Marvel: Tomorrow Knights (Chapter 6)
Title: Marvel: Tomorrow Knights
Chapter 6: The Even Newer Warriors
Author: V5_Vendetta
Fandom: Marvel Universe
Disclaimer: Marvel's, not mine
Significant Characters: Audrey Hopkins/Arachne (OC), Karin Kusanagi/Fearless (OC), New Warriors (OC), Avengers (OC)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Another team of vigilantes arrives on the scene, taking up the banner of a long-dead and quite disgraced superhero team.
A bulldozer of a man charged at the bank vault door, easily punching through it with his momentum and strength. He moved aside, revealing that he was a shirtless man wearing a metal helmet and shoulder mantle that both looked as though they’d been bolted onto him. Three others stepped in, each broad-shouldered and looking ready for trouble. One of the three was a blond man garbed in a dark red-and-tarnished silver jumpsuit, another was a black man garbed in dark forest green and silver, and the third (and apparent leader of the bunch) was largely in black with purple bracers, boots, and bandana mask.
“All right,” the black-and-purple-clad one said. “It’s time to . . .”
He was cut off by an almost-invisible blur of motion that clipped him hard. The black-and-purple one, known as the Wrecker, threw his crowbar at the motion blur, which simply seemed to deflect the crowbar back at him. The man in green and silver, known as Thunderball, launched a heavy ball on a chain at the motion blur, only for the blur to be far out of target range in a second. The man in dark red and silver, known as Piledriver, charged the motion blur, only for the blur to hop over him and strike him in the back; Piledriver’s own momentum sent him crashing into the far wall. The helmeted one, known as Bulldozer, rushed in for a headlong attack, only to be taken down in the same way Piledriver was.
Spider webbing materialized around the downed two, leaving the other two to attempt to escape, only to be blocked by another materializing spider web. “Hey, boys . . .” a taunting female voice greeted, prompting Wrecker and Thunderball to look up and see a shadowy woman hanging upside down from the ceiling above them.
“Spider-Woman!” Wrecker yelled.
“No, no,” the spider-like woman answered. “It’s Archaeida.”
“I don’t care what your name is, bitch!” Wrecker yelled. “Come down here so we can kill you properly!”
“Bad idea to web up your only escape route,” Thunderball remarked.
Archaeida chuckled. “I’m not trapped with you. You’re trapped with me.”
“Wanna back up those words?” Thunderball challenged.
Archaeida jumped down from the ceiling and kicked down both men with superhuman alacrity. Wrecker got up first and attempted to charge at her, but Archaeida materialized a thick web between his calves, causing him to collapse on his face. Another materializing web pinned him to the ground. Thunderball threw his ball-and-chain at Archaeida again, but Archaeida - seemingly without looking - caught the ball, which immediately stopped when she touched it. She materialized a spider web that trapped Thunderball as well.
Archaeida dematerialized the web that she had used to trap the Wrecking Crew inside and walked out of the vault. A young man wearing fire goggles and an insulated costume walked by her and nodded in her direction. Archaeida smiled beneath her mask. “Do your thing.”
“Yeah,” the fire-goggled young man, known as Incendiary, responded. He seared a symbol into the floor and walked away behind Archaeida, forcing his eyes to stay at shoulder level.
Morning came and Audrey got a phone call from Karin. “Hey.”
“See the news?” Karin asked.
“Not yet. Why?”
“Turn it on and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
Audrey threw on a robe and went downstairs to the living room to turn on the television set there. She flipped to one of the news stations and saw the reporter standing inside a bank. The wide-open vault was cordoned off by a police-issue energy barrier, but Audrey vaguely spotted something on the floor that looked like a symbol. She barely heard the reporter talking, but something he said took root in her mind.
“. . . New Warriors . . .”
Audrey blinked. New Warriors? I thought they got taken down a long time ago.
“Audrey, what are you watching?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.
“Just the news, Mom,” Audrey replied with an ease she didn’t really feel.
“Ok, just get dressed and get your breakfast real quick,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “You ought to eat more than just toast.”
“Sure, Mom.” Audrey turned off the television set and jogged upstairs to get herself dressed. It was pretty hot, so she went for a pair of loose blue denim shorts, albeit cinched tight at the waist, and a sleeveless V-neck shirt. She donned a pair of ankle socks and running shoes, along with a pair of sweatbands on her wrists, and brushed her hair into an artful blend of frizz and curls. She threw her backpack onto her shoulders and went downstairs to join her parents for breakfast.
“How’s the job going so far?” she asked her mother.
Mrs. Hopkins answered, “It’s going quite well. The people working with and under me are pretty good. I just wish I could spend a little more time with you.”
“That’s all right,” Audrey said.
“How’s school going?” Mr. Hopkins inquired.
“Going well,” Audrey replied. “I’m looking forward to graduation.”
“You think you’re ready for ESU?”
“Yeah.”
“Living in the dorms?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.
“Jenna, Karin, and I are gonna be sharing an apartment,” Audrey replied.
“Sounds all right,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “Just don’t get into any trouble over there. You’re still too young and impressionable for the bars.”
Audrey chuckled. “Not going to any bars. What’s the point of getting yourself drunk? You’ll just wake up in the morning with a headache and a strange guy in your bed.”
“Or strange girl?” Mr. Hopkins suggested, wagging his eyebrows.
“Dad!” Audrey exclaimed in mock offense.
Later on, when Audrey reached Midtown High, Karin greeted her with a subdued embrace. Carefully making sure that there were no prying eyes in the vicinity, Karin kissed Audrey, who hummed gently into the kiss. “Morning,” Karin whispered upon breaking the kiss.
