Hello everyone, here is Chapter 22. After the bombshell reveal of the last chapter, the world for Will and the others continue on as they investigate the Clairvoyant and got a new lead in the form of Ian Quinn. But the fake psychic isn't the only thing Will needs to deal with as his various list of feelers and CI's get him something dealing with mutants so it's time to loop in the X-men. Only maybe it's time to form a different kind of mutant team. Enjoy!

The Perfect One: A Black ops force for the X-men? Maybe.

Triskelion, Washington DC: November 2013

Will found himself in a very familiar position that seemed to become a staple since he got his powers and joined SHIELD. He was sitting outside of Director Fury's office after being called in following the incident at the SHIELD Academy. The damage to the academy buildings was already being fixed and the perpetrators AKA SHIELD Academy students Seth Dormer and Donnie Gill were locked up in a SHIELD facility. Despite the protest and efforts of Seth's Lawyer father, the former SHIELD student was not getting out of custody anytime soon and the list of charges on the young man were staggering to say the least. On top of all the rules he broke at the SHIELD Academy which he was fully aware of considering the paperwork he signed when he was recruited, he was charged with aiding and abetting in an act of mass destruction, several charges of property damage, and knowingly conspiring with a man on the terror watchlist AKA Ian Quinn. Even Seth's father, who was a lawyer for Quinn Worldwide couldn't get him out of this mess and he'd spend the rest of his life in jail for his little stunt all to get paid. The sad part was that he dragged Donnie Gill into his scheme and a brilliant man with a bright future was snuffed out far too soon.

After the near catastrophic massive storm caused by two SHIELD recruits, Deputy Director Hill personally spoke with the agents in charge at the Academy and in not-so subtle words, basically told them to button-up their shit. She did not want a repeat of this kind of incident at all. Two SHIELD cadets nearly caused a historic and unprecedent storm that could have killed hundreds if not thousands. The cadets at the Academy were there to become SHIELD agents, which meant they were there to help the world, not for profit so if any of them got any ideas for plans like Seth and Donnie, even a whisper of one, then they'd be joining them in prison cells. All the instructors were ordered to make that very clear to all the students. Either behave or join your former academy cadets in jail. Despite the damage and tremble this sent within the SHIELD Science academy cadets, there was some good in the sense that Coulson and the team now had another lead to follow on the Clairvoyant. They used the number Seth was using to contact Quinn and the idiot brazenly admitted to working with him, so he was now their target. Quinn was usually untouchable given his various connections but with his complicity in working with an active SHIELD target and his recent aiding in the weather machine, SHIELD gave them the green light to grab him. That's what they would be doing right now if not for being called back to the Triskelion.

Will sat in the little waiting area outside of Director Fury's office. He got here a bit early, and the Director was still in a meeting with Deputy Director Hill and who knows who else. He was sitting there reading the newspaper, just to pass the time as he figured this meeting was just about Fury asking Will how the hell he was able to dissipate a massive hurricane. He noticed an article about a playwright attempting to make a Captain America musical and the ensuing legal battle about it which just made Will raise an eyebrow in confusion. He knew that Steve would hate the idea of a musical about him as he knew he already hated all the movies he did in the 40s and all the PSAs he's done recently. Still, it'll be fun stuff to use to mess with him, so he took a quick picture to show to him and Tony later when he got a call from a number he didn't recognize but it was a Japanese Area code, so he answered.

"Hello?"

"Go secure."

He recognized the female voice over the line, so he took out an earpiece which he connected to his phone before he pressed a few buttons and activated his phone's encryption. "Line secured. What's going on, Betsy?"

"A lot. I think I got something that is definitely what you were looking for. Shiro sent me something and I'm sending it to you. Take a look."

Will looked at his phone as an image came through that seemed to be a still from a CCTV camera, likely a security camera on the perimeter of a building. A limousine had arrived at a building with a man stepping out to meet with some Japanese executives both of whom had heavy security escorts. The man was likely British or American and was wearing a very fancy suit indicating he was either politically or financially important, but Will didn't recognize him. From the Japanese Kanji on the displayed sign in front of the building, the picture was taken outside Chronos Augmentations in Tokyo, the subsidiary of the Essex Corporation Will had been looking into with Betsy's help.

"All right, I'm intrigued. Who's the man walking around like he's the president?" Will wondered which is when Betsy sent over the SHIELD file on the man.

"Meet Donald Pierce. A financier from old school wealth with his hands in a lot of things mainly being a chain of private prisons and a private military company he employs around the world, mainly to dictators and despots who can pay him very well. He purposely hires men who will do whatever they're told so long as they're paid well and with his money, he makes sure of that. He first got onto SHIELD's radar when his PMC company began working in Africa and within the former Soviet block states in the lates 90s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, he's got deep enough pockets with the right people in certain sectors to stay just shy of being taken down. Normally, he's been mainly involved with arms and his private military company and while that hasn't changed he's also been diversifying his portfolio, so to speak."

Will looked over the data SHIELD had and while it was limited considering how well Donald Pierce has gone to make himself relatively invisible, it did show recent activity had him putting his money into various bio-medical companies including Chronos Augmentations and its parent company the Essex Corporation. It seems as though recently, Donald Pierce has been working with various members of the Essex Corporation regarding certain matters that weren't yet clear. Essex was keeping things very tight lipped and no corporate memo or public newsletter regarding a change in shareholders or anything but clearly Donald Pierce was pouring some money into the same subsidiaries and doing business with them if the international banking documents regarding various transactions were anything to go by.

"So, the question is what he wants with Chronos Augmentations and the Essex Corporation. Any chance Shiro got us anything about that?" Will wondered.

"Yeah, but it's not much. Shiro's security guard clearance only gets him so far and the level where the meeting was held was guarded by private security. Still, he managed to get us some bits with a listening device. Between Pierce and one of the executives at Chronos. Listen."

Will saw an audio file appear and after some initial static, he began to hear the message.

[Bzzt—Garbled audio]

"…he thanks you again for your visit to our Tokyo office, Mr. Pierce. He understands the need for secure meetings to avoid sensitive information from being intercepted."

"And yet, Dr. Essex was unable to meet with me in person. Mr. Shaw was adamant that this meeting be kept because he believed that it would finally permit the chance for our two organizations to come to better understand now with the new change in leadership."

"Dr. Essex apologizes once again for not being able to meet in person but pressing matters require his attention at the last moment. His research and work keeps him very busy, and he believes that maintaining a low profile is adamant especially after SHIELD arrested your predecessors."

"Yes, well do be sure to tell Dr. Essex that the Inner Circle doesn't plan to make the same mistakes as them. Their arrogance was their undoing and Mr. Shaw has gone to great lengths to make up for what their blunder cost him and his company. He wants to assure Dr. Essex of the benefits to our continued partnership."

"Of course, and I can confirm that Dr. Essex is well aware of the benefits of the continued partnership. He is incredibly grateful for the various donations your organization as made to his various projects and the aid in acquiring the necessary resources and secrets needed to advance them to stage 2."

"Of course. What are a few highly classified government secrets to a burgeoning and powerful partnership, especially in light of the growing power fluctuation that is currently facing our planet. When before wealth, firearms, and corporations were the ruling power now they pale in comparison to the new currency…enhanced abilities. No doubt the governments of the world are scrambling for their own war chests in light of the Battle of New York and despite SHIELD's supposed global dominance for security, they don't know everything. That being said, SHIELD could still prove to be a problem which is why Mr. Shaw is hoping that Dr. Essex work with stage 2 will be able to advance in the wake of what Weapon X failed to do."

"Only time will tell. Now, Dr. Essex has given us leave to discuss further—" [Beep]

"That's all Shiro could get before he had to leave when some security guards did a sweep. We rendezvous after his shift was done and he made sure he wasn't followed. Based on how things have been at Chronos Augmentations they don't seem to think anything was wrong or that they were spied on. It's not a lot but what do you think?"

"This is good, Betsy. This is really good. It's not a smoking gun but it's definitely enough to tell us two things. The first is that the Hellfire club isn't dead like I originally thought. Shaw just took over with his Inner Circle. And second, is that all of the Essex Corporation is bad and from the sounds of it, they and the Hellfire club are working on human weapons. Whatever Pierce gave them, it has to be important for whatever Essex is doing." Will told her.

"Yeah, I looked into what I could find when he mentioned Weapon X. I checked SHIELD's Database, but it was locked behind a Level-9 clearance level. Maybe you'll have better luck trying to figure out exactly what Pierce gave them."

