If you want to help me financially, you can do it on
https://ko-fi.com/neverluckysmile
It was hard to tell, but Harry felt he was all for the idea, which Jean, with her empathic powers, confirmed a moment later mentally. The large alien was just as much of a scientist and philosopher as he was a fighter. Cho'od and had no desire to see this entire region of space fall into barbarity.
"That's all well and good, but we're still Pirates. And the whole Empire now is a treasure trove of lawlessness. Do we really want that to change?" Raza asked, with Corsair frowning but eventually nodding in acknowledgement of the statement.
"I suppose the answer is, do you want to build or do you want to destroy?" Harry answered, his voice firm and even cold now as he looked at the two men. "The Shi'ar destroyed as they built their Empire, breaking every race they met to the yoke. You have a chance to reverse that, to bring back these other races, let them build their own futures rather than be subservient to that of the Shi'ar. "Which sounds better to you?"
"Well, when you put it like that, I can hardly argue," Corsair grumbled. "And do you have anything to start the ball rolling?"
E stepped forward from where he had been standing nearby. As an android, he didn't need to eat, so in his estimation only truly enjoyed about 45% of such social gathering. But the android had still enjoyed the remaining 55% up to this point.
"We do. Forge suggested that the attacks the shared operating system that is the bedrock of every Shi'ar computer system. While the Shi'ar Empire's communication network is always fully integrated, that should not copy over into other systems unless it is part of that underlying programming kernel. A virus that attacks that will be almost impossible for the Shi'ar to even discover, let alone remove. It will not be as simple as switching out ruined parts or doing a hard reboot. Instead, they will have to develop an entirely new programming style."
"Which is impossible for the Shi'ar," Cho'od intoned, unknowingly echoing Ororo's comment on the subject. "Imagination is, as we all know, is a foreign idea to them. So the idea of recreating an entirely new operating system will never occur to someone in the Shi'ar's society.."
"Exactly. So offering a proven operating code could be a major trade item. As could simply transporting goods and people from one planet to another in any one system."
"What's to stop someone using the operating system on one of the Shi'ar fleets and then using it to spread the new OS around, including to Shi'ar worlds?" Raza objected, although his objections were now less vituperative, a sign he seemed to be coming around."
"You know these races. You've had dealings with them before. You can choose the first few species you approach carefully, so that doesn't happen," Harry replied mildly.
"Yeah, don't choose my race," Nightside grumbled. The Starjammers had been eyeing Nightside warily, but she had stayed close to Banshee and Reed for most of the party. "Heck, the Titan folk and my race are probably the worst when it comes to being happy about being part of the Empire."
"But we'll still be only one ship for a while," Raza once more objected. "There's only so much we can do with one ship, no matter how enlarged our cargo hold. And with every ship we bring back online, we will be faced with the danger of a captain heading to the Shi'ar to help them too."
"Eventually, you'll have to start trusting the races you are helping," Ororo answered with a shrug. "There, you must rely on your own recognizance and hopefully, by that point, the local leadership."
"But you're right that you will eventually need more ships. Start making contacts now, and then head to Earth in a month, once you know you can do so without being followed and have some allies. We'll have built up a fleet of computer-guided ships that you can use. Freighters that will fly themselves under your directions. You'll need to provide that direction and defense, but it will let you transport even more resources and goods. You may even be able to branch out and send them on their own eventually, once you have a network of contacts established," Jean replied.
Harry looked at her, and Jean sent, "Freighters are easy, love, especially remote-controlled freighters. I bet Reed could design one you could then enlarge the interior of."
That did sound simple enough given their current resources, and Harry sent back a feeling of agreement before looking back at Corsair. "So are you going to hang up your pirate flag and drive the final nail into the coffin of the Shi'ar Empire so that it can never grow again? Or are we going to need to look elsewhere for someone willing to do the work here, Corsair?"
"What about fuel?" Corsair asked. "Putting a refueling station back online would take weeks and parts we don't have."
"So we build our own." Harry shrugged, pointing at Forge and Reed before pointing towards the exterior bulkhead of the ship to indicate the star system beyond. "You've got three geniuses here, this ship's ability to refuel on the fly as a template, and there's a lot of debris out there that me, Hela, Stephen and Ororo can work our magic on."
Corsair scowled, not enjoying being railroaded like this, but then he caught Alex looking at him and the rest of his crew. Even Raza was now looking thoughtful instead of disparaging the entire idea, "Alright, how can we help?"
Work on this project continued for a few days as the two crews broke into work teams.
Forge and Reed worked together to create a design for an HE3 plant in the gas giant. Jean worked with Nightside, Douglas and Banshee on a system survey, gathering a few scattered asteroids to use as material. Ororo and Hela helped Forge and Reed by transfiguring bits of the salvage from around them.
