Teddy Altman turned in shock. "What did you just say Bo-" Two huge young men towered over him with wicked grins on their faces. "-bbi?"
"Hail Hydra," the young woman repeated, turning to Hulkling. Mockingbird's pupils were clouded over and empty, next to her stood a man in a simple green costume. Teddy instantly recognized him as Jacob Borne, a.k.a. Contact, the man that the hastily assembled group had been brought out here to retrieve.
Teddy had no idea what to do. Three days ago, he didn't even know he had super-powers. Suddenly he'd been told that he'd been receiving gamma ray treatments for five years, gradually transforming him into a teenage version of the Jade Giant.
"Release her," Hulkling growled, surprising himself. Where had that come from?
"Or what?" said one of the giants.
"You'll hit us?" taunted the second.
"High-rise, Skyscraper, knock it off," growled Contact. "Let him wet himself and run away." Contact turned to Hulkling, a sadistic smile spreading across his face. "That is what you're thinking, isn't it?" Teddy felt a scowl cross his face.
"The hell it is!" Teddy suddenly found himself tearing a tree from the ground and swinging it like a baseball bat at the two giants. He scored true with one of the duo, knocking the boy to the ground.
"Mikey?" cried the standing giant. Marc Tate received no response. His brother was simply unconscious, but he was young and impulsive- didn't even bother to see if he was breathing. He turned back to Teddy, rage in his eyes. "You killed him!" he screamed. Teddy merely stared at the tree in his hands. What had he just done? How did he know how to do that?
Teddy looked up just fast enough to see Skyscraper reaching for him. He dropped the tree and jumped into the air. He brushed through Skyscraper's fingers, grabbing his thumb. He swung around, landing on his wrist and pulled downward hard. Marc screamed as a resounding *crack* filled the air. Still holding tight to Skyscraper's thumb, Teddy jumped to the ground, pulling him opponent down with him. His head hit the ground hard, knocking the younger boy out instantly.
"Wow," Teddy whispered. "I'm good."
Steven Hall took off his glasses and closed his eyes for a moment. He'd been sitting at his monitor for several hours now. The fluorescent bulbs had wrecked havoc with his eyes. He needed a rest, but that was something the department wouldn't let him have.
Their files had been in the process of an update for the last twenty-four hours. After the project had the group hijacked paranoia had set in across the board. Everyone was afraid that the remaining subjects of the project were now targets. Honestly, they were right, but Steven was starting to get tired of all the extra work that was "needed." For the most part everything would be okay. The remaining sleepers were well guarded and their locations had all been changed. There was no more need for him to be there.
The computer beeped. Steven opened his eyes and looked up. A small dialogue box popped up. He frowned and put his glasses back on.
"Shit!" he screamed. The dialogue box read "Now downloading all physical memory." The cancel option was ghosted. He couldn't stop it. He stood quickly and tore his desk away from the wall. His eyes widened. A small ball of C-4 was lumped around the cable connection to the network. A small wire stretched from the C-4 into the wall. He grabbed his phone and hit zero.
"This is Steven Hall!" he cried. "Evacuate the building and warn the main office that we've been compromised again! I repeat-" The computer beeped again, this time a long sustained tone. Steven's eyes grew wide and the C-4 exploded, killing him instantly. That explosion was the beginning of a chain reaction, setting off others just like it all over the building. Within minutes, the entire building was in flames.
John Buckner leaned back in his desk chair. He was tired. It had been a very long day. He only prayed that the activated A-Next kids would be able to retrieve Contact. Borne was the sole A-Next agent with powers of his own. Because of the nature of his psionic abilities he was a natural choice to train as a more covert operative.
A young agent suddenly burst into his office. "Sir, we have a situation," he said quickly.
"This whole week have been full of situations," Buckner growled. "What is it?"
"The San Diego building has been attacked," the young man said. "It's on fire."
Buckner cursed. "Get me Jordan Willoughby on the line! NOW!"
Contact held Mockingbird's hand, leading the young lady though the wooded area they were in. Although his powers worked through merely a touch, sustained contact ensured the hold he had on a subject's mind would be maintained stronger. Suddenly, the girl stopped, pulling Contact to a halt. He turned around and met her eyes. She was an incredibly beautiful young woman he realized. He imagined himself kissing her, her body against his.
Mockingbird was in his arms instantly. Her lips touched his, and he was in total ecstasy. Suddenly she kneed him hard in the crotch. Pain lanced up into his abdomen and he fell to the ground, moaning.
"Get up," she growled. "You're a typical male, you know." He bent over and picked Contact up. "Thinking with your penis." She slammed him against a tree. He blinked, trying to clear the tears from his eyes. It hurt. Mockingbird punched him across the face.
"Does it hurt you son of a bitch?" She punched him again. "Does it?!" She punched him in the gut. "You need to exercise a little bit more control over your powers. It wasn't just one-way there. You had no control over me in the first place." She slammed him against the tree again. "I was just using your little rapport to read you. Not a lot going on up there Borne." She drew him close to her face. "Want me to put you out of your misery?"
"Go to hell bi-" Mockingbird head butted him before he finished the insult.
"Way too clichéd my friend," she said, dropping his unconscious form to the ground.
"Is he?" The click of multiple gun hammers cocking filled the air around her. A dozen men in Hydra storm trooper uniforms strode into the clearing, each with an automatic rifle trained at her.
