INGLORIOUS BASTARDS

Part II

By Wesley Overhults

Genetech Corporate Headquarters

The board of directors for Genetech all looked at each other.  Walter Rosen’s attorney sat with them and he had just given them some startling news.  Walter Rosen was Genetech’s last stumbling block.  All the board members knew that he was the one who had caused that incident with the New Warriors and they all knew he had been dealing under the table with some group though no one knew who that group was.  Simply put, Walter Rosen was a corporate pariah and it was only because of his expert legal team that he wasn’t rotting in jail.  However, he was now rotting in the ground and that left Genetech in possibly even more disarray than it was with him as the captain of the ship.

“Mr. Rosen was the one who had controlling interest of this company but he didn’t bequeath those shares to anyone,” explained the lawyer.  “They went up on the market earlier today and a large chunk of them were snatched up by someone I’m sure all of you have familiarized yourselves with over the past few days. To put it simply, ladies and gentlemen, a Mr. Helix owns this company now.”

“This is absurd,” stated one of the board members.  “We don’t even know who this man is aside from his idiotic name.  For all we know, he murdered Rosen to get control of this company.”

“That’s a very baseless accusation,” warned Helix as he stepped into the room and looked at the members of the board.  “I’ll thank you to please retract that statement.  I know you think you might hold the power here and for a time you did but that power now belongs to me.”

“You can’t just waltz in here and declare yourself the owner of this company,” stated another board member.

“Rosen had no offspring to inherit the company so control of it is up for grabs,” reminded Helix after casually taking a seat in one of the empty chairs.  “I’ll allow Mr. Rosen’s attorney to explain to you why his successor is going to be me.”

“Mr. Helix has enough stock in the company to command a majority,” explained the lawyer.  “As the only member of the board with controlling interest, he has the right to choose the new CEO.”

“Oh but you’re missing the best part,” stated Helix as he leaned forward and put his hands on the table, the grin splitting his face akin to the one a predator might give its prey just before devouring it.  “You see I could’ve just skipped calling this meeting but I wanted all of you, the remaining members of the board, to be here for this.  I’ve already called the news crews and they will be here shortly to cover the big announcement of my takeover.  I wanted you to be here so I can give you this offer in person.  I’m not satisfied with just the majority of the stock; I want it all.  Sell it to me and you’ll not only make a profit but you just might keep yourselves alive as well.”

“You can’t just strong-arm us like this,” said one man and the other members of the board also gave varying looks of disapproval at the idea.  “This isn’t some smalltime business that you can muscle your way into control of.  We’re a multimillion dollar corporation.”

“You were one,” corrected Helix.  “We all know the damage Walter Rosen has done to this company.  Your stock is taking a meteoric dive.  I bought it for almost nothing.  You don’t have any choice in the matter.  I’m the only one that’s willing to save this company from bankruptcy but I’m going to do it only on my terms. I would think me threatening your lives would be enough incentive to agree to those terms.”

The door to the conference room opened and Helix’s personal guard made their presence known.  The tension in the room mounted as some of the board members tried to make a break for it, knowing that the presence of Helix’s enforcers could only mean bad news.  Fagin shifted into his mutated state and used his enhanced strength to help those board members back to their seats.  Mako did the same and everyone realized there was no escape from the room until they did what Helix wanted.

“When the public finds out about this, they’ll crucify you,” assured a board member.

“The public isn’t going to know about this,” assured Helix.  “No one is going to know a single thing about what will happen in this room and I have people in the building who are going to make absolutely sure that nothing interrupts us.  Again, I’m going to ask you this question.  Are we going to do this the easy way or are we going to do this the hard way?”

Composite stared at the imposing building that shot upwards into the sky.  In any other city, the building would probably have towered over the rest of the skyline but this was New York City and the corporate headquarters of Genetech had plenty of competition in that department.

“Gadget, give us some good news,” he said into the radio.