"No, that's above my clearance as well but I'll see what I can do. Anything else?"

"Possibly a lead on where you can figure out what Essex is doing and maybe get some hard proof. Shiro managed to plug into a server and got some correspondence and emails for the company. Not a lot but with what we know now we were able to figure out a connecting thread that we can pull. For the past couple of years, a few shipments from Chronos Augmentations have been earmarked as highly secured requiring the checking and clearance from the highest executives in the company. These executives are the same ones that met with Pierce for that meeting and not only that but the equipment they're sending is next-generation bio-medical science equipment, so something is going on at a lab. The thing that makes it interesting for us is that the lab in question they're being sent to doesn't exist, at least in reality. On record they're being sent to a lab in Germany and while they're ample of paperwork to suggest it's real, the lab doesn't exist. We checked with the flight logs of the international carriers and while the shipment does stop in Germany, it's only a refueling spot before the shipment then heads to the Quebec region in Canada. Montreal to be precise before they're picked up by a private shipping company with a heavy security escort. One guess who that belongs too…"

"Donald Pierce." Will answered.

"Yup. We managed to find CCTV footage and its his mercenaries who provide transport and protection going back years. This must have been in the works even before the change in leadership with the Hellfire Club. It's also probably why Pierce himself went to this meeting because its his money and men being used and with everything that happened he wants to ensure he's still getting paid and that they're working together. Once the equipment arrives and is secured, they head north in the Canadian mountains, and we lose them there. The number of shipments have increased within the month but it's always the same executives signing off, same carriers and same flight paths and same pickups. Like clockwork. Officially, the only thing the Essex Corporation has in the Quebec region is a regional office in Montreal and even then, it's a remote site in an office building. Three floors and those shipments never head anywhere near there. They're hiding something up there."

Will was intrigued. Clearly, the company was up to something if they were faking the transport of highly advanced science equipment to some remote facility and doing their best to make sure it stayed hidden from the public. The Canadian Wilderness is the perfect place to hide a secret lab. With the weather and terrain making the area highly dangerous and remote it was the perfect place to hide a secret off-the-books lab and no one was nearby to really snoop on them aside from small towns or local Native America reservations but even then they were all scattered around. With the bit of information from the conversation that was recorded, this secret lab could be the Essex Corporations human weapons testing facility that has to do with this Weapon X Pierce mentioned. While not a lot, he's made do with less and they've turned into bigger missions so this could be the first salvo in taking down the Essex Corporation and hopefully preventing the creation of numerous human weapons and stopping whatever they and the Hellfire Club had instore.

"Definitely hiding something up there and it's time to ruin their parade. Well done, Betsy and tell Shiro good job. This could be the thing we need to really to take down the Essex Corporation and the Hellfire Club. I've got a meeting with Fury so I'm gonna bring up the information you gave me. He'll probably give me the go-ahead and I'll head up to Canada to do some investigating." He told her.

"Sounds good but you'll need some help. I can be on the next flight from Japan to Montreal in an hour."

"Thanks, Betsy. I'd appreciate it but tell Shiro to make himself scarce for a few days. If this goes well then Chronos Augmentations could be looking for a possible leak and he could be in danger. Tell him to get out of the city for a few days." Will told her.

"On it. We don't know what we'll be up against, so I'd bring some heavy backup, maybe one of your Avenger pals." She said and Will raised an eyebrow, but she spoke again before he could say anything. "Don't even try it, Will, I had my suspicions for a while, especially since you were made the Liaison with the Professor being the youngest Level-8 agent in SHIELD's history. That alone was enough for me to be suspicious that you were Aegis along with your close relationship with Director Fury. He'd want to keep someone like his most powerful Avenger close to the chest. Not only that but you are aware I have a close relationship with the Professor but the thing that really made it clear it was you was the fact that I tried to get a glance into your head during one of our meetings and hit a block. Not static like anti-telepathy countermeasures SHIELD puts into place, just a block. Only a fellow telepath would block their mind so easily."

Will chuckled in amusement and disbelief. Guess his countermeasure to avoid having his mind read by a telepath was the undoing in his secret identity being uncovered by the telepath in question he was trying to keep from knowing. "Looks like my secret identity needs some work."

"Yes, it does but don't worry it's safe with me. I've worked with you long enough to know you're a straight shooter and when I spoke with the Professor I could tell he trusts you. That's enough for me. But seriously, we could use some help. I know someone who could give us a boost. She's a mercenary but she's one of the good ones and a friend of mine. Her mutation could come in handy incase things go bad. If you're willing to pay and keep her name off the official report to help her maintain some anonymity then I think she could help."

Will saw the doors to Fury's office open and out walked Agent Hill who signaled him to walk in, so he signaled her to wait one second. "Do it. Let me know how it goes." He hung up and walked into Director Fury's office with Hill locking and securing the door with the electronic encryption so they couldn't be eavesdropped on. Director Fury sat at his desk, putting some paperwork to the side and was as stone-faced as usual. Will walked forward and until he stood in front of Fury's desk and gave him a salute. "Director."

"Agent Detmer. I trust you're recovering after the incident at the Academy."

"I'm fine, sir." Will assured him. "I healed up quickly and EDI confirmed Dr. Simmons assessment. No permanent damage."

"Good. And good work at the Academy. How is Coulson processing the lead on the Clairvoyant?" Fury asked him.

"We're tracking him down via Ian Quinn. He's our next best lead to catch him since the end of Project Centipede but I'm not sure if we ended that project or just made them better at hiding." Will admitted and Fury nodded.

"And Coulson? How's he doing?" Fury asked.

"I put everything in my after-action report but he's fine, sir. A bit shaken at first…but if anything, his commitment to the cause is stronger than ever."

Both Fury and Hill were glad to hear that. Coulson was one of their best agents and now that everything was out in the open, it was good to see that Coulson was still the rock-solid agent he always was. Fury then picked up a report regarding the weather phenomenon from the incident at the Academy. One machine managed to artificially create a hurricane which quickly increased in intensity jumping from a Category 3 upon its creation all the way up to a Category 5. If Will hadn't stopped it when he did then it could have caused an indescribable amount of damage. So far, the public had no idea what happened and chalked it all up to a freak weather occurrence but many of them were more concerned with how the hurricane was dissipated. Numerous eye-witness accounts state that the hurricane was raging on when a powerful, almost nuclear-like explosion occurred that dissipated the storm clouds leaving behind a glowing plasma mini-star up in the sky like a second sun before that eventually vanished.

"I'm glad that things at the Academy didn't get any worse then they did but it seems your penchant for giving me headaches hasn't ceased, Agent Detmer. I've been stuck in meetings with the World Security Council and other senior SHIELD agents regarding what happened and compared to all your other stunts, this one seems to have garnered the most attention." Fury told him.

"Are you saying I shouldn't have done what I did, sir?"

"I'm saying that subtly is a skill you've yet to master or even get acquainted with is growing to be an issue. Taking down the likes of Quantum or spending your free time ending serial killers is one thing but when you repeatedly make headlining news it makes my ability to conceal the efforts of your alter-ego all that harder." Fury warned him.

"Apologies, sir. I'm aware of that myself but in the situation I did what I thought was best." Will stated before then adding. "Also, it's pretty difficult to be inconspicuous when dealing with a city level disaster. Doesn't exactly leave much room to focus on staying secret when all my concentration was on stopping it."

"And I'm aware of that, Agent Detmer, but already the list of people in SHIELD who know who you really are is growing. You yourself wanted it kept a secret and I've done my part to aid in that as best I can so unless you want it make known companywide that I would suggest you get better at minimizing the risk of your exposure with stunts like this." Fury's warning was both of concern and agitation. At the moment, Will was his best agent and most fearsome weapon in the event of another incident like the Chitauri invasion. The World Security Council have pushed and pushed for Fury to divulge who Aegis was and he held strong, but the pressure was mounting. Even Secretary Pierce wanted to know. Next to Thor and the Hulk, Aegis was the strongest enhanced person on the planet, and he was Fury's shield, no pun intended, against foes both intergalactic and planet-side. If more people found out who he was then Fury would only be able to do so much to protect him.

Will understood the warnings Fury was giving him and he would admit that perhaps he could be a bit more careful. Fury has already done a lot for him so he could at least make his job easier. "Message received, sir. I'll be extra careful."