“Morning,” Audrey answered.
Karin wore her standard motorcycle jacket over dark clothes, a navy shirt and tight denim pants with black combat boots. Her hair was cut short and slightly messy on one side and extended to a little past her chin on the other side. The long side of Karin’s hair obscured her eye slightly, adding a touch of womanly allure to the teenager’s features. She smiled softly at Audrey, her lips looking very kissable to the younger girl.
Then some ignoramus had to show up and ruin the moment. “Hey, mind giving me a little demonstration of your affection?” the sleazy jerk asked.
Karin’s answer was a baleful glare, one complemented by Audrey’s. The combined force of their shared disgust with the sleaze made said sleaze flee for his life. Karin sighed bitterly. “Maybe I ought not to kiss you on school grounds.”
“Let’s just get to class,” Audrey said, “before some other jackass shows up.”
Lunchtime came around a few periods later and Audrey, Jenna, Karin, and Troy were sitting together as had become somewhat customary for them. Troy was staring at Audrey almost forlornly, while Karin was shooting jealous glares at Jenna and Jenna was retaliating with equally jealous glares. Audrey just sat there, not sure of how to take in all this.
Finally, Audrey spoke. “Will you stop glaring at each other?”
“She wants you for herself,” Karin spat angrily.
“Like you don’t want her all for yourself,” Jenna retorted.
“She’s my girlfriend,” Karin answered coldly. “Deal with it.”
“I knew her long before you did,” Jenna responded. “You just stalked her.”
Karin let out a hissing breath. “Sorry I happen to be more charming than you.”
“You -” Jenna was about to lunge over the table at Karin, but Audrey used a single arm to hold her back.
“Stop it, both of you,” Audrey said. “Don’t make me choose. Don’t.”
“She’s right, you know,” Troy interjected. “You’re both being immensely selfish right now.”
Jenna glared at Troy. “And you just want Audrey for yourself, don’t you? Play the sweet, considerate boy next door and sweep Audrey off her feet, right?”
“It’s not like that,” Troy said, slightly stunned by what Jenna had just asserted.
“Isn’t it?” Jenna asked acidly.
“That’s enough,” Audrey cut in softly. “All of you. Don’t make me choose between you, because . . . I love you all. I just love you differently, that’s all.”
The other three simply slumped, their will to fight draining away. “Why . . . do you love her?” Jenna asked wanly.
“If I told you that, I would have to tell you a secret and I can’t tell you that,” Audrey replied.
“I’ll live with that,” Jenna murmured.
After the school day finished, Audrey and Karin went to Audrey’s house. Once there, the girls went into the living room and put down their backpacks. They sat down on the sofa, Audrey scooting closer to Karin, who turned her head to look at the younger girl. Karin leaned closer to Audrey and kissed her, Audrey kissing back fervently. Karin gently laid Audrey back on the sofa as they kissed, Audrey’s hand running through Karin’s asymmetrical locks.
After several minutes, Karin stopped kissing Audrey. “Hey . . . we need to talk.”
“About?”
“I took a little detour to the bank where the Wrecking Crew got busted and I saw the symbol that was burned onto the floor. It was the New Warriors’ symbol.”
“New Warriors?”
“Yeah. They’re back. From the reports, it sounds like a speedster, another Spider, and a pyrokinetic.”
“Another Spider? I’m starting to feel redundant.”
“Don’t be.” Karin chuckled. “You’re my Spider. You’ll always be meaningful and special to me.”
“I didn’t know you were such a sap.” Audrey gave Karin a very small push. Of course, very small for Audrey meant rocking Karin slightly.
“You’re the only one who’s gotten to see me like this,” Karin admitted with a slight blush.
“Really?” Audrey asked puckishly. “What would it take to get the kinder, gentler, softer Karin out more often?”
“I’ll show you in due time.” Just then, Karin heard the door begin to open. So did Audrey, and both girls moved with superhuman quickness, sitting with respectful distance from each other just as the door opened.
“Hey, no need to let me interrupt the good times,” Kaye greeted tauntingly.
“Kaye!” Audrey greeted with an irritated flush of her cheeks. “We weren’t doing anything!”
“Sure, sure,” Kaye answered airily. “Hey, Karin. Nice haircut. And biker chic really works for you. You carry it well.”
“Thanks,” Karin answered. “And what did you mean about ‘good times’?”
“You two were getting a little hot and heavy, weren’t you?” Kaye intimated.
Karin scoffed. “You caught us. You utterly ruined my charade of being a sweet, upstanding young bisexual girl. The truth is that I’m aiming to convert Audrey -” she draped one arm suggestively around Audrey “- to the dark side of the Sapphic Force. She will be inducted in all the depraved and perverse pleasures I have to offer!”
Kaye’s eyes bugged out. “You’re kidding. Right? Right?”
Karin smiled slowly. “Yes . . .” Her voice dragged out in a slow, sensuous purr.
“If you’re flirting with me, you should know that I’m too old for you,” Kaye answered. “And aren’t you being a little over the top?”
“That’s the fun part,” Karin said, busting out into laughter. Audrey soon began laughing with her and was soon joined by Kaye. The three girls just hung onto whatever was available, either themselves or each other, as they giggled and chortled almost madly.
When Audrey recovered from the laughing fit, she looked up at her older sister. “What brings you here?”
“The academic year finished,” Kaye replied. “I’m gonna be hanging around here for a while, and then I might see about getting a place of my own for the next two years.”
“That’s great,” Audrey replied. That was what her mouth said. Her mind was another story. Damn it. It’s gonna be a lot harder for me to get out of the house for Knight missions if my parents ask her to watch over me while they’re busy working or having couple time.
