NOTE: This issue takes place after the events of Avengers #19

The Crash Pad

Times have not been easy for the latest incarnation of the New Warriors. After losing their teammate Machine Teen during a battle with the Iron Trinity, the team chose to reveal their identities to each other. It was a decision this team’s founder and leader, Patriot, had not liked. Dwayne Taylor, who created the New Warriors years ago as Night Thrasher, and served as this latest team’s financial backer, kicked Patriot off the team.

Now down to six members, the team elected a new leader. Robbie Baldwin, also called Speedball. He had been part of the Warriors ever since the beginning, perhaps the most loyal member, despite being an unexpected, last-minute addition to the original team. Reluctantly, he accepted the mantle of leadership.

His first outing wasn’t going so well. The team was facing off against several robots in the Crash Pad’s basement, called the Combat Room. Each of the Warriors tried to go at the robots individually, without any solid results. “Great…” he muttered under his breath. “I’ve been the leader for fifteen minutes and the team’s already getting the crap kicked outta them.”

Joystick landed beside Speedball, an energy baton in each of her hands. “Any bright ideas, Mr. Leader?”

“Hey, you guys chose me!” he said. “I told you I had no clue what I was doing, but did that convince any of you to step up? Noooo!”

Joystick deflected laser fire with her batons. “So how about stepping up to the challenge and showing a bit of leadership?”

“Dude, I was just the guy who bounced into things and cracked jokes,” said Speedball.

“I knew this was a bad idea…” muttered Gravity. He was busy funneling his powers into increasing his own strength to superhuman levels and resorting to battering the robots into submission.

“Yeah, but you didn’t have the guts to say anything about it,” said Ricochet, hurling an explosive disc at a robot. “What, did Robbie intimidate you into keeping quiet?”

“Hey, lay off!” said Spider-Woman. She bent backwards as a robot was thrown right over her body, courtesy of Rage. “And thanks for the warning, big guy!”

“Oops, sorry Mattie,” said Rage. If not for his mask, his teammates would be able to see his face turn red.

“Hey Spider-Girl, if I want your opinion I’ll read your LiveJournal,” said Ricochet.

She grimaced. “That’s Spider-Woman!” A venom blast jolted from her fingertips and Ricochet braced himself, before he realized the blast wasn’t aimed at him, but the robot coming up behind him. “Why I bothered to save a made-in-Hong Kong version of Spider-Man I’ll never know…”

“Geez… all this because your boyfriend can’t stand a little good-natured ribbing…” said Ricochet.

“Leave my boyfriend out of this!” she said.

“…boyfriend?” asked Gravity with a slight smile.

“Do I really have to listen to this?” asked Joystick with a groan. She slammed her energy batons together, emitting a concussive force blast powerful enough to blow a hole through a robot. “And here I thought they canceled Dawson’s Creek…”

The robots suddenly halted their attack and collapsed to the ground.

“What happened?” asked Spider-Woman.

“Congrats Mattie,” said Ricochet. “You proved to be such a pain-in-the-ass that the bad guys just surrendered. That could be pretty useful in the field.”

“Shut it, Rico,” said Gravity.

“In all seriousness, what did happen?” asked Joystick.

“I turned off the simulation.” Dwayne Taylor spoke as he entered the training room. By his side was Eddie McDonough, once the hero known as Hornet and currently serving as the New Warriors’ resident tech support. Taylor looked at Robbie. “Can I speak to you in private?”

“…yeah, sure thing, boss-man,” said Speedball. Taylor left the room and Robbie followed.

“Busted!” said Gravity.

PATRIOT GAMES

Part II: Prodigal Hero

By Dino Pollard

GeneTech

Ritchie Gilmore sat on a cot in the small room he had been giving at GeneTech’s facilities. He stared at the mask which sat next to him on the small bed. It was blue with a red domino mask over the eyes and a star in the center of the forehead. It was the mask he had hid himself behind for the past few months.

