BLOW UP THE OUTSIDE WORLD

By Wesley Overhults

Earth-5

“Another reality, another mission. Is anyone else starting to get bored with all of this?”

Sandman rolled his eyes at Daredevil’s question and tried to listen to the Tallus. He didn’t see how anyone could get bored with this considering their lives and their futures were on the line. He was trying to cut Daredevil some slack though because he knew the kid was going through a rough patch after Sister Grimm’s forced departure from the team. Her absence had sent Johnny on a bit of a self-destructive spiral that Sandman wanted to squelch before things went too far. For the past couple of missions, Daredevil seemed bent on getting himself killed through sheer recklessness. Sandman thought that their “talk” while they were in the woods two or three realities back had drilled some things into Daredevil’s skull but he wasn’t too sure.

“I think it’s kinda fun,” piped up Pixie, her cheerful tone a little disturbing given the missions they had been forced to accomplish. “I always wanted to see the world.”

“So what part of it are we seeing this time?” inquired Goblin, looking around to see if he could spot a familiar landmark. “Stamford, Connecticut?”

The quaint, almost rustic, sign stared back at him as he confirmed their location. Stamford didn’t exactly seem like the type of city that needed superheroes. Compared to where most of the Exiles grew up, calling Stamford a city was perhaps being generous. It certainly wasn’t a city like New York or Los Angeles or even Chicago. It was cleaner, brighter, and cheerier than those cities could ever hope to be. So what exactly were they supposed to do in a town like this?

“The Tallus says we’re here to stop Nitro,” explained Sandman.

“Great,” groaned Wasp. “That guy is a pain in the ass.”

“Who’s that?” asked Pixie.

“This guy who likes to blow himself up,” answered Sandman before Wasp could. “Literally, he blows himself up.”

“That’s his power?” asked Husk skeptically. “Shouldn’t be too difficult ta find ‘im then.”

“Hopefully this isn’t another of those clone things again,” said Goblin. “The mission is just to stop Nitro?”

“All the Tallus says,” replied Sandman.

“You guys fought clones and I wasn’t there?” pouted Pixie. “Nobody ever lets me have any fun.”

“I’ll tell you all about some time, kid,” promised Daredevil. “Guess we better get to work. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can move on to some other mission.”

Sandman didn’t say anything. Somehow, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with this mission. There was something about this that the Tallus wasn’t telling him but at this point that was hardly anything new. The Tallus and the Timebroker had been trying to screw them over from the very beginning. Sandman could hardly wait to see what new wrinkle this mission would create.

“Be honest, you guys really just love my company.”

Sandman gritted his teeth in frustration and glared at his teammate. Daredevil didn’t seem to mind being glared at. Sandman could tell he was obviously used to it at this point so it didn’t even faze him in the slightest.

“According to the news reports, Nitro and some other inmates broke out of prison a couple weeks ago,” he explained, noting that Daredevil absently twirled one of his batons in response and seemed more interested in it than in what he was saying. “It makes sense that he would come to a place like this to hide. All the superhero activity is localized in New York and no one bothers to come out here.”

“Except losers like us,” reminded Daredevil.

“You’re really wearing that leeway thin,” warned Sandman.

The Exiles stood in an alley and debated their next move. They didn’t know what exactly they were up against, especially now since they learned that Nitro wasn’t alone. According to the news reports, Coldheart, Speedfreek, and Cobalt Man had escaped with Nitro. The four convicts had disappeared from the public’s radar but if the Exiles could trust the Tallus then they knew where these escaped criminals were hiding.

“Ah could pull a couple o’ strings,” suggested Husk. “Those people at tha Vault put tracking chips in tha suits that Cobalt Man and Speedfreek wear. They probably killed ’em by now but there’s a chance Ah could hack into whatever GPS they run off of and get a good hit on ’em.”

“Not a bad idea,” admitted Sandman. “We need to get a fix on their positions somehow.”

“Look, this isn’t that hard,” decided Daredevil. “You guys have been spending too much time hanging out with the Avengers waiting around for Dr. Doom or Thanos to get their panties in a wad and start trouble. Where do villains go when they want to get out from whatever rock they’re hiding under?”