“So how’s life on the other side of the tracks?” Kaye asked. “Lilith Fair? Downloads of L Word episodes?”
Audrey scoffed. “We’re not that stereotypical. We mostly do the same stuff straight couples in high school do. Have study dates. Occasionally make out during said study dates. Go see movies together. Speaking of movies, they’re adapting the biography of Steve Rogers.”
“Sounds great.”
In Stark-Kurosaki Tower, the Avengers were all pondering the latest piece of news. “This completely bites,” Brandon, the human form of the Hulk, said.
“What? The fact that we got thrashed by a bunch of kids?” Toshiro, the unarmored Iron Man, prompted. “The fact that the X-Men blew up Project: Pegasus? The fact that now there are more unlicensed supers running loose in the city, let alone the country?”
“Speaking of Project: Pegasus, just what was going on in there?” Bobby, the civilian-garbed Captain America, asked. “It wasn’t anything they didn’t consent to, right?”
“Does it matter, Stevens?” Gyrich asked. “If we can protect our country from the threat unregistered superhumans present, does it really matter how?”
“Damn straight it does!” Bobby exploded. “We might be doing the right thing, but that doesn’t mean we run roughshod over the people who don’t or won’t! They’re human beings, augmented or not, and they deserve to be treated as such!”
“You’re softhearted,” Gyrich grumbled. “Like the original, not that I had the pleasure of meeting him; he was long dead when I came in.”
“I think Bobby has a point,” Cara, the unmasked Warbird, said.
“Really?” Gyrich sneered. “And what point would that be, Warbird?”
“That we can’t treat prisoners as less than human, or else we dirty ourselves,” Cara replied evenly, although she was resisting the urge to punch Gyrich as hard as she possibly could without killing him. She’d still shatter his jaw and knock out most of his teeth in all likelihood, but he’d probably live.
“Superheroes,” Gyrich groused. “You’re supposed to be soldiers. Soldiers do whatever it takes to win the war, to protect their country.”
“What was going on in there?” Bobby asked.
“Classified,” Gyrich replied grumpily. “Classified, and that’s all you need to know. Now, until you’re ready to stop playing bleeding-heart commie bastard and remember that you’re Captain America, I’m gonna busy myself with administrative duties.” He walked out with hardly another word, leaving the Avengers by themselves.
“Is he always like this?” Owen Archer, the federal-issued variant of Spider-Man, asked.
“Yeah, he’s always a prick,” Toshiro grumbled.
“Why do you guys work for him if you dislike him that much?” Owen asked.
“Chain of command, Owen,” Blaise Jansen, the civilian alter ego of the Avengers’ quantum sorceress Arcane, replied idly. “You should know, you’re career military.”
“Suppose you’re right,” Owen murmured. “Known a few assholes in my day, but none as bad as this guy.”
“Compared to him, the superiors you dealt with were Mary Poppins,” Mackenzie Larsen, also known as the Avengers’ speedster Blitzkrieg, remarked.
“The X-Men did more harm than they think they did,” Toshiro stated grimly.
“What do you mean?” Jackson Clifford, artificially transformed into the likeness of the Asgardian thunder elemental Thor, asked.
“Gyrich was acting awfully shady about Project: Pegasus,” Toshiro replied. “Now, with it blown up, he has no reason to tell anyone - us included - what was going down in there. In fact, I suspect whatever it was that was happening over there was why the X-Men did what they did in the first place.”
“I still can’t get over the fact that the original Spider-Man is still alive,” Owen said. “And pretty freaking spry for someone in his late seventies.”
“Yeah, he kept up with you pretty well,” Mackenzie remarked.
“What about those New Warriors?” Eve, the waspish heroine called Sting, asked. “What are we gonna do about them?”
“We’re probably gonna be ordered to go after them soon,” Toshiro replied. “Hopefully, we manage to capture at least one of them.”
“Just leave them to me,” Mackenzie said. “They won’t know what hit them by the time I’m through.”
Just then, Toshiro heard Gyrich in his mind. “Kurosaki, I have an assignment for the Avengers.”
Toshiro had long since ceased to be surprised by Gyrich’s intrusions into his mental arena; Gyrich could send wireless transmissions that Toshiro would pick up via his nanotech-enabled interface powers. Go on.
“Patrol for any superhumans operating that you don’t recognize from the registry. Bring them back in one of three conditions. Alive. Dead. Somewhere in the middle. I don’t give a damn, as long as I have physical proof - in the form of a warm body - that you’ve captured them.”
Will do. Iron Man out.
“Toshiro?” Eve asked. “What was that?”
“We’ve got our marching orders,” Toshiro replied.
“New Warriors?” Cara asked.
“New Warriors,” Toshiro confirmed grimly.
“Avengers, suit up,” Bobby ordered.
Toshiro promptly began to strip down. “What are you doing?” Owen asked, startled.
“I can’t armor up in my clothes,” Toshiro answered shortly.
“We just don’t look directly at him while he’s doing this,” Blaise commented to Owen.
Once Toshiro’s clothes were off, nanofluid leaked out of his pores, covering his body and hardening into the familiar armor interface sheath. Once the interface sheath was complete, Toshiro mentally summoned his armor, which locked onto his body piece by piece. The torso and pelvic armors attached to his body first, followed by the shoulder armor and the thigh armor. Next came the knee armor, calf armor, and foot armor, followed by the upper arm armor, the forearm armor, and the gauntlets. Toshiro donned the helmet, completing the transformation from unassuming corporate heir to crimson-and-silver-armored heroic gladiator.