He wondered where everything had gone so wrong for him. At one time, he wanted nothing more to be a hero, so much so that he believed the lies of the former hero called the Black Marvel. Ritchie had accepted the Black Marvel’s gift of the Prodigy costume. He led a team of three other young heroes, known as the Slingers.

And then, the Black Marvel died.

Ritchie thought his days of playing hero were over. He retired the Prodigy armor, locked it away in storage. He had planned to never go back to that life again. He focused on his studies at school, helped his grandmother as much as he could. Something was missing, but then Walter Rosen approached him. Gave Ritchie the chance to become a hero again. As well as some other offers. Ritchie felt he had no choice.

He agreed. Allowed GeneTech to test their new version of the Super Soldier Serum on him. The results proved effective and Ritchie had been granted with the same abilities as Captain America. Prior to him, there had never been a successful recreation of the Super Soldier Serum. Ritchie was given the identity of Patriot and Rosen ordered him to form a new incarnation of the New Warriors. When Ritchie questioned why, Rosen offered cryptic responses. The only condition was that the Warriors never know Ritchie’s true identity or that he was working for GeneTech.

Now, he was ousted from the Warriors. Rosen wanted him to bring the Warriors to GeneTech. To accomplish that end, Rosen had given Ritchie a new team to lead. The mentally-unstable experiments called Psionex. They were GeneTech’s first attempt to create a team of superheroes, an attempt that had failed.

Ritchie sighed. “When it rains, it pours…” he muttered. He had no choice, however. This was something he had to do. If he refused… well… he didn’t want to think of that. He heard a knock at his door before it simply opened. Rosen stood in the doorframe and looked at his “creation.”

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“No.” Ritchie shifted his gaze up to Rosen. “But that doesn’t really matter, now does it?”

“No, it really doesn’t,” said Rosen. “We had a deal, Mr. Gilmore. And it’s one you will honor. Otherwise—”

“You don’t have to remind me. I know the consequences,” said Ritchie.

“Then we should probably saddle up,” said Rosen.

Ritchie picked up his mask and pulled it over his head. Once more, he hid his face behind this false symbol. Although for what he was about to do, he was glad he had something to hide his shame. He glared at Rosen through the opaque lenses of his mask. “Do you really think you can get away with this? Taylor will retaliate.”

“Let me worry about Taylor,” said Rosen. “Your team is waiting.”

The Crash Pad

Dwayne opened the door to the small lounge. Once Robbie entered, he took off his mask and goggles and slumped down on the small couch. Dwayne closed the door and walked over to the window that looked out at the river. Robbie sighed and let his face fall into his hand.

“I fucked up, I know,” he said. “I tried to tell you, I’m not cut out for leadership.”

“You know… when you first joined the team, you made me nervous,” said Dwayne. “You were careless, you lacked control, and you treated everything like a joke. I felt you were the weak link in the team that could possibly get us killed one day.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence…” said Robbie.

“I wanted to boot you off the team the second you showed up.” Dwayne looked at his old friend. “Do you know why I didn’t?”

“Because of my sophisticated charm and rugged good looks?” asked Robbie.

“No,” said Dwayne. “Because you had passion. All the original members, I recruited them. You came to us. You wanted to be a Warrior more than anyone else. And you’ve stuck by the team longer than anyone else. More than anything else, I watched you grow. You went from being a bumbling goofball into a competent hero.”

“So…. wait… this is a pep talk?” asked Robbie.

“You screwed up in the Combat Room, but that’s not because you aren’t cut out for leadership. It’s because you think everyone’s waiting for you to fail, yourself included.”

“Thrash, really I appreciate this, I do,” said Robbie. “But let’s face it, dude. I’m a huge fuck-up. I’m nineteen and still in high school, for cryin’ out loud.”

“Maybe it’s time for you to grow up some more,” said Dwayne. “There’s no one I trust leading this team more than you. Elvin’s too timid and Mattie’s too young. Rico’s heart isn’t really in this game. Joystick is far too jaded. And as for Gravity, I can tell he’s doing this hero thing for all the wrong reasons.”