“I’m afraid I don’t have much,” admitted Lucy Cervantes.  “Whoever is initiating this takeover has knocked out the building’s security systems.  Nobody can see what’s going on in there unless they’re using their own two eyes to do it.”

“So we need to get in there then,” decided Composite.  “Frankie, I want you in there first and giving us a scouting report.  You’ll be able to move around that building the fastest out of all of us.  Your job is to find Fagin but I don’t want you to engage him.”

“I didn’t even bother getting him a ring anyway,” retorted Wipeout before he turned into his water form and poured himself into the city’s water system.

“Again, who is Fagin?” questioned Neon.

“Fagin is the jackass who started all this,” answered Finesse.  “He hired Frankie, Henry, and I to steal the Caterpillar List from S.H.I.E.L.D.  What he neglected to mention was that our job was supposed to fail.  We were the scapegoats while he got away with the list.  That’s how the list ended up in Hydra’s hands and that’s why they sent their people after you and the other Caterpillars.  It was all our fault because we got conned by him and when I see him I’m going to break every bone in his body.  Trust me, I know how to make that happen.”

“What she said,” agreed Composite.  “Frankie, what’s your position?”

“Nerd girl was right,” informed Wipeout.  “Security’s completely shot.  Somebody tore the consoles to pieces and I can guarantee you the lines for the cameras have been cut.  If Fagin’s behind this then he’s got his crew covering all the bases.  Front door is clear if you guys want to join the party.  I’m looking for our guest of honor.”

“I don’t appreciate that handle,” said Gadget.  “You guys wouldn’t even be on this case if it wasn’t for me, remember?”

“And I will properly thank you once we get home,” said Finesse.  “After you, Henry.”

Composite nodded and was the first of the group to get inside the building.  It seemed that Helix and his crew had done a good job of clearing everyone out of the building or at least corralling them somewhere and keeping them quiet.  Henry led the Warriors over to the building’s directory and tried to get some idea of where to go.

“What’s that smell?” asked Neon as she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Death,” realized Requiem.  “There’s at least one dead body somewhere in the vicinity, probably more if the earlier handiwork of these people is any indication.”

“Oh there’s more than one,” assured Wipeout.  “I got something on the third floor.  It’s not Fagin but I think I found one of his goons.  There’re more bodies on this floor too because I’m smelling the same thing you guys are.  You want me to confirm where the bodies are?”

“Stay out of sight and wait for backup,” ordered Composite.  “We’ll be up there in a few minutes.”

Composite’s orders were lost in the static that filled the radio.  He winced as it squawked in his ear before the radio compensated for it.  It wasn’t actually static though.  Composite knew exactly what it was and he knew they didn’t have much time.  It was the sound Wipeout made when he was in his water form and if he was crashing around like that then it usually meant he was in a fight.

“What was that noise?” asked Gadget.

“Frankie doing exactly the opposite of what I told him,” muttered Composite before heading towards the elevator.  “I should be used to it by now but somehow I always expect him to actually listen to me.”

Wipeout had never seen Komodo before in his life but that unfamiliarity didn’t change his battle tactics.  Frankie knew his power worked best when he could put lots of distance between himself and his foe.  It wasn’t that he couldn’t fight up close but rather that he preferred not to do so.  Conversely, it seemed that Komodo enjoyed a good slugfest so Wipeout made it a point not to oblige her.

“For the record, that’s the nastiest skin condition I’ve ever seen,” he declared as Komodo slithered around one of his water blasts.

Komodo sprang towards her opponent and manage to tackle Wipeout to the floor.  She tried to slash him with her claws but Wipeout turned fully into water and slipped away from the attack.  He flowed down the hall and around the corner, reforming into flesh and blood and pressing himself against the wall.  He knew there were hostages in the room that Komodo had been guarding and he wanted to draw her away from those innocent people.  He figured that if he angered her enough then he could keep her attention focused on something other than those hostages.

“There’s a lizard girl up here,” he hissed into his radio.  “Any theories on who the hell she is?”