The others were garbed in their operating gear as well. Bobby wore a revised Captain America uniform, styled similarly to Steven Rogers’ suit but made from a combination of adamantium-weave and chain mail-like mesh. The chain mesh made up the center of the suit while the adamantium weave made up the shoulders and outer sides of the suit. Stylistic representations of the bald eagle tagged his shoulders and his mask had another stylized eagle in the center of the forehead. He wore armored red gloves and boots, along with a gray utility belt with a stylized eagle buckle in the center.
Cara wore her standard Warbird uniform, a skintight black suit with a stylized gold lightning bolt running down the torso and a red sash tied around her waist. Jackson wore his Thor attire, black chain mail-styled armor with four silvery disks arranged in a quadrilateral pattern on his torso, a dark red wraparound cape, and a winged helmet. Brandon had transformed into the green-skinned, seven-and-a-half-foot behemoth known as the Hulk, wearing only a highly elastic black sleeveless shirt and pants. Eve had donned her Sting suit, black armor made up of interlocking pieces over a skintight purple suit and designed to shrink and grow with her.
Mackenzie was in the running suit he wore as Blitzkrieg, which was designed to be as resistant to air friction and wind resistance as his body. It was also quite form-fitting, to ensure greater aerodynamic quality. Blaise was in the cloak and dress she traditionally wore as Arcane, while Owen wore his Spider-Man armor, a black nanosheath with a red spider symbol taking up much of his torso, red bracers, and red lenses.
“Ready to go?” Captain America asked. He received nods from the other Avengers. “Let’s go.”
Elsewhere in the city, the Knights were meeting in the clock tower. “You think we ought to get in for a meeting with these New Warriors?” Nightshade asked.
“It’d be a good idea,” Iron Cage replied. “We could use the help.”
“Assuming they know what they’re doing,” Fearless cut in. “We don’t need another incident like the one that started the Superhuman Civil War.”
“You think the Avengers are gonna come after them?” Arachne asked.
“Certainly,” Winter Soldier replied. “It’s their job to deal with rogue supers within this state.”
“So how come we got away with it this long?” Iron Fist asked idly.
Winter Soldier chuckled darkly. “We’re just that good, I suppose. Or they’re just that incompetent.”
“In any case, we need to be on guard,” Fearless said. “With the X-Men taking out Project: Pegasus, there’s going to be a lot of heat coming down on so-called rogues like us.”
“Where to, O fearless leader?” Nightshade inquired.
“We’re going to find the newest New Warriors,” Fearless answered.
“How do we find them?” Tsukikishi asked.
“I can create a flare with my chi,” Iron Fist suggested.
“Won’t that tire you out?” Iron Cage asked.
“Not nearly as much as using the fist does,” Iron Fist answered. “I’ll live.”
“Then let’s do it,” Fearless said.
Thus it was Iron Fist on the Washington Bridge who projected his chi into an energy flare shaped in the New Warriors symbol. With that done, all he - and the other Knights - had to do was wait for the New Warriors to arrive. Fortunately for the Knights, the New Warriors were rather prompt in their arrival. All seven - yes, indeed, it was seven - seemed rather wary, judging by their body language.
Standing in the lead was a young man in short-sleeved red-highlighted black armor resembling stylized ninja attire. Beside him was a young man garbed in skintight black carbon nano-weave with a clawed silver circle on the chest and silver capsule bracers and boots. The ensemble was completed by a lavender-gray mask and cape, the mask decorated with black eye covers with whiteout lenses and a black mouth cover. On the other side of the ninja-like young man was a platinum blonde young woman in a low-cut black leather catsuit with false fur lining running up the sides of the forearms and backs of the calves. Beside her was a masked woman garbed in black with a silver spider emblem on her chest and a silver web-like lattice running down her sides and also covering her mid-calf boots. Similar lattices covered the masked woman’s mid-forearm gloves, shoulders, and mask, a mask that had large, vaguely teardrop-shaped lenses and was open at the top to let honey-blonde hair flow freely.
The remaining three were two young men and a young woman. One of the young men wore a skintight black suit with silver lightning-like lines running down from the shoulders and looping around the knees to go up the backs of the legs. Lightning-like rings wrapped around his shoulders and waistline and his face was concealed by a black mask with silver swimming goggles. The other young man wore an insulated brick red costume with fire goggles, leaving his orange-blond hair exposed. The young woman wore a silver-accented black jacket over a black suit with silver accents and a dark visor, leaving brown hair exposed.
Arachne’s eyes widened when she saw the four in the lead. “Whoa. Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Huh?” the ninja-styled young man asked.
“Yeah, I do know you!” Arachne confirmed. “You’re Night Thrasher!” She looked at the black-silver-and-gray-clad young man. “And you’re the Prowler.” She looked at the leather-clad platinum blonde. “And you must be the Black Cat.” She looked at the web-accented woman. “And you must be . . . I’d say Spider-Woman, but I get offended when people call me that, so . . .”
“Superhero fangirl, aren’t you?” the confirmed Night Thrasher remarked dryly.
The “Spider-Woman” looked at her counterpart. “Call me Archaeida.”
“Like the assassin spider?” Arachne asked.
“Assassin spider?” Nightshade echoed. “There’s such a thing as an assassin spider?”
“Yeah,” Archaeida replied. “I just wanted to shorten it to ‘Assassin,’ but Thrash said no, said it would evoke unnecessary fear in the public.”
“Well, it would,” Night Thrasher insisted.
“Give it a rest, Thrash,” Archaeida scoffed. “They’re already scared. What I call myself makes no difference.”
“So why do you call yourself Archaeida?”
“To shut you up.”
Night Thrasher decided to abide that for the moment and turned to the Knights. “Let’s get focused. What do you want?”