Meanwhile, Ben led a team of the strongest members of both crews to put together a mine and smelter on one of the interior planets. Like the HE3 gatherer, this would be fully automated, using an old Shi'ar design with an operating system created by E. Stephen helped them, using his magic to make the job easier and more comfortable while Harry worked on the runes needed to safely enlarge the Starjammer's interior.
And not just the interior of the former pirate ship's hold either. At Hepzibah and Corsair's insistence, both its magazines and several other compartments were given the same treatment.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crews worked on gathering the dead. Like the rest of the debris, the bodies of the various races who had made this system their home had been left to die in deep space. This appalled Cho'od, Raza and Hepzibah when they discovered it. Many of those dead had just been left to suffocate in the big dark, something that no proper spacer, not even many pirates, would be comfortable with doing.
Despite the passage of time and spacial drift, the crews found several thousands of bodies, all of whom were interred on one of Jean's asteroids, which she hollowed out into a kind of morgue.
Eventually, perhaps they could be returned to their various races for burial. And eventually, perhaps, they would become martyrs, people who had attempted to seek freedom from oppression too soon but whose example lived on after they died to the present day.
After about a week and a half, the work was complete to Corsair's satisfaction. "Magic really is incredible," he mused, shaking his head as he stood in the expanded hold of the Spelljammer, looking around him in wonder as around them, the two crews made their farewells. "Cripes, you could play football in here."
"Rugby, please," Harry scoffed, shaking his head. "Or sorry, do you mean real football and not the American version?" Corsair gave him the finger, and Harry laughed. "Just remember that you'll need to come back to Earth and let one of us magic users renew the array's power, or else it will stop working with catastrophic consequences."
"No worries there. I predict that in a few weeks, this whole going straight thing will have lost its luster, and my crew will need a break."
"Including Alex?"
"Don't worry. I'll watch out for my son, and he'll help us all watch out for one another." Corsair answered, becoming a bit sober himself, although inside, he was looking forward to this.
It would be dangerous. After all, the governments that survived up to this point would know Corsair's reputation and might be looking to blame an exterior source for the virus. It would be hard, and Corsair would need to rely on his wits and silver tongue. In other words, this new mission held the same kind of thrills as being a pirate, albeit without the thrill of stealing from other people.
"That's all we can ask. Well, that and that Alex really did record a message for his brother." Harry chuckled. Ororo and Jean almost sitting on the younger Summers to get him to do that, and then Hepzibah and Alex had forced Corsair to do the same.
Corsair blushed at that. Like Alex, he wasn't all that good with the whole familial affection thing, but he had tried his best to get his emotions across. "Just, um, just don't lose those. And er, make certain he watches it when he's alone? I've got a reputation to think of, you know?"
"On Earth?" Harry smirked, and Corsair grumbled, reaching out to shake Harry's hand.
Looking around, Harry saw that the others had finished saying goodbye, and after a final handshake, Harry joined the rest of his crew. It was time and past to head home.
OOOOOOO
It took Dennis and his new aid Natasha three days to use the faces that Ghigau had seen and his connections to the various spy communities to narrow down their search and find a target. "One which, once the dust settles, I think that Interpol and the rest of the law enforcement community will thank us for."
As he spoke, Dennis stood in front of a small conference room in Camelot, a former classroom converted to this purpose on the same floor that housed the Custodes Mundi and the majority of the adults in the castle. Across from him sat Scott, Steve, James, Dani, and Piotr, with Emma there acting as their overall commander.
Despite having only joined the Custodes Mundi formally that morning, Natasha stood with Dennis at the front of the room. She had helped him prepare the data they had discovered, although only as an analyst. Still, the former spy had been instrumental in recognizing some of the faces they had seen once they identified their target.
"First, I'm going to go over the faces that Dani discovered." Dennis began, and faces began to appear on the screen. "First, this man here," he said, gesturing to a somewhat florid, choleric face, "is Don Fortunato. His family is the one who have taken over in places where Fisk, the kingpin, had ruled previously in America. My contacts elsewhere couldn't add anything more to his file, but the Americans were already aware of quite a bit, even though they haven't moved against him yet. Since Dani's power isn't admissible in court, that unfortunately won't change. Still, we know where his headquarters is, and a few hints to the FBI will point them in the right direction. I understand Steve's already agreed to lead any action against them that need's hero-type aid."
The same went for two other faces. One of them was a Canadian man with links to their crime syndicates, although even Dennis wasn't certain where he was placed in their power structure. Another was a Korean gentleman. "We don't need to worry about him, however. Apparently, he was attempting to get back into the Asian market, shall we say, and the Mandarin decided to remove the issue this morning."
Whether or not that was because Dennis had let the Mandarin discover the man's face, he didn't say. But since the Korean was involved in the drug trade, Emma decided that no one needed to know precisely how the Mandarin had discovered this bit of information on his budding rival.