“Don’t know of any lizard girls,” said Gadget.  “There’re a bunch of snake ones that are part of the Serpent Society.  Maybe it’s one of them.  If the cameras were still functional, I could patch into their feed and ID her.”

“It’s not anyone from whoever it was you just said,” stated Wipeout.  “There’s no way someone with that big of a rep would slum it for Fagin.”

“We’re about to get out of the elevator,” warned Composite.

Wipeout looked around the corner and saw Komodo’s attention turn to behind her.  The elevator door opened and Composite’s gleaming metal form came into view.  It was exactly the opening that Wipeout needed.  Frankie stepped out from behind the corner and blasted Komodo in the back with a stream of water.  The blast sent her hurling forward right into a clothesline from Composite that knocked her out cold.

“Hostages are in that room,” said Wipeout.  “You want me on more recon?”

“I think we’re getting more company,” realized Composite as he saw Ana Kravinoff turn the corner with Watson and Crick on her heels.  “Behind you, Frankie!”

Wipeout turned and let the two jackals pounce right through his body.  The two hunting dogs shook off the water and continued sprinting towards the rest of the Warriors.  Ana whistled to the dogs and they both circled to either side of the Warriors, completely avoiding Composite because she told them to.  Ana was saving the alpha dog for herself it seemed as she jumped and brought her knives in downward stabs that saw the blades jamming right into Henry’s shoulders.

“There were eleven dog-related fatalities reported this year alone,” noted Requiem as Finesse pulled out a pair of energy katanas from her bag of tricks and held them at the ready while the jackals circled the Warriors.  “I suggest we not be added to that list.”

“Those things are huge,” realized Neon.  “That can’t be natural.”

“I believe we know what caused the dead bodies,” decided Finesse.  “Funny, I was never a dog person anyway.”

Both of the jackals pounced towards the Warriors even as Ana flipped over Composite’s head and pulled her knives out of his shoulders.  She flung the weapons straight at Finesse, causing her to use her katanas as shields.  That left her unable to use her weapons to fend off the jackals, which was Ana’s intent.  However, Requiem teleported himself and his two female teammates away to dodge the jackals.  Composite moved to shield them when they reappeared as Ana pulled out a crossbow and began firing it at her enemies.  What Henry didn’t know was that the tips of the bolts were coated with a fast-acting acid and that the bolts were sharp enough to pierce his skin.

“I have come prepared for our rematch,” stated Ana as her new pets took another run at the Warriors.  “You can feel free to watch your leader melt into a puddle on the floor.  You’ll soon join him in death.”

Ana scooped up her knives and then used them to defend herself as Finesse flipped over the jackals and attacked her.  Wipeout fired a water blast at each of the jackals but Watson and Crick were both stronger than they looked.  Frankie amped up the intensity of the blasts but they continued trudging towards him and the other Warriors.

“You made a big mistake when you shot me with those arrows,” said Composite as he used his ability to absorb and mimic the properties of the acid that was eating away at his body.

“I did?” inquired Ana even as she ducked under one of Finesse’s slashes and cut Jeanne across the stomach with one of her knives.  “I think not.”

Composite suddenly understood what the huntress meant.  Now that his body was completely composed of acid, his feet were eating through the floor underneath them.  In a matter of seconds, Henry had no solid ground to stand on and he dropped like a rock to the floor below.  It wouldn’t stop there.  Unless he picked up another form, Composite realized that his body was going to keep inadvertently eating through whatever surface it came in contact with.

“I’ll get him,” decided Wipeout, slipping away from Watson and Crick and shooting down the hole in the floor that Composite had made.  “Be back in a sec.”

The whole building began to suddenly shake at for a moment the Secret Warriors thought that it was Quake and the cavalry coming to their rescue. Unfortunately, that moment of hope passed quickly as Excavator came into view.  He reached out with his powers and could feel the minerals in the concrete that made up the building.  A stream of cement shot downward from the ceiling and poured through the hole in the floor.  Without enough concrete for support, the ceiling began to cave in with the Warriors caught in its path.  Requiem managed to get to Neon and Finesse in time to teleport them away from the collapsing ceiling.  It was a blind teleport with no set destination and the three of them found themselves somewhere in the building that at least got them away from danger.