Chapter 6: The Even Newer Warriors
Author: V5_Vendetta
Fandom: Marvel Universe
Disclaimer: Marvel's, not mine
Significant Characters: Audrey Hopkins/Arachne (OC), Karin Kusanagi/Fearless (OC), New Warriors (OC), Avengers (OC)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Another team of vigilantes arrives on the scene, taking up the banner of a long-dead and quite disgraced superhero team.
A bulldozer of a man charged at the bank vault door, easily punching through it with his momentum and strength. He moved aside, revealing that he was a shirtless man wearing a metal helmet and shoulder mantle that both looked as though they’d been bolted onto him. Three others stepped in, each broad-shouldered and looking ready for trouble. One of the three was a blond man garbed in a dark red-and-tarnished silver jumpsuit, another was a black man garbed in dark forest green and silver, and the third (and apparent leader of the bunch) was largely in black with purple bracers, boots, and bandana mask.
“All right,” the black-and-purple-clad one said. “It’s time to . . .”
He was cut off by an almost-invisible blur of motion that clipped him hard. The black-and-purple one, known as the Wrecker, threw his crowbar at the motion blur, which simply seemed to deflect the crowbar back at him. The man in green and silver, known as Thunderball, launched a heavy ball on a chain at the motion blur, only for the blur to be far out of target range in a second. The man in dark red and silver, known as Piledriver, charged the motion blur, only for the blur to hop over him and strike him in the back; Piledriver’s own momentum sent him crashing into the far wall. The helmeted one, known as Bulldozer, rushed in for a headlong attack, only to be taken down in the same way Piledriver was.
Spider webbing materialized around the downed two, leaving the other two to attempt to escape, only to be blocked by another materializing spider web. “Hey, boys . . .” a taunting female voice greeted, prompting Wrecker and Thunderball to look up and see a shadowy woman hanging upside down from the ceiling above them.
“Spider-Woman!” Wrecker yelled.
“No, no,” the spider-like woman answered. “It’s Archaeida.”
“I don’t care what your name is, bitch!” Wrecker yelled. “Come down here so we can kill you properly!”
“Bad idea to web up your only escape route,” Thunderball remarked.
Archaeida chuckled. “I’m not trapped with you. You’re trapped with me.”
“Wanna back up those words?” Thunderball challenged.
Archaeida jumped down from the ceiling and kicked down both men with superhuman alacrity. Wrecker got up first and attempted to charge at her, but Archaeida materialized a thick web between his calves, causing him to collapse on his face. Another materializing web pinned him to the ground. Thunderball threw his ball-and-chain at Archaeida again, but Archaeida - seemingly without looking - caught the ball, which immediately stopped when she touched it. She materialized a spider web that trapped Thunderball as well.
Archaeida dematerialized the web that she had used to trap the Wrecking Crew inside and walked out of the vault. A young man wearing fire goggles and an insulated costume walked by her and nodded in her direction. Archaeida smiled beneath her mask. “Do your thing.”
“Yeah,” the fire-goggled young man, known as Incendiary, responded. He seared a symbol into the floor and walked away behind Archaeida, forcing his eyes to stay at shoulder level.
Morning came and Audrey got a phone call from Karin. “Hey.”
“See the news?” Karin asked.
“Not yet. Why?”
“Turn it on and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
Audrey threw on a robe and went downstairs to the living room to turn on the television set there. She flipped to one of the news stations and saw the reporter standing inside a bank. The wide-open vault was cordoned off by a police-issue energy barrier, but Audrey vaguely spotted something on the floor that looked like a symbol. She barely heard the reporter talking, but something he said took root in her mind.
“. . . New Warriors . . .”
Audrey blinked. New Warriors? I thought they got taken down a long time ago.
“Audrey, what are you watching?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.
“Just the news, Mom,” Audrey replied with an ease she didn’t really feel.
“Ok, just get dressed and get your breakfast real quick,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “You ought to eat more than just toast.”
“Sure, Mom.” Audrey turned off the television set and jogged upstairs to get herself dressed. It was pretty hot, so she went for a pair of loose blue denim shorts, albeit cinched tight at the waist, and a sleeveless V-neck shirt. She donned a pair of ankle socks and running shoes, along with a pair of sweatbands on her wrists, and brushed her hair into an artful blend of frizz and curls. She threw her backpack onto her shoulders and went downstairs to join her parents for breakfast.
“How’s the job going so far?” she asked her mother.
Mrs. Hopkins answered, “It’s going quite well. The people working with and under me are pretty good. I just wish I could spend a little more time with you.”
“That’s all right,” Audrey said.
“How’s school going?” Mr. Hopkins inquired.
“Going well,” Audrey replied. “I’m looking forward to graduation.”
“You think you’re ready for ESU?”
“Yeah.”
“Living in the dorms?” Mrs. Hopkins asked.
“Jenna, Karin, and I are gonna be sharing an apartment,” Audrey replied.
“Sounds all right,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “Just don’t get into any trouble over there. You’re still too young and impressionable for the bars.”
Audrey chuckled. “Not going to any bars. What’s the point of getting yourself drunk? You’ll just wake up in the morning with a headache and a strange guy in your bed.”
“Or strange girl?” Mr. Hopkins suggested, wagging his eyebrows.
“Dad!” Audrey exclaimed in mock offense.
Later on, when Audrey reached Midtown High, Karin greeted her with a subdued embrace. Carefully making sure that there were no prying eyes in the vicinity, Karin kissed Audrey, who hummed gently into the kiss. “Morning,” Karin whispered upon breaking the kiss.
“Morning,” Audrey answered.