They came to the fourth face Dani had seen at that point, the only one she had recognized at the time. "And this one, of course, is Silvermane."
Dennis's words invited Dani to comment, and she did so. "My ability doesn't create sound when I use it's psychometry form, so I wasn't able to hear what any of them was saying. Still, from the expressions on several of the others, those whose faces I could see anyway, seemed to be very angry with Silvermane. But he looked to be cool and aloof throughout, and their anger seemed to subside, shifting targets to the man I had trailed there. Whatever he said seemed to have calmed the waters down further."
"We won't be striking at him. Silvermane at least understands the limitations the organized crime cannot cross to survive, and it is much better to have a devil you know in such a position," Emma opined.
Scott scoffed at that, having heard about Silvermane before this. "I could almost believe in a gentlemen thief or low-level criminal. But a gentleman mob boss? And what about drugs? Drug dealers, I mean, and of course, the slave trade." Steve said those last two words in such distaste he looked almost like he wanted to spit.
Although few nations acknowledged it, there was a very lively slave trade across the globe. It was insidious and always on a small, personal scale, which made it much harder to stop. After all slavery was no longer about numbers and cheap labor, but rather power and sexual exploitation.
Emma's smile was extremely wintry as she answered. "Fuck them. Allowing organized crime does not extend to allowing the drug trade or the slave trade. If we discover anyone organizing that last, they will quickly learn that this world is not nearly big enough for them to hide from the Custodes Mundi. Regardless of if we have agreements with them or not"
Every officer there bared their teeth at that, even Piotr.
"Now we come to the two faces that we are most interested in." Dennis took over the meeting once more, and after a few gestures, one of the faces enlarged dramatically.
As Spiderman had figured, these were the two faces that weren't, in fact, faces. The first was the black mask that looked like someone had taken a window blind and made it into a mask. It was black, and the eyes in the center of the two eye slits looked brown, but that was all you could say for certain.
Thankfully the affront to all window blinds was quickly replaced by a full-body view. "This is the Black Spectre at the target area, which is located in Greece. More on that later. He is currently the head of the Russian Mafia despite not being Russian. Where he came from and how he came to control the Russian Mafia is unknown, although it is assumed that he was at one point a lieutenant and then rose to prominence recently. The Greek police have a profile on the Black Spectre but have been forbidden to take action against him at his mansion. He is also linked to what is called the Brute Trust."
"What is that?" Emma asked, frowning. "I've never heard of it."
"That is the name that has reached the ears of Interpol to explain how various superpowered individuals loyal to one criminal group or another have been seen working with other criminal organizations. Basically, it is a growing push to somehow share superpowered individuals between the various Maggia families and others, regardless of which criminal group recruited them initially. It is also, apparently, according to one informant from South Africa that was later found in several different places, in charge of… acquiring more superpowered people for these various criminal enterprises."
"Brainwashing?" Piotr guessed, a scowl on his face. "Kidnapping? How young do they start?"
"Brainwashing, indoctrination, either/or," Natasha answered. "Shield and the FBI were watching several names down in Mexico who had survived a recent gang war there. The war was so bloody several of the drug cartels that had been using drugs to brainwash mutant children to turn them into superpowered thugs had been completely decapitated. A few of those names and faces wound up in Greece, which helped us discover this villa in the first place."
Everyone there grimaced, and Scott shook his head. "I remember talking to Laura once. She was involved in that war. Magneto sent her down there to wipe out those gangs. She won't be happy to learn that she missed anyone involved in that."
"This Black Spectre dresses like a supervillain. Do we know anything about Black Spectre's powers?" Emma asked, getting the talk back on task.
"Unfortunately not. The Black Spectre has been very good about keeping a low profile for the most part. Although thanks to Natasha, we do know a few of his underlings."
So saying, Dennis gestured to Natasha, who manipulated the hard light computer for a moment, and several other faces appeared. Seeing them, it was Steve's turn to scowl. "I recognize them. Asp and Black Mamba, right? From the Serpent Society?"
Natasha nodded and filled in the blanks for the others. "The Serpent Society was a mercenary group, basically superpowered individuals, who gained those powers either through the use of various powered suits or mutant-based powers with a serpent theme. They were brought in to work with HYDRA at one point, but most of them were wiped out in a battle with shield and the avengers, during which several of their members turned against the others. These two were among those who had turned, and honestly, we all thought that they were going to try to go straight. The team's leader, Diamondback, certainly did."
"That sounds like there's a story there…" Scott murmured, watching as Steve blushed a bit and looked away.
Natasha didn't give him any respite. "Diamondback actually is now working in Rio de Janeiro as the head of their SWAT teams. She's actually a pretty fun lady, as Steve would know."