“So if we’ve got all these problems, why keep the Warriors around? It’s bad when you turn to me to lead.”

“Because the original Warriors weren’t a well-oiled machine right out of the gates. It took time,” said Dwayne. “With the experience the two of us have, I’m sure we can mold this motley crew into an effective team.”

“You really have that much confidence in me?” asked Robbie.

“I do,” said Dwayne. He looked down at his watch. “I have to go. But keep working with them in the meantime. Go on a patrol. Something.”

“You got it, boss.” Robbie smiled.

Eddie McDonough sat in the Warriors’ control room, monitoring various newscasts across the city. Most of them were focused on the aftermath of Doom’s attack on the country and how the Avengers were no longer considered a rogue state. As repairations for destroying Avengers Mansion, the United States government had even offered to provide the team with a new base off the coast of Manhattan, known as Avengers Island.

He yawned and stretched out his arms. Monitor duty was incredibly boring, but someone had to do it. And he supposed he had volunteered for this job. Dwayne had just left and Speedball was working with the Warriors in the Combat Room.

Unbeknowest to Eddie, one of the shadows in the room seemed to grow darker. It extended out, until it grew into a large, black mist. As the mist faded, six individuals appeared from the darkness. Patriot was at the front of the group and he motioned to one of his team, a man who appeared to be made out of a crystalline substance. Eddie glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of Coronary advancing on him.

“What the—?” He tried to reach for the alarm, but Coronary’s hand grabbed his wrist. Eddie instantly collapsed from his chair onto the floor and before he passed out, he glimpsed Patriot. The former Warrior looked down at Eddie and behind his mask, Ritchie Gilmore felt a tinge of regret.

“I’m sorry, Eddie…” he muttered. He moved to the control panel and accessed the Crash Pad’s surveillance cameras. On one of them, he saw the Warriors busy in the Combat Room. He turned to Psionex. “They’re in the basement.”

Combat Room

Just as earlier, the robots in the Combat Room suddenly and inexplicably shut down. The Warriors exchanged mystified glances among each other, but it was Gravity who gave voice to the confusion. “I thought you said Taylor left?”

“He did,” said Speedball. “Eddie? Something up?”

A dark, pitch-black mist formed in front of the team, growing larger and then fading away to reveal Patriot. Behind him were Mathemaniac, Coronary, Pretty Persuasions, Impulse and Asylum. Collectively, they were known as—

“Psionex?” said Speedball.

“What’s Psionex?” asked Spider-Woman.

“Bad news, that’s what,” said Rage.

“GeneTech’s own personal team of superheroes. Except there was one problem,” said Speedball. “They’re insane.”

“That any way to treat an old friend?” asked Mathemaniac.

“What gives, Patriot?” asked Ricochet.

“I’m sorry, but I have my orders,” said Patriot. “Let’s not make this difficult. Just come along with us back to GeneTech and don’t cause any trouble.”

“Whoa, lemme get this straight—you want us to just blindly follow you and your new team of misfits to some genetic testing facility?” asked Joystick. She extended her hand and an energy baton appeared in her palm. “Sorry, doesn’t work that way.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, Joystick,” said Patriot. “Please, just come with us to GeneTech and everything will be explained.”

“Don’t think so,” said Rage. “So what, Patriot. You’ve been a stooge for GeneTech the whole time?”

“It’s not that simple,” said Patriot.

“I dunno, seems pretty simple to me,” said Gravity.

“Y’know what? This is boring me,” said Impulse. He charged forward, swinging his arm so the poisoned barbs which protruded from his gauntlets could slash Gravity. The Warrior brought his arms up in defense, and Impulse cut one of Gravity’s arms instead of the chest he had aimed for.

“Sonnuva bitch…” muttered Gravity. He bent over and punched the ground, sending out a gravitational shockwave that knocked Impulse from his feet. With those opening attacks, the battle was engaged.

“Just contain them!” said Patriot. “No casualties!”

“You’re no fun,” said Impulse.

