SIX YEARS AGO

LOS ANGELES

CALIFORNIA

“Well,” came the smooth dulcet tones of an attractive Asian-American woman as she crossed the street. Her attire, a black halter-neck top and denim daisy dukes, left very little to the imagination. Just as she liked it. Her smile was coy, mischievous and, as weak as most men, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was immediately drawn to her. “I sure as hell feel safer already knowing the boys in black are on the job.”

Kowalski, his partner and the human version of a brick wall, watched the woman with less intrigue. Instead, he was cautious. If Grant Ward had learned anything in his four years as an agent it was that S.H.I.E.L.D. employed a rigid, almost ritualistic, adherence to protocol. When he’d first joined the organisation, Ward’s impression had been highly different. He’d heard rumours of associations with big league heroes like the Avengers and his thrill-seeking personality had indulged him. He’d soon learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. was less about high-risk heroism and more about cleaning up after those who enjoyed that lifestyle. Still, despite his lack of job satisfaction, the hefty remuneration package had won him around. The only thing more satisfying to the tall, dark-haired agent than ambition was his greed.

However, when a woman such as this approached him, Ward stopped thinking with his head. Something about her warned him that she was a shark in the water, a danger that lurked beneath the surface, and the maverick in him was completely leading the chase. On the exterior, Ward retained his composition, straight back and the rifle pressed firmly to his chest like a guard. His smirk told her another story.

“It has been crazy these last couple of months,” she cooed. “Something about ancient organisations trying to take over? I can’t imagine what they’d want with L.A. though. It’s not the town it used to be.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “I just thought I’d offer my thanks.”

Ward replied. “Always happy to be of service, ma’am.”

“Ma’am?” she laughed. “It’s not ma’am for at least another forty years, soldier. My names Daisy.” She slapped her thigh gently. “Like the dukes.”

“Well, Daisy–”

Kowalski interjected. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m gonna have to ask that you move on so this area can be fully secured. It’s not safe for a civilian to be wandering around here. Best you return to your home until this whole situation has been cleared up.” His reply lacked the concern of his words. It was monotonic, a robotic response they’d all been taught in the face of civilian proximity to a situation.

“Oh really?” her eyes seemed to light up. “Well, I’d best be going now.” Her right arm crossed her stomach and loosely held the left in a demure expression. “I’m not quite sure how safe I feel walking to my car now though.” She stepped ahead of Kowalski, her face was more fragile than before. “You see, my car, it’s parked out back of the building. Is it even safe for me to go that way?”

“I’ll take you.”

“Ward–”

Ward dismissed him without so much as a glance. “It doesn’t take seven of us to stand guard, Kowalski. I’ll be right back. You said it yourself, we can’t have Daisy walking through a crossfire without assistance.”

Kowalski grumbled.

“Thank you, Mister Ward,” replied Daisy, exaggerating her breathlessness as she followed his lead.

Ward broke rank and moved towards the narrow alleyway at the side of the building, it combined the L.A. roads. A shortcut for anyone native to know it. It had been cordoned off on four sides. No sooner were they in the shadows beneath the fire escapes than he felt a tapping on his arm. Ward turned but Daisy wasn’t quite so fragile anymore. In fact, he saw the spark of anarchy in her eyes. She was defiant of the regimes he’d followed for most his adult life and there was something even more alluring about the chaos he felt inside of her than even the attractive face she bore.

“Guarding apartment blocks so you can contain some stupid little ingrate who can’t control their powers?” Daisy tutted. “In my day, soldiers were real men. They fought for their country, they held ideals and they died when they knew it was time to. So, tell me, Grant Ward, why did you let them make you a pawn in this silly little game of chess they play?”

“How do you know my name?” he said, his finger tightening around the trigger. He didn’t desire to shoot her, something in his head told him he should, but there was no coming back from that. Despite her brisk, harshness, he was intent on listening to her.

“I know a lot more than people believe,” she replied, twirling her brown hair around her index finger. “It’s a skill you pick up when you’ve lived through a great war.”

