A pair of ninja clad in red climbed to the top of the ancient roof. They each scanned the horizon, searching for some sign of the disturbance that was detected. This island off the southern coast of Japan was a stronghold, where the daimyo of the Asian finger of the Hand controlled his operations.

One of the ninjas was taken out by a venom blast. The Spider-Woman landed where he once stood and the remaining ninja drew his katana, moving into a battle stance. Spider-Woman watched him carefully from behind the opaque lenses of her mask.

He brought his sword forward in a thrust, and Spider-Woman back-flipped to evade. While in mid-flip, hands perched on the surface of the roof, she sprung towards the ninja. Her legs wrapped around his neck and he struggled in futility for a few moments before he passed out.

Spider-Woman dropped down into the rock garden below. A single ninja patrolled this area as well. She increased her pheromone output and it wasn’t long before the ninja started to feel an urge and came towards her location. When he was within range, she pounced from her hiding area, landing hard on his head and knocking him out cold.

<“This is too easy,”> said Spider-Woman, quite loudly in Japanese. <“Why don’t we stop with the theatrics and get down to business? As fun as it may be, I don’t have time to beat down your men all night.”>

The garden was lit up by floodlights. At least half a dozen Hand ninja emerged from the shadows, their katana blades pointed at the former investigator and current Avenger. The sliding rice paper doors opened to reveal an old man with gray hair and a goatee, flanked on both sides by ninja. He was stoic and gave off no fear. Spider-Woman remained calm and showed no signs of aggression as she stepped towards the house. She knew if this old man wanted to, he could take her on in combat himself.

<“Takashi, I presume,”> she said. <“Asian daimyo of the Hand.”>

“I do not get many opportunities to practice my English. So for your comfort and my benefit, let us communicate in your native tongue,” said Takashi. “I’ve known of your presence in my country. What brings a former agent of Hydra and SHIELD to my doorstep?”

“I’ve got a situation and resolving that situation would benefit both of us,” said Spider-Woman.

Takashi raised his brow. “Oh? You have long been an enemy of the Hand, Ms. Drew. We know you’ve met with another sworn enemy of ours, that cur Harada. Tell me why I should not have my men kill you this instant?”

“I have evidence that one of the Hand’s daimyo is working against the interests of your organization. If you’ll honor me with a few moments of your time, I’m sure we can come to a solution that both parties will be pleased with.”

“Bakuto,” said Takashi with a tinge of anger and disgust in his voice.

“Yes,” said Spider-Woman. “He’s making deals behind your back, attempting to usurp your authority.”

<“Stand down,”> said Takashi to the ninja. They sheathed their blades and bowed. <“Please prepare a tea setting for our guest. We have matters to discuss.”>

CONTROL IN HAND

Part III

By Dino Pollard

Sierra Nevada

Carlos LaMuerto was a big man. His muscles bulged beneath the skintight fabric of his black, full-body costume. The Black Widow sized him up as she lay on her back, taken by surprise by his optic blast. Her mind immediately worked to formulate a plan of attack as the Black Tarantula approached, his long shadow falling over her body.

Natasha remained on her back, playing up the effect of his opening salvo. When he was in range, her arm flew forward and her bracelet unleashed the electro-static charge known as the Widow’s Bite. It froze LaMuerto in place and Natasha sprung to her feet and leapt over his head. When she touched the ground, she moved to strike him in the back, but LaMuerto recovered and grabbed her leg.

He used the leg to pull himself close enough to her so he could drive an elbow into her chest. Natasha felt the wind leave her body and LaMuerto followed up that strike by using the leg to swing and then hurl her across the room. As she tumbled through the air, she quickly righted herself and fired the Widow’s Line, zipping back across. She released the cable and landed gracefully, but LaMuerto was already on her, striking her with a powerful blow to her jaw. She rolled with the punch, falling on her palms and putting her weight on them as she swung her legs in a pair of kicks at his head.

The Black Tarantula was fast. Far faster than his size would make one believe. Faster even than Natasha. And his strength and stamina were unbelievable, on a level above that of even the late Steve Rogers. Natasha imagined the Black Tarantula could hold his own even against the likes of her former teammate, Hercules. Any sort of direct confrontation with him would likely end with her neck broken and he was too fast for her quick, coordinated blows to have much of an effect. No, she would need an even more indirect method of attack.