“Told ya you’d get buried when you stepped to me,” stated Excavator as he saw that the collapsed ceiling had sealed up the hole in the floor and assumed that his barrage of concrete had taken care of Composite and Wipeout on the floor below.  He used his power to control the remaining concrete in the rubble blocking his way, sweeping it aside so that Ana and her dogs could come through.  “Tell me that wasn’t badass.”

“I’m going to kill you if you do that again,” said Komodo as she crawled out from underneath the rubble.  “Count on it.”

“You almost killed me and my pets,” noted Ana.  “Perhaps you will make a good hunter yet if you continue to display ruthlessness like that.”

Excavator nervously smiled as Ana moved past him, accompanied by Watson and Crick.  The two jackals snapped at Excavator as they passed him, causing the boy to almost jump out of his skin and causing Komodo to laugh hysterically.  Ana smirked as the familiar scent of her teammate’s fear wafted through her nostrils.  She didn’t think the Warriors were finished yet.  She was intent on hunting them down and making sure that they were disposed of permanently.

“Is everyone alive?” inquired Requiem.  “I’m going to assume so unless your answer comes from inside my head.”

“Yeah,” coughed Neon as she had Finesse leaning against her for support.  “I think we’re good.”

“I’ll be fine once this cut heals,” assured Finesse, trying to stand up without Stephanie’s support but failing at it.  “I’ve suffered through worse.  Where the hell are we?”

“Still in the building it seems,” offered Requiem as he looked around.  “I think we’re in the lower levels by the look of it.  What’s this equipment?”

Neon and Finesse followed Requiem’s gaze at the pods that lined one of the walls.  What the Warriors weren’t aware of was that they were the pods meant to contain the members of Psionex to keep the team from getting out of hand.  The three Warriors had unknowingly stumbled into one of the secret laboratories where Walter Rosen tried to destroy the New Warriors.

“Are you guys still there?” asked Gadget.

“We’re alive, Lucy,” confirmed Requiem.  “I’m seeing a lot of unusual equipment that looks like it hasn’t been used in quite awhile.  The most disconcerting among the equipment is a row of human-sized pods.”

“You’re in one of the labs that Rosen used for his dirty work,” explained Gadget.  “I’m looking at the S.H.I.E.L.D. files on the incident right now.  Rosen was involved in some pretty nasty stuff that involved the New Warriors.  For a little bit, he had them brainwashed and planned to use them as his pawns but that plan didn’t work out.”

“Yes, he’s trying to explain that to me,” noted Requiem.  “I’d rather not listen to the particulars right now, Lucy.  Give us a way out of here.”

“Right, so I’m looking at the building’s layout and I think I can get you to Rosen’s office,” decided Gadget.  “There should be a secret elevator that should do the trick, assuming that it still works of course.”

“That would work but I have someone in need of medical attention,” reminded Requiem.

“I’ve had my shots and I’m going to be fine when this bleeding stops,” countered Finesse even as Neon ripped a strip of material off the bottom of her shirt and used it to dress her teammate’s wound.  “Where’s the elevator?”

“Should be in the northeast corner of the room,” said Gadget.  “Hang on, I’ll get into the building’s network and make sure it still works.”

Requiem nodded though their newest ally couldn’t see him do so.  He moved to the corner of the room that Gadget had indicated and saw the elevator in question.  He noticed the keypad come alive and some unseen force enter the correct code.  The elevator doors opened by themselves and Requiem ushered his other teammates inside before getting in himself.  He tried to stop reminding himself that elevators were terribly dangerous places to be and waited as the doors closed and they began ascending up to Rosen’s office.

“You need to get that wound checked,” he told Finesse.