Karin wore her standard motorcycle jacket over dark clothes, a navy shirt and tight denim pants with black combat boots. Her hair was cut short and slightly messy on one side and extended to a little past her chin on the other side. The long side of Karin’s hair obscured her eye slightly, adding a touch of womanly allure to the teenager’s features. She smiled softly at Audrey, her lips looking very kissable to the younger girl.
Then some ignoramus had to show up and ruin the moment. “Hey, mind giving me a little demonstration of your affection?” the sleazy jerk asked.
Karin’s answer was a baleful glare, one complemented by Audrey’s. The combined force of their shared disgust with the sleaze made said sleaze flee for his life. Karin sighed bitterly. “Maybe I ought not to kiss you on school grounds.”
“Let’s just get to class,” Audrey said, “before some other jackass shows up.”
Lunchtime came around a few periods later and Audrey, Jenna, Karin, and Troy were sitting together as had become somewhat customary for them. Troy was staring at Audrey almost forlornly, while Karin was shooting jealous glares at Jenna and Jenna was retaliating with equally jealous glares. Audrey just sat there, not sure of how to take in all this.
Finally, Audrey spoke. “Will you stop glaring at each other?”
“She wants you for herself,” Karin spat angrily.
“Like you don’t want her all for yourself,” Jenna retorted.
“She’s my girlfriend,” Karin answered coldly. “Deal with it.”
“I knew her long before you did,” Jenna responded. “You just stalked her.”
Karin let out a hissing breath. “Sorry I happen to be more charming than you.”
“You -” Jenna was about to lunge over the table at Karin, but Audrey used a single arm to hold her back.
“Stop it, both of you,” Audrey said. “Don’t make me choose. Don’t.”
“She’s right, you know,” Troy interjected. “You’re both being immensely selfish right now.”
Jenna glared at Troy. “And you just want Audrey for yourself, don’t you? Play the sweet, considerate boy next door and sweep Audrey off her feet, right?”
“It’s not like that,” Troy said, slightly stunned by what Jenna had just asserted.
“Isn’t it?” Jenna asked acidly.
“That’s enough,” Audrey cut in softly. “All of you. Don’t make me choose between you, because . . . I love you all. I just love you differently, that’s all.”
The other three simply slumped, their will to fight draining away. “Why . . . do you love her?” Jenna asked wanly.
“If I told you that, I would have to tell you a secret and I can’t tell you that,” Audrey replied.
“I’ll live with that,” Jenna murmured.
After the school day finished, Audrey and Karin went to Audrey’s house. Once there, the girls went into the living room and put down their backpacks. They sat down on the sofa, Audrey scooting closer to Karin, who turned her head to look at the younger girl. Karin leaned closer to Audrey and kissed her, Audrey kissing back fervently. Karin gently laid Audrey back on the sofa as they kissed, Audrey’s hand running through Karin’s asymmetrical locks.
After several minutes, Karin stopped kissing Audrey. “Hey . . . we need to talk.”
“About?”
“I took a little detour to the bank where the Wrecking Crew got busted and I saw the symbol that was burned onto the floor. It was the New Warriors’ symbol.”
“New Warriors?”
“Yeah. They’re back. From the reports, it sounds like a speedster, another Spider, and a pyrokinetic.”
“Another Spider? I’m starting to feel redundant.”
“Don’t be.” Karin chuckled. “You’re my Spider. You’ll always be meaningful and special to me.”
“I didn’t know you were such a sap.” Audrey gave Karin a very small push. Of course, very small for Audrey meant rocking Karin slightly.
“You’re the only one who’s gotten to see me like this,” Karin admitted with a slight blush.
“Really?” Audrey asked puckishly. “What would it take to get the kinder, gentler, softer Karin out more often?”
“I’ll show you in due time.” Just then, Karin heard the door begin to open. So did Audrey, and both girls moved with superhuman quickness, sitting with respectful distance from each other just as the door opened.
“Hey, no need to let me interrupt the good times,” Kaye greeted tauntingly.
“Kaye!” Audrey greeted with an irritated flush of her cheeks. “We weren’t doing anything!”
“Sure, sure,” Kaye answered airily. “Hey, Karin. Nice haircut. And biker chic really works for you. You carry it well.”
“Thanks,” Karin answered. “And what did you mean about ‘good times’?”
“You two were getting a little hot and heavy, weren’t you?” Kaye intimated.
Karin scoffed. “You caught us. You utterly ruined my charade of being a sweet, upstanding young bisexual girl. The truth is that I’m aiming to convert Audrey -” she draped one arm suggestively around Audrey “- to the dark side of the Sapphic Force. She will be inducted in all the depraved and perverse pleasures I have to offer!”
Kaye’s eyes bugged out. “You’re kidding. Right? Right?”
Karin smiled slowly. “Yes . . .” Her voice dragged out in a slow, sensuous purr.
“If you’re flirting with me, you should know that I’m too old for you,” Kaye answered. “And aren’t you being a little over the top?”
“That’s the fun part,” Karin said, busting out into laughter. Audrey soon began laughing with her and was soon joined by Kaye. The three girls just hung onto whatever was available, either themselves or each other, as they giggled and chortled almost madly.
When Audrey recovered from the laughing fit, she looked up at her older sister. “What brings you here?”
“The academic year finished,” Kaye replied. “I’m gonna be hanging around here for a while, and then I might see about getting a place of my own for the next two years.”
“That’s great,” Audrey replied. That was what her mouth said. Her mind was another story. Damn it. It’s gonna be a lot harder for me to get out of the house for Knight missions if my parents ask her to watch over me while they’re busy working or having couple time.