Natasha jumped several times to put distance between her and LaMuerto. She reached for the discs that made up her belt and removed one of them. She shot her Widow’s Line, drawing her up to the ceiling. As the Black Tarantula jumped to grab her, she dropped several pellets that coated the room in smoke.

While LaMuerto swung blindly in the smoke, Natasha dropped to the ground and planted one of the discs. She moved to another spot and planted another disc. Then a third and a fourth. Using her Widow’s Line a final time, she zipped right back up to the rafters, hanging from the ceiling thanks to the suction cups on her gloves and boots.

The Black Tarantula moved through the room and he stepped on one of the discs. It detonated, blowing him back. He landed on one of the other discs and it detonated as well. LaMuerto was off his feet and trying to shake it off. His healing factor kicked in to repair any damage the tiny explosions caused, but before he could completely compose himself, the Black Widow dropped from the ceiling. She landed on his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his neck. As he struggled against her, she bent over and held her bracelet in his face. A red puff of smoke shot out from the bracelet and LaMuerto passed out after a few moments. It was a new addition to her arsenal, a powerful anesthetic called the Widow’s Kiss. She had to use a larger dose for someone like the Black Tarantula, but it should keep him out of her hair as she took care of her part of the mission.

Bakuto hovered over the shoulders of his technicians as they worked with tablet computers to try and hack into War Machine’s systems. <“What’s taking so long?”> he asked in Japanese.

<“Sir, this is Starktech, it’s extremely sophisticated. It will take time to break past the systems.”>

<“That’s time we don’t have,”> said Bakuto. He touched the communicator affixed to his ear. “Carlos, have you found his partner?”

No answer came.

“Carlos, do you hear me?” asked Bakuto.

“How long’s it been since he last contacted you?” asked War Machine.

“Ten minutes, why?”

Rhodey had a temptation to open his faceplate so Bakuto could see the grin spreading across his face. Naturally, it was an urge he ignored. “Ten minutes, huh? And now no response? That means he’s down for the count.”

“Shut up.”

“Who do you think you’re dealing with, amateurs? You’re up against the big guns, now. You see, we had a plan here,” said War Machine.

“And what plan was that?” asked Bakuto.

“The Black Widow and I are immune to your scanners, being human and all. So while I distract your forces, she sneaks into the factory and disables your scanners,” said War Machine. “And if your boy’s stopped answering, she’s now had plenty of time to do just that. Oh, and those systems of mine you ‘shut down’?”

War Machine suddenly stood and clocked two of the ninjas who flanked him before they could react. “It’s called playing possum. My CPU knew your tech guys were trying to get inside and made it look like you disabled my weapons. Also, I’m getting a transmission right now, and you’re about to be in big trouble in three…two…one…”

A massive fist burst through the ceiling, causing the ninja and Bakuto to scatter. Through the freshly-made hole in the roof, they could see Goliath towering over them. Photon streaked down and Nomad, the Black Widow and Ant-Man dropped from Goliath’s shoulder into the factory.

“AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!” shouted Nomad.

“Bet you’ve always wanted to say that,” said Ant-Man.

“GET TO THE EXO-SUITS!” shouted Bakuto, drawing his katana. He charged for Nomad, swinging his sword towards him.

Nomad crossed his staves above his head to block the sword. He deflected the blade and moved in, kicking Bakuto in the chin. Bakuto recovered and thrust forward. Nomad was barely able to dodge the strike. He held out one of his staves and a blinding flash of light emitted from the tip.

“We’re shutting you down, ninja-boy,” said Nomad.

“We’ll see about that!” Bakuto pulled back and raised his sword. He thumbed a switch on the hilt and energy surged up it, encasing the blade in glowing light.

Ant-Man shrunk down, his armor enabling him to fly as he maneuvered past sword strikes from the Hand warriors’ swords. “I freaking hate ninjas!”

“I’m sure they share your distaste,” said the Black Widow, unleashing a Widow’s Bite at an approaching enemy.

Several of the ninja reached their exo-suits and engaged. Photon stood before them, transforming into energy as they unleashed on her with plasma blasts. She absorbed them into her harmlessly and retaliated with an array of blasts of her own. Other pilots took to the air, engaging Goliath. She and War Machine flew after them.

Goliath swung his hands around, knocking flying exo-suits from the sky as if they were insects. War Machine flew into the air as well, his armor unleashing salvo after salvo of weaponry at the suit-wearers.