"Good. Keep me appraised of the situation regarding the Clairvoyant. That'll be all." Fury told him and Will gave him one more salute before he turned to leave. He took a few steps away when he stopped and turned back around. "Something else I can help you with, Agent Detmer?"

"Apologies, Director Fury but there is something else I believe you should be made aware of." Will stated, earning looks of confusion from the Director and Hill. "Some new evidence has surged in my investigation into Chronos Augmentations, and I can confirm that the Hellfire Club and the Essex Corporation are working on a new project."

Will began explaining the recent revelations he was informed of in his investigation thanks to some help. Thankfully with Fury and Hill, Will wasn't hamstrung to keep certain information hidden or obscure. During his explanation/retelling of events, Will made sure to highlight and advocate the success was not just him alone but thanks to the efforts of SHIELD Agents Shiro Yoshida and Elizabeth Betsy Braddock who were on sight in Tokyo. They like Will and Jessica Drew AKA Spider-woman were among the few enhanced SHIELD operatives though Will's identity as an enhanced operative was more guarded. (1)

They've been working on this case ever since the human members of the Hellfire club were exposed and considering the mutant leaders i.e., Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, and Selene Gallio weren't even mentioned and seemingly disappeared. Will always felt there was more to it and if he had to make a guess, he figured that Shaw used the opportunity of SHIELD's investigation to oust the human members of the Hellfire club to take over. The investigation was officially declared closed by SHIELD, but unofficially Will kept his own feelers open since Shaw and his subordinates weren't arrested. Fury and Hill were made aware, but they kept their circle of trust small to avoid any possibility of a leak. With Shaw having a telepathy, namely Emma Frost and those freaking triplets, Will needed to be extra careful into how his case worked. The Professor gave him ample warning regarding Frost and her compatriots so Will needed to be careful.

He focused his investigation mainly into looking into a tie connecting Shaw and the remnants of the Hellfire club to the Essex Corporation. Back when he was first investigating the Hellfire club before Fury introduced him Professor Xavier, he eavesdropped on their meeting in Manhattan about them working with the remnants of AIM even after Aldrich Killian's death, now working for Dr. Goerge Tarleton and Dr. Monica Rappaccini. Will and the others got a first-hand glimpse of their work from the AIM base in Iceland they took out. Advanced robotics and possible human weapons which is how Will got onto the Hellfire club in the first place as the correspondence between AIM and the club is what led him to them. The whole point of the attempted breakout of the Vault was to give AIM mutants to test on, mainly Nitro and Juggernaut. The connection to AIM isn't what concerned him as he knew that already, what concerned him was the connection to the Essex corporation.

When Will went to the X-men for help, they helped him get the information they needed to stop the attack by experimenting with his powers and giving him a vision. He saw Gordon Phillips, the head of the Hellfire Club meet with someone from the Essex Corporation who then gave Phillips the team of mutants to attack the Vault. How the Essex Corporation managed to get him a team of mutant mercenaries was concerning enough but more concerning was that five of the mutants had ties to the Essex corporation that went past mercenary work. Some digging is what led Will to learn that five of the mutants on the team that attacked the Vault were former members of the Essex Corporation's private security team. Arclight, Harpoon, Vertigo, Blockbuster, and Riptide AKA Philippa Sontag, Kodiak Noatak, Alicia Markov, Michael Baer, and Janos Quested were all former members of the Essex Corporation private security team, a few of which had former military training.

That could be looked at as a coincidence, but Will stopped believing in that when he became a SHIELD Agent. It was difficult to find more information on those five mutants other than what was publicly known as the Essex Corporation servers were notoriously encrypted and hardwired against digital intrusion. Even Skye and EDI combined haven't been able to find anything past the general stuff that the company would make known to the public and trying to track them down prior to the attack on the vault was nearly impossible. It was like someone went out of their way to keep them hidden, likely in a manner so that SHIELD didn't find them. That was the breaking point for Will to open his investigation into the Essex Corporation and decided that starting with one of their main subsidiaries, Chronos Augmentations was the best bet. It had a muddled past with plenty of allegations regarding human testing and illegal experimentation out of all the companies under the Essex umbrella, so it made it the best option to begin Will's investigation.

Will initially envisioned this as a long operation with Shiro undercover in the company for long enough to get dirt on Chronos and then move onto the rest of Essex slowly but surely. With Chronos's muddled past he figured it would only be time before another exploit would arrive for them to use and it just so happened to be this one and it involved something Weapon X. Will finished his explanation and even showed Director Fury all the information Betsy had sent to him, and he was intrigued at the very least. That all changed the second Weapon X was mentioned and he saw Fury adopt a look of concern he hadn't seen on the man since Nitro and Juggernaut were mentioned during the Hellfire Club's planned prison break.

"I'm guessing that whatever Weapon X is…it's not good." Will guessed and the seriousness on Fury's face was enough for him.

"No. No it isn't." Fury told him and Will had a deep, nagging feeling in his gut that Fury was underselling everything.

Here we go again.

Line Break xxxxx

Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, Westchester, New York

Fall in upstate New York was a lovely thing to see so the students of Professor Xavier's school for Gifted Youngsters were enjoying themselves. Classes were done for the day so some of the instructors had set up a little football game in the backyard, even going so far to have one of the students use their powers to make goal posts. Colossus and his team against Angel and his group. Everyone in the institute had gathered outside to watch, sitting on benches and sipping hot cups of cocoa or warm apple cider with Sage and Beast acting as referees while Storm kept score. Logan was just off to the side, leaning against a tree and smoking his cigar. The official rule was no powers but that had quickly been forgotten. It was nearing the end of the 4th quarter with Colossus's team up against Angel's 28 to 24 and Angel's team had the ball. With seconds left on the clock if they managed to score then they'd win bragging rights, and the instructors made a gentleman's bet. The loser buys the winning team pizza, and the instructor has to walk around the institute in a clown costume for a week. Pride was on the line.

"All right, defense! Let's go! Don't let them get through!" Colossus shouted with his side of supporters cheering them on.

"You got this, Bryon! Bring it home! Pizza and free entertainment are ours! In it to win it!" Angel shouted and his quarterback nodded.

Professor Xavier was seated with his students all of whom were cheering for their respective teams to win. Seeing all his students happy and at peace brought a smile to his face. Moments like this were worth it all with the only thing wrong was that he wished that Scott, Jean, and the other younger members of the X-men could enjoy it too, but they were busy with their lives in higher learning save for one exception. Kurt's mutation unfortunately prevented him from being able to go to college like his fellow teammates, but he was going to classes online and given the Professor's advanced degree, it made up for that. And seeing Kurt jump around like a cheerleader for the teams showed that he was happy here at the institute.

"All right! Timeout is over! Let's get this started! [Blows Whistle]" Beast placed the football on the ground as both teams took their places.

"Who are you betting to win, Professor?" Kurt asked him.

"Oh, that is a choice I can not make because either way I feel like I lose." Xavier said, which just made Kurt look at him funny. "I've not a fan of clowns."

"Is anyone?" Kurt joked which made the Professor chuckle in amusement.

[Heavy wind rustling]

The wind suddenly picked up intensity causing many students to cover their eyes or shield their faces. Xavier and the other instructors looked over at Storm who just shrugged her shoulders. "This isn't me." She told them.

[Roar of jet engines]

Everyone looked up and saw a jet hovering up in the sky above the mansion and was lowering down onto the field. The teams quickly ran away and joined the other students as the instructors got in front of the students to protect them, thinking they were in danger but then they all settled a bit when they saw the SHIELD logo on the side. The Quinjet finally touched down on the field in the backyard and the engines powered down before the ramp opened up and out popped the head of Professor Bruce Banner. He walked out of the Quinjet wearing some slacks, and a purple button-up underneath a warm jacket. "Hi. Sorry for the abrupt arrival and ruining your game."

"No way, is that Bruce Banner?" One of the kids whispered which just made the other students gossip and whisper to one another when someone else walked out of the Quinjet.

Joining Professor Banner was Thor Odinson wearing human clothes which were boots, blue jeans, a green t-shirt with a blue zip-up hoodie over that and then a blue jacket over that and oddly enough he was holding an umbrella in one hand. "Yes, apologies young ones. We did not mean to interrupt your games of merriment…" Thor picked up the football and look at it with a child-like curiosity. "So, is this the sport on Midgard called football or is that another different sport? Two sports with the same name seems endlessly confusing."