“So how’s life on the other side of the tracks?” Kaye asked. “Lilith Fair? Downloads of L Word episodes?”
Audrey scoffed. “We’re not that stereotypical. We mostly do the same stuff straight couples in high school do. Have study dates. Occasionally make out during said study dates. Go see movies together. Speaking of movies, they’re adapting the biography of Steve Rogers.”
“Sounds great.”
In Stark-Kurosaki Tower, the Avengers were all pondering the latest piece of news. “This completely bites,” Brandon, the human form of the Hulk, said.
“What? The fact that we got thrashed by a bunch of kids?” Toshiro, the unarmored Iron Man, prompted. “The fact that the X-Men blew up Project: Pegasus? The fact that now there are more unlicensed supers running loose in the city, let alone the country?”
“Speaking of Project: Pegasus, just what was going on in there?” Bobby, the civilian-garbed Captain America, asked. “It wasn’t anything they didn’t consent to, right?”
“Does it matter, Stevens?” Gyrich asked. “If we can protect our country from the threat unregistered superhumans present, does it really matter how?”
“Damn straight it does!” Bobby exploded. “We might be doing the right thing, but that doesn’t mean we run roughshod over the people who don’t or won’t! They’re human beings, augmented or not, and they deserve to be treated as such!”
“You’re softhearted,” Gyrich grumbled. “Like the original, not that I had the pleasure of meeting him; he was long dead when I came in.”
“I think Bobby has a point,” Cara, the unmasked Warbird, said.
“Really?” Gyrich sneered. “And what point would that be, Warbird?”
“That we can’t treat prisoners as less than human, or else we dirty ourselves,” Cara replied evenly, although she was resisting the urge to punch Gyrich as hard as she possibly could without killing him. She’d still shatter his jaw and knock out most of his teeth in all likelihood, but he’d probably live.
“Superheroes,” Gyrich groused. “You’re supposed to be soldiers. Soldiers do whatever it takes to win the war, to protect their country.”
“What was going on in there?” Bobby asked.
“Classified,” Gyrich replied grumpily. “Classified, and that’s all you need to know. Now, until you’re ready to stop playing bleeding-heart commie bastard and remember that you’re Captain America, I’m gonna busy myself with administrative duties.” He walked out with hardly another word, leaving the Avengers by themselves.
“Is he always like this?” Owen Archer, the federal-issued variant of Spider-Man, asked.
“Yeah, he’s always a prick,” Toshiro grumbled.
“Why do you guys work for him if you dislike him that much?” Owen asked.
“Chain of command, Owen,” Blaise Jansen, the civilian alter ego of the Avengers’ quantum sorceress Arcane, replied idly. “You should know, you’re career military.”
“Suppose you’re right,” Owen murmured. “Known a few assholes in my day, but none as bad as this guy.”
“Compared to him, the superiors you dealt with were Mary Poppins,” Mackenzie Larsen, also known as the Avengers’ speedster Blitzkrieg, remarked.
“The X-Men did more harm than they think they did,” Toshiro stated grimly.
“What do you mean?” Jackson Clifford, artificially transformed into the likeness of the Asgardian thunder elemental Thor, asked.
“Gyrich was acting awfully shady about Project: Pegasus,” Toshiro replied. “Now, with it blown up, he has no reason to tell anyone - us included - what was going down in there. In fact, I suspect whatever it was that was happening over there was why the X-Men did what they did in the first place.”
“I still can’t get over the fact that the original Spider-Man is still alive,” Owen said. “And pretty freaking spry for someone in his late seventies.”
“Yeah, he kept up with you pretty well,” Mackenzie remarked.
“What about those New Warriors?” Eve, the waspish heroine called Sting, asked. “What are we gonna do about them?”
“We’re probably gonna be ordered to go after them soon,” Toshiro replied. “Hopefully, we manage to capture at least one of them.”
“Just leave them to me,” Mackenzie said. “They won’t know what hit them by the time I’m through.”
Just then, Toshiro heard Gyrich in his mind. “Kurosaki, I have an assignment for the Avengers.”
Toshiro had long since ceased to be surprised by Gyrich’s intrusions into his mental arena; Gyrich could send wireless transmissions that Toshiro would pick up via his nanotech-enabled interface powers. Go on.
“Patrol for any superhumans operating that you don’t recognize from the registry. Bring them back in one of three conditions. Alive. Dead. Somewhere in the middle. I don’t give a damn, as long as I have physical proof - in the form of a warm body - that you’ve captured them.”
Will do. Iron Man out.
“Toshiro?” Eve asked. “What was that?”
“We’ve got our marching orders,” Toshiro replied.
“New Warriors?” Cara asked.
“New Warriors,” Toshiro confirmed grimly.
“Avengers, suit up,” Bobby ordered.
Toshiro promptly began to strip down. “What are you doing?” Owen asked, startled.
“I can’t armor up in my clothes,” Toshiro answered shortly.
“We just don’t look directly at him while he’s doing this,” Blaise commented to Owen.
Once Toshiro’s clothes were off, nanofluid leaked out of his pores, covering his body and hardening into the familiar armor interface sheath. Once the interface sheath was complete, Toshiro mentally summoned his armor, which locked onto his body piece by piece. The torso and pelvic armors attached to his body first, followed by the shoulder armor and the thigh armor. Next came the knee armor, calf armor, and foot armor, followed by the upper arm armor, the forearm armor, and the gauntlets. Toshiro donned the helmet, completing the transformation from unassuming corporate heir to crimson-and-silver-armored heroic gladiator.
