THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLARS

Part IV

By Wesley Overhults

The Home of Raymond Sydney, Forest Hills

“So the whole ‘leaving’ thing, nothing personal there,” said Wipeout. “Things were going south so I did what I had to do.”

“I’m still going to get you back for that,” promised Finesse.

The five young people were gathered in the living room while the “adults” planned their next move. None of them were very good at planning things and they were still too new to be trusted with strategy. Truthfully, they didn’t know that they could even trust one another. They weren’t friends, they barely even knew each other well enough to be considered acquaintances at this point. Yet all of them, for one reason or another, were going to jump into the fire to save a bunch of people they had never even met. Requiem and Stephanie had their reasons, of course, because they were on the Caterpillar List and had a personal stake in the mission. The other three felt varying levels of responsibility for what they had unwittingly caused. Composite felt the most responsibility out of all of them though mostly because he was a good kid at heart.

“And how are you gonna do that?” inquired Wipeout while reaching out and letting his fingers graze Finesse’s cheek.

In a lightning-fast move that happened before Wipeout could even shift into his water form, Finesse broke Frankie’s fingers. Wipeout bit his lip to keep from screaming in pain and shifted into his water form for a few seconds, correcting the injury when he shifted back into his human form.

“Next time you might not be so lucky,” warned Finesse.

“But there will be a next time,” assured Wipeout with a grin.

“All of you settle down and listen up,” said Quake, entering the room with Raymond Sydney. “We’ve got a location so we’re going in. I want all of you with your heads in the game. Our main priority is to get Finesse to the computer system so she can do her job. Keep your eyes on her at all times and make sure you cover her so she can get this done.”

“They won’t need to cover me. I can handle myself,” promised Finesse.

“I’m keeping my eyes on you too,” confirmed Sydney, looking at his niece sternly. “You get in any trouble, you yell my name.”

“I know,” said Stephanie. “You’ve trained me enough, Uncle Raymond. It’s time to see if all that training paid off.”

She knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to discourage her from taking part in any of this but the problem was that she was already involved in this. She didn’t know if she could trust the rest of her “teammates” but she knew she could handle herself. If she was on the list without her consent then she might as well be the one to take her name off of it as far as HYDRA was concerned. She was never comfortable with her uncle’s idea of her hiding in the shadows of a normal life when she had powers and skills that most normal girls didn’t have. It was time to use those powers and skills to do something good just like her uncle had always told her to do.

“What’s our chances of getting killed on this?” asked Wipeout, looking to Requiem because the older boy seemed to know everything where fatalities and death were concerned.

“Haven’t actually read the statistics on that but I doubt it could be good,” replied Requiem. “I suggest everyone try not to throw up if there’s more than one teleportation. I’m trying my best to gain better control over it but I won’t make any promises.”

“Just get us where we need to be,” ordered Quake.

Requiem nodded and warmed up his magical abilities. The number of people he had to teleport kept growing and growing. He wasn’t sure he could do it but every time he managed to do it and it got easier with every teleportation. All these years, he had known that Dr. Druid was his father but he never realized that the same magic that his father wielded could also be his to use as well. Now he had his new friends counting on him and he knew he couldn’t fail them. They were trusting him with their lives and he didn’t want them to end up as just more voices in his head. Sebastian Druid closed his eyes and focused. All of them disappeared in a flash of magical energy.

HYDRA Cell, Somewhere in New York

“You didn’t get the job done.”

The Wrecking Crew was used to failure by now. When you got beat down by Thor or the Hulk every other day, you got used to losing fights. Beating down some no-name loser like Fagin though was a completely different story. It was an easy job, a job they should’ve been able to perform had not those two punk kids shown up to ruin things. They could’ve taken them too if the big one hadn’t have turned out to be Absorbing Man’s twin or whatever the hell the kid was.

“Things got complicated,” explained Wrecker. “You didn’t tell us those kids would show up and you didn’t tell us that one of them would be Absorbing Man’s kid cousin.”

“We didn’t know they would get involved,” admitted the HYDRA leader, pacing back and forth in an agitated manner at this latest wrinkle in his superior’s plan. “Did they seem like they were working with Fagin?”

“They seemed like they wanted to kill him and we were just in the way,” admitted Wrecker. “Fagin cut out while we were taking care of the kids. Slim chance we’re going to get another crack at him again.”

“He’s a hard man to find,” agreed the HYDRA commander. “Strucker had enough trouble locating him the first time.”

The alarms in the building began to sound, indicating that there was an intruder either in the building or dangerously close to it. The commanding officer turned his attention away from the Wrecking Crew and towards a bank of video monitors that were linked to the surveillance cameras around the perimeter of the building. One of them showed a group of what looked like SHIELD agents about to get inside through the building’s front entrance.