“I know times are scary, miss, but I wouldn’t say this was a war.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not now you, imbecile. The second World War was a great and glorious time. So much shattered belief and broken dreams. It was when the American dream really died, when they all saw they’d been wrong.” He suddenly realised she wasn’t talking from the perspective of the Allied forces and her recollections hadn’t come from a textbook. “I was quite the catch in those days. They made me an actress, I was a star . . .” Daisy’s features grew darker. “Then they made me a traitor, a woman wanted by the law such as S.H.I.E.L.D. I had been rotting in a Colombian nursing home when sweet, stupid little Daisy came knocking at my door.”

She smirked.

“And now, I have a second chance,” she continued. “A second chance to change the world to what it should have been. Across the oceans there are great men who are working to ascend our world to what it should be, old comrades of mine, but they are greedy and self-indulgent. If I’ve learned one thing in this long, miserable existence, it’s that the world is shaped by those with the power.” Daisy’s smile softened. “Don’t you want to hold such power, Grant?”

He was uneasy, shifting his weight onto his other foot. “So, you aren’t Daisy? You’re someone who was involved with the Axis powers in World War II. I don’t understand how this is happening.”

“You don’t have to,” she exhaled heavily. “You just need to follow my instructions and knowledge, as with power, will all come in good time.” She backed away from him. “So, I can walk away right now and you can stick to your menial little existence, or in a few years, you could be the most powerful man on the planet. A king to my queen. What do you say?”

“I’m in.”

“And I’ll be in touch.”

She smiled as she flounced towards the opposite of the alleyway.

“Oh, and it’s Shannon,” called the woman. “Shannon Kane. I’m sure you’ll find me in those handbooks of yours.”

She disappeared as Ward smiled.

THE WEBS OF SUPREMACY

Part II

By Gavin McMahon

OUTPOST 53

AKTAU, KAZAKHSTAN

The Japanese superstar took a seat beside him, a steaming bowl of porridge drizzled with maple syrup held in her lap. She had found herself to be very taken in by the sweetness of all North American foods and she could easily see why obesity was such a pandemic to the country. Thankfully, Ryoko found that the physical requirement of her membership to the Invaders more than accommodated the increased sugar intake. Mark was focused on reading the newspaper, she wasn’t sure why though as she could clearly see it had been printed in 1959. Even if he were reminiscing about the war, it had ended long before then. Instead of pondering his thoughts, Ryoko decided to reach out to him as she swallowed her first mouthful.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

Mark looked up. “For what?”

“Sticking up for me. I know you’ve worked with the Fin for a very long time so it was very sweet that you went against him for me.”

“Not a problem,” he replied. “Peter has always had a bad attitude. He’s done great things and the world definitely owes him a debt. Hell, even Neptunia owes him one, but that doesn’t give him the right to speak down to people. You and Clare, you’re Invaders. You might be new and we might still be learning to accept that the status quo has changed but we can’t live in the past forever.” His own words seemed to catch him off-guard as he slowly closed the newspaper and set it aside. He ignored her curious expression. “It was nothing really, don’t mention it.”

Lord Falsworth continued to sulk in silence in the corner. He wasn’t normally so childish but he was struggling with how to air his opinions without becoming the dissenter of the team, of the organisation. The Invaders, the All-Winners Squad, and the Kid Commandos had all make great contributions to the war effort and more than one had lost many friends throughout it. Those with extended lives, such as most of those gathered around him, had lost even more since. He had witnessed Human Torch first hand, fought alongside him, but something about him now seemed so peculiar. He was militaristic, lacking empathy, but as Iron Cross had said, he remained a keen strategic mind. Brian’s concern was what his strategy may have been pulling them towards.

