avoided people she didn't know; Peter was the people person of the group. The spider-girl clearly needed to learn what types of skills to use in different situations and acquire some people skills.
A bank of black vehicles appeared from the intersection, catching Peter's attention, but he still answered his teammate. "I know we'll have to, unfortunately, we can't go to the police yet with what we have, some officers might be bought."
Jessica spoke in a thoughtful manner. "We might need to involve Jean later for some mind reading, she knows how to dismantle organized criminal operations."
"Or she will take on a supervising role and make us do it." Cindy said as a counter to Jessica's proposition.
"She'd do that?" Jessica asked, surprised by Cindy not falling in line with her way of thinking.
Peter chuckled, Jessica was the most recent arrival in their group; after being saved by Jean, she blindly followed the redhead's lead. *She really thinks the sun shines outta Jeanie's ass.*
"Positively, she wants us to be able to do things without her, unless it's too big for us; at least that's what she had told me the last time, she was kinda busy with the renovation of the base and talking with her new friend."
"That also means that she trusts us enough to do that kind of thing, right?" Peter had perked up at Cindy's explanation, he ignored the girl's pique at the girl that Jean was trying to save from unlawful institutionalization.
The two girls kept their peace as the parade of black vehicles arrived at the building. The procession was composed of two armored SUVs protecting a large limousine in between them. They were checked out at the entrance to the underground parking lot, then let inside. The concealed spider drones inside the underground parking lot then started to record video and transmit it to the trio's HUD. The bodyguards surrounded a not particularly tall bald caucasian man with thin hair on his head's sides and a gaunt face, he wore an Armani suit and had a metallic briefcase in his hand. They filed out toward a door that led to a bank of elevators.
"Who is the big cheese who exited the limo?" Cindy asked as she zoomed on the face of the VIP.
With a quick facial recognition search, the computer showed the rather thin information on the man, a certain Dr. Mindella with multiple PhDs in Pharmacology and Chemistry from NY university.
"Some guy called Dr. Mindella." Peter commented, the girls had access to the same information as him so he didn't speak more than that.
Jessica seemed to have taken her time to read the file on Dr. Mindella. "What's so special about him that he ranks the limo treatment?"
Peter sighed, his shoulder sagging, then started to say, "He's a researcher that the gang I am hunting hired to make most of their designer drugs; didn't you read my notes? They are selling the normal hard stuff and some horrible drug called Death's arrow that temporarily increases physical abilities in their fighting ring, until the user dies though."
Spider-man transmitted the files about the drug to Jessica's HUD. The girl gasped as she without a doubt saw the rictus of death each of the users of this concoction had on their dead faces. "It's horrible, it causes heart failure!"
Peter had to throw up when he saw the pictures from the morgue. It wasn't the first time that he had seen dead bodies, but seeing them with pain and fright written all over their face like that? *What kind of man doesn't care about that kind of shit? This gang needs to be put down.*
Cindy impatiently said, "So when are we going in?" She was raring to go.
Peter made the sign to wait and answered, "We will infiltrate the place when the bots obtain sufficient evidence."
It took over an hour to record the lab this place had in its basement and to actually see Dr. Mindella as he refined his drug; the bots took advantage of his distraction to also hack his computer for data. When they got everything they wanted, they entered the Troya, a bar/restaurant/nightclub through the roof and the door there while cloaked. They avoided detection rather easily and reached the staffroom, but something unanticipated happened. In the supposed staffroom there were multiple shelves and lockers, with table and counting machines, they found goons in black business suits on the ground, they were still alive but unconscious or seizing. Their skins showed the telltale electrical burn that tasers made.
"Someone took care of them." Jessica said as she looked at how those five people were taken down.
Cindy walked to the lockers to her right and looked at how their doors were torn off and laying on the ground. "Some of those lockers were forcefully opened with great strength. From the depressions in the metal that looks like fingers marks, I would say the perp is enhanced. Some of the leather bags are missing, I guess whoever it was took some of the money, but not everything."
Peter nodded, it seemed that it was only one person who did all this. As the spider-bots were analyzing the scene, multiple threads of thought ran through Peter's mind as he tried to guess at what had happened, the strength needed to tear out locker doors, how fast someone had to be to take down five grown men and the technology and power needed to use a rechargeable taser. *Unless it's an energy manipulator who can somewhat speedup his or her body.*
Bang! Crash! Then the cries of someone rang, Cindy and Jessica immediately entered in a fighting stance and looked at a door connected to the staff room.
"Quick, let's go see what's happening!" Peter said as he opened the door and froze on the spot as he saw something that made him cold.
This was the lab that he had seen through the spider-bots cameras, it looked like a cheap chemist was working here as everything looked pretty outdated to him. But what made him freeze was the dead body of the woman strung up on the lab table and the rictus of pain on her face.
Peter's eyes found Dr. Mindella crucified on the wall with pieces of concrete molded around his arms and waist, he was moaning in pain and praying to God. Someone seemed to have gouged his eyes out and broken his hands. Blood streamed out of his eyes as he begged some demon not to take him between prayers. Peter heard a gasp behind him.