All eyes turned to Steve, and he looked straight ahead, muttering, "The Serpent Society was used by HYDRA in our ongoing campaign against them, Diamondback and I met in battle several times, and during those meetings, I might have talked her into trying to use her powers more responsibly. She then convinced the other two young ladies to jump ship, and they helped the Avengers and SHIELD wipe out a HYDRA base on New Caledonia."
Everyone stared at him except for Emma, who reflected that something similar had happened between her and Harry. She certainly hadn't been a supervillain, but she had most decidedly not been on the side of the law before she met Harry. However, the others, with Dani in the lead, began a slow clap for Steve, causing his blush to redouble.
Eventually, Natasha brought them back to earth. "Anyway, it doesn't seem as if going straight worked for these two. Asp has a touch-based power, which is deadlier the longer she is in contact with someone. It ranges from paralysis to death. She can also concentrate her touch into short-ranged electrical bursts. Black Mamba has limited telepathy and dark force seduction powers."
Piotr blinked in surprise. "What? When I think of dark force powers, I think of energy blasts and flight, like Nikolai's sister." Who had, Piotr, reflected, seemingly started to get close to Warren Worthington. Something that will no doubt annoy Nikolai when he returns and discovers it. Not my problem, though.
Natasha shrugged and explained how Black Mamba's powers worked. "She takes an image of a loved one from someone's mind, then has that image seduce the individual in question. The attack shuts down the target's brain by overloading his pleasure centers. It is unknown if the attack can work on multiple people, but beyond that, she's a decent hand-to-hand fighter and is a good marksman too.
From there, Dennis took over once more to describe two other superpowered criminals they had noticed in the flyby of their target. Terrence was an expert chemist and disguise artist who specialized in trap-based murders. The individual called the Grim Reaper used a highly advanced scythe of some kind. "Both of them are wanted in several nations for murder, extortion and terrorist acts but have escaped discovery before this. The Winter Soldier was also there, but the only image we got of him was of his silver arm as he entered this building, the one which we assume to be some kind of barracks."
For a moment, Dennis let the camera move around the target area. It looked like a mansion, with a few separate buildings at the end of a long dirt path leading down to the entrance of the small valley the mansion and it's outlying buildings dominated.
"This is the place where the brute trust members go between jobs, those who aren't already affiliated one specific crime group or another. We were able to discover the Black Spectre's presence via the Grecian Police force nearby, who have several times asked for permission to raid it, but been denied. With that, I used an aerial drone, a little toy that Reed Richards made for me a few months back to scout things out.
As Dennis wound down for the moment, Steve frowned, looking over to where the original heads of the group of criminal masterminds still hung to one side of the front of the conference room. "What about the gold masked woman?" He asked, pointing to the only face that Dennis and Natasha hadn't mentioned yet.
Frowning slightly, Dennis enlarged it, bringing the woman's head into prominence as the other pictures shrank back. As Steve had said, the face of that image was obscured by a golden mask, which covered it from the top of her head down to her chin. She seemed to have black hair, and her shoulders were also visible, showing a white and black outfit of some kind.
"This is Madame Masque. She leads what remains of the Italian branch of the Maggia after her father, Count Nefaria, was killed in a SHIELD operation."
Steve winced. "I remember him, an extremely tough opponent at the time. Although I don't remember her."
Seeing Steve's grimace, Dennis shook his head firmly. "Don't feel sorry for this woman. By the time you killed her father, she was already extremely high up in his operation, an enforcer, assassin, and lieutenant. Setting aside other crimes, she's been personally linked to at least seven murders and partially linked to thirty more. Madame Masque is wanted in America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy and several other European countries."
"So is she involved in this Brute Trust as well?" Emma asked.
"We've seen images of her with our spy plane at the mansion in question, so we assume so." Dennis showed a few images of the woman outside moving around the extended property that was their target, exercising, practicing her marksmanship and talking to the Black Spectre.
"There have been indications in the past few weeks that the Italian and Russian mafias are attempting to merge into one entity. The general opinion is that Madame Masque and the Black Spectre basically decided that if they tried to fight it out, that both of their institutions, which had been horribly weakened, would simply be absorbed by another criminal organization."
"But you don't think that, do you?" Emma stated, looking back at the man thoughtfully.
"I don't know. Criminal types aren't normally the kind that can set their pride to one side and think long-term like that. There's just something off about that assumption," Dennis admitted.
Dani frowned, thinking over the images she had seen in the image of the meeting she had pulled from that apartment complex. But after a moment, she shook her head. She couldn't see anything unusual and how Madame Masque acted or the Black Spectre. "They weren't at one another's throats, but they weren't all that friendly either."
"Let's set that aside and get down to brass tacks," Piotr suggested. "We now know about our target, tell us about the area, and then let's decide on who is going to go on this mission."