His hazel eyes settled on the sofa as Blazing Skull and Radiance indulged in polite conversation. He had been cordial and polite, it was the English way, but he couldn’t deny that the addition of Iron Cross and Radiance had been somewhat startling to him at first. When the Invaders had reconstituted, it had been the old hands, the old-boys club with the addition of Jackie, but now it was as if they were being pulled forcefully into the twenty-first century. A time when the war was meant to have ended and yet they continued to fight it, when the people he’d known and cared about were dead. As he had been until so recently. It was a harsh realisation to make. Of course, Jackie’s ongoing deterioration, whether she was willing to admit it or not, was another cause for concern.

The base speaker blared to life with static.

This is Agent Jemma Simmons. I’m afraid to tell you that the base has been breached. This is not a drill. We have been breached.

“Simmons?” muttered Brian.

Ryoko looked concerned. “The science girl from downstairs.”

It blasted again.

Not just breached. Oh, this is Agent Leo Fitz. Do not trust Agent Skye and Director Ward. They are against us. I repeat, they are against us.

Oh yes, I probably should’ve told them that part.

You most certainly should have told them that part, Simmons!

“I don’t think they know it’s still on,” said Mark as the squabbled continued.

Brian furrowed his brows. “Do they have the entire of the United Kingdom working in their labs?” His comment was a moment of levity.

What about her shooting Fin?

We don’t have time for this.

But she probably killed him . . .

Jemma! 

Stop shouting at me, Fitz!

“Did they just say Fin had been shot?” exclaimed Radiance as she bounded upright, her maple drizzled bowl of porridge collapsing to her feet. “How do we contact them to find out if he’s okay? Or where he is?” She barrelled forward to the kitchenette as if searching for a speaker, her long raven ponytails bouncing comically as she moved.

Iron Cross stood, her eyes glazed and emotionless, she was less concerned with the welfare of their teammate. From a pragmatic standpoint, any of them were just one individual, but to have the base breached meant there were a multitude of lives at stake. This was proven through as gunfire echoed through the hallways and it was getting closer to them, step by step. She looked around her colleagues as Lord Falsworth pulled his black mask across his handsome face and all but Radiance was ready to enter the fray. She was mindlessly rummaging through the kitchen but accounted for. Iron Cross did the calculations in her mind. Four in the room. Fin was down. Spitfire had retired to her living quarters. Hammond was . . . Hammond.

“We left the device with Hammond,” remarked Iron Cross.

Blazing Skull frowned, sharing her concern. “And where is he normally taken?”

“The labs,” she continued. “But that agent, Skye, she’s the one who does his programming. If she’s become a hostile–”

“Then Hammond might be as well,” concluded the Lord remorsefully.

The guards burst into the room. They fired their weapons indiscriminately as silk curtains and oaken cabinets exploded amid the chaos. It had become so riotous that the foolhardy soldiers hadn’t noticed the blonde woman, Lady Jacqueline Falsworth, had pounced from her bed on their moment of entry. Her power, prior to her vampirism, had been superhuman speed. The tell-tale trademark, the fiery steps she left behind, caught the woollen throw that was askew on her bed and burst to life. It began as an ember but rapidly transformed into an inferno. The four guardsmen found their attention drawn to it as the gunfire ceased but all failed to notice the illuminated figure of Spitfire in the doorway. Her pointed teeth bared and her expression wrathful beyond compare.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you,” she hissed. “Never start what you can’t finish.”

Startled, the soldiers turned and pointed their guns. However, they were no match for the speed and durability of Jackie. Her flaxen hair flowed as she rushed forward. She caught the first man by the throat and hoisted him high, using his body to catch the bullets fired towards her. Spitfire tossed him aside as she sprinted again, clenching her teeth into the second man’s throat and tearing it apart. She spat, spinning towards the only woman of the group. Catching her wrist, Spitfire pulled as her enhanced strength dislocated it from its socket. The woman had less than thirty seconds to feel the pain as her neck quickly followed suit. With a smile, Spitfire focused on the last guard. His hands quivering as he held the now empty rifle.

Blurring, Spitfire moved forward and caught hold of him. Once again indulging her baser instincts, carving his throat with her teeth. His body went limp as she swallowed his blood. She dropped him as swiftly as she’d grabbed him.