"The hell is happening in here?" Cindy asked as she saw the disturbing scene.
"Call the police and the EMTs, Silk." Peter's voice was cold and his vision had not left the doctor for a second. The girl obeyed, and began to call. Jessica looked nauseous as she watched the dead body on the lab table and the crucified doctor.
Twenty minutes later, when the police and emergency responders arrived, Peter discovered that what had happened in this lab wasn't the first time the police had found someone in such a state, that they found a card with a stylized red bat symbol on the victims who tended to be reprehensible or monstrous criminals that always ended up maimed in such a manner fitting their crimes.
They were on the roof of the building facing the bar/restaurant/nightclub, the cops had evacuated everyone from the establishment. The Spider-gang had been shaken to their cores by the incident and were blaming themselves for having been too late to stop it.
"We have to stop the person doing this… we have to be better." Peter began to say, this wasn't heroism but vigilantism.
He was used to disabling people non-lethally, but what he had just seen showed that the person hunting these people was brutal and uncompromising. Peter felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned his head to see that it was Cindy who wore a determined expression. "We will, Spidey."
Peter nodded back. With this hero gig, he was bound to find horrible scenes such as these. He needed to toughen up.
"I want to go home…" Jessica expressed, that scene was seared into her mind. "Maybe we should go back to base."
"Let's." Peter said and threw himself out of the roof and swung away from the place that would give him nightmares for nights to come. The girls followed him with feelings muddling their thoughts.
For all the time they were there, they didn't notice the person in the shadows on the neighboring building who had been observing them for a while.
Interlude 6
(Frank Castle and the strange redheaded girl's offer)
December 31st, 1996
Hell's kitchen
03:54 PM
Frank threw his last homemade high explosive grenade, it rolled on the ground amongst the goons firing at his team, they panicked; but for five second nothing happened, they began to shoot back in anger because they still thought it was a fake. Frank smiled when he heard the 'boom' and the cries of dying people.
"Yo Frank, you used the timed one already!" Alan Yankovic, their assault specialist shouted at him in reprimand.
The soldiers laughed mirthlessly. They were all wearing tactical clothes and protections, but it meant nothing to those guys packing heavy weaponry.
Frank hadn't thought that it would end up like this, him and his team pinned down in a disused warehouse by an army of goons packing heavy ordnance. His team had thankfully condemned the side entrances and trapped them with explosives. They were making their last stand. This operation had started with so much promise… they had been using the cover of night to take down all those gang leaders, the Diamondbacks, the Diablos, and some of the Maggia's men. One month of preparation going down the drain because they had thought they could trust the District Attorney. The man was supposed to join them and obtain the evidence they had gathered.
It was a mistake as the man was clearly bought; Avery, his friend had been crushed to learn that the man was a turncoat, they had known each other since they joined the army together. The man, Connor Stones, was ex-JAG (Judge Advocate General Corp) from the army. It had been a friendship beyond the ranks, but it seemed that when a man is given power his integrity and morals are tested, a test that Mister Stones had failed as he became corrupt.
Frank used a mirror to look at the angle, some men wielding rifles continued to shoot at the concrete barricade and at the members of his team who reciprocated. He wished they had some more grenades right at this moment.
Frank looked at Avery standing up and raising a hand and blasting a tongue of fire out of his hands. And severely burning some of their foes who were screaming as they were burning alive. It was music to Frank's ears, but the dead were quickly replaced by more armed goons more determined to end them.
Bang. "Argh!" Avery fell on his ass, holding onto his perforated shoulder.
Frank fired his P90 and shot two people at center mass then went back under cover and crouched next to Avery. "Fuck, hold on Av!"
The bullet had gone straight through Avery's shoulder and a lot of blood was pooling next to him. Frank cut a strip of Avery's clothes and tried to slow down the bleeding. The shooting intensified when the goons at the entrance realized that their opposition was in disarray.
When everything was apparently lost, a golden aperture opened in the ceiling and someone passed through it to land before the barricade. Frank chanced a look and saw the silhouette of the back of a redheaded woman in a long light brown furred coat stop all the bullets mid-air. When the goons ammunition ran out, she tilted her head and all the weapons were wrenched from the men's hands, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers; the goons all fell onto the ground as if their strings were cut.
The bullets all fell, clinking onto the ground or rebounding off the dead and burned bodies. The redhead turned to the barricade and Frank gasped as he remembered who this was. Sure, she was taller and looked older, but she was memorable, she had saved his family previously.
"Jean Grey?"
Her head turned to Frank who looked at the strange get up she was wearing under her coat, it was a skintight bodysuit in black with a red pattern. The young woman smiled at Frank, "Ah, Mister Castle, just who I wanted to see."
Frank remembered how Jean had helped heal his wife and asked quickly, "Please, could you help my friend? He's bleeding out." He pointed his hand at Avery who was now breathing heavily.
Jean floated up and looked over the barricade and saw Avery fading. "Oh, certainly."