OOOOOOO
That night Sam Guthrie shook his head as he laid out on top of the magic carpet carrying the assault team down to their target. "Ah have ta say, I do believe this is cheatin'."
This assault team consisted of the Custodes Mundi members still present on the planet, Sam Guthrie, James and Kurt, loaned from the X-Men. Both of the younger men would be useful to hunt down any criminals who tried to escape, which all the team leaders had felt was possible. Whereas James, like Dani and Piotr, brought a proven leadership ability to the battle. Despite all of their various technological gear, nighttime battles could be so chaotic normally that Piotr had decided he wanted another squad leader along.
Piotr turned to look at the younger man from where he was sitting at the head of the magic carpet, smirking slightly. "Tovarisch Sam, many a wise man has said throughout history that if you are not cheating in war, you are not trying hard enough."
"Maybe, but this isn't war. This is a criminal operation being smacked down by the equivalent of a Navy SEALs company! And yes, I know SEALs don't operate in company-sized formations. This is overkill by anyone's estimation," Kurt said with a laugh.
"Don't think like that," James said, swatting the slightly younger man upside the head very lightly for him. "That is the kind of thinking that gets people killed." Chastened, Nightcrawler nodded, then went back to talking quietly to Ghigau and page, asking for advice on what to get Wanda. The two of them had recently begun dating, and Nightcrawler wanted something to commemorate their tenth date with.
Soon, they were over the objective, dropping down higher up in the mountains than the sprawling complex where the Brute Trust made its home. It was hoped that this way, they would be able to bypass several of the security checkpoints. After all, why would they want to make more trouble for themselves? And more importantly, give the big targets more time to run. Everyone knew that there would still be tripwires, cameras and other such mechanical defenses, but those were easier to get around than actual people.
Mystique and Black Widow moved forward first with Ghigau. The two most experienced combatants of the teams were also the best at sneaking around, with Ghigau a close second due to simply being that good at moving silently and her suit's abilities. The three women nodded to the others and moved off, heading down the slope while the rest of them waited in among boulders scrub bush.
Ghigau followed Black Widow and Mystique, looking at their feet occasionally, while Black Widow looked around at the various rocks and other things, ensuring they didn't run into any hidden cameras. She did this automatically, not quite trusting to the magic that was covering all three of them, even though she could feel a slow sense of guilt and tiredness as she moved forward underneath the chameleon cloak.
The tripwires were still an issue, slowing the trio down somewhat. But eventually, they made it through the security grid, to where a few guards moved around the exterior of the buildings.
There Ghigau frowned, stopping in place behind a rock that marked the start of a garden of some kind. "Is there something unusual about those guards, or is it just me?"
Mystique also frowned, staring at several of the guard patrols. Within sight, there were four of them of five men each, but she too could see what Ghigau was talking about. All of them were wearing some kind of bodysuit, but that didn't do much to hide the fact that several of them were women. "Huh. While women can be just as criminally minded as men, look at my own life as an example of that, using them as security thugs is kind of unusual."
"Maybe Madame Masque doesn't trust men?" Black Widow mused although Mystique's point was spot on. Of course, women were part of any criminal or spy organization worth the name, but they were more often than not specialists, not simple grunts. "Still, we need to get moving."
Their objective was simple. Get in unseen, shut down the security grid, and capture Madame Masque or Black Spectre. With one of the heads of the Brute Trust captured and available for Emma's tender mercies, they could roll up the rest of the operation with ease. Meanwhile, the remainder of the team would come in, smashing the estate flat and killing or capturing all the other superpowered criminals here.
The three of them moved forward, skirting between two patrols, and quickly entered the mansion through a doorway at the back, its lock broken by a spy tool Black Widow had brought along. Inside, the trio came out into what looked like a nice sitting room and out into the mansion. As the door closed behind them, Ghigau frowned, looking at it. Hermetically sealed? What the heck?
Before Ghigau could question that, Black Widow gestured them on. It was way too open in the sitting room for her tastes, and the guards might double back and see them through the windows at any time.
But as they moved forward, Black Widow and Mystique both began to sweat, licking their lips occasionally and looking around. Even their steps started to stumble as they both started to breathe heavily.
Behind them, Ghigau also paused, frowning as she looked at what looked like a weird Fezephyr air freshener set into a wall outlet. In her mask, she couldn't smell anything, but she wondered about the proliferation of them. There were at least three of these things back in the sitting room.
In front of her, Mystique pulled up, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily. Black Widow also seemed to be flushed, staring around her as if she wasn't quite seeing the hallway or the doors leading off it. Frowning, Ghigau raced forward's, clutching Mystique on the shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Mystique shook her head, then began to move forward again. "Nothing. I think, I think that the Black Spectre is this way. We need to go to him."
"Go to him? You mean capture him, right?" Ghigau questioned, thrown by Mystique's word choice. Getting a sense of impending disaster, Ghigau took a step back.
