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Posts: 855
Join Date: Jan 2008
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John Dark rolled across the USS Avenger’s flight deck in his wheelchair with enough speed to steal the basketball away from Corey Wraithe. Then he did a 180 and wheeled the chair towards the makeshift goal on the opposite end. He shoots at the three point line only to have the ball hit the backboard and bounce away to the left where Seamus Flannigan caught it with his cybernetic hand and tossed it back to Wraithe.
The sound of rotor blades halted the game as an UH-60 Blackhawk dropped into view. The athletes moved to one side of the flight deck making room for the helicopter to land on the other end. Director Westlake stepped out first followed by Jackhammer and three figures John Dark recognized immediately, his sister Jessica, and detectives Stonecipher and Lawrence from Saint Katherine’s Bay. What the hell were they all doing here? He had to wonder.
As the Blackhawk’s engines shutdown the group was followed by the pilot, the same woman who extracted Wraithe, Raptor, and Shadow Blade after their infiltration of the Pentagon. Whatever was going on here it seemed serious indeed to have brought C.O.R.E. back to Midnight Avenger Corps H.Q.
John wheeled himself over the Jessica where they embraced in a tight hug. Captain Midnight and Luminary ascended the steps and opened the hatch leading to the flight deck as they heard the UH-60 touchdown. The two of them had been below decks working on decrypting some data that had recently been intercepted. Director Westlake walked straight up to Captain Midnight and whispered something in his ear. This in turn caused the two leaders to direct their teams inside the ship.
Once in the ‘Ready’ room, a circular conference room with a mahogany table at its center, Director Westlake deigned to speak “as you know the nuclear threat level has increased dramatically in the last several days. I thought to keep all so called ‘Super’ heroes out of this conflict as much as possible. But that is no longer an option. The CIA has just received word that the Pyramid of Evil and the mercenary Melanie Neidich have just joined forces with a Middle Eastern terrorist cell which is planning to launch a nuclear warhead within the week.”
“Wait a minute” Luminary spoke out “I thought Neidich was in prison?”
“She escaped two days ago with the Pyramid of Evil’s help.”
Luminary sank back into her chair at this news. She couldn’t believe that the woman who murdered her uncle all those years ago and who she helped put away was back out on the streets. This mercenary who called herself Bombshell would pay even if Luminary had to permanently deal with the woman herself.
“Pyramid of Evil” Wraithe asked?
“A small time street gang with delusions of grandeur” the Blackhawk pilot replied.
“Thank you Sam” Westlake said “I guess if we are going to be working together then we should be better acquainted. Let me introduce to you C.O.R.E.’s pilot Samantha Norton.”
“Call me Eagle Eye” she said by way of greeting.
Robbie Westlake continued the introductions “you’ve already met Jacob Hammer and I presume you all know Jessica Dark as well?”
John was taken aback by this announcement “when the hell did that happen?” he blurted out “as her guardian I would think you would’ve had to inform me before signing her on!”
“At eighteen your sister is legally an adult” Westlake fired back “besides we needed some of that Darkhawks’ technology of yours and she agreed to provide us with it.”
Jessica’s eyes dropped to the floor as if she was studying something very important on her shoes as she felt her brother’s angry stare fall upon her. She could not bear to meet his gaze right now. She felt that she had in fact made the right choice but she could clearly see now that her brother disagreed.
“What the hell do you mean?” John said shouting now.
“Tony Stonecipher here has agreed to join my outfit as well and will be taking over the use of the late Sebastian King’s Cyberhawk suit. You see my team will go into battle wearing armored suits mimicking various abilities that you ‘super’ types might have. This way they are better equipped to handle super powered terrorists such as this Bombshell. Only Sam and I will not have armored suits.”
Captain Midnight broke up this heated discussion with a very important question “why do the terrorists need Bombshell and the Pyramid of Evil?”
“The terrorists have a large missile but no nuclear material on hand to utilize in its warhead. They plan to have Bombshell transfer massive amounts of her radiation into the missile. The Pyramid of Evil was simply a tool for them to use to orchestrate her escape and they will also most likely be guarding the silo where the missile is housed.”
“What do we know about the Pyramid of Evil?” Arcanum asked at length “the better we know our enemy the better prepared we will be to take them on.”
Director Robbie Westlake brought up a holographic image and nodded to Samantha to explain.
Sam Norton answered this question “they are lead by a man named Khafra Bastet who believes he is an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh reincarnated. His two main thugs are an armored gear head calling himself Armadillo and a quill covered mutant known as the Porcupine. But our main concern will be stopping Bombshell and the terrorists from launching that nuke. Now that we have our hands on the activation codes for the Nuclear Neutralizer Laser Satellite we should be able to destroy the missile once it’s launched.”
“Why can’t we destroy it while it’s still on the ground” Wraithe asked “wouldn’t it make more sense to determine the silo’s location and blow it up before they get a chance to launch?”
“The NNLS is only a last resort” Westlake cut in “it will only target WMDs that have nuclear energy readings, so even if we have the location the satellite’s laser will not fire on the missile. And we have reason to believe that they will not arm it until just before the launch. So we need to prevent them from getting that far.”
“So what’s the plan?” Raptor asked finally.
“A small four man team will infiltrate the silo and destroy the missile while the rest of us keep the heavy hitters busy.”
As everyone went to get ready for departure John pulled Jessica aside and ushered her into a small empty room. The look of disappointment on his face was clearly evident as he stared at her for several seconds before opening his mouth to speak.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I assumed you would agree with my decision” Jess replied sheepishly “I guess I was wrong.”
“You know what they say about making assumptions?” John said flatly “they make an @$$ of U and Me.”
“That term definitely applies to one of us right now and it’s not me” Jess shot back “this world is going to hell and I’m not going to sit around and pretend otherwise. I want to help fix it. Westlake is giving me the chance.”
“But to hand over all our secrets to the man just like that. Do you really trust him enough not to reveal our identities to the government?”
“Captain Midnight trusts him” she replied.
“That’s because he’s a former Army officer who’s used to taking orders from the government. It doesn’t mean he’s right. Besides this isn’t just about us fighting thugs back home, this is global conflict.”
“If you’re worried about me don’t be. Westlake has given me an upgraded suit and my role is only that of scout. I’m not an infantry soldier. I’m an observer. So I won’t even be near the thick of battle. Besides you didn’t object when I helped out against the Clovan!”
The truth of that statement hit home with John as he considered her side of things. Was he really worried about his sister’s well being? No he wasn’t, he knew Jess could take care of herself. This was more the fact that she was on a different team than him, one which he wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on her. Deep down he knew she was right. This world might not be around much longer if this nuclear strike wasn’t averted. And the world needs all the help it can get.
“Okay sis, I’m sorry. You’re right. Dad would’ve been proud of you. Let’s get going so we can get this whole conflict over with.”
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