Part 14
A new player enters the game
By Skytowe
The door to the conference room was
pushed open and Tina and Mystique went flying through it to land near the
table. Tina lay stunned for a moment and
then got to her knees as U1trawoman strode into the room.
Such power, Tina thought
enviously. U1trawoman had been carrying
her and Mystique as if they weighed nothing and tossed them as if they were
garbage bags. The woman strode into a heavily
armed AIM stronghold as if she were walking through a mall. What was it like to have that sort of
power? Tina wished that she knew.
As Tina climbed into her chair she
noticed that Shadow Web drew back from the woman in fear and even Modok seemed
concerned.
“So,” U1trawoman said, taking a
chair. “Tell me of this plot of yours
and why I should help you?”
“We don’t need your help.” Modok
said. “This operation will cripple HYDRA
and the Avengers. It will also severely
weaken SHIELD and inflame public sentiment against the X-men.”
“Do tell,” U1trawoman said
pleasantly, but it wasn’t a request.
“Nightshade,” Modok commanded.
Tina took a deep breath and tried to
calm down. It didn’t help that
U1trawoman had held her and Mystique nearly a thousand feet above the city and
toyed with dropping them.
“The plan…” She began and then
faltered. Mystique put a hand on hers
and Tina took another breath.
“The plan,” Tina began again and
this time kept going “uses two new types of tech that I developed.”
“That we developed.”
Tina glared at Shadow Web. The spider creature had helped, but not as
much as she thought.
“And AIM perfected,” Modok added.
“The first part of the Shadow Tech
was a nano-tech web that hosted a primitive artificial intelligence,” Tina went
on. “The web is inserted in the tooth of
the subject and over time grows along the nerve and into the brain. Once there it grows parallel to existing
neural pathways. The result is a shadow
brain, able to tap into the memories of the host and control the body and even
the thoughts of the host.”
“Interesting,” U1trawoman said. “The host can not resist?”
“None have yet,” Tina said. “The control happens bellow the conscious
level. If the host brain wanted to move
an arm but the AI didn’t want that arm moved it would block the host from
thinking about moving the arm. If we
wanted the host to think something the web would introduce that thought into
the brain at the neural level. There’s
no known way to resist that. But there
are limitations. Put in too wild a
thought and the brain breaks down and the host goes insane. The thoughts have to be modified slowly. Also the AI is very primitive so aside from
basic body functions it can’t do much else.
Any extra-human powers are too complex for the AI to direct. Also I’ve only been able to get it to work on
women. Men’s brains melt down for some
reason. But in women after the web has
fully grown we have complete control.”
“How long does that take?”
“Two to three months,” Tina
said. “Even before full control we have
basic motor control in a few weeks and essentially a puppet after a month. Sometimes less. Emotions are the first thing that we can
control, thought takes a while longer.
But it can vary from person to person depending upon the brain
structure.”
“And the woman has no knowledge of
what is going on?”
“None,” Tina said. “A nightmare, a feeling, but no more than
that.”
“Impressive,” U1trawoman
nodded. “And the other tech?”
“A shadow portal drive,” Tina
said. “When the Dire Wraiths tried to
kill the sun one of the ships crashed and I got to it before SHIELD. It took a lot of torture but the pilot gave
me enough to go on before it died. I
worked out the physics and discovered that the Dire Wraiths use a section of
subspace to go from place to place. It’s
not energy teleportation, it’s dimensional and goes from dark place to dark
place.”
“Again impressive,” U1trawoman said
and there was real interest in the woman’s blue eyes. “How have you been using it?”
“The first step was enslaving Ultra
Woman,” Tina said and quickly added, “the Other Ultra Woman.”
“I know who you mean,” U1trawoman
said coldly.
“We used her covertly to steal a
gamma based weapon from HYDRA,” Tina said.
“During that mission the Scarlet Witch was captured. Our agent in HYDRA told us where she was and
we were able to tip off Ultra Woman, White Owl and Crimson Dynamo. When they were rescuing her we planted a seed
in White Owl and infected the Scarlet Witch with a mutating serum that turned
her into…” Tina pointed to the screen where the mutated Scarlet Witch paced in
her cage, “that.”
“Why?”
“That is my vengeance!” Shadow Web
hissed. “The Scarlet Witch made me this,
I’m returning that favor.”
“The other Avengers will find her,”
U1trawoman said.
“No,” Tina said, “Because they won’t
look.” She pointed to another screen
that showed a human Scarlet Witch in a jail cell. “That’s an AIM agent who’s been given the
Scarlet Witch’s powers with advanced bionics, personalities and memories
through a mind copying procedure. She’ll
return to the Avengers and collect any genetic material she can.”
“She’ll sleep with them?”
“Carefully,” Tina said. “Any superhero she can safely get into bed,
she’ll get.”