“They go to a bar,” realized Sandman. “Maybe a strip club but mostly just bars.”

“I say we go try to find the sleaziest and slimiest bar this squeaky-clean town has,” declared Daredevil, pulling his street clothes out of his backpack. “I guarantee you that at least one of these clowns will be there.”

“Some of us can’t get through the door,” reminded Wasp, gesturing to the three female members of the Exiles. “Let me clarify that one of us doesn’t want to, by the way.”

“We’ll have to split up then,” decided Sandman. “The guys hit the bars while the girls work on Paige’s angle.”

“Come on, we’ll find a phone book or something and see what we can see,” stated Daredevil as he finished putting his street clothes on over his costume.

Daredevil lead the way across the street and into the library Sandman had used earlier when he needed to check the internet for information about Nitro, Sandman and Goblin following him while garbed in street clothes so as not to attract attention. Within minutes, Johnny had a phone book in his hand and was scrawling down addresses on a piece of paper. After looking at a map of the city, the three Exiles realized that there were a few places downtown that were within walking distance of the library. After walking a few blocks, they found themselves at their first destination.

“I’ve spent way too much time in places like this,” muttered Sandman.

“Join the club,” retorted Daredevil before opening the door and walking inside the bar. “I barely even know what Nitro looks like, much less these other clowns.”

“I doubt any of them will be the shy type,” said Goblin.

“Osborn’s right,” agreed Sandman. “Just keep your eyes open and try not to drink too much.”

“Ah think we have a problem,” said Husk as she looked across the street at the unassuming suburban house.

“Yeah, I’m worried about Will too,” admitted Wasp. “He’s been more hotheaded lately and I think he’s going to get us in over our heads if we don’t try to reason with him.

“Ah ain’t talkin’ ’bout Will,” clarified Husk before motioning to the house. “That’s where Ah got the best hit from the tracker but Ah haven’t seen anyone come outta that house in a while. Looks like our boys and girl might be on the move.”

“You talk kinda like Mr. Logan,” noted Pixie.

“Ah don’t take that as a compliment,” replied Husk. “We need ta get in there and find out what’s goin’ on.”

“Lemme do it,” suggested Pixie. “I’m super-good with people. Please?”

“Ah’m not lettin’ ya go in there alone,” decided Husk.

“Got it,” agreed Wasp.

Pixie clapped her hands gleefully while Wasp shrunk down to microscopic size and flitted towards the house. Pixie followed suit and landed at the front door while Wasp slipped through the keyhole and entered the house. Megan knocked on the door and dutifully waited to see if anyone would answer. She hummed a tune to herself while she waited and then squeaked in surprise when the knob turned and the door opened.

“Oh, it’s you,” said Pixie as Wasp jerked her head to the side, indicating that it was safe to come in. “I totally thought someone else was home.”

“There’s nobody in here that I can tell,” said Wasp, almost gagging as she hurriedly left the building. “We don’t need to go in there. I can smell what happened from here.”

Pixie wrinkled her nose, not fully understanding what Kate meant. She happily skipped into the house, traipsing around without a care in the world. She seemed completely oblivious to the smell of the rotting corpses that were located somewhere in the house, the residence’s former occupants that were brutally slain at the hands of Nitro and his crew.

“Ooo, they have all the Harry Potter movies,” she noted after scanning the DVD rack in the family room. “Hey, Kate, you wanna watch one with me?”

“There is something seriously wrong with you,” gasped Wasp in between dry-heaving while Husk approached the house and made a face at the smell.

“Looks like this trail’s cold,” said the Kentucky-born Exile. “We better figure out . . .”

Her words were cut short by an explosion that echoed across town. The girls all turned their attention towards the noise and it took them only a few seconds to realize that it came in the direction of downtown, where the rest of the Exiles were checking on other leads. It appeared that at least one of those leads had panned out, though perhaps not exactly as well as the Exiles had hoped.

“I guess now wouldn’t be a good time for me to ask if I could buy him a drink, would it?”