She landed at his side and put her left hand on his wounded shoulder, golden flame surrounded it and as time passed Avery's face regained more color. He was lucid enough to look at Jean. The other four men at Frank's side stood transfixed as their friend was being healed. They knew all about Avery's power and how he was immune to flames and could throw fire out of his hands. But seeing a girl fly and heal someone was new.
"Frank, since when do you have your own guardian angel?" Vic, one of Frank's army buddies, asked him.
The man turned to Vic who was in black tactical clothes and had an HK21 in his hands; he was tall and had a ski mask covering the top of his face. "Don't look at me, she comes and goes as she pleases."
"Damn right I do, soldier." They heard Jean's voice and then turned to her.
She looked at her bloodied hand and the carmine fluid slowly dissolved into it. Frank frowned at that, not knowing what to think of that action. She moved her fingers as if she was doing away with something unclean. Turning to him, Jean looked at Frank and said, "Mister Johnson will live, he will need to eat a lot for the next four days to replenish the blood he lost and to support the regeneration I influenced his body to perform."
Frank didn't remember when he told her Avery's name, but he nodded after looking at Avery who stood up by being helped by Jean. "Thank you, I thought that… we were goners."
Jean smiled at him until she changed expression and showed how disappointed she was. She sighed, "I don't want to rain on your parade but I have to say it. You had a good plan, Mister Castle; but you trusted the wrong person. Connor Stones? Another one to take down."
Everyone stood still, but no one touched their weapon or pointed it at the girl. Threatening her may have fatal consequences after all and they were not ingrates after what she had done for them. "How do you know-"
Jean raised her chin toward the downed men. "It was easy, I read the minds of all those goons. They work for different organizations that answer directly to the Kingpin."
Frank cursed inwardly, they had attracted the attention of the big Kahuna himself. "Fuck. This is really getting dangerous."
She rolled her eyes as he stated the obvious. "Well, yes, Mister Castle. You can trust no one inside most of the state law enforcement agencies to do their jobs and take the Kingpin down. Most of the cops are either bought or blackmailed."
Avery, Vic and the rest of the men looked lost about what to do; they were fighting an entrenched enemy who was using the authorities to pretty much do everything he wanted. This situation reminded them of their tours in Afghanistan, the locals were fighting them, took potshots and wanted to kill them with prejudice.
New York was another hot spot to them but with different rules. Jean seemed to like that each of these men realized how deep they were in; Marvel had no mercy for anyone from either side of the coin, justice and villainy were concepts and points of view. This world was intent on shitting on everyone.
Jean addressed Frank after a minute of silence. "Remember what I told you about revenge? How you should focus on your wife and kids?"
"I remember." It was as if they were back in Central Park, the young woman at the time had told him how he should prioritize his family; that they'd need him, but he sent Maria and the kids out of state to her parents for the time being. Maria had begged him to not do it and to let them stay but he hadn't listened. Frank hoped that he still had a marriage to return to.
Jean shook her head, she still had that disappointed expression on her face. "Then you know you done fucked up, you almost died here."
Frank didn't back down, with a growl he said, "I could not stay inactive, they are bleeding this city, I keep having these nightmares about losing my family and I don't want it to happen to anyone else."
They glared at each other for a long moment, making the other people present nervous. Then Jean grinned at him and finally said, "I see, then we will do it another way. You want to take down the Kingpin and the Maggia, right?"
Letting his hold on his rifle slacken, Frank narrowed his eyes. "How?"
"I am creating my own Private Military Company and I need skilled people." Jean looked at everyone in the room, in particular at Avery and Frank. "I have the funds, and you have the expertise, I intend to clean the city."
"You intend to run mercenary Black OPS?" Avery intervened, his eyebrows raised in disbelief.
Jean turned to him and made a so-so motion with her hand. "No, a legit PMC that will test the new technology I am coming up with… and if we appear to do what is right at the same time?" Jean shrugged with an impish smile.
Frank could see how uncertain Avery and the rest of the guys were. This sounded too good to be true and they doubted that the girl worked alone, but the way she had downed everyone as if they were nothing endeared her to them. And it seemed that they needed protection and resources after the shit they pulled, all of them felt that they needed to take out the man threatening them and their way of life.
Jean took out a device from a hidden pocket in her coat, it looked like nothing Frank and his guys had seen before. It was a flat rectangle that lit up at a touch, it projected some kind of spherical hologram. Frank and the guys looked at it mildly interested.
The redhead said, "I will give you a tour of the facility after this, so don't decide anything just yet. Anyway, it's time to take down a corrupt DA. I am going to call someone higher up on the food chain to resolve your problems."
"We are with you, Ma'am." Alan Yankovic stood straight.
Deep inside, Frank laughed; for once Alan wasn't mouthing off to someone. The girl was already working miracles.
"Don't Ma'am me, sir. Call me Jean." answered back as she sat on the concrete barricade.
Avery came up to the young woman and looked her in the eyes. "Thanks for the save."
Some kind of unheard conversation seemed to be going on between them; Frank told himself that they were using telepathy or something. Then suddenly Jean laughed throatily. "Oh, Mister Johnson, we are going to be good friends, you and I."