“Well planned.”
“Thank you,” Tina said. “We’ve also managed to get a shadow brain
into Ms. Marvel.”
“From this point on,” Modok said,
“we will use the slaves to slowly divide the superheroes from SHIELD. At the appropriate time we will lure them
into a confrontation with HYDRA and while they battle wipe out both sides with
an atomic blast. The X-men will be
exposed as a covert government operation.”
“Which will bring Rogue back to us,”
Mystique said, “and the reborn brother hood of mutants.”
“Not the Brotherhood of Evil
Mutants?” U1trawoman asked.
“Convincing young mutants that we’re
a haven, not a terrorist group is the best way to attract them.”
“And once trained they will be
perfect AIM operatives,” Modok said.
“Not bad,” U1trawoman said.
“It’s a continually evolving plan,”
Tina said, not mentioning that her original idea had called for a decade of
careful manipulation. Once Modok had
gotten a hold of the tech and gotten together with Shadow Web that had been
shrunk down to five years, then two. It
had taken everything Tina had to hold them to two years. The mutant part of the plan hadn’t even
developed until Mystique had joined.
“We’ve spent a year putting people into place so that no one will
suspect AIM. I’m sure a few things are
going to go wrong yet, like Banshee grabbing White Owl. But if it works the way I want it to I can promise
you not only White Owl as a slave, but Ultra Woman’s daughter too.”
Tina was almost out of breath and
she felt a thrill go through her body as U1trawoman smiled at her.
“Go on.”
Part 15
The Scarlet Witch
escapes into the arms of the Human Torch
Wanda watched as the guard went by. He was wearing a green HYDRA uniform and as
usual his eyes played over her nearly nude body. The sheer bodysuit that they had put on her
was full of electronic sensors but it granted her no modesty. She vaguely remembered being in the hospital
and she was sure that they’d grabbed her from the bed. She would have been wearing a hospital gown
in that case. But so many of her
memories were fuzzy from the time Ultra Woman and White Owl had rescued her
until the time she had woken up in the cell.
There seemed to be something wrong with her, some part of her that was
off somehow. But she couldn’t tell
how. It was a bit like waking up from a
dream and wondering if you were still asleep.
But dreaming or awake being a prisoner
wasn’t how Wanda planned to spend her time.
She reached behind her and took hold of the nail that she had pulled out
of her wooden bunk. As silently as
possible Wanda rubbed it against the stone wall. She needed it thin enough to use as a lock pick
and it was close. Three times since
Wanda had woken up they had dragged her from her cell and strapped her down on
a laboratory table. Needles had been
stuck into her, blood samples taken and then she’d been taken back to her
cell. Except for orders no one spoke to
her. She listened and from overheard
comments Wanda learned that Arnim Zola was busy with something else but that he
would be back soon. She guessed that was
the reason they weren’t doing anything but taking samples and monitoring her.
As soon as the guard passed by Wanda
sprang up and over to the cell door.
Patiently she worked the nail into the lock, picturing in her mind the
separate tumblers as she felt the nail push against them. For a moment Wanda thought that she’d have to
wear the nail down more, but then there was a click and the lock opened.
Ok, stage one finished, Wanda
thought. Now what?
She opened the cell door and looked
up and down the corridor. Everytime they
had taken her out of the cell they had gone to the left. That had led to a locked door and into the
lab. Wanda looked to her right and saw
more cells and at the end of that a wall and a passage leading left. Stepping out of her cell she headed quickly
but cautiously down the corridor toward the un-known turn. When she reached it Wanda peered around and
saw that it led to another corridor, more cells and another metal door. Again Wanda moved quickly and cautiously. The rest of the cells were empty. When she reached the door Wanda felt it. The metal was cold and still. She put her ear to the door and heard
nothing.
As slowly as she could Wanda took
hold of the latch and pulled it down.
There was a barely audible click and she opened the door. Beyond the door was another lab, but this one
was empty. She moved through the lab
quietly, looking for weapons but finding nothing useful. At the other end of the room there was
another door and she opened it just as carefully. Beyond it was a set of elevators set into the
far wall.
Up or down, Wanda thought as she
went toward them. She had no way of
knowing if she was in a tall building or in a basement. She pressed the button beside the one closest
to her and stood back as the door opened.
Inside was an ordinary looking empty elevator. Wanda got in and looked at the floor
buttons. They were labeled one through
ten and she pushed one. The doors closed
and a sanitized version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen started to play.
A minute later the doors opened onto
a lobby area. Cautiously Wanda looked
out. The place had polished stone floors
comfortable chairs and a wide window that looked out onto a busy street. It was so ordinary it caught her off
guard. Wanda stepped out, looking left
and right. To her left was an rotating
glass door with an ‘exit’ sign on top of it.