"It's Thor!" The students rushed over like they just spotted a celebrity, which in a way he was, and began crowding him, taking pictures, and talking with him. Granted they all talked over one another, but the God of Thunder was loving the enthusiasm of the students.

Professor Xavier looked at the other X-men and they were equally as confused as he was, but they approached. They saw Thor lift several mutant children up on his shoulders and they were having the time of their lives. Thor noticed the professor walking over so he put the children down before he and Dr. Banner approached.

"Professor Xavier, sorry for the sudden intrusion. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've read some of your work on genetic mutations in the Oxford Press. Very impressive work. Bruce Banner." Bruce shook his hand and Xavier shook back, giving him a welcoming smile.

"The pleasure is mine, Dr. Banner. And your work on sub-space nucleation is just as impressive. Welcome. And you as well, Prince Odinson. I'm Professor Charles Xavier." Charles shook Thor's hand.

"The pleasure is mine, Professor Xavier. I've heard of the struggles that befall your kind and I believe what you and your X-men do here is very admirable. And I make this solemn vow to you and your X-men that you will always have an ally in the Prince of Asgard." Thor promised and that alone meant a lot. Having the vow of protection from the Prince of Asgard, the God of Thunder definitely helped ease their minds.

"Thank you, Prince Odinson. Allow me to introduce some of my X-men." The Professor gestured to his oldest veterans of the team. "Piotr Rasputin, Warren Worthington the Third, Tessa Anders, Ororo Monroe, Dr. Hank McCoy and Logan."

"Hmmm…" Thor took note of the senior X-men and was intrigued. He found Warren's angel wings to be very majestic, no doubt he would find himself in good company with the legendary Valkyrie if they were still around. He then noticed Piotr and his large imposing figure making Thor think that his mutation made him just as powerful and muscular before he noticed Ororo and her striking white hair. "Well met, X-men. It is a pleasure to meet you and I relish the laurels of our future battles together."

"What battles, bub? And what are you doing here in the first place?" Logan questioned.

"That'd be me! My fault! Sorry! Moving a bit slow! Got a lot of stuff in here!" Will walked out of the Quinjet moving a large cart that had a tall box of pizzas and several bags of food which by the smell alone was a mixture of Chinese, Mexican, and maybe some sandwiches along with some ice cream put in a separate box surrounded by ice. "I came bearing gifts for the students. Go ahead, everyone, go nuts. It's all free."

The students cheered and quickly mobbed the cart to get to the food first. At the very least, the professor didn't have to worry about dinner later as there was plenty of food and from some great places in the city. Pizza from Joe's Pizza, Chinese food from Chinatown in Queens and ice cream from authentic places in Brooklyn. Will walked past the students and joined Dr. Banner and Thor. "Sorry for causing a scene, Professor Xavier."

"It's quite all right, Will. A little warning or notice of your arrival before hand would be appreciated going forward but I sense a great deal of urgency…and concern. What's wrong?" Xavier wondered.

"Hopefully that concern won't be around much longer but I'm actually not here for you, Professor." Will told him before he looked at Logan.

"What do you need me for, kid?" Logan asked.

"An investigation I was running hit paydirt on our suspicions that the Hellfire Club was still running with Sebastian Shaw in control. With that came a confirmation between the Hellfire Club and the Essex Corporation. They're working on something big regarding their plans and I gave the information I had to Fury. When he learned everything, he said I could use Logan's help. In fact, he said that Logan would be insistent to tag along." Will answered only for Logan to scoff.

"And what makes old eye-patch think I'll work for SHIELD?" Logan wondered.

"Weapon X." Will's utterance of those two words put Logan on edge with the Professor equally concerned.

"We should discuss this inside." The Professor led everyone inside as this sudden revelation would be a lot to explain. Will understood that better than most when he was told what Weapon X was.

Flashback…

Will was confused and concerned, unsure of what his revelation regarding this Weapon X thing was. Clearly it was important if Fury and Hill looked concerned as they did.

"I'm guessing that whatever Weapon X is…it's not good."

"No. No it isn't." Fury told him and Will had a deep, nagging feeling in his gut that Fury was underselling everything. "Agent Detmer, how actionable is this intel Agent Braddock gave you?"

"Good enough for me to look into. I'll have to tell Coulson to follow up on Ian Quinn on his own until I can regroup with him later. This is too good of a lead to pass and if the Hellfire Club is working with the Essex Corp on human weapons then we need to stop it sooner rather than later." Will answered. Fury and Hill were at least glad to hear he would be willing to take this mission on himself and that he understood it was serious. "All the breadcrumbs Shiro and Betsy were able to get gives me a general location in the Quebec mountains, but I'll need to investigate further to find any kind of trace of a lab."

"Finding that lab and stopping whatever their doing needs to be a priority, Agent Detmer. If they have information on Weapon X then it's imperative we stop them." Agent Hill told him.

"Yes, ma'am, but can I ask, what is Weapon X and why does it make both of you nervous?" Will questioned when he saw Director Fury take a deep breath before answering.

"Agent Detmer, you're aware of Project Rebirth." Fury said.

"Yes, sir. The brainchild of the Strategic Scientific Reserve before it became SHIELD. It's the project that created Captain America." Will answered but that wasn't groundbreaking news. Practically everyone in the world knew that story now. Maybe not the specifics but the general stuff, yes.

"That's correct and when Rogers went into the ice, the one true super soldier was gone but that didn't mean people didn't try to repeat that success. And unfortunately, as with many things, some lines were crossed."

"Doesn't that seem to be mankind's never-ending characteristic." Will remarked, heavy with the sarcasm as this was just a recurring sequences of events. People wanted something, they messed with things without any thoughts to the consequences and then people get hurt so other people have to clean up their mess. "What did SHIELD do this time?"

"This time it wasn't SHIELD." Hill assured him but the look he was giving her told her that he didn't believe that. "It wasn't SHIELD…but our government was involved."

"Of course…" Will muttered, not that surprised at all. If anything, he'd be more surprised if the US government wasn't involved. "…and you'll notice my complete lack of shock in hearing that."

"Mistakes are a part of life and not even heroes are exempt from that all too real truth." Fury pointed out, reminding Will that even though he was a hero, he has made his fair share of impromptu or reckless mistakes, the kind of mistakes that would have earned him jailtime had it not been for Fury and others covering for him.

"Oh, I'm not a holy saint nor do I proclaim to be unlike the assholes in government, present company excluded, of course." Will assured Fury who got back to the point.

"With the ramping up of the Cold War and the need for a viable solution against the Soviets aside from the Atom Bomb and whatever Howard Stark could make, the US Military began a new super soldier project designated Weapon Plus." Fury started and quickly held up his hand to stop Will from speaking. "I don't know who came up with the name, nor do I care so don't bring it up."

"Sorry, sir."

"It was a joint collaboration between the US military and Canada's Department K, the latter being the Canadian government's division related to all advanced weapons projects and espionage. During the Cold War, the US and Canada's goals aligned so they worked together on the joint project which became Weapon Plus. A project whose sole purpose was to create superpowered super soldiers for military purposes, repeating the success of Captain America but improving on it. What they did was grizzly to say the least. The successes varied with each iteration being given a codename. Captain America was officially declared Weapon I. Weapon X…" Fury pulled out a clicker and once he pressed it, his wall turned into a smart screen and brought up a picture of Logan. "…you know."

"Logan?" Will was stunned to hear that when Fury clicked the button again, this time bringing up old X-ray scans and documents showing off Logan's skeleton which had been completely grafted with a metal. "Holy crap…someone did that to him?"

"You had to suspect that was the case." Hill pointed out.

"Yeah, but at first I thought maybe it was his mutation. I can read minds, move objects without lifting a thumb and we live in a world with aliens and Norse gods so the idea of a mutation that gives you a metal skeleton seemed plausible enough." Will countered and they had to concede that. "Logan is Weapon X. What the hell happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. This was before I joined SHIELD and accounts differ with no one from that project alive anymore but from what I was able to piece together, Logan either voluntarily joined the project or was forced into it. By this time, the project was headed by a Colonel William Stryker, a military scientist and under his leadership it began moving into a more aggressive and inhumane experimentation phase. Ultimately the project was trying to turn Logan into the perfect weapon and assassin. They grafted Adamantium to his entire skeleton with the only reason he survived was his healing factor. Those two things together would have made him the perfect weapon and from the reports that weren't destroyed or erased they were trying to brainwash him to be their perfect soldier, but something went wrong and everyone from that project turned up dead or missing after Logan broke out. In 1983, Weapon X was shut down completely by my predecessor and anyone who knows about it should either be dead or has approval to know the knowledge so how Pierce was able to get his information is a concern."