Daredevil was characteristically ignored as Sandman and Goblin turned their attention to Cobalt Man. The villainous version of Iron Man discharged another round of energy blasts from his hands. Daredevil tumbled through the air, twisting to avoid the rounds of plasma that flew towards him. Cobalt Man turned and shrugged off the round of razor bats that sang towards him, courtesy of Goblin. Sandman let large, claw-like spikes of hardened sand protrude from his fingertips before leaping towards Cobalt Man in a display of feral aggression much like Wolverine. Cobalt Man backhanded Sandman away before Goblin hit him with a round of pumpkin bombs.

“It’s gonna take more than that,” warned Cobalt Man, blasting at Sandman and knocking him backwards.

“Doesn’t matter what you got,” promised Sandman after reforming himself. “I’m gonna crack you open like a sardine can and not even that knockoff armor is going to save you.”

“Maybe I’ll just have to bring out the heavy artillery then,” decided Cobalt Man. His shoulder compartments opened up and unleashed a payload of rockets at Sandman.

Sandman turned his body into sandstone to take the impact of the rockets. When the dust cleared, the leader of the Exiles remained standing. Daredevil took the opportunity to attack though his blows had little impact against their foe’s armor.

“I think if I adjust the polarity on my sparkle beams I can short out his armor” said Goblin. “Hold him off for a couple seconds.”

Sandman and Daredevil wordlessly nodded in agreement and threw themselves at Cobalt Man. Sandman turned his hand into a giant hammer and drilled his foe over the head with it. Daredevil bounced a d-disc off of Cobalt Man’s armored head to disorient him. Goblin’s hand glowed with the energy of his sparkle beams and he let one fly at Cobalt Man. The energy managed to disable the villain’s armor, rendering him completely defenseless. Sandman delivered the knockout blow that put Cobalt Man on his back and out for the count.

“That was pretty anticlimactic,” admitted Daredevil once the fight was over.

“We’re still not done with the mission,” reminded Sandman. “The Tallus told us to stop Nitro and that clown isn’t anywhere near here.”

“We saw the fireworks,” said Wasp, the three female Exiles appearing on the scene in a cloud of pixie dust thanks to Pixie’s teleportation. “What happened?”

“Did anybody ever tell you that when you teleport it smells like strawberries?” inquired Daredevil to Pixie before Sandman or anyone else could answer Wasp’s question. “What’s up with that anyway?”

“Actually it smells like cinnamon,” commented Wasp.

“It smells like whatever you want it to,” explained Pixie. “Thanks, by the way.”

“That walking tin can ambushed us while we were at the bar,” explained Sandman, trying to get the conversation back on track. “What did you girls find out?”

“They were squattin’ in somebody’s house,” replied Husk. “They’re on tha move again though.”

“Yeah and they’re moving right towards us” shot back Daredevil, snapping his head to his right as his danger-sense went off. “Something’s coming in hot and fast.”

Daredevil’s warning came too slow. Speedfreek zoomed towards the gaggle of reality-hopping heroes and caused them to scatter. Daredevil tried to use his danger-sense to keep up with the fast-moving felon but Speedfreek wasn’t the only villain that the Exiles needed to worry about. It seemed that Coldheart and Nitro wanted in on the action as well.

“They’re outnumbered two to one,” reminded Sandman. “Take them down and do it quick!”

“I’m trying,” assured Daredevil, trying in vain to keep up with Speedfreek. “You wanna give me a hand? Be my guest.”

The rest of the Exiles wasted little time worrying about Daredevil and Speedfreek. Coldheart was in the heroes’ midst and Goblin and Sandman were the first to meet her. The glowing blades of her cryonic swords froze Goblin’s razor bats on contact and did the same to the sandstone weapons Sandman employed as his strikes were parried with precision and accuracy.

“Oh well that’s just fine for you,” said Daredevil after managing to tag Speedfreek with a d-disc and slow him down. “Some of us actually have a real fight on our hands over here.”

“Why do people like you keep hunting us?” questioned Coldheart. “What the hell did we ever do to you?”

“You’re a bad guy,” answered Sandman. “Sometimes it’s just that simple.”

“Good one,” commented Wasp.