"No! We must go to him, to our man, the only man for me! For us. You'll understand once you remove that helmet," Black Widow interjected, her voice louder than it should have been.
"What…" Ghigau began.
That was when Mystique reached down and canceled the illusion runic array covering her. Turning around like a whip, her hand lashed out in a blow that crashed into Ghigau's temple, a strike that Ghigau knew if she had her helmet on would have put her out instantly. She crashed into a wall, the movement also canceling her own runic array as she shouted, "What the fuck, Mystique!?"
Then Black Widow turned on her, small needles flashing out from her wrists to crash into Ghigau's chest. Her suit beat the electro pulses they could give off, but they still shocked her a bit, slowing Ghigau down. Stumbling back further, she raised Sigyn's Gift in her hand, the weapon shifting into a spear form, the butt of it crashing into Mystique's chest, but Black Widow leaped up over the shapeshifter, a kick flashing out and catching Ghigau in the face. "Take her out! She means to harm our man!"
Dodging to one side, Ghigau was still smacked in the head as doors opened throughout the main building and alarms began to sound all around her. "Why can't anything be simple," Ghigau muttered, even as the Winter Soldier appeared out of one doorway, instantly lashing out towards her with a bionic arm. The soldier's metal fist shattered her chest plate and hurled Ghigau into and through a wall on the other side of the hallway.
From where they were waiting, everyone could see the alarms going off in the mansion below, and Colossus growled. "That's torn it. Sam, shock and awe, everyone else, back on the carpet, let's get in there quick. Cannonball, you're up."
Sam rocketed into the air and then down towards the mansion, his impenetrable shield activating as he moved. Two guards tried to get his way, shooting up at him as he flew down, but he barreled through them, sending both women flying, remarking to himself, "Damn, I hope my mama don't hear about that one, she'd give my hide a tannin' for treating ladies like that. Although given they're thugs, are they really ladies?"
Barreling into the mansion through a wall, Cannonballs fists thrust out ahead of them, and he crashed into the side of the Winter Soldier where he had been standing over Ghigau. The fact that Mystique and Black Widow had been standing nearby and not doing anything was kind of confusing, but he didn't care.
The Winter Soldier was blasted off his feet, tumbling through and into another wall, which created a further dent as Sam continued on his way, barreling through the mansion like a runaway Cannonball.
By the time he exited the other side, guards further down the valley had rushed back towards the three main buildings, but the rest of the Custodes Mundi had also arrived. "Thunderbird, take your team and take out those guards! Nightcrawler, get in there and find our scouts. Evacuate them if needed," Colossus ordered, leaping down from on high to crash through the top of the mansion.
As Thunderbird leaped off the magic carpet, weapons emplacements appeared scattered around the mansion. Lasers and large-caliber machine guns opened up. Then robots of some kind, very simplistic looking but with arms made of guns, began to trundle out of one of the other buildings.
These guns took James and his team under fire as they tried to spread out. "Cortez, suppressive fire! Coyote, Uzume, spread some chaos!" Thunderbird roared as he charged towards the robots. "Cortez, make sure you're keeping an eye on those guards coming around the edge of the building. We can't get caught from three sides."
Cannonball returned then, crashing into the building from which the droids had come from, although two other supervillains had come out of the building by that point. Madame Masque and Trapster were there. Trapster began to hurl grenades towards the attackers. Rushing to one side to gain some range, Madame Masque pulled out two handguns, sending out energy blasts that hit Thunderbird in the shoulder and thigh.
The older Proudstar him to grunt in pain, the more powerful pulses of energy bothering him a bit. In contrast, the regular bullets and the more diffuse lasers hadn't bothered him all that much, thanks to his armor and general durability.
The gas was much more troublesome. Thunderbird and Cortez both began to gasp and start choking. "C, Coyote, Uzume get us out of here!"
At Thunderbird's order, Coyote returned to their positions, teleporting them both out of the way of the gas, which thankfully began to dissipate quickly in the open air. This was partially thanks to one of the guards tossing out short-lived hurricanes from his arms. Still, he wasn't bulletproof, and Uzume kept him hopping around.
Coyote's short-range teleport put them directly between the robots and the group of guards who had returned from the mansion's perimeter. In the lead, an unknown mutant raised his hands, shooting out what looked like tiny bone razors from his nails to impact the trio. Cortez also gasped as one of them slammed into her forearm, nearly cutting straight through and leaving a dangerously bleeding wound, though thankfully it had missed her main artery there.
That was the last thing that mutant did, as his head disappeared under a railgun around from Uzume. Then the battle was on, as more droids took them from under fire from one side, and Black Mamba and a few other guards raced in to engage in hand-to-hand.