"Or they could have slipped through the cracks." Will was grappling with this new information when he thought of something. "What about Logan? Maybe he knows something."

Fury shook his head no. "Whatever Weapon X did to Logan also messed with his memory. He can't remember much of his life before the experimentation, only bits and pieces despite everything Xavier has tried. SHIELD didn't find much on Weapon X after Logan's rampage except for plenty of bodies and horrifying experiments."

"The doctors? And Colonel Stryker?" Will wondered and saw the same concerned look on Fury's face appear much like when he first mentioned Weapon X.

"There were a lot of bodies left behind in Logan's rampage so getting an exact count on who died, or MIA is difficult. Among those we can't account for are Colonel Stryker and the head scientists." Fury pressed a button on his clicker revealing the greyed out military photos of Colonel William Stryker and the scientists in charge of Weapon X with the bold-faced words Unknown put below. Dr. Abraham Cornelius, Dr. Carol Hines, Dr. Dala Rice, and Dr. Zander Rice.

Will realize what Fury was thinking and why he was so concerned. "You think that one of them could still be alive and is how a member of the Hellfire club got information on Weapon X."

"It has to be considered so this needs to be a fact-finding mission as much as a search and destroy. And this will be done as Aegis so do whatever you need to do. If Weapon X is back in play then we need to stop it before it gets too far for us to do anything." Fury told him and got a nod in response.

"You'll need some backup. You have no idea what you could find there so having someone to cover your back is a god idea. Barton, Hill, and Cap are on missions though." Hill told him.

"Agent Braddock is coming and hopefully with some help, but I'll also see if Dr. Banner and Thor are available. I'd rather go packed for a war than just a battle." Will stated and they agreed with that assessment though both were concerned when Bruce was mentioned.

"Are you sure about Banner?" Fury asked him.

"Yes, sir. My sessions with Dr. Banner have helped to mend the bridge between him and the Hulk, the latter of which likes me, so I'll be fine, and I'll put him to sleep if something happens. And it's also why I'm bringing Thor in case something does happen." Will answered and his idea was smart. He has made tremendous headway with the Hulk helping him and Dr. Banner mend their issues and come to a better understanding regarding their situation. The two were on amicable terms as opposed to how they were before, butting heads and basically hating the other. The more time Banner and Hulk spent together via Will's telepathy bridge, the better their bond got and incidentally the smarter Hulk got as well. Granted, his speech was still very much in the basic sentences being Hulk is blah-blah-blah and so forth, but he was getting better. Part of the reason Will did this was for Dr. Banner and the Hulk so the two could come to a peaceful co-existence, but the other was to keep the latter from being a danger. Before the Hulk was treated with fear and hostility but now he was treated like a hero and had better living conditions in Bruce's subconscious thanks to Will. And the Hulk considered him a friend which would go along way as that connection could be the thing to help calm down a raging Hulk if he ever got out of control. He prayed that nothing would happen, but he also needed to be prepared for a worst-case scenario which is why for this instance he'd have Thor come along as well.

"Good. And go see Logan. He'd want to help. In fact, if you mention Weapon X he'd probably be insistent." Fury told him. "Keep me updated, Agent Detmer."

"Yes, sir." Will gave him a salute before he walked out of Fury's office.

Now with a new mission, Will wanted to get started on following up the lead and finding the lab in Canada. He'd need to tell Coulson that he wouldn't be returning and that he'd have to handle the investigation into Ian Quinn on his own, at least until he got back. First things first would be to head to Avengers Tower to pick up Dr. Banner. Tony had left for a vacation with Pepper and the latter pretty much had them leave all their means of contact behind which is why Will didn't think to include Tony as he knew he wasn't around. Thor was on earth now and he should be with Dr. Jane Foster who was still in London last he checked, so he took out his phone and activated EDI.

"EDI, can you contact Dr. Jane Foster for me? Thor's probably with her. Also, remind me to get Thor a phone and to show him how to use it." He told her.

"Understood." EDI replied and contacted the number for Dr. Jane Foster but after several rings she went to voicemail. "I'm afraid Dr. Foster isn't answering."

"All right. Who else can I contact to find where she and Thor are…oh, duh." Will dialed another number and waited about two rings before it was picked up.

"Well, well. Isn't this a surprise. How on earth did you get your number into my phone?"

"Secret Agent, remember. How's it going, Darcy?"

"Oh, it's going very well. So, what's up Secret Agent Ex of mine? Come to chat and reminisce about old times? I mean, I have to be the best ex you've ever had, right? Have you mentioned me to your actual girlfriend yet? What is her name again?"

"It's Crystal and yes I've mentioned you."

"Oh, does she know you're calling me now? Is she the jealous type?"

"Look, Darcy as much as I enjoy getting to talk to you again and would love to play twenty questions, and I know you're enjoying all the teasing—"

"Oh, I definitely am." She answered with a clear chipper tone in her voice. Will would've smiled if the situation wasn't serious.

"But I'm kind of in a hurry. I need to talk to Thor, and I know he'll be with Dr. Foster. Is she there?"

"Not here per say. And per say is at the lab. She's out to lunch with Thor and she told me not to disturb her unless it was important so what's going on?"

"I can't tell you that but tell her it's important. I need Thor's help, superhero help."

"Oh, ok. Well, she can't be upset about that. That's a viable reason to interrupt a lunch date although she's going to be pissed at me. This is going to be the second lunch date I mess up for her. Hang on…"

Will pinched the bridge of his nose as he waited for Darcy to get back to him. Eventually she found Dr. Foster and after listening to them argue over the phone, Thor got the message and agreed to help. He'd head back to Avengers Tower and Will would pick him and Dr. Banner up there before they would head up to Westchester so he could talk to Logan.

"Yep she was not happy at the interruption."

"Thanks Darcy. I'll be sure to repay the favor."

"Yeah you will and I aim to collect later."

End Flashback…

Back in the present, the X-men and the Avenger had gathered in the Professor's office so Will could explain his sudden appearance and why he was there for Logan's help. Dr. Banner and Thor were still outside handing out with the students, keeping them occupied. Everything regarding his investigation Psylocke was able to help him get and the revelation that Shaw and his Hellfire club were working with the Essex Corporation with the ultimate goal seeming to be creating enhanced and superpowered super soldiers which involved information regarding Weapon X.

"…and with everything Betsy was able to find we've got a good enough lead to start tracking down the hidden base. If it's anywhere, it'll be hidden in the Canadian mountains in the Quebec region and while that would take days to investigate, I've got some tricks that can narrow that down soon. Fury gave me the broad strokes about Weapon X, and he ordered me to get as much information as I could as to how it's back and to destroy everything they've built so it doesn't get into the wrong hands. Given what happened I wanted to come and see if you wanted to get some old-fashioned revenge." Will said to Logan. The Professor and the other X-men looked at Logan and they couldn't quite gauge what he was thinking. Logan kept his usual stern expression as he processed all this information.

"And what exactly is your plan?" Logan asked him.

"Find the base, figure out what they're doing, find out how they got the information on Weapon X, then blow everything up and finally go home where I'll likely go out for a cheeseburger after this." Will listed off as if it were a grocery list and not a plan for a potentially dangerous mission.

"Rather simplistic when in actuality I imagine things would get very complicated." Sage remarked.

"Naturally but that's the general gist. Fury's given me full discretion." Will stated.

"Well, now that we know what is going on, we'd like to help anyway we can. Storm, Beast, prepare the Blackbird." Xavier told them but Will motioned them not to.

"As much as I appreciate the thought Professor Xavier I'm gonna have to politely decline the assistance. My team will handle this."

"With everything that you said could be at risk, going in with a larger force would be better. Storm, Beast, Colossus and the others could be of great help." Professor Xavier said.

"I understand that Professor and if this were any other situation I would agree. I hope that one day again I can fight side by side with the X-men again but in this particular mission that may not be for the best. With how this mission will undoubtedly go down, I don't believe that many members of your team would be suited to what will happen and I don't want to put them through any unfortunate circumstances." Will replied.

"We appreciate your concern, Agent Detmer, but we all know what's at risk and we've each come to terms with what we could encounter or face when on a mission. We know what we're getting into." Storm told him.

