Chapter 59: Collin Roper
By Yue Shang Xintou
"Natasha."
Taking off the metal skull mask on his head, a grim face was revealed.
Turning his head to look at Black Widow, who had appeared in the Base, Taskmaster said, his tone unchanged.
"You're late."
"You know, I'm a woman, being late is our privilege."
Shrugging her shoulders, Natasha replied with a calm expression.
"I don't want there to be a next time."
Withdrawing his gaze, ignoring Natasha's joke, Anthony reached out and retrieved all the weapons stuck in the ground. Facing Crossbones, he ordered: "Notify all members to gather."
***
Inside the Thunderbolts' Base on Governors Island in Upper New York Bay.
Natasha entered punctually, neither early nor late. After looking around, she sat down on the left side, near the exit.
To her right sat Songbird. Diagonally above her was Luke Cage, who had just finished training and still smelled faintly of gunpowder. A little further away sat Crossbones, who had taken off his mask, revealing a face full of burns. Sensing Natasha's gaze, he turned his head towards her and showed a terrifying smile.
Ignoring the provocative look in Crossbones' expression, Natasha turned her face to the side and whispered a question to the nearby Songbird: "Where's Mister Hyde?"
"He's unwilling to participate."
Hearing Natasha's question, Songbird whispered while looking at Taskmaster Anthony, who was standing at the very front: "You know, that guy is a complete freak. All day long he's holding his so-called Hyde Formula. Except for missions, he basically doesn't want to come out of the lab..."
Meanwhile, Natasha was learning from Songbird about the situation that had occurred in the Base during her absence.
On the other side, seeing that the members were mostly assembled, Anthony looked around, pausing for a moment at the empty seats of Mister Hyde and Bullseye.
These two individuals, the former had remained aloof ever since joining the Thunderbolts and rarely interacted with others. As for the latter, due to his criminal history and murderous impulses, he had always been in a state of incarceration.
Withdrawing his gaze, Anthony spoke, informing everyone in the Thunderbolts of the latest directives he had received.
"The situation that New York City has maintained for a long time will change. The new Mayor, Wilson Fisk, will very likely, after taking office, enact new policies targeting the 'Unregistered Superheroes' within New York City, launching a new round of crackdowns and purges. At that time, the Thunderbolts will also participate in the operation..."
"Is it finally starting?"
After hearing Taskmaster's words, Crossbones grinned, an eager smile appearing on his scarred, hideous face.
"I can hardly wait."
"Are we really going to act according to Wilson Fisk's policies?"
Of course, not everyone showed a hostile attitude towards these 'Unregistered Superheroes'. Luke Cage, frowning, expressed some doubts about it, especially considering Wilson Fisk's identity: "We all know that Wilson Fisk's identity is not simple; besides being a businessman, he is also the head of New York City's underground organizations. The purpose of him enacting new policies is very likely to target his former opponents."
As a Street Hero by origin, Luke Cage had clashed more than once with Wilson Fisk's organizations. Therefore, he was even clearer about Wilson Fisk's—no, it should be Kingpin's—purpose in enacting new policies, which was not as pure as he claimed for New York City's public safety.
"In any case, New York citizens chose Wilson Fisk to be their new Mayor."
Regarding Wilson Fisk's secret identity, it was not a secret within the Thunderbolts.
But even so, as a 'legitimate' Superhero group affiliated with the Federal Government, when facing Kingpin, who had successfully been elected Mayor of New York City, the Thunderbolts could only show a cooperative attitude.
Unless, one day, Kingpin is no longer New York City's Mayor.
"Isn't it interesting, a Criminal Underworld head of New York City transformed into a Mayor in the blink of an eye? New York citizens truly made a 'good' choice, didn't they?"
Not everyone cared about Kingpin's identity. Crossbones, for one, didn't care about it and instead scoffed.
"This isn't interesting. For New York City, this could very likely be a huge disaster."
Turning his head to look at the nearby Crossbones, Luke Cage said with dissatisfaction.
"Since New York citizens made their choice, they naturally also need to bear the consequences. Wilson Fisk climbed to the Mayor's throne with their every single vote."
"But the premise for all of this is that Wilson Fisk did not deceive the public. This New York City Mayoral election itself was an unfair election. Wilson Fisk used means to conceal his identity."
Within the Thunderbolts, Luke Cage and Crossbones engaged in a fierce argument.
However, their dispute was ultimately an isolated one.
In fact, the vast majority of Thunderbolts members didn't care about the New York City Mayor's identity.
As legally registered Superheroes, they were not within Kingpin's scope of crackdown.
"Alright."
He spoke, interrupting Luke Cage and Crossbones' argument.
Anthony, gazing at the two of them, said in an unhurried tone: "Wilson Fisk's identity, that is a matter for New York citizens and the Federal Government to be concerned about, and not within the Thunderbolts' purview."
Having stopped their argument, Taskmaster was silent for a few seconds, as if thinking about something.
"..."
Just like that, after ten seconds of silence, he finally spoke, continuing: "Also, according to the intelligence provided by Hydra, The Resistants have reappeared."
Taskmaster's words made the room's originally casual Thunderbolts members all perk up.
Sitting next to Songbird, Natasha's slender eyebrows slightly shifted. She slightly changed her posture and, with a concealed gaze, scanned the Taskmaster in front of her, while maintaining the expression on her face, continuing to listen impassively.
"According to intelligence from Hydra, this time, The Resistants' actions are distinctly different from their past modus operandi. During this, they even exposed the identity of one of their 'members'."
As he spoke, Taskmaster pressed a few times on the screen on his wrist.
The next second, a projection with a photo appeared before the Thunderbolts members' eyes.
"Collin Roper, former The Daily Bugle reporter, a 'member' of the Dark Avengers."
Raising his arm, Taskmaster looked at Colin's slightly nervous onboarding photo in the projection and slowly said.
Thanks to zhe ren hao keng for the 5000 Qidian Coin tip, and zui ai FGO for the 100 Qidian Coin tip.
(end of chapter)