Ricochet hurled a few of his discs at Mathemaniac, but for some reason, he kept missing his mark with each throw. “What the hell is going on?” he asked.

“Simple, really,” said Mathemaniac with a calm disposition. “I’m projecting equations into your head which distort your estimation of the angles, increasing the probability of misses.”

“Sorry, I flunked math,” said Ricochet. He hurled another disc, which barely missed Mathemaniac and ricocheted off the wall, then struck the ceiling.

“I should tell you I’ve altered the equation, thus increasing your accuracy,” said Mathemaniac.

“And why would you do that?” asked Ricochet. His danger sense started to blare and he turned his head just in time to see the disc flying towards his face. He grabbed it before it could strike him and turned back to Mathemaniac. “Nice try, but you gotta do better than that.”

“Oh that? That wasn’t trying, that was just me having a bit of fun,” said Mathemaniac. “Now this is trying…”

Ricochet stopped in his tracks and suddenly felt his brain pounding. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head tightly before he passed out. Mathemaniac stood over him and smiled. “Since you said you flunked math, I thought I’d help you out by projecting every single bit of math I know into your mind at once. Unfortunately, I think you’ve experienced a bit of an information overload.”

Rage threw a punch at Impulse, who easily dodged it and moved to another part of the room. Rage was about to follow him when he stopped, his stomach turning. He clutched his abdomen and felt nauseous. He keeled over and started to uncontrollably vomit. Coronary stood in front of him, a grin on his face. He didn’t have much time to gloat, however, because the next thing he knew his body was far too heavy for him to stand. He collapsed on the ground and couldn’t muster up enough strength to pull himself back up, thanks to Gravity’s powers.

Gravity caught a glimpse of Pretty Persuasions, who sauntered over to him. She offered him a flirty wink and started to run her slim hands down his body. “Ooooh, I just loveyou superheroes. Something about you just drives me wild.” Gravity felt his arousal growing, to the point that he could think of nothing else. Pretty Persuasions giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Well… I take it someone’s happy to see me,” she said. “Would you like some help with release, baby?”

Gravity couldn’t even bring himself to nod, but it didn’t matter. Suddenly, his arousal came to a shaking climax, so much that he couldn’t stand on his feet anymore. Pretty Persuasions stepped back and allowed him to slump over. Psionic webbing suddenly snagged her.

“Stay the hell away from my boyfriend, you skank!” said Spider-Woman.

“Aw, jealousy is so cute,” said Pretty Persuasions. “Just so you know, sweetie, I can do more than make guys come.” A psionic whip formed in her hand and she threw it forward, snagging Spider-Woman by the throat.

Joystick hurled another energy baton at Impulse and she followed it up with a concussive force blast from the new pair she formed. Now it was her and Speedball up against the entire Psionex team. “Any ideas?” she asked.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got an Avengers ID card on you?” asked Speedball.

“Closest I ever came to the Avengers was fighting the Thunderbolts,” said Joystick.

“Then it’s official, we’re screwed,” said Speedball.

NEXT: The New Warriors, captives of GeneTech! Desperate times call for desperate measures and Dwayne Taylor has just the answer!

WAR ROOM

I’ve got to be honest.

Marvel’s recent treatment of the New Warriors during Civil War is just downright disgusting and insulting. Not only were they shown as incompetent glory-hounds before they were unceremoniously killed off, but to make matters worse, Speedball is being completely dragged through the mud. Simply because Marvel feels there can only be one happy-go-lucky hero (Spider-Man). But brooding, angst-filled, emo heroes? We can never have too many of those, apparently.

I didn’t put Robbie front and center as the new leader of my Warriors in response to his treatment in Civil War. Actually, last issue (when he was voted leader) was written months ago, before I had even started to read Civil War. But after seeing the crappy treatment Robbie’s received, it’s definitely one of those fortunate accidents. Speedball will get more screentime in the coming issues and hopefully that will serve as a nice counter-balance for fans who are just as disgusted with Marvel’s treatment of the Warriors as I am.

Dino Pollard