"When protecting your fellow mutants or people, yes. When stopping bad mutants from causing chaos, destruction, and death, yes. But for a black ops mission like this, I don't think so. No doubt you've trained with your powers to defend yourselves, but this mission won't be a matter of if things go bad but when…and there are certain actions that will be taken to make sure that whatever we find doesn't end up in the hands of bad people." Will stated and the X-men realized what he was saying. This mission wasn't just about good versus evil, this was more like a military operation, search and destroy, and killing was on the table.

"Four or five moments." Colossus spoke up.

"I'm sorry?" Will looked confused.

"Oh god…" Logan just groaned out in annoyance. He knew what Colossus was going to say.

"Four or five moments is all it takes to be a hero. Everyone thinks it's a full-time job. Wake up a hero, brush your teeth a hero, go to work a hero. Not true. Over a lifetime, there are only four or five moments that really matter. Moments when you're offered a choice. To make a sacrifice, conquer a flaw, save a friend, spare an enemy and take the higher road. In these moments, everything else falls aways. The way the world sees us. The way we—"

"I'm just gonna stop you right there, Colossus." Will cut him off. "And you can save the speech. I know what it means to be a hero. I've done it plenty of times with SHIELD, with the Avengers, and on my own. I don't need a speech to remind me that sometimes people need a second chance but that's sometimes. Other times, the bad guys need to be put down and I'm ok with that."

Colossus looked a little taken back by having his moment stepped on. "I had more to say."

"It's ok, big buy." Angel gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. Professor Xavier was a little concerned with the way this conversation was going to he was going to give it one last chance to have Will work with them and maybe not be so ok with going immediately to lethal measures.

"I understand that your time with SHIELD has hardened your world view, Agent Detmer but I don't believe you to be the same cynic that Director Fury is. You have a good heart and good head on your shoulders, that much I've been able to tell in our brief talks together and if him making you the Liaison to the X-men is any indication than you believe as we do. To be pillars of strength, beacons of hope like you and the Avengers have become for the world. As Colossus said, to do the right things even when it's much harder."

"I appreciate that, Professor Xavier and I understand what you're trying to do but it's unnecessary. I'm not a psychopath who is just going to indiscriminately kill anyone who gets in my way as I have saved just as many people with non-violence but there are times when the gloves need to be taken off and you get blood on your hands. That's how life works out." Will admitted.

"A rather bleak and unfortunate viewpoint, Agent Detmer. If you're willing to go to extreme measures, where do you know to draw the line?" Beast postulated and it made many of them think but Will knew the answer to that.

"You draw the line wherever you need it. For me my line is killing those who truly deserve it, those with no regret at the people they've either hurt or killed. I've seen some of the worst of humanity which ironically weren't even super villains. Just regular nonpowered criminals spreading pain and misery to innocent people which I have no regrets on ending. End of the day, someone has to make the bad guys scared of the dark. I get my hand dirty, and the world stays clean, able to live in blissful ignorance and I've accepted that because it means I save countless people when I would otherwise fail. That's my burden to bare but the X-men can't do that." Will said before he looked at the Professor. "Professor, I truly believe in what you and your X-men stand for. Fighting for a world and for people who once they figure out about your existence, a majority of them would immediately persecute you with irrational fear and hatred. Against everything, you'll fight to protect them so that one day things can get better, and I do believe in that which is precisely why I don't want you to come along. You and your X-men like Captain America stand for an idea that is pure and powerful and I don't want to tarnish that. This will end bloody, one way or another and I'm fine with that. If anything, I'm ready and if I have to do it on my own then I'm fine with that as well."

Will's answer was odd, and it caught the X-men off guard. It was understandable in a way as he didn't want the X-men and their ultimate driving goal/purpose/mindset tarnished by what will happen on the mission. Will was a government agent trained in ways they weren't. The Professor trained them as heroes to use their powers to protect and to defend themselves in the event they're ever in danger. Will is a hero, a powerful one but a special agent working with SHIELD meaning he was willing to kill and do what needed to be done if the situation called for it.

"Not on your own, kid. I'm in." Logan told him.

"Logan…"

"Chuck…I need to do this. Maybe I can finally get some answers." Logan told the Professor. Seeing as there was nothing he could do to convince either him or Will otherwise, he relented.

"Be careful…both of you." Xavier said to them.

"We will." Will and Logan left with the latter going to get his gear.

Storm walked over to the Professor and put her hand on his shoulder, comforting him. "Professor, are you sure about this?"

"I wish I could say yes to that my dear, Ororo, but no. Logan, I understand as this could be the chance for him to finally get some answers to his past that has eluded him all these years. As for Agent Detmer, he is a good young man and unfortunately burdened with the knowledge and realization of what some of his actions require of him. Self-imposed burdened if I'm being honest. He's willing to cross lines so that others won't. If he's not careful that could very well lead him down the path he may not be able to come back from." Xavier admitted when he felt a tingle in his head like a telepath trying to communicate.

'That's why my list of friends and allies continues to grow. They're my reminders of what I fight for and what I should and shouldn't do. And they're my insurance so that if the day comes I do go bad, they will stop me.'

'I pray that day never comes, Will.' Charle replied, telepathically.

Will and Logan exited the mansion with the latter having a bag with his gear. They walked to the Quinjet still parked on the backyard field and saw Thor and Dr. Banner handing out with the kids. When the two saw Will and Logan approach they bid the kids farewell and parted ways before they got into the Quinjet. Will got into the pilot's seat with Dr. Banner sitting co-pilot while Thor and Logan sat in the passenger/cargo area.

"You really serious about this, kid? I don't need you getting squeamish on me out there." Logan told him.

"Rest assured, Logan, I'll be fine. I've taken down drug cartels, terrorist groups, and serial killers. And that's my off time. I'll be fine." Will assured him as he powered up the quinjet and activated the thrusters, lifting them up into the air. He saw Logan grab his chair tightly as the Quinjet jostled and jerked around. "At least I don't have an issue with flying. And the barf bags are underneath your seat, by the way."

"Ha-Ha, very funny." Logan mocked.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Will smirked when he saw the engines were fully powered up, so he quickly maxed the accelerator which made the Quinjet burst forward from the acceleration and made Logan yell.

And he ended up needing those barf bags.

Line Break xxxxx

Montreal, Canada

Waiting around an International carrier warehouse at the Montral International Airport were Psylocke and her mercenary friend. The warehouse actually belonged to a front used by SHIELD for their agents as a rest stop, storage facility, and to hold vehicles for a mission. Psylocke had arrived from her flight from Japan and her friend was actually in Maine for a job, so she was close enough. They met up and headed to the warehouse to get changed and geared up.

Psylocke was dressed in her tactical SHIELD combat uniform composed of a carbon-polymer material, so it was lightweight but durable and bulletproof to some degree. She had boots and form-fitting black pants with kneepads and one knife stashed in each of her boots with a dagger hidden in her purple belt/sash wrapped around her waist alongside a pistol. The top part of her uniform was black like her pants but had some dark silver/grey streaks on her arms. Her uniform had padded armor on her shoulders and elbows and on the knuckles of her gloves. Her only other weapon was a Japanese Katana she had on her back which she used alongside her mutant abilities of telepathy and her psychic energy constructs to make her psionic-blades. Psylocke was trained for close-quarters combat and her telepathy could be used to compensate for any kind of distance obstacles.

With her was her friend Neena Thurman AKA Domino.

She had white skin as pale as an albinos and curiously a black circle tattoo around her left eye which were a sharp blue. Her hair was a healthy black and cut short at shoulder length with some white stripes near the bangs. Her pale-white skin and black circle around her left eye was likely a result of her mutation. She wore an outfit that despite covering up plenty still showed she had a curvy figure. It was comprised of a tactical leather outfit with a top that has yellow netting-like material running up from her shoulders down to her waist, with black straps down the middle and navy-blue patches along the sides, her outfit was fitted with long sleeves, brown and yellow armored gloves, and a matching jacket for the cold weather. She had a belt with a large metallic D in the center and had various holsters and pouches. Her pants were black with navy blue stripes running along the sides with brown knee pads and knee-high brown combat boots. Her weapons of choice were her modified two-tone MAC-10 submachine guns fitted with red-dot sights and bayonets fixed to the front. Neena AKA Domino was a skilled marksman/martial artist and despite her career as a mercenary, she was kind, heroic, and selfless which was reflected in the kind of jobs she took. Domino and Psylocke were old friends and trusted one another so the latter knew the former would be up for this kind of mercenary work in taking down a potential human weapons lab. Plus, from what they were able to talk about it seems as though Will had arranged a very hefty payment for Domino which also helped. (2)

Psylocke's phone buzzed, and she checked the text she just got before looking at Domino. "They're here."