While Madam Masque directed the guards. Trapster turned away as he saw Cannonball coming back towards them. "Oh no, you don't!" He took the youngster under fire, using what looks like a grenade launcher, but the grenades smashed harmlessly against Cannonball's shield, and while he was choking and gasping, the flying mutant's sheer speed pulled him out of the cloud of whatever was in those canisters as he crashed into and through the same building the droids had come from once more.
For his part, Colossus evaded much of this action by crashing into the mansion's roof. But as he did so, a claymore embedded into the roof went off, creating an explosion and hurling him to the side of where he had hoped to land. Pushing through the rubble, Colossus was uninjured, as was Paige, who had also crashed down onto another segment of the roof.
Colossus found himself near to where Ghigau stood over the body of a guard, and he watched as Ghigau disappeared, teleported away thanks to Nightcrawler. This left Black Widow and Mystique, who pushed themselves to their feet, having been hurled aside by Cannonball earlier in his pass through the mansion.
Black Widow instantly turned in Colossus's direction, and instead of looking happy to see him, raised her gauntlets and fired more of the electro stilettos from her gauntlets into them. Colossus ignored them, scowling angrily at her. "What in the world is going on, Black Widow!?"
The flush-faced Black Widow didn't respond, charging towards him. Mystique did the same, and Colossus frowned before his hands flew out, grabbing their fists as they moved to punch him. He pulled them in close, and after a few fumbling moments, got both women into a headlock and began to choke them out quickly, Mystique's fingers clanging off his nose and chin as he twisted his head away to avoid a finger to the eye.
It wouldn't have done much. Even Colossus's eyes were metal in this form, but it would have blinded him, as did the flash that came from Black Widow's wrist a second later. But Colossus didn't relent, his arms still around their necks. Neither woman was armed with anything that could get through his metallic hide, and soon enough, both of them were unconscious. He debated leaving them there, but then Nightcrawler returned.
"Ghigau said those two were fighting her for some reason. They were talking about the Black Spectre as if they suddenly wanted his babies!" The young German reported to the Russian, a hint of laughter in his tone and confusion.
"Well, they are unconscious now, so we can remove them from whatever influence…" That was as far as Colossus got before a laser blast crashed into them from behind, causing him to grunt and lose his footing, stumbling to his knees.
Nightcrawler found himself face-to-face with the Winter Soldier, the warrior having waited for the internal security of the mansion to come online before attacking. The man's punch caught the blue-furred mutant in the chin, knocking him backward, and if not for his body's enhanced durability, that blow might have knocked him out. As it was, Nightcrawler riposted quickly, one of his blades flashing out.
The blow was blocked by the Winter Soldier's metal arm, and a kick battered into Nightcrawler's leg, causing him to stumble to one knee. His sword now out of position and his other sword still in its sheath on his back so he could grab Ghigau, Nightcrawler lashed out with a punch that caught the Winter Soldier in the chest before Nightcrawler disappeared, teleporting above the man. His second sword came out with a 'Shwing' noise, and Nightcrawler lashed out, intending to cut the man's head off.
But somehow, the Winter Soldier was reacting before Nightcrawler came out of his teleport. He rolled forward to avoid the two sword blows, kicking off of the side of the hallway. Twisting in midair, he came back toward Nightcrawler with a punch that would've taken Nightcrawler in the chest if not for the young mutant teleporting away again.
He appeared to the side once more, thrusting in, but again found his swords being smacked aside by the Winter Soldier's metal arm, and a small ball bearing was hurled at his head, causing Nightcrawler to stumble before he could teleport away. Another blow caught him that time, and Nightcrawler doubled over, feeling a rib go before he teleported away once more, this time catching the Winter Soldier in the side with a slash, though the man had moved so that instead of a killing blow, it merely left a light gash.
Behind him, Colossus had taken out several security guns that had popped up. Unable to move due to the two downed women behind him, Colossus instead used random bits of debris, hurling them at each of the defensive guns as they appeared. But he saw how the battle was going behind him and ordered, "Nightcrawler, get them out of here! I'll deal with him. Help Cannonball secure the perimeter. We don't want anyone to escape."
Nightcrawler disappeared from where he had been attacking the Winter Soldier, reappearing between the two women and Colossus. Sticking his swords into the ground, he touched each woman on the chest with one hand and disappeared, teleporting all three of them straight up to the magic carpet.
At the same time, a hurled stone had destroyed the last of the gun emplacements that could range on Colossus, and he turned, charging towards the Winter Soldier. "Let us see how you fare against a fully metal man, long-haired one!"
A blow from the man caught Colossus mid-chest as he whirled out of the way of Colossus's charge, but ignoring the blow, Colossus turned on a dime, lashing out with a kick that caught the Winter Soldier in the side, hurling him through a wall. Colossus followed up, and the two of them exchanged punches and kicks in the center of what looked like a large chemical laboratory, glass and metal smashing as they fought. But with only the blows from the Winter Soldier's metal arm able to hurt him, Colossus knew he could win this fight if he kept up the pressure and stayed in close contact with the assassin.