She zapped Coldheart in the back with a sting blast but it only earned her Coldheart’s attention. The sword-wielding villainess turned and let out a beam of cryonic energy from her swords aimed straight at Wasp. Wasp met the freezing energy with a sting blast and forced a stalemate. Coldheart turned and caught a right cross in her face from Husk, sporting a shiny diamond skin. The Exile backed away to avoid the freezing energy from Coldheart’s sword as she swiped at her in retaliation. She turned and stabbed Sandman in the chest with her other sword, watching the energy surrounding the blade freeze his sandy body on contact.

“Go on,” dared Nitro as the rest of the Exiles held back on attacking him. “Afraid I’ll lose my temper and blow up if you touch me?”

“Something like that,” replied Wasp. “We need to figure out how to contain him in case he explodes. Anyone got any ideas on that?”

Goblin nodded and pulled a few flash bombs out of his bag of tricks. Wasp and the others saw his plan and closed their eyes as the bombs exploded in Nitro’s face. The flash bombs did their work and blinded the combustible villain. Nitro blindly groped around as he tried to regain his vision. Sandman broke his way free from the ice Coldheart had encased him in and morphed his body around Nitro, forming a cage that would hold him in case he tried to explode.

“It’s not going to work forever,” reminded Sandman.

“On it,” confirmed Wasp before shrinking down and zipping through the bars of Sandman’s cage.

She began zapping Nitro repeatedly with sting blasts, further disorienting him and keeping him preoccupied so he couldn’t explode. Goblin and the rest of the Exiles turned their attention to Coldheart and Speedfreek. Husk ripped her diamond skin off to expose a form made of molten rock. The heat from her body negated the beams of cryonic energy that leapt from Coldheart’s swords. Paige waded through the onslaught and took a swing at Coldheart. The villainess flipped backward to avoid being burned by Husk’s molten skin but a puff of pixie dust meant that she flipped backwards right into Pixie’s clutches. Coldheart turned and let her sword’s blade clash with the blade of Pixie’s soul dagger. Pixie teleported to avoid Coldheart’s other sword as it tried to stab her in the chest. She appeared behind Coldheart and took a swipe at her from behind with another soul dagger. Speedfreek entered the fray and pushed Coldheart aside, stopping Pixie’s soul dagger from connecting with its intended target. He began to land lightning-quick punches on Pixie, trying to knock her out before she could teleport away.

“Ah can’t catch ‘im,” said Husk as she tried to tag Speedfreek but only succeeded in getting him away from Pixie.

Daredevil entered the fray with his batons but Speedfreek easily avoided the strikes and seemingly disappeared. Johnny closed his eyes and waited. He inhaled and felt the buzzing of his danger-sense grow louder and louder. His muscles begged for action but the time wasn’t right. He only needed a moment more before placing his strike. He waited and waited until the moment was right. Speedfreek was already committed to his attack. All Daredevil had to do was stick his foot out and trip the high-velocity villain. Speedfreek tumbled forward and hit the ground face first, skidding across it before coming to a stop. The armor he wore took the brunt of the impact but he was still woozy even as he staggered back to his feet. Husk shed her molten lava form for one of concrete and then landed a solid right cross on Speedfreek’s jaw, knocking him out cold and taking him out of the fight.

“Guess you’re not so fast after all,” jeered Daredevil.

“I’ll make sure that cocky smirk is frozen on your face for good,” retorted Coldheart.

Daredevil’s danger-sense went off and he turned, bringing up one of his batons to block Coldheart’s attack. The sword’s blade froze the baton and Coldheart batted the frozen projectile away even as Daredevil tossed it at her head. Daredevil flipped over Coldheart to avoid touching her and then kicked her in the back of the legs, knocking them out from under her. Coldheart performed a back handspring and wrapped her legs around Daredevil’s head before flipping him forward. Johnny landed on his hands and flipped himself free from the leg-scissor, rolling to get back on his feet again. He ran towards Coldheart but she stuck her sword into the ground, icing it over on contact. When Daredevil went to jump, he slipped on the ice and almost fell on his face.

“Kate, get out of there,” ordered Sandman, realizing what Nitro was about to do.

Wasp zipped through the bars on the cage before Sandman completely closed it. Nitro combusted in a mild explosion that was enough to take everyone off their feet. Everyone tried to stop the ringing in their ears as they got back to a vertical base. Coldheart shook her head and swore under her breath while staggering back to her feet. There was a puff of pixie dust and something slid into her chest.