Hand ninja seemingly appeared out of nowhere in bursts of smoke. They poured into the factory, assisting the Avengers in the battle. It was not long before the tide of battle began to turn. Many of the ninja working for Bakuto felt the urge to stand down when faced by their brethren.

Nomad held one of his staves to block Bakuto’s energy sword, but the blade sliced it in two. He decided to put some distance between them, flipping back as Bakuto chased after him. As he moved, Nomad reached to his chest, drawing one of the discs mounted there.

He flipped into the air and hurled the disc. It struck the ground and knocked Bakuto off his feet. Nomad readied the other disc as Bakuto quickly recovered, coming in for another strike. Nomad twisted his body to avoid a sword-swipe and scissor-kicked Bakuto’s legs, knocking him down. With his second disc, Nomad struck Bakuto’s hand hard, the impact forcing the daimyo to release the weapon.

Nomad grabbed Bakuto by his neck and pinned him to the ground. He drew his second stave, pushing it up against Bakuto’s neck. “I want to know everything about the men who hired you.”

Bakuto spat in Nomad’s face and began to chuckle. “You think I know anything about them? We had a deal—I take over operations and use the Hand’s connections to ship the weapons, they provide me with the means to take out my competitors. That’s as much as I know.”

Nomad was prepared to interrogate further when he felt the tip of a blade at the back of his neck. He raised the stave up but when he looked down at Bakuto’s face, he saw fear. “I take it this guy’s not with you.”

“Not quite,” said Bakuto.

“Stand up, Mr. Monroe,” came the swordsman’s voice, his English colored by his Japanese accent. Nomad did as he was told and slowly turned. Takashi stood behind him with Spider-Woman at his side.

“What’s going on here?” asked Nomad.

“My part of the plan,” said Spider-Woman. “The enemy of my enemy.”

“This wasn’t part of the plan,” said Nomad.

“Bakuto has violated his sacred oath. He has tarnished the name and the reputation of the Hand. He has shamed me personally. For that, we shall deal with him in accordance with our own ancient laws,” said Takashi.

“We need to know what he knows. We need to find out who put him up to this and what their goal is.”

“And we will provide you with that information, just as we have promised Ms. Drew,” said Takashi. “But we will do this our way. We are inflexible on this matter, Mr. Monroe. So unless you and your allies want this temporary alliance to turn into a full-scale war, I suggest you stand down.”

Nomad glared at Spider-Woman. “We’re going to have words about this.”

“I’m sure we will,” said Spider-Woman. She turned to Takashi. <“He’s all yours.”>

<“Thank you for your assistance, Ms. Drew. I will be in touch shortly.”>

The Steranko
One Week Later

Jack Monroe sat in a computer bay on the minicarrier christened the Steranko. He was reviewing files about an upcoming mission, a facility of some notoriety that he felt might provide some insight into Control. The door to the room opened and with the click of a few keys, the information vanished from the screen. He leaned back in his chair and watched as Jessica Drew entered the room, wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt.

“I just received a message from Takashi via the dummy e-mail we set up,” she said. “The only thing Bakuto knew was the name of the man he was dealing with.”

“Who?” asked Jack.

“Achan,” said Jessica. “Ever hear of him?”

Jack shook his head. “No, can’t say I have.”

“Was afraid of that,” said Jessica. “At least it’s a start.”

“Not enough of one,” said Jack.

Jessica sighed and crossed her arms. “Are we gonna have it out now, Jack?”

“That what you think? That we’re going to sit here and shout at each other? Maybe even throw a few punches?”

“You said we’d have words about what happened in Sierra Nevada.”

“It’s not that simple, Jess. By making the deal you made with Takashi, you surrendered one of our bargaining chips. With Bakuto, we don’t know what else we might have discovered. And now, he’s back in Takashi’s hands, possibly either dead or suffering greatly.”

“He was a bad guy, Jack. You weren’t with me in Japan. I had a call to make and there was no time to get permission.”

“Yeah, you made a call. And potentially jeopardized our mission. But I’m not going to fight about this with you, Jess. Instead, I’m just going to leave it at this,” said Jack. “You’re fired.”

Jessica did a double-take. “What?”

“You heard me, you’re out.” Jack stood from the computer. “Collect your personal belongings and Coulson will escort you to the surface.”

“You can’t do this,” said Jessica. “Nick—”

“Who do you think gave the order to axe you?” asked Jack. “This is a war, Drew. We can’t tolerate insubordination.”

NEXT: Dreamland