“You should let sleeping vampires lie,” she growled, rubbing the traces of blood from the edges of her mouth. Her anger quickly gave way to her shame as she looked upon the soldiers scattered around the room in pieces. Her bloodlust had overcome her in a moment of shock and weakness but she couldn’t undo what she’d done. Jackie could only move forward and reform. Her eyes suddenly widened as she concluded this was an attack on all the Invaders and her brother was in danger.

She burst into the hallways in a blur.

“We’re trapped in here,” squawked Simmons.

The biochemist ran her hands through her chestnut hair as she continued into her descent into full-blown panic. Her heart was still racing from the moment Skye, who she’d believed to be her friend as well as a colleague, had pulled a gun on her. She rebuked herself internally for the cowardice that had followed. As Fin has lay dying, Simmons had run for her life. She’d allowed a man to die. A man who had fought for her freedom decades before she had even existed. Simmons struggled to forgive herself for it. As Simmons was in the throes of her meltdown, Fitz continued to busy himself around the lab. His gaze intently focused on the still frame of Jim Hammond.

“We have to do it, we have to access the code and get him online,” said Fitz, his mind already running algorithms.

“We don’t know what she did, Fitz. We’re as likely to fry him as to fix him. Everything is on her laptop,” warned the biochemist. “Do not suggest we get the laptop.”

He was considerate for a moment. “Then better we fry him than he fries us.”

“I’m not sure that’s true,” grimaced Simmons. “And that’s definitely not how they’ll see it.”

“Well, the way I see it, either he’ll be fried or he’ll be with them so what choice do we really have?”

Simmons paused as tension hung in the air.

“Just do it.”

“No-one can be trusted,” announced Spitfire as she sped into the room, skidding to a halt.

Her hand reached for her stomach as she attempted to recompose herself. She was careful not to make eye contact with her brother. It was not the time for sympathy, action needed to occur. She found it beyond irritating that, as much as her body desired it, the intake of blood was disagreeable with her gut. She was sure there was some higher power out there that punishing her for something bad she did in a past life. Although, the bad deed could’ve been her actions ten minutes beforehand.

“I was just attacked by regular S.H.I.E.L.D. agents so everyone is a suspect except for the people in this room as far as I’m concerned.”

Union Jack moved to support her as she recovered from the pain of her blood intake. Not that he was aware of why she was suffering. “Did you hear the broadcast about Ward and the hacker?”

She nodded.

“We know those two bumbling idiots aren’t involved so we’ll have to extract them,” he continued as he took charge. “It works in our favour. They’re lab rats, right? Hammond is kept in the lab. So, I’ll send a team to extract them and Hammond whilst we distract the guards. Once the scientists are safe, let us know if you found the device there too. Otherwise, we’ll have to find and retrieve it.” He bit his lip. “It goes without saying that timing is of the essence when it comes to relaying that information.”

As much as he naturally assumed the role of leader under pressure, Union Jack knew the dynamic was heightened amongst the team and so, as he was prone to do, he played the diplomat.

“How do we feel about Spitfire and Radiance rescuing the scientists while Iron Cross, Blazing Skull and I create the diversion?”

“Absolutely not,” spat his sister. “You’re side-lining me because you think I’m not fit. Who better to draw a crowd to one place than someone who can move at superhuman speeds? Think with your tactician’s cap on, darling.”

“I’ll go with Radiance,” concluded Blazing Skull definitively. “You’re gonna need Iron Cross on hand for whenever we get that device back to you. She’s our best chance of interpreting whatever its for.”

“I thank you for your faith, Mark, but I’ve already connected with the device once and I couldn’t understand a single thing it was relaying,” she replied. “I’m not sure how much use I’ll be and if Hammond is in the labs then I may be of more use there. I may be able to assist in his recovery at least, that is a language I can understand.”

Blazing Skull grumbled. “I hate to say it but fixing the Human Torch’s mind is the least of our priorities. We have a possible weapon of mass destruction on our hands here.”