“Mr. Sandman said we were supposed to stop Nitro but he didn’t say anything about the rest of you guys,” hissed Pixie in Coldheart’s ear. “That means I can do whatever I want with you.”

The energy of Megan’s soul dagger, along with her eyes, grew dark and murky. She felt Coldheart’s soul flow into hers, felt the evil corrupting her. It tasted good. It tasted so good that Pixie wanted to drink every single drop. Coldheart’s lifeless body collapsed as Pixie rode it to the ground, taking everything she could from the older woman. She grinned with an almost manic frenzy as the dark energy of Coldheart’s soul seeped from her eyes.

“Megan, what the hell?” asked Sandman wearily as he slowly reformed and stood in front of her. “What did you do?”

“What’s the matter, Mr. Sandman?” asked Pixie, a cruel smile forming on her lips as she realized her hunger wasn’t satisfied. “Are you afraid of the dark?”

“Anybody get the number of that truck?” asked Daredevil groggily.

“Don’t think it was just one,” replied Husk. “Y’all okay?”

“Some of us,” answered Goblin, looking to where Pixie and Sandman were about to square off. “We have to stop Megan before she hurts him.”

“We’ve got bigger problems,” cut in Wasp, pointing towards the spot where Nitro was standing before he exploded.

The remaining Exiles watched Nitro reform himself from the explosion without a single scratch on him. All of them were battered and weary but he was completely unharmed. Daredevil struck first, landing a flying kick on Nitro’s jaw. Goblin and Wasp hung back, blasting Nitro from afar while Husk followed Daredevil into the fray. Nitro retaliated with blows charged with explosive energy, knocking Husk and Daredevil off their feet and blowing them backwards.

“This is pointless,” realized Goblin. “How long do we have before he can blow himself up again?”

“Should be a little while,” said Wasp. “Exploding takes a lot out of him.”

“A little goblin gas should do the trick then,” decided Goblin, launching some pumpkin bombs at Nitro.

The Exiles peered at their foe through the green haze and watched Nitro stagger forward out of the cloud. Wasp flew forward to engage him while he was disoriented. She stung him twice in the head and prayed that it was enough to put him down for good. Nitro seemed to be recovering from the gas at a faster rate than she would’ve expected. In fact, he was recovering from everything faster than he should’ve been.

“You were better off letting the other three beat the crap out of you,” warned Nitro. “I don’t know how you know so much about me but there’s something you need to understand. You can’t beat me.”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying,” retorted Wasp before shrinking to avoid Nitro’s attacks.

She kept pouring on the sting blasts but nothing was working on him. She finally managed to take him off his feet with a double sting blast. Kate seized her opportunity and returned back to normal size, pouncing on Nitro and slugging him in the face. Nitro began to laugh at her because nothing she did even hurt him. Kate wanted to scream because she couldn’t figure it out. Nitro had never been this powerful before. What was different about him? She paused suddenly and really looked at him. The signs were there. They were staring everyone right in the face but she was the only one who could see them. Something was different about Nitro and Wasp knew what it was.

“Sorry, nothing personal,” apologized Nitro before raising his hand and blowing Wasp away with a small explosion.

Wasp bounced across the pavement even as the rest of the Exiles moved to attack Nitro. She had to warn them. She had to explain to them that taking on Nitro in the state he was in was suicide. Nitro was a walking dead man and he had nothing to lose at this point. She knew how that felt all too well.

“I’m not gonna hurt you, kiddo,” promised Sandman.

Pixie didn’t seem too interested in that. She was more concerned with hurting Sandman as the dark energies of Coldheart’s soul threatened to take her over completely. She lunged towards Sandman with her soul daggers at the ready. Sandman turned to sand and let her dive through his body, swirling around her to wrap her in a bear hug. Pixie struggled briefly before teleporting out of Sandman’s grip. Baker turned and ducked to dodge a swipe from one of her soul daggers. He blocked another slash and gently shoved Pixie backwards with a blast of sand from his chest. He wasn’t going to hurt her no matter what she tried to do to him. The problem was that she didn’t seem to share that sentiment in the slightest.