“It’s those same kids,” realized Wrecker as he saw Wipeout and Composite among the SHIELD agents. “They’re workin’ for SHIELD now?”

“You and your team do what you’re good at,” ordered the commanding officer. “I’m putting everyone on full notice of our intruders. I want all of them dead.”

“Fine with me,” decided Wrecker, moving towards the exit so he could grab the rest of his crew and then get outside.

“We’re going to have company very shortly,” noted the officer as the face of his leader appeared on one of the video screens. “It would seem that our activities regarding the Caterpillar List haven’t gone unnoticed by SHIELD. Even now, they’re at our doorstep.”

“I expect you and your men are competent enough to handle this,” replied Andreas von Strucker. “Hiring Fagin has already proven to be more trouble than it was worth even if we do have the list at our disposal. I want this incursion by SHIELD to be neutralized with extreme expediency. If they manage to make it into our computer systems then they could delete the Caterpillar List and that is something I will not allow.”

“Of course not, sir,” replied the HYDRA officer. “I will personally see to it that they will be dealt with. Hail HYDRA!”

“I don’t employ you for zealousness, I employ you for results,” retorted Strucker before ending the conversation.

The commanding HYDRA officer returned his attention to the rest of the video monitors. The building shook to its very foundation thanks to the earthquake that Daisy was causing. He could see that the roof could only take so much of that punishment before it began to collapse. The Wrecking Crew was already moving to intercept the group of SHIELD agents but something looked different. Was it just his imagination or had the group of agents shrunken since he first saw them arrive? He didn’t know SHIELD to employ cowards so it could only mean one thing.

“Attention all personnel,” he spoke through a microphone. “We may have intruders in the building. Exterminate them.”

“Statistically speaking, this isn’t the safest place to be when Miss Daisy is around,” noted Requiem. “Our chances of getting killed by an earthquake go up drastically if we’re indoors.”

“You’re a real blast at parties I bet,” noted Wipeout. “Man, what is it with villains and warehouses? This one looks worse than the one where we met Fagin.”

“This is a warehouse that was converted into a compound,” corrected Finesse before moving through the corridors of the building with the ease of a consummate professional. “Shut up and keep up.”

“Oh I can keep up,” retorted Wipeout, shifting into his water form and flowing down the hallways after Finesse.

“Does no one listen to me?” inquired Requiem after another round of tremors from Quake rocked the building. “Well, anyone alive that is?”

He stood still for a few moments and listened, not with his ears but with his powers. Plenty of people had been killed in this place and their ghosts still crept through the halls at night when the living were fast asleep. Sebastian listened to their silent pleas for help, their cries to be released from the mortal plane so they could pass on to the next life. They knew every inch of this building and, more importantly, they knew exactly where he should go. Finesse and Wipeout could search the compound and eventually they would find their target but Requiem knew it paid to have the kind of inside information that he did.

“Two floors down then?” he inquired to the empty corridor. “An elevator shaft at the end of the next hallway will take us there. Turn right once we get down?”

He nodded when he received an answer only he could hear and then rushed down the hallway. He turned the corner and watched Finesse hit one of the approaching HYDRA agents with a roundhouse kick that knocked him cold. She kicked herself off the wall and flipped backwards to avoid the bullets heading straight towards her, landing in the midst of the soldiers. Her fists flew out and clipped two of them in the knees before she moved higher and hit them in their stomachs. The rest of the HYDRA goons turned their guns towards her but jets of high-pressure water flew from Wipeout’s hands and sent them tumbling down the corridor. Finesse punched one of the wounded soldiers in the jaw and then grabbed him by the arm, pulling him closer so she could jam her knee into his stomach. She kicked him in the jaw and sent him sprawling backwards onto his other injured compatriot. The one that was still conscious pushed his comrade off of him and got back to his feet. It was too late as Finesse hit him with two quick jabs to his face before delivering a right cross that would’ve made any professional boxer cringe in fear.

“Nice of you to show up,” said Wipeout as he noticed Requiem’s presence.

“There’s an elevator at the end of the hall,” explained Sebastian. “Two floors down then take a right.”

“They’ll probably cut the elevator once we get inside,” realized Finesse as the three of them made their way down the corridor and found the elevator Sebastian spoke of. “We need to find an alternative route.”

“We can still use the shaft,” decided Wipeout, slipping his watery hand through the crack in the elevator’s doors and then expanding it outward to blow the doors apart. “Two floors down isn’t that far of a climb.”