“You’re going to have your own wound to check if you don’t shut up,” she snapped in return.  “As long as I get to outlive Fagin then I will be able to die in peace.”

“I’ve never seen you this angry at someone,” realized Neon.  “It’s like you actually care about us.”

“What happened was my responsibility,” confessed Finesse.  “I was the one who should’ve seen through Fagin’s con and because I didn’t, your uncle died and we ended up at the mercy of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“Frankie and Henry are as much to blame,” noted Requiem.

“I’m smarter than them,” countered Finesse as she finally managed to stand on her own without Neon’s help.  “I’m the one who prides myself on knowing everything and yet I was still stupid enough to be tricked by him.  Don’t try to coddle me.  I have enough guilt to deal with, adding to it doesn’t bother me.  I’m not someone who enjoys looking like an idiot and that’s what Fagin did to me.  I’m going to get even with him for that.”

“Looks like you’re going to get your chance then,” decided Requiem as the elevator opened its doors.

The three Warriors moved into the office that was once Walter Rosen’s.  They could hear voices coming from somewhere nearby.  Something was going on and it didn’t sound good.  Finesse took the lead even with her wound, cracking open the office door and peering out into the hallway.  She heard a group of voices coming towards them and recognized them as the three people they had fought against earlier.  She watched Komodo go into the conference room while Ana and Excavator stood guard along with her two dogs.  Whatever was going on, it was happening in that conference room.

“Something’s happening and I think we need to get in there and stop it,” she decided.  “I’d like to do that before I bleed out if that’s possible.”

“I very much enjoy it when things work out to my end,” declared Helix as he watched the members of the board finish filling out the necessary paperwork to hand over all their shares of the company to him.  “I’m glad to see that all of you made the right choice.  I would hate to risk further damage to my building.”

“We have company,” said Komodo as she came into the room.  “There are some kids running around the building but Excavator took care of them.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” admitted Fagin.

“I know, I had the same idea but the kid has guts,” said Komodo.  “Seriously, he dropped the ceiling on them.  Almost killed me and the other girl in the process but that’s how things are, right?”

“Indeed,” agreed Helix.  “I believe with our business concluded there’s really only one loose end to tie up.  Mr. Fagin, please be so kind as to assist Mako in getting the trash out of my building.  I have a press conference that I need to attend.”

“Gotcha, boss,” said Fagin, knowing exactly what Helix meant.

With Helix now the sole owner and operator of the company, he didn’t need the board of directors anymore.  He had entertained thoughts of keeping them around but in the end they were collectively too much of a loose cannon.  It was better that he simply dispose of them and then cover it up instead of suffering their presence any longer.  However, he couldn’t do that right now with the press conference bringing so much media attention to his activities even though having the Secret Warriors in the building would give him the perfect scapegoat.  He knew it was them of course.  He had planned everything too intricately for it to fail now.  The Warriors were there to stop him but in the end they would take the fall just as they had done when he used them to acquire the Caterpillar List. His interest in them wasn’t just for that though.  Unbeknownst to anyone but himself, Helix had a history with the three original members of the Warriors. Finesse, Composite, and Wipeout all owed their existences to Helix in one fashion or another and Helix intended to let them in on that particular secret.

“Get away from them,” ordered Finesse after the doors to the conference room flew open with Excavator’s body crashing through them thanks to a blast of magical energy from Requiem.

Helix quickly shielded his eyes as Neon let out a burst of light meant to daze him and his thugs.  He confessed that his plan for the Warriors had hit a few snags, two of them being Requiem and Neon.  He intended to rectify those mistakes though.  Now that he had a larger base of power, he could properly welcome his lost children back into his fold once he eliminated the ones that were corrupting them.

“It’s been a long time since I last saw you, Jeanne,” he admitted to Finesse.  “How are your parents by the way?”

“I don’t know who you are but you just made me angry,” stated Finesse.  “I have to admit, I would’ve thought someone as supposedly smart as Fagin would’ve known better than to be someone’s hired goon.  I suppose even I can make mistakes.”