Psylocke walked over to the far wall and hit the button that opened up the warehouse cargo doors. Once they were fully opened a SHIELD Quinjet touched down and moved into the warehouse before Psylocke closed the doors. Once the Quinjet powered down the ramp opened and out walked Will and Logan, both of whom were now suited up. Will dressed up in his Aegis gear with his mask up with Logan also dressed up in his Wolverine suit, but this was one was black and grey, most suited for stealth operations as opposed to his usual brown and yellow suit he work when they stopped the breakout attempt at the Vault. (3)

Thor and Dr. Banner then joined them, both of whom were still in their normal human clothing but their need to change wasn't really an issue. Thor was using magic for his current disguise garb, a trick he had picked up from his mother as it turns out the umbrella he was carrying was actually Mjølnir in disguise. Thor was ready for battle whenever they needed it. Dr. Banner was wearing his Hulk pants underneath his regular clothes. Courtesy of Tony, the pants were made of a flexible microfiber fabric that was extremely durable so it could take combat but also stretch so Banner and Hulk wouldn't need to worry about fighting butt-naked.

"Sorry if we're late." Aegis said with his voice changer active to help him maintain his anonymity. He took notice of Domino and figured she was the one Psylocke was talking about. He had to admit she was quite a looker, even her skin color just seemed to give her a more exotic look. Then again Psylocke was also a very attractive young woman. He wondered if the x-gene has a common tendency to enhance a females beauty cause he's certainly seen quite a few. Storm, Sage and even Emma, the Cuckoo sisters and Selene were quite the lookers despite their villainy.

"No. Perfect timing. We're all set up." Psylocke told him with Domino joining her. "This is the person I was telling you about. Meet Domino. Domino, you know Aegis of the Avengers."

"Yeah, I kind of figured." Domino shook his hand. "I guess I understand how I got paid three times my usual fee."

"Part of that is because of the danger. We have no idea exactly what we could be walking into whether it's an empty lab or a heavy fortified base. If the risk is too much for you or if you have any reservations than let me know now. You can keep your fee and walk away with no problem, you have my word." Aegis stated and only intrigued her more. Like many in the world, Domino was intrigued by Aegis, the most mysterious member of the Avengers. The mask and voice changer really left everything to him as a mystery other than his powers and the clear visual sight that he was a man, but could he be an alien, a mutant, or something else entirely. One thing Domino could say for certain is that Aegis protected people. She had seen the online footage of him fighting in New York and of him guiding the nuke through the portal in the sky, so he was one of the good ones. And Psylocke trusted him so that was good enough for her.

"I'll stick around. I took your money so it's only right I see this through and who knows, this could be the reason I'm here. Besides, everything usually works out for me in the end." Domino admitted.

"Isn't that the truth." Psylocke muttered before she looked at the Wolverine. "Logan."

"Braddock." Logan's singular acknowledgement was honestly the best kind of greeting she could hope for.

"All right. Psylocke and Domino meet Wolverine, Dr. Banner, and Thor." Aegis finished the introductions though the latter two didn't really need introductions.

"So, is this an Avengers audition?" Domino wondered.

"Not exactly. They're heavy backup for when things go badly." Psylocke answered and Domino nodded.

"So, what can she do?" Logan pointed to Domino.

"I'm lucky." Domino answered.

"Pardon?" Dr. Banner wasn't sure how to take that answer.

"That's my mutation. I'm lucky." Domino said with a smile.

"I'm confused. How can luck be a power? Can you change the hands of fate? Physically manipulate the levers of power ordained by the ancient guardian Hamingja, who accompanies Midgardians and bestow upon them their luck and happiness?" Thor questioned only to get looks of confusion from everyone.

"Yeah, I have no idea what any of that meant. I'm just lucky. Things always end up working out for me, even in combat." Domino said with Psylocke nodding in agreement.

"It's true. She's lucky. I can't explain it, but luck always seems to work out for Domino in events that perfectly help her. Guns jam when put to her face, bad guys tripping or taking each other out by accident, or cars crashing and causing chaos to give her the perfect avenue to exploit."

"Interesting…" Dr. Banner thought it over. "You said things just work out for her so maybe her ability is that she can subconsciously trigger events around her that affect the probability of luck in her favor. Strictly speaking many scientists have speculated that the fundamental phenomena of luck is just the probability of certain events that result in good things happening to you and bad things happening to someone else. So, in theory her ability could be she's able to manipulate the probability of events to give her good luck."

"Either way, I'll take it. Besides, maybe some good luck for this mission is exactly what we need because we've got our work cut out for us." Aegis nodded to Banner who brought over a large laptop and placed it on a nearby table. Everyone gathered around it as Banner powered it up before it began holographically projecting information and data for their mission. "Our mission is to find a secret weapons lab being used by the Essex Corporation. They've gone through a lot of work to make sure that this lab is hidden but thanks to the efforts of a SHIELD Investigation we know that the equipment the Essex Corporation has been secreting to his lab is somewhere here in the mountains north of Montreal here."

Aegis highlighted the mountain range on the holographic map, which was still a massive area to cover, likely hundreds if not thousands of square miles of terrain. "So, how do we narrow down that massive search grid without being spotted and tipping our hand?" Psylocke asked.

"We've actually gotten help in that regard." Aegis pressed a few buttons on the laptop, bringing up a local news report. It showed images of destroyed camp grounds and attacks that were akin to wild animals.

"Reports of a Big Foot-like Creature in the Canadian Wilderness disrupting several camping sites. As a result, authorities have closed Mount McKenna National Park until further notice."

Aegis then pressed another button and highlighted the Mount McKenna area which was in the northern part of the search grid of the area they needed to cover which cut the search area in half.

"Local authorities still have no answer to this and they're labeling it as wild animals, but the attacks definitely aren't. Could be that it's field testing for their human weapons. The Mount McKenna area covers the northern sector of our prospective search grid, so I've tasked all SHIELD satellites and sensors for this area to pick up anything odd." Aegis said when the computer beeped before highlighting a sector in the mountains north of a large lake in the Mistissini area at 51.25296N, -72.53957E, about 900 km from their current position in Montreal. The scans were brief, but they picked up irregularities in the area, mainly the Big Foot-like tracks from the attack near Mount McKenna alongside destruction like toppled trees and such. Not only that but the brief scans picked up variations in the snow formations that weren't naturally meaning something had been through the area recently and disturbed the snow when it was supposed to be desolate and completely isolated.

"That was fast." Dr. Banner admitted.

"Helps with some luck." Domino remarked when she realized something. "Uh, I hate to point this out when we're about to leave but it's pretty much a winter wonderland that far north and none of us are really dressed for winter camouflage."

Domino had a point as all of them were wearing black or dark colors that wouldn't exactly mix with the snow. "There's snow camouflage gear in the Quinjet." Aegis said and Domino nodded. "All right. With the area narrowed down we'll move in. The satellites will continue to scan the area and we'll get the Stark industries satellites to help, maybe even get us a multi-spectrum overlay so we know what we're dealing with and how big this place is. Once we get there, we move on as quickly and quietly as possible for as long as we can. If they know we're coming they'll start purging their databanks. We need to gather as much intel as we can before we blow the place up so Wolverine, Psylocke, Domino and I will make the initial entry. Thor and Dr. Banner will come in when we're ready to take the place down or if we run into trouble. Is that understood?" He got nods from everyone. "All right, let's go."

They got into the Quinjet and readied themselves for the fight to come.

Quebec region, Canada

A few hours later…

Up above the Canadian mountains near the coordinates the SHIELD satellites gave them a SHIELD Quinjet was hovering in the sky up in the clouds so it couldn't be seen, and its stealth tech was active meaning it couldn't be picked up on radar, at least for the time being. Residing in the Quinjet were Dr. Banner and Thor who were the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency backup while Aegis, Wolverine, Psylocke and Domino made the initial entry. Dr. Banner was sitting in the cockpit, manning the scanners of the area below to assist the ground team while also monitoring the data being captured by the satellites. Thor, who was basically relegated to explosive surprise attack was just waiting in the passenger area with bags of food to keep him occupied.