“And what happens when the elevator comes up to greet us?” inquired Finesse. “No, I think it’s as good a time as any to pay you back for all the kindness you’ve shown me.”

Without warning, Finesse shoved Wipeout into the open elevator shaft. He barely had enough time to shift his whole body into water and get his bearings, glaring back up at the rapidly fading vision of his teammates. He passed a door and mentally regarded it as one floor down. When he saw the next one coming up he elongated his hand and reached out to grab it. He used the hand to haul himself up to the right floor and then looked back up the shaft towards his teammates.

“You could give me some warning next time!” he yelled up at them.

“Like you gave me when you and Composite ditched me?” questioned Finesse. “Get the door open and get us down there.”

“A guy could get a complex hanging around her,” muttered Wipeout before using the same trick to open the door that he used two floors up. He then stuck his hand out into the shaft with his palm up and shot a stream of water up it like a geyser.

“A little lower!” ordered Finesse and Wipeout complied. She smiled satisfactorily and looked to Requiem. “After you.”

“I can’t stress enough that our chances of survival are very slim,” reminded Requiem, cautiously stepping onto the platform of water. “I’m sure there is no mortality rate for this.”

“Get on the damn geyser,” ordered Finesse before lightly pushing Requiem forward and then stepping onto it herself.

The geyser seemed solid enough once they were on it but it abruptly vanished in a split-second and the two SHIELD agents screamed as they dropped down the shaft. Wipeout smirked before reforming the geyser after they only dropped a floor and then took them smoothly down to his position.

“I’m going to kill you,” promised Finesse as she glared hatefully at Wipeout. “I swear to God that if HYDRA doesn’t do it first then I will.”

“I would rather not have you in my head,” decided Requiem. “That would be . . . uncomfortable.”

“I was only being as nice as you were,” countered Wipeout with a grin before all three of them stepped onto solid ground. “You said we turn right, Sebastian?”

“Correct,” answered Requiem. “Might I suggest a temporary truce between you two so that we can all survive this experience?”

“Maybe,” relented Finesse with a grin as she led the way.

“You made a slight miscalculation in the plan,” said Raymond Sydney, looking to his former student as Quake sent shockwaves through the ground towards the Wrecking Crew, scattering them in all directions. “With those bruisers out here, there’s not much either Stephanie or I can do.”

“I didn’t quite count on the Wrecking Crew,” admitted Quake. “I wasn’t informed that they were working for HYDRA but it doesn’t surprise me. Those idiots will work for anyone if they get enough money out of it.”

“Should we go in then?” asked Composite.

“You and I need to stay out here and keep them occupied,” said Quake. “Ray, you take Stephanie in there with you. The two of us can handle the Wrecking Crew.”

“We’ve already got people inside and I can handle this alone,” said Sydney. “There’s no reason to send Stephanie into that hot of a situation.”

“You want me to go in, I go in,” said Stephanie.

“Give us some cover then,” ordered Sydney, speaking to Quake and Composite before taking Stephanie’s hand. “Do not let go of me until we’re inside.”

Stephanie nodded and went with her uncle as they moved wide to get out of the line of fire. Quake worked up more tremors, keeping them localized around the Wrecking Crew so the compound wouldn’t collapse. Composite leapt into the fray once the rumbling stopped, his concrete skin adding more force to his blows. Henry succeeded in drawing the Wrecking Crew away from the compound long enough to watch Raymond and Stephanie slip inside.

“How are we supposed to know where the others are?” asked Stephanie.

“If those kids are as good as they think they are then they should’ve cleared a good enough path for us,” replied Sydney.

True to his assumption, Raymond saw that most of the HYDRA agents in the immediate vicinity were unconscious. They took a turn into another corridor and followed it to the end, noting that the door to the elevator was pried open. He realized that this was going to be a trickier proposition now because they couldn’t easily deduce which way their teammates went. They were going to have to figure out some other way of getting to where they wanted to be.

“We can’t tell where they went,” realized Stephanie. “What’re we supposed to do?”

“Scum always settles at the bottom,” said Sydney while clicking the button for the elevator.

“You’re going to want to take it two floors down,” said Finesse’s voice over the intercom once Stephanie and her uncle got inside the elevator. “I trust you’re smart enough to figure it out from there.”

“They’re already inside the control room,” realized Raymond with a grin. “So far, so good.”

Stephanie didn’t exactly see how they were any better off than they were when they first started the mission. They were still in hostile territory and they were largely outnumbered by the enemy. The chances of them getting out of this were slim at best and nothing at worst. Yet strangely she didn’t feel alarmed at this. She knew Raymond would die before he let something hurt her and it gave her an inner sense of comfort that she knew would help her get through this whole ordeal alive.