"Oh shit."
Kate Bishop stopped and hovered for a few moments. She was still becoming accustomed to her energy powers. She closed her eyes and stretched her arms wide. She could feel the ebb and flow of energy all around her. UV radiation, radio waves, television signals... suddenly she felt something out of the ordinary. Ionic energy.
"Bingo," she whispered. In the group of kidnapped sleepers, one of them had been bombarded with ionic energy, making his powers somewhat similar to the Avenger Wonder Man. It was relatively simple to track now that she'd sensed it. Suddenly, she sensed the energy signature coming closer. Her target had found her. She looked, sighting the purple energy signature.
"Bring it on!" she screamed. She upped her speed and course to intercept the ionic energy trail. She was surprised as she grew closer that the ionicly charged youth was female. She grinned and charged an energy blast.
"Hey there wonder girl," she said. "How's about we get to know each other?" She stopped, pulling her body upright and blasted the ionic girl hard. "Let's get this party started." Her blast struck true, and spun the ionic girl around. She stopped her spin and came to face Binary.
"Heh," she said simply. Suddenly, she shifted direction and slammed into Kate fists first. The impact threw the two back several hundred feet. Kate was surprised by how strong she was. As soon as she was on her feet, she uppercutted the girl, throwing her backwards.
"I don't think we've met," Kate said, striding to where the ionicly charged girl lay. "They call me Binary!" She punctuated the introduction with a blast of energy to the side of her opponent. "And you are...?"
"Iona," the girl sneered. "And I'm going to kick your ass!" With that Iona was on her feet and swinging.
Mockingbird stood still, keying her comm with her left hand. She was completely surrounded by hostiles. That was a bad thing. She was all alone. That was a very bad thing.
"Guys?" she muttered. "I need a little help here!"
"I'm coming!" Teddy's voice said. "Hang tight!"
"Don't worry Hulkling," said a completely unfamiliar female voice. "I'm on it!" Confused, Mockingbird looked around and caught the high-pitched whine of a motorcycle engine in the air. The Hydra troopers also began looking around. The source of the sound leaped into the air in front of them horizontally. The rider kicked herself off the bike, sending it sailing into three of the troopers.
The girl landed on the ground effortlessly. Her hair was green and she wore a suit of dark green leather, open in the midriff. An armored gauntlet covered her arm past her elbow in a silvery substance, while an orb on her wrist glowed green. Green must be her color, Mockingbird thought.
"Morning gents," she said. "Name's Scorpion. You ready for an ass kicking?" Scorpion jumped into the air, and kicked one of the troopers across the face. She landed and spun with a high roundhouse kick to the head of another trooper. Mockingbird took her cue and grabbed the gun of the man standing nearest her and slammed it into his face. Blood exploded from his nose and Mockingbird kicked him hard in the chest, sending him flying into the trooper behind him.
Mockingbird turned and dropped as another of the men rushed her. She kicked out, connected with his gut and threw him over her and into a tree. By the time she was back on her feet, Scorpion had knocked three of the remaining four men unconscious and was holding the fourth by his lapel. Her left arm was glowing and the Hydra trooper looked like he was going to puke.
Teddy ran into the clearing, stopped when he saw the fight was over. He bent over and put his hands on his knees. He gulped in air for a few seconds.
"Nice to see you ladies can handle yourselves," he muttered.
"Thanks anyways," Mockingbird said apologetically.
"Quiet," Scorpion said gently to the two A-Next kids. "We need to interrogate this bastard." She turned back to him, but he was surrounded by an aura of light and vanished. The others did the same.
"Dammit!" Scorpion yelled, slamming her armored fist into the ground.
"Teleport extraction. Dammit!"
"And who's she?" Hulking mumbled to Mockingbird out of the corner of his mouth.
"I'm Scorpion," she said, standing up. "I'm your new field leader."
Before they could say anything else, they heard a scream from above and Thunderstrike hit the ground hard, creating an impact crater.
"Incoming," Billy muttered before he lost consciousness.
Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker watched the news feeds from various organizations across the world. They were abuzz with news of a terrorist strike in England by super powered operatives. The operatives were wearing Hydra colors and insignias. The strike was very well organized, and if he understood his information correctly, the operatives used were kidnapped from a US Government project. It was a brilliant operation.
"Sir," said a voice from behind him. Strucker turned to find Infomorph, the leader of Hydra's techno-terrorist group System Crash, waiting patiently at the door.
"Come in," Strucker beckoned. He drummed the fingers of his right hand on the arm of his chair. "News on your upcoming strike?"
"Yes," she said. "Zero had encoded an excellent virus. Once we've uploaded it to the financial network in Europe, we'll have full control."
"Very good," Strucker replied. "Is that all?"
"For my report, yes," Infomorph replied. "But on a personal note sir... the operation in England, the Avenger kids. Brilliant sir."
"I'm glad to hear you like it," Strucker replied. He turned back to the screen and watched the static filled footage of the giant twins kidnapping the man. "I agree that it's brilliant. It's too bad though."
"And why's that sir?"
"That is not a Hydra operation."
In Project A-Next #3: You might have guessed it! Hydra isn't the culprit. If they're not though, who is? And who is the other SHIELD operative that's going to be joining the A-Next team? Is it even going to matter after A-Next faces their counter parts?!