The others were garbed in their operating gear as well. Bobby wore a revised Captain America uniform, styled similarly to Steven Rogers’ suit but made from a combination of adamantium-weave and chain mail-like mesh. The chain mesh made up the center of the suit while the adamantium weave made up the shoulders and outer sides of the suit. Stylistic representations of the bald eagle tagged his shoulders and his mask had another stylized eagle in the center of the forehead. He wore armored red gloves and boots, along with a gray utility belt with a stylized eagle buckle in the center.
Cara wore her standard Warbird uniform, a skintight black suit with a stylized gold lightning bolt running down the torso and a red sash tied around her waist. Jackson wore his Thor attire, black chain mail-styled armor with four silvery disks arranged in a quadrilateral pattern on his torso, a dark red wraparound cape, and a winged helmet. Brandon had transformed into the green-skinned, seven-and-a-half-foot behemoth known as the Hulk, wearing only a highly elastic black sleeveless shirt and pants. Eve had donned her Sting suit, black armor made up of interlocking pieces over a skintight purple suit and designed to shrink and grow with her.
Mackenzie was in the running suit he wore as Blitzkrieg, which was designed to be as resistant to air friction and wind resistance as his body. It was also quite form-fitting, to ensure greater aerodynamic quality. Blaise was in the cloak and dress she traditionally wore as Arcane, while Owen wore his Spider-Man armor, a black nanosheath with a red spider symbol taking up much of his torso, red bracers, and red lenses.
“Ready to go?” Captain America asked. He received nods from the other Avengers. “Let’s go.”
Elsewhere in the city, the Knights were meeting in the clock tower. “You think we ought to get in for a meeting with these New Warriors?” Nightshade asked.
“It’d be a good idea,” Iron Cage replied. “We could use the help.”
“Assuming they know what they’re doing,” Fearless cut in. “We don’t need another incident like the one that started the Superhuman Civil War.”
“You think the Avengers are gonna come after them?” Arachne asked.
“Certainly,” Winter Soldier replied. “It’s their job to deal with rogue supers within this state.”
“So how come we got away with it this long?” Iron Fist asked idly.
Winter Soldier chuckled darkly. “We’re just that good, I suppose. Or they’re just that incompetent.”
“In any case, we need to be on guard,” Fearless said. “With the X-Men taking out Project: Pegasus, there’s going to be a lot of heat coming down on so-called rogues like us.”
“Where to, O fearless leader?” Nightshade inquired.
“We’re going to find the newest New Warriors,” Fearless answered.
“How do we find them?” Tsukikishi asked.
“I can create a flare with my chi,” Iron Fist suggested.
“Won’t that tire you out?” Iron Cage asked.
“Not nearly as much as using the fist does,” Iron Fist answered. “I’ll live.”
“Then let’s do it,” Fearless said.
Thus it was Iron Fist on the Washington Bridge who projected his chi into an energy flare shaped in the New Warriors symbol. With that done, all he - and the other Knights - had to do was wait for the New Warriors to arrive. Fortunately for the Knights, the New Warriors were rather prompt in their arrival. All seven - yes, indeed, it was seven - seemed rather wary, judging by their body language.
Standing in the lead was a young man in short-sleeved red-highlighted black armor resembling stylized ninja attire. Beside him was a young man garbed in skintight black carbon nano-weave with a clawed silver circle on the chest and silver capsule bracers and boots. The ensemble was completed by a lavender-gray mask and cape, the mask decorated with black eye covers with whiteout lenses and a black mouth cover. On the other side of the ninja-like young man was a platinum blonde young woman in a low-cut black leather catsuit with false fur lining running up the sides of the forearms and backs of the calves. Beside her was a masked woman garbed in black with a silver spider emblem on her chest and a silver web-like lattice running down her sides and also covering her mid-calf boots. Similar lattices covered the masked woman’s mid-forearm gloves, shoulders, and mask, a mask that had large, vaguely teardrop-shaped lenses and was open at the top to let honey-blonde hair flow freely.
The remaining three were two young men and a young woman. One of the young men wore a skintight black suit with silver lightning-like lines running down from the shoulders and looping around the knees to go up the backs of the legs. Lightning-like rings wrapped around his shoulders and waistline and his face was concealed by a black mask with silver swimming goggles. The other young man wore an insulated brick red costume with fire goggles, leaving his orange-blond hair exposed. The young woman wore a silver-accented black jacket over a black suit with silver accents and a dark visor, leaving brown hair exposed.
Arachne’s eyes widened when she saw the four in the lead. “Whoa. Do I know you from somewhere?”
“Huh?” the ninja-styled young man asked.
“Yeah, I do know you!” Arachne confirmed. “You’re Night Thrasher!” She looked at the black-silver-and-gray-clad young man. “And you’re the Prowler.” She looked at the leather-clad platinum blonde. “And you must be the Black Cat.” She looked at the web-accented woman. “And you must be . . . I’d say Spider-Woman, but I get offended when people call me that, so . . .”
“Superhero fangirl, aren’t you?” the confirmed Night Thrasher remarked dryly.
The “Spider-Woman” looked at her counterpart. “Call me Archaeida.”
“Like the assassin spider?” Arachne asked.
“Assassin spider?” Nightshade echoed. “There’s such a thing as an assassin spider?”
“Yeah,” Archaeida replied. “I just wanted to shorten it to ‘Assassin,’ but Thrash said no, said it would evoke unnecessary fear in the public.”
“Well, it would,” Night Thrasher insisted.
“Give it a rest, Thrash,” Archaeida scoffed. “They’re already scared. What I call myself makes no difference.”
“So why do you call yourself Archaeida?”
“To shut you up.”
Night Thrasher decided to abide that for the moment and turned to the Knights. “Let’s get focused. What do you want?”