Iron Cross folded her arms. “Hammond is also a weapon of mass destruction should he fall into the wrong hands and a more prevalent threat at that. If I couldn’t interpret the device, I don’t hold much faith for a human hacker, S.H.I.E.L.D. or not.”

“Stop,” yelled Radiance, during the dispute she had made her way towards the door. “Someone come with me or I go alone. I don’t care which but I’m leaving now. We’re wasting time.”

The superstar rushed into the hallway, the opposite direction of the gunfire, as Iron Cross followed her. Union Jack, Spitfire and Blazing Skull were left looking at one another, a sense of camaraderie falling over each of them.

“Looks like it’s just the old gang,” said Blazing Skull with a brief but sorrowful smile.

He held out his gloved hand, placing it in the centre of their circle. Union Jack and Spitfire followed suit.

“For Peter,” they said in unison.

Union Jack led the charge as he pulled the Webley .455 calibre pistol from the hip holster on his right side and the six-inch dagger from his left. Blazing Skull’s hands burned as bright as the surface of the sun as he reached out and illuminated their path. Spitfire, never having been one for too much sunshine, shot forward as she moved speedily through the crowd. As she landed punches and kicks, pushing her back through the rogue agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., they flew in the air and crashed into the walls around her. She slid to a stop, turning mid-sprint as her long blonde hair crashed from one shoulder to the neck. For the first time in what seemed like weeks, there was an endearing smile stretched across her face.

Spitfire laughed. “Come on, gentlemen. We have an army to destroy, a device to find and a friend to avenge. Try to keep up.” She sped off.

“Your sister really is something, Falsworth.”

He chuckled. “So, I’ve been told.”

They chased after her.

Iron Cross fired an energy blast from the cannon launcher that had replaced her hand and struck down the agent before he could even fire his weapon. She had once been dubbed the Iron Man of Germany based on her exterior. In that she was a somewhat armoured hero, she found it fitting. However, Iron Cross had never felt the need to hide behind her wealth and privilege. Primarily because she had none. As a mixed-race woman in Germany, there were plenty who had hated and despised her the moment the so-called Iron Man of Germany had removed her mask, the mask of her father, and revealed herself for who she truly was. She hated holier-than-thou people who preached on the streets and judged from the shadows. She hated people who betrayed their country and ideals that had been instilled on them. She hated traitors. Most of all, she hated failure.

Mechanics whirred as Iron Cross exchanged the cannon launcher for a hand. She slammed it onto the shoulder of an oncoming agent, taking hold and twisting into him to throw him across her back into a wall. Spinning to plant her foot in another’s chest. Iron Cross landed back to back to with the Japanese superstar, Radiance. Her raven pigtails swayed as the light that she’d been emitting faded from her outstretched palms. They exchanged a quick glance, a moment of solidarity between two very different women, before they launched outward again. They felled the remaining agent as Radiance released a triumphant, girlish cheer.

She rushed ahead towards the labs, turning the corner as Iron Cross followed and watched as the victorious smile slid from her face. As Iron Cross turned the corner she laid eyes on the body of Peter Noble, the Fin. He was sprawled awkwardly, his head towards them and his eyes wide open as if they could bear into their souls. Since her transformation, Iron Cross had suffered from a slow descent into apathy but Radiance was all too human. The heroine charged forward and slid to her knees, the black leggings of her uniform and the rims on the edge of her yellow jacket became stained crimson. Her fingers haphazardly searched for signs of a pulse. She was not the bright child she had been through their crusades anymore, she had now tasted the truth of war and the pain it wrought.

“He’s really dead,” she said slowly, her voice catching in her throat as her eyes began to water. Radiance reached out and closed the Fin’s eyes for the final time. Her emotions were etched on her face, she wore her heart on her sleeve, and it was so raw that even Iron Cross, for all her mechanical faults, felt the punch.

There was a moment of silence.

“Is this your first death on the battlefield?” asked the German cyborg.

Radiance was only able to nod.