To her right was the lobby and Wanda saw the security guard at the same
moment he saw her.
She ran for the exit at the same
time he grabbed for his gun. Bullets
whizzed over her head as Wanda pushed her way out of the rotating door and onto
the street. It was evening and a chill
wind cut through her as Wanda looked around to get her bearings. She was in the center of the city. Around her people started to stop and stare
and Wanda realized how exposed she was.
It didn’t matter now though and she looked around for a cop or some sort
of shelter as the security guard came through the door after her.
But he had to push his way through
the door and before he could get all the way Wanda through herself into it on
the other side. He was catapulted from
the door and was just getting to his feet when Wanda came out after him. A quick chop on his neck downed the guard and
Wanda rolled him over. But his gun
wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Wanda rolled away from the fallen
guard, warned by some instinct and a whip slashed through the space where she
had been.
“You’re out of your cage,” A cold
feminine voice proclaimed and Wanda looked up to see a tall woman wearing a red
suit and cape, one very much like Wanda’s Scarlet Witch costume but for the
HYDRA symbol on her chest. But the woman
had silver hair and a mask covered the top half of her face. In each hand she held a gleaming metal whip.
“Who are you?” Wanda demanded
getting ready to move again.
“They call me Whip Witch!” The woman
shouted and her whips flashed out. Wanda
moved but one of the whips caught her leg and tripped her while the other
slashed across her stomach. She reached
for the whip holding her leg and the other one lashed out again and caught her
in the chest, just above the breasts.
Wanda had felt both blows but
neither of them had drawn blood. She’d
be feeling them for a while but Wanda guessed that Whip Witch had orders not to
really harm her.
That plays to me, Wanda thought as
she got up and charged the other woman.
Whips were distance weapons, without her powers Wanda knew she had a
chance in a physical battle.
The Whip Witch met her charge and
drove a fist into Wanda’s jaw but by then Wanda had tackled her to the ground
and was on top of her. The woman grabbed Wanda’s bodysuit and jerked it
sideways to push her off. Wanda lost her
balance and the suit came apart. Someone
in the crowd cheered but Wanda barely noticed it. She would have liked some help, but didn’t
expect it.
Whip Witch rolled away from her and
as Wanda started to come at her again her whips flashed out. One wrapped itself around Wanda’s legs, the
other around her stomach pinning her arms to her side and tripping her. Wanda fell hard face first into the
pavement. Whip Witch started to drag her
back toward the building and Wanda tried to struggle but she was a fish on a
line. She saw that more security guards
were coming out of the building.
“There are a lot of wrong ways to
treat a lady but that’s gotta be one of the worse.”
The voice was accompanied by stream
of flame that cut the whips that held Scarlet and a second later the Human
Torch landed in front of her.
“Take him!” One of the guards
shouted an a hail of bullets shot at Wanda and Johnny. They didn’t touch the torch as the heat from
his body melted them before they reached him and a pair of flaming fireballs
drove the security men back.
Wanda used the opportunity to
struggle free from the whips and get to her knees. She looked around and saw that HYDRA troops
were starting to pour out of the building and they were armed with heavier
weapons. If she had her powers Wanda
would have taken them on, but she didn’t and there was no time for Johnny to
burn it off of her safely.
“Johnny get us out of here before
someone gets hurt!”
“You got it,” Johnny said and doused
the flame on his arms before he grabbed Wanda’s arms and they shot into the
air. Beams of force followed them but he
was too fast and they landed on the roof of another building.
“You ok?” He asked setting her down.
“Fine,” Wanda said looking over the
edge of the roof.
“Damn,” Johnny said, “look at that.”
Wanda watched as vans roared up the
building and the HYDRA agents and the Whip Witch got into them and
scattered. A second later the building
seemed to vibrate and then it vanished.
“Covering their tracks,” Wanda swore
even as she had to respect how it was done.
“Speaking of covering,” Johnny
pulled off his shirt and handed it too her.
Wanda was puzzled for a moment and then realized that the fight had left
her virtually nude. She quickly took the
shirt and put it on. It wasn’t quite
long enough and she pulled it down as far as she could. Trouble was doing that highlighted her
breasts and Johnny actually blushed.
“Get this collar of me and I’ll get
my costume on,” Wanda asked.
“Better not,” Johnny said looking at
the collar. “Thing might be booby
trapped. His eyes slid downward as he
spoke and he blushed again. “Let’s get
you to Avengers Mansion.”
He picked Wanda up in his arms and
the bottom half of his body burst into flame.
His control over the heat was so perfect Wanda didn’t feel it at all as
they flew over the city. She sighed and
was content.
Freedom, she thought but at the same
time the idea occurred to her that she really had to thank Johnny for the
rescue. Not now though, later. Properly.
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