Meanwhile, Husk had found herself in another segment of the mansion. Instead of being in a public area, the room whose roof she smashed through looked like the mansion's main bedroom.
As Husk pushed herself out of the rubble from her landing, a man rolled out of bed, grabbing at a mask and pulling it on his face before Husk could see his features. Then he was standing up, naked as the day he had been born, staring at her through that mask, while on the other side of the bed, the woman Black Widow had identified as the Asp rolled out of bed, getting to her feet and hurling herself forward, equally naked.
Husk tried to dodge, but one of her feet was still caught in a bit of rubble, slowing her down. Asp was thus able to punch her chest with one hand before flowing to the side, bringing up a kick that crashed into Husk's face. But Husk was in her metal form, and though that rang her bell a bit, causing her to stagger, Husk didn't feel any pain from the strike. "Yer gonna have ta do better than that, honey."
She reached forward, disdaining her weapons for the moment, but Asp danced around her arms, lashing out several more times impotently. Then Husk knocked one arm wide, ducking under another blow before returning a punch that would have laid out the older woman if not for her leaping up and over Husk.
Husk turned swiftly, but Asp rolled around and to the side, putting her to one side of the man in the bed, dodging Husk's punches before a shout from the man drew both women's attention. "Wait, Asp!"
Looking in his direction for a second, Husk saw that not only wasn't he armed, he also hadn't taken the seconds Asp had been attacking her to dress, and she hurriedly looked away, shaking her head. Gawd, if I was in my normal body, I'd be blushin' so hard right now! "My eyes might not 'xactly be virginal any longer, but come on, man! You could put on some boxers or something, ain't you got no shame!"
"Oh, in a few seconds, the last thing you'll want me to do is to put my clothing on, my dear," the man said with an unseen smile, moving towards her.
Husk scowled, backing away, wondering if he had some kind of touch-based power too, and not wanting the middle-aged and very hairy naked man anywhere near her. Gonna need some brain bleach after tonight for sure. "My orders may mean I need to take you in alive, old man, that doesn't mean I can't break your jaw if you come any closer. Surrender, and maybe I won't mess you up too bad for showing me your full Monty."
"Why should you care? This is simply a preview of what you will get. Although I do like your fire. But the more you breathe in the air of this mansion, the more you will succumb to your rightful place at my feet," the Black Spectre said, smiling behind his mask.
"W, what!" Husk felt her back hit the wall next to the door leading out of the room, wondering if maybe Ghigau and the others had fallen victim to something. With that thought, instead of just attacking, Husk decided to act a bit. Her chest heaved as if Husk was having trouble breathing, looking anywhere but at the man. "What, what did you do!"
"You see, I too am a mutant, and I possess a power which is a sign of my fitness to rule, to command. Women, such as yourself, they can never disobey me, once they breathe in my pheromones," the man nearly crooned, his voice low and seductive, although in this instance that just meant it came off as really creepy to the young mutant. "You can feel it, can't you, a desire to submit, to give yourself to me."
"S, so it only works on girls? I g, guess I'm out of luck then," Husk said, backing away further and holding one hand to her nose as if she was trying not to breathe in, her other hand fumbling at the pouch at her side before Asp grabbed her wrist with both hands pulling it away. "Pity I couldn't switch with Colossus…"
"Oh, men are affected by my pheromones too. If a man has any bisexual thoughts, they too come under my control. You would be astonished at how good it feels to break a man who once thought he was a macho killer and criminal but who secretly had a tiny glimmering in that direction, unknown even to the man in question. It might take longer, but they do succumb eventually. If they are fully straight, then they will be repulsed by it, their thinking impaired, and thus easier to break using other means."
The Black Spectre's voice was smug from behind his mask as he spoke about the horrors he had committed with pride. "Although both of those reactions are but pale reflection of the impact my pheromones can have on a woman such as yourself. You will submit, my dear. It is only a matter of time."
"I guess, but there is a problem." Husk straightened up, pulling on the arm Asp has in her hands, a punch sending the surprised woman stumbling before she could recover. "Ya see, I don't need to breathe. My skin ain't the only thing that's metal." With that, Husk rushed forward as the man hastily backpedaled. Like Asp, he was so surprised that he couldn't prepare any defense, and a blow caught the man on the chin, hurling him into a wall headfirst. Two kicks to the ribs shattered bones before Husk dropped one of Kitty's disposable runestones on the man, the sleep array on it knocking the man out.
Asp leaped on Husk's back, one arm going around Husk's neck and the other hand pounding into her head. But Husk reached up and behind her head, grabbing Asp's head with both hands and jerking her up and forward to crash into the wall above the Black Spectre.