Pixie came at him and suddenly teleported behind him. Sandman turned and batted aside another swipe from her soul dagger. Without thinking, he instinctively raised his other hand and struck Pixie across the jaw. He pulled his punch at the last second, only lightly slapping her. Pixie shook her head and looked at Sandman, shock evident on her face. The black energy in her eyes faded away as her lower lip suddenly began to quiver.

“Aw hell,” muttered Sandman, lowering his guard as he realized that he had made her cry. “Sorry, kid.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Sandman,” apologized Pixie tearfully as Sandman hugged her. “I couldn’t stop.”

“It’s alright, kiddo,” promised Sandman softly. “C’mon, we got a mission to finish, remember?”

Both Exiles turned their attention to Nitro. They joined their teammates in the fray but Nitro kept laughing and shrugging off their attacks. Wasp shook off the disorientation from her fall and watched the scene before them. She felt like everything was moving in slow motion as she rose from the ground and tried to get her teammates to stop. She flew towards them but even as she did she knew it was already too late.

“Stop!” she ordered. “You don’t understand. Nitro is a MGH addict!”

Sandman heard something in his head. The Tallus was telling him that their mission was complete yet Nitro was clearly still active. What the hell was going on here?

“I don’t know who you losers are but we’re not in the bargain basement here,” said Nitro while his eyes glowed with explosive energy. “You’re playing with the big boys now!”

The Exiles disappeared even as Nitro exploded. The MGH in his body fueled his powers to heights he could never have attained otherwise. By the time the dust would settle, most of the city of Stamford would be nothing but a giant crater. The explosion at Stamford would be a catalyst that would change the course of this reality for months to come. It would cause a civil war in the superhero community that would spiral out of control and end only after bloodshed on both sides. The Exiles would never understand that this was their true mission. Their mission was to create the incident that would incite that civil war because no other superhero team was around to do it.

“What the hell was that?” asked Sandman as the Exiles reappeared on another reality.

“Nitro was on MGH,” explained Wasp. “I tried to warn you guys but I couldn’t see the signs fast enough. I should’ve realized it sooner.”

“The Tallus said our mission was complete,” said Sandman. “What the hell did we do?”

“That explosion was probably big enough to wipe out the whole town,” realized Goblin. “All those people . . . gone.”

“Because of us,” finished Daredevil.

“We need to get our bearings,” decided Sandman. “We need to . . .”

“How can you be so damn calm about this?” questioned Wasp, the anger rising in her voice. “Do you not get what just happened? We killed those people! All of them, every single one of them, died because of us!”

“We were doing our job,” retorted Sandman.

“Listen to yourself!” shouted Wasp. “Are we heroes or not? We’ve gotten so damn used to running around and jumping through the Timebroker’s hoops that we’ve lost all sense of right and wrong. That’s what he wants! Don’t you get that?”

“We got no choice,” reminded Husk. “Ya remember what tha Timebroker told us.”

“I wanna go home,” added Pixie.

“At what cost?” questioned Wasp. “All of us want to get back home to the people we care about but where’s the line on how far we’re willing to go?”

“Kate’s right,” decided Sandman. “The Timebroker is breaking us down with all these missions. He’s screwing with us and it’s making us forget who we are. Until we get some help and I get this stupid Tallus off my arm, we’re going to have to keep playing his game. We use our own rules though. No more bloodshed if it’s avoidable. It doesn’t matter what the mission is, we do it our way and not his.”

“Maybe we could find the X-Men again and get help,” suggested Goblin. “There are obviously other Timebrokers out there, perhaps we can appeal to whatever governing body they use.”

“Seems like we pissed away that chance,” said Daredevil. “If we want to end this then we have to take out the Timebroker.”

“And how tha hell’re we supposed ta do that?” inquired Husk. “We don’t even know where he lives. We don’t even know where we are now.”

“Johnny’s right,” agreed Sandman. “We keep playing this game but somehow we’re going to get our hands on the Timebroker and then we’re going to end this. We’re not cogs in the machine anymore. We’re heroes and it’s time to bring the Timebroker to justice.”

Next Issue: Welcome home, Husk.