The two of them moved along the corridor once they stepped out of the elevator with Raymond taking point, his gun always at the ready. It seemed, however, that they didn’t need it. The HYDRA agents they encountered looked thoroughly unconscious and in some cases also thoroughly soaked. They were definitely on the right track. They could hear what sounded like waves crashing against the shore the closer they got to the rest of their team.

“You can be loud when you want to be,” noted Sydney as he and his niece entered the computer room.

“I keep telling him to shut his mouth but he won’t listen,” said Finesse, not looking away from the computer screen in front of her. “I’m working on getting into the central network. It shouldn’t be too hard to find the list once I’m inside.”

“You do know I’m in the room, right?” asked Wipeout.

“You always make sure we don’t forget,” retorted Finesse while still not looking away from the screen. “I’m inside the system. I’ll start looking for the list immediately.”

Sydney suddenly yanked his niece to one side and pressed against the wall as someone down the hall began firing. Wipeout and Requiem did what Raymond and Stephanie did only on the other side of the doorway while Finesse ducked out of the chair and hit the floor. The commanding HYDRA officer continued his advance along with some of the other HYDRA agents, all with guns drawn and trained on the doorway.

“Throw down some cover fire,” ordered Sydney, sticking his gun into the open doorway and firing off some shots to keep the HYDRA agents at bay.

“I’ll do better than that,” promised Wipeout before turning into his water form and moving into the hallway.

The HYDRA agents began firing immediately but the bullets passed through his watery body. Wipeout enlarged his body to fit the hallway before he came rolling towards the HYDRA goons like a tidal wave. He crashed through them, washing some of them down the hall while leaving the others on their back. The commanding officer recovered quicker than the rest of his men, getting back on his feet and continuing to fire on the SHIELD agents in the computer room.

“That didn’t exactly help,” realized Sydney, trying to keep up his attempt at cover fire.

“Maybe this will,” decided Stephanie, forming a ball of light in her hand.

Stephanie threw the ball of light out into the hallway and then let it explode like a flash grenade in a blinding flash of light. It halted the HYDRA officer’s advance long enough for Finesse to resume her work and for the rest of the team to set up a better screen for her.

“Nice work,” commented Requiem.

“I think I’ve found the list,” said Finesse, continuing her work once the shooting stopped. “I’m working on deleting it from their system right now.”

“Work faster,” ordered Sydney, stepping out into the hallway with his gun trained on the HYDRA officer. “I can’t count how many of you people I’ve had to kill over the years. All your faces just blur together in a haze of tackily-colored masks. How long are we going to let this game go on between the two of us?”

“You know what we believe,” countered the officer. “We are HYDRA, Sydney. Cut off one head and two more take its place. You and your ilk have been fighting a losing battle all this time and yet you still continue. Tell me, who is the bigger fool between us?”

“I’m the one who isn’t blind in more than a few ways and I’m the one holding the gun,” stated Sydney, watching the commanding officer grope for his weapon, his vision still obscured by Stephanie’s attack. “Now you have two options here. Either I put a bullet in your skull and call it a day or you get your people to stand down, you go to jail, and I call it a day. Either way, I’m going home with my niece and I will never bother any of you people ever again as long as you choose to show me the same courtesy.”

“Perhaps the second option is the best,” decided the officer, rising to his feet with his hands raised in the air to indicate that he wasn’t armed. “I must admit, you’re every bit as impressive as your reputation.”

“I do my best,” replied Sydney, momentarily lowering his weapon and turning his head to look back at his niece.

That was all the time in the world the HYDRA officer needed to draw a second gun on him and shoot him in the back even with his vision still slightly blurry. Stephanie let out a yelp of surprise as she watched the bullet exit through her uncle’s chest. Wipeout saw what was happening from further down the hall and roared furiously towards the HYDRA officer, clutching him in a smothering embrace and drowning the man without hesitation.

“Get him out of there!” ordered Finesse after finishing her work with the computer. “The list is gone. We’re finished.”

“So is he,” said Wipeout, expelling the commanding officer from his watery body once the man was dead.

“I can hear him in my head so yes he is,” agreed Requiem, moving with Stephanie to shelter Raymond. “Mr. Sydney, sir, I’m afraid your odds of survival aren’t good. I tried to warn everyone that this was a dangerous business.”

“I know you did,” said Sydney, his voice raspy and his breath coming in gasps. “Steph, I’m sorry. There are things I should’ve told you.”

“Don’t talk,” said Stephanie tearfully. “Look, we’ll get you out of this alive. You’ll be okay, alright?”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” gasped her uncle. “Steph, I have to tell you something. Your father, he’s . . .”