“That’s what separates me from the rest of this rabble, Jeanne,” said Helix.  “You see, I know all about mistakes.  I choose though to take the supposed mistakes of others and turn them into something magnificent.  You can see that in my children right here.  They were all lost without someone to guide them, Jeanne.  The rest of the world, their families most of all, had thrown them away but I found them and I made them into something better.  I did the same thing with you, Jeanne Foucault.  I did just what your parents wanted me to do.”

“You’re wasting time with them,” said Fagin.  “They were never good enough for you and I’m going to make sure they never bother you again.”

Fagin shifted into his mutated form and stalked towards the Secret Warriors even as his teammates followed suit and began to surround the three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.  It was then that the floor erupted in a geyser that kept their enemies at bay.  The stream of water twisted into the form of two men and Wipeout and Composite stood with the rest of their teammates and readied themselves for battle.

“You can’t get rid of us that easily,” stated Composite.

“I never wanted to in the first place, Henry,” said Helix with a cruel grin.  “It’s so nice to have my children all together again.  Unfortunately, we won’t have more time to play.  You see, you five have no legal cause to be here.  Right now, there are probably about a dozen news crews down on the ground and they’re all just dying to get a look at the ‘terrorists’ that have invaded this building and murdered members of what’s now my security team.  I believe that any moment, your superiors will be telling you to stand down and get out of the building.”

“He’s right,” admitted Quake.  “Get out of there and do it without anyone seeing you.  The building’s perimeter is swarming with news cameras and, like he said, you have no justification for being there.  He’s got us and there’s nothing we can do but withdraw.”

“We’ve got him dead to rights for employing these psychos,” noted Composite.  “If we walk then the innocent people in this room are as good as dead.”

“I would hardly call them innocent, Henry,” reminded Helix.  “You see, you don’t have any real proof as to what my intentions are.  I was the one who called this board meeting and I can very easily tell the press that some hooligans from S.H.I.E.L.D. interrupted it and put everyone here in danger.  Your pictures will be plastered all over tonight’s news and the covert nature of your jobs will be completely destroyed.  I know your superiors don’t want that, do they?”

“Henry, I’m telling you and the others to stand down,” ordered Quake.  “I hate it as much as you do but if you continue to provoke him then you’ll only make things worse.  Be smart and let it go.”

“We’re done,” said Composite through gritted teeth.  “You got what you wanted.  We’ll back off.”

“Nice to see you three again,” mentioned Fagin, grinning as he watched the Secret Warriors admit defeat.  “I’m hoping we can find more time to catch up.”

Finesse moved to strike but Composite held her back.  He nodded to Requiem and Sebastian teleported all of them out of the building.  They landed on the roof of a nearby building, one that had been within Sebastian’s line of sight so he didn’t create a scene.  All of them looked at each other and then back at the Genetech building.

“You were right, those people are as good as dead now,” said Finesse.  “It’s not that I really care about those corporate leeches but you know what Fagin did to us.  Whoever it is that he’s working for, you heard what he said.  He knows us but we don’t know anything about him.  Why would you pass up the chance to get some answers?”

“Because I want to keep my job,” answered Composite.  “Trust me, I want Fagin and this new clown as badly as you do but we can’t do it right now.  He’s the one with the leverage.”

“Look,” directed Neon.

All the Secret Warriors looked down at the front of the building and watched the remaining board of directors for Genetech walk out of the building with Helix for the press conference.  It seemed as if Helix didn’t want to risk the negative publicity but all of them knew that the board members would be disposed of later. Helix was just waiting for a more discrete opportunity to tie up all his loose ends.

“He’s screwing with us with this whole stunt,” realized Wipeout.  “What’re we supposed to do now?”

“Figure out a way to get our leverage back,” answered Finesse before Composite even had the chance to.

Next Issue: What secrets does Helix hold and will the Warriors ever find the truth?  Find out in the conclusion to “Inglorious Bastards“.