“Okay,” said Iron Cross. “Take your moment. Absorb this feeling and then pull yourself together. There’s still a job to do and this isn’t the time for fear of mortality or grief. Death has come today and it will come again many more times before your role is completed. As the saying goes, we must soldier on.”

Radiance inhaled heavily and rose from her knees with another nod, curter than before. Her eyes no longer danced with joy, the fun of the chase had ended the moment she had been forced to face the reality of the world around them. It was war. A war that never ended. Yet, Radiance now stood defiant of all that could have overwhelmed her. Stepping from the body of their fallen teammate, Radiance and Iron Cross turned towards the labs as a fresh rush of agents came upon them. Creating a barrier of light, Radiance unleashed all the anger she had held within her in a surge of photokinetic energy that exploded forward and tore through each of them. Metal burst and skin burned as each of the agents collided with a wall far behind them.

Iron Cross stepped to her side and slid into the labs, Radiance quickly followed but bumped into her teammate who stood frozen and disapproving. Complex algorithms stretched the screens of the laboratory and Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, was undergoing some form of neurosurgery. Wires protruded from the structure that resembled a brain as Fitz held an assortment of tools, listening intensely to the instructions of Simmons as she advised him from the screen. Iron Cross stormed forward and pushed Fitz back, the wheeled chair carrying him further than she’d anticipated.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she yelled. “What are you doing to Hammond?”

Simmons stepped forward, meekly in the presence of the cyborg. “We’re trying to recalibrate him. Skye had been working on him just before she tried to kill me. We . . . we were worried that they might be able to remotely access him or if we woke him he would try to kill us and help them so we decided to try and restore his original programme. It seemed to be the most logical choice, really.”

“I don’t care about logic. Neither of you know what you’re doing,” she snarled. “You could kill him.”

“That raises the ethical concern of androids and life,” chirped Fitz but a warning glance made him realise that he may have chosen the wrong battle. “I apologise. We’re sorry.”

“Can we bring him back?” enquired Radiance of her teammate. Fitz and Simmons noticed the redness around her eyes.

Iron Cross observed their algorithms. “It seems they haven’t managed to kill him yet.” Pulling the tools from Fitz’s grasp, she growled. “Desist. I will scan his system.”

The German closed the skullcap of his external armour and placed her hands on his head. Her eyes became iridescent blue as she worked through his internal systems. Radiance, Simmons, and Fitz could simply sit in awkward silence.

Hammond opened his eyes and snapped upright.

“What? What’s happening?” He looked towards his teammate but his gaze settled on Iron Cross. “It was like I was trapped in my own mind, replaying a simulation, as my body played the pawn. I couldn’t break through the coding. How did you clear it, Clare?”

“It’s a gift,” she replied briskly. “Now get up. If you remember me then you know that things are graver than you could have imagined. Where is the device we claimed from National Force?”

He bit his lip, running through the scattered memories that continued to piece together. “Ward. It was collected specifically by him rather than one of the agents. It had been unusual but the malware forced me to hand it over. He’s a foolish man for aligning himself with Axis Powers but he’s been sending us on a hunt for months. The device was their goal.” He hesitated for a moment. “It’ll be with him.”

“If he’s in anyway clever, he’ll have boarded himself in the office,” said Radiance.

Hammond replied decisively. “Then we go there.”

“I think it’s working.”

There was a feverish excitement on Ward’s face as his eyes darted across the blue figures. For the first time in his life, the unit director believed he had played a role in his own destiny. Even if he was too naïve to realise that he was a pawn in the stoic Shannon’s larger game. As he watched with amazement, Shannon stood across his shoulder with a look of entitlement. The gun still cocked and held high. To her, this was more than just a device that would ascend them to a higher position in life. It was an opportunity to completely gain control of a world that had already threatened to destroy her once before. The corners of her lips curled into a sinister grin as she watched the device in all its glory.

The majesty of it all almost drowned out the chaos that echoed at the other side of the door.

“This is it,” she smirked. “We’ve finally done it.”

Grant, in his excitement, twisted around and grabbed her by the waist, drawing her close as they kissed to the sounds of war.