Raymond fell silent as his life faded from his body. Stephanie began sobbing over him even as Requiem held her in his arms. Finesse muttered something in French before she and Wipeout huddled around their two teammates, ready to defend them from the swarm of HYDRA agents that would, no doubt, descend on them at first opportunity. They watched something come through the wall leaving a sizeable hole in it and realized it was Composite with Quake on his heels.

“You couldn’t have done this sooner?” asked Finesse, her voice oddly tinged with anger as if she was actually concerned over Stephanie’s loss. “You couldn’t have coordinated this better?”

“It’s over,” stated Quake, giving the body of her former teacher a solemn look. “Backup’s here now. In a few minutes, this place will be crawling with SHIELD agents. Our job’s over.”

SHIELD Helicarrier

“You were extremely reckless with this mission,” said Nick Fury, leaning forward to stare at Quake even harder. “You trusted a bunch of untrained civilians to back you and Sydney up and that trust got him killed. You realize that, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” admitted Quake, forcing herself to look Fury in the eye when she felt like a child who had been caught doing something bad and now had to face punishment from her father. “May I have permission to speak freely for a moment?”

“Go ahead,” said Fury.

“Despite my poor judgment, those kids performed well in the field,” explained Quake. “I don’t know what you plan to do with them but I believe in them, sir. I believe they could be valuable to our organization and what we do. I accept all responsibility and punishment for any negative outcomes of our mission. Please don’t take it out on those kids, sir. That’s all I ask.”

“You’re suspended from active duty until further notice,” stated Fury. “However, I have something to keep you busy. I agree with your assessment of those kids and I believe that we can still use them. Fagin is still out there and we don’t know his true motives or who he might have been really working for. The enemy is out there and, unlike HYDRA, they’re being subtle this time. As I said before, we need a team of operatives who can work in the dark and deal with these enemies on their home turf. I want you to be their handler.”

“Understood, sir,” said Quake with a nod. “What were you thinking of calling this team?”

“I think ‘Secret Warriors’ has a nice ring to it,” said Fury with a small grin. “You start on your new assignment immediately, Agent Johnson. I suggest you get to work.”

“We’re completely screwed now,” realized Wipeout. “They’re done with us and we’re going to get tossed in jail.”

“Probably,” agreed Finesse. “I have spent years not getting caught. Yet the second I partner up with someone, I get into this mess. Amazing. Truly amazing.”

“You could perhaps show some sympathy,” suggested Requiem.

Everyone fell silent as they sat in what looked like a holding room that would better suit a police station. Of course, it fit right in considering the Helicarrier was one giant, floating police station. None of the motley crew of secret agents felt comfortable in that room or in the Helicarrier in general. Aside from Stephanie, all of them had been at odds with institutions in general. Society wasn’t exactly kind to them and some of them saw no reason why they shouldn’t return such a favor. Yet Stephanie was perhaps the only one out of all of them that was innocent. She was the only one that had a modicum of family left in the world and because of the rest of them she had lost that family.

“It was our fault,” said Composite quietly. “Finesse, Frankie, and I were the ones stupid enough to take that job. It was because of us that HYDRA got the list in the first place.”

“It was my fault,” said Stephanie suddenly, having been silent ever since they returned from their mission. “I was the one who wanted to be a part of that mission. If he hadn’t have spent so much time worrying about me then maybe he could’ve survived.”

“All of us have our own parts in this,” spoke up Quake upon entering the room and looking at her new team. “Director Fury has removed me from active duty and given me a new assignment. I’m your handler now.”

“And if we don’t want to be handled?” asked Finesse skeptically.

“Then you three go to jail and Sebastian goes back to the institution,” replied Quake. “Stephanie is going into our custody either way because until we determine her parentage, she has no other known relatives. Ray was part of our family so that makes her family by extension. We take care of our own.”

“Right, sure you do,” retorted Stephanie sarcastically. “Whatever, this is probably better than letting social services stick me in some orphanage until I turn eighteen next year.”

The four other young people looked at one another. In the end, they didn’t have a choice. It was either play ball with SHIELD or get stuck in jail or a mental institution. At this point, none of them knew which exactly was worse. Yet all of them knew there was only one choice to make and even though it wasn’t the one they wanted to make, it was the one they had to make.

“In,” said Composite and received a nod from everyone else involved to indicate their approval.

“Good,” said Quake. “As of this moment, the Secret Warriors are active. You’ll spend the night here and then tomorrow I’ll take you to your new home. Something tells me you kids are going to love it.”

Next Issue: It’s the Secret Warriors’ first mission but can they make it out alive when they go up against the Juggernaut?