Dr. Banner noticed some blips appear on the scanner, six of them and moving in tight formation so he picked up the radio receiver. "Heads up. You've got six incoming from the north."

"Roger that." Aegis replied over the radio.

Down on the ground, there was nothing but a heavy snow-covered forest for miles. Nothing but bright white snow-covered grass and trees for miles and combined with the bright sun in the sky it could hurt your eyes. The soft rustle of the wind and distant chirps of birds were all that could be heard but soon joined by the crunch of snow underneath military boots. Six pairs of military boots to be exact as six men decked out in full snow camouflage and armed with equally camouflaged assault rifles slowly walked through the snow-covered forest. The sensors picked up movement in the surrounding area, so a scout team was sent to check it out. They moved together in a tight formation with their rifles at the ready nearing the location where their sensors got the tip but after cresting a small hill all they saw were a pack of Moose. They were grazing on a small patch of green grass that wasn't covered by snow. The Moose picked their heads up and looked at the soldiers before going back to eating.

Seeing as how it was a false alarm, the leader tapped his radio receiver. "Scout 1 to base, Scout 1 to base. That's a false alarm. Just some Moose grazing."

"Affirmative Scout 1. Return to base."

"Roger that."

The men turned around and headed back in the direction they came from, retracing their footsteps in the snow. They kept walking until they arrived at a cluster of rocks that at first and even a second glance could be seen as nothing more than a pile of rocks. That was until one of the men pulled out a special electronic key. A beep was heard, and the rock formation opened up revealing a door to a lab hidden down below. The soldier inserted the key into the lock before opening the door and walking down the stairs into the hidden base. The other soldiers followed one by one, and the door lingered open for a moment before it closed shut behind them and the rock camouflage covered it. Down a long flight of stairs and they stopped at a large circular door made of hardened steel and titanium. They all looked up at the camera in the top right corner before one of the soldiers used the same electronic key he had used outside. The doors opened revealing the manmade tunnels/hallways of an old nuclear bunker that had been retrofitted as a secret lab. Pipes, cables, and bundles of wires ordained the walls and ceilings going all over the base with security cameras set up to keep watch via a central command room. Soldiers/guards were stationed around for security while scientists walked by, conversing with one another about various experiments.

The six soldiers who just returned from their topside scouting assignment all relaxed as they walked through the base. "I swear we get too many of those fucking false alarms. I mean, is it too much to ask for them to install a few cameras up there so we don't have to keep going up but no. Instead, we get stuck with heading up there every few days for nothing. Freaking ridiculous."

"Preaching to choir there, brother." One of his squad mates patted him on the back as they all headed to the armory to stow their gear and then would head to the commissary to get some coffee and food. As they walked by, a scientist exited a room writing on a clipboard as he did so his attention was on that and not on the fact that the door he opened stayed open a few seconds longer before it closed. Said room seemed to be a biology lab set up with various medical equipment usually associated with testing drugs or serums. There were heavy duty refrigerators and chillers on the far wall with rows of various chemical ingredients and bases with a high-speed centrifuge currently in use to separate some liquids. The room seemed to be set up for one scientist as there was only one seat and computer at a workstation with said scientist having just left.

The air seemed to shimmer before Aegis, Wolverine, Domino, and Psylocke appeared in winter camouflage gear. "Nice trick, kid." Logan remarked as he and the others removed their camouflage since they would no longer need them.

"Must come in handy." Psylocke admitted.

"It has its uses." Aegis walked over to the computer and connected a cable from the touchpad computer on his left wrist to the computer at the work station. "Dr. Banner, get ready for a big file download coming your way."

"I got it. There's a lot of archival data with heavy encryptions. I'll get started on what I can now."

"Do it. EDI, see if you can bring up a map of this base and find the central control room. That's our next stop."

"Already on it. Data compiling." EDI told him, constructing a visual layout of the base he would be able to see via his HUD.

While she did that, the others looked around the room with Logan's nose picking up some power smells. "What is this stuff?"

Domino found a clipboard, so she looked through the sheets of paper regarding tests of some kind of serum. "They're testing some kind of serum distilled from the cerebral spinal fluid of a mutant designated #143. Apparently, the mutant in question has powerful telepathy, able to project illusions into a target's mind so real that they could manipulate the target's perception of reality."

"So, this isn't just a human-weapons testing lab. They're testing on mutants as well." Wolverine said and his sense of dread was shared by all, even Aegis who wasn't a mutant.

"From the data here they've been testing this serum for a while which is supposed to put a subject under mental control and susceptible to suggestion." Domino read off.

"This is some really bad stuff." Psylocke said when she and Aegis sense something. "Someone's coming."

Domino put the clipboard down before the four vanished from sight just as the door opened. The scientist from before returned with a cup of coffee which he brought over to his desk. He took a sip and got back to work when he noticed one of his clipboards wasn't where he put it last only to see it somewhere else.

"That's not where I put you…" The scientist got up and grabbed the clipboard only for Aegis to appear behind him and put him in a rear-naked choke. The other three reappeared and Aegis didn't stop his hold until the scientist was rendered unconscious before moving his body to his chair and placing him down like he had fallen asleep while taking his electronic key. Psylocke concentrated a faint purple psychic aura appeared around her head taking the form of a pair of butterfly wings as she used her telepathy to wipe the scientists memories so when he woke up he would think he just fell asleep.

"Domino…" Aegis tossed her a small spy camera he took from his belt. "Take as many pictures as you can."

"Got it." She got to work, snapping photos of the clipboard when Aegis saw a detailed map appear on his HUD.

"I've found a detail map and schematic of the base." EDI expanded the view, so he was able to see everything. The base seemed to have three levels. The first one they were on contained the basic living quarters and spare labs, the second level had more advanced labs, and the third level was utilities and secured exits for vehicles and supplies. "It would appear that they have taken over a Cold War era government bunker, abandoned upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Based on the schematics and data I was able to find, this base seems to be focused on two projects in particular, one of which is located here, one floor below."

EDI highlighted the lab in question which was massive. "The other project?"

"That is located on the same level as the first lab but on the other end and it seems to be generating the power necessary for this base to operate under the radar. I'm detecting an incredibly powerful electrical energy field there. But before you go to either lab, I would suggest getting control over the central command room here." EDI highlighted a room on the level they were currently on. "There are inbuilt countermeasures for the base to avoid the information and projects falling into the wrong hands, namely explosive charges placed on structural stress points to collapse the base into itself. Said countermeasure and the security cameras are controlled from the central command room."

"Understood. EDI, in all the data you were able to comb through is there any kind of digital fingerprint that ties all of this to the Essex Corporation? Manifests, communiques, written reports."

"I'm afraid not. All archived data is without a digital finger print tying it to any subsidiary of the Essex Corporation. I'm afraid the only physical proof you have of that connection would be the recording from Chronos Augmentations and a lot of hearsay evidence. Essex and the Hellfire club are doing their best to minimize any chance of their exposure, but I'll continue to look." EDI told him.

"Thanks, EDI." Aegis looked at the others and informed them of the next phase of their plan. He rendered everyone invisible and then guided them through the base using his telekinetic sense. Things got a little dicey when guards or scientists would walk by, but they took it slow and eventually arrived at the door to the central command room. With his telekinetic sense, he could sense that there were four guards inside monitoring all the security systems and cameras. Maintaining the invisibility, he used the scientist's electronic key to open the door, but it didn't have access. Still his swipe was recorded on the security system and when the guards noticed no one was there on the camera they were all confused. They saw the same electronic key try again so the guards got up and placed their hands on their pistol holsters with one of them walking towards the door only to suddenly stiffen like a board and begin moving like a robot. The guard used his own personal key to open the door but again there was no one there until the three guards by the control consoles all fell asleep.

The control room door closed as Aegis and the others reappeared with Psylocke's psychic aura active meaning she mind-controlled the guard to open the door while Aegis put the other three to sleep. Psylocke then put the final guard to sleep as Aegis walked over and moved the guards bodies before plugging into the security system. Wolverine and Domino helped move the bodies as EDI hacked into the security system and began disarming all the bomb countermeasures. Once that was done, she began transferring all the data she could find to Bruce in the Quinjet for archiving. Much of it was heavily encrypted but she was able to break through some files.

"How're we looking?" Logan asked him.

"Bomb countermeasures are taken care of. EDI's downloading more files and managed to shed some light on what they're doing. The first lab seems to be this base's attempt as a controllable mutant weapon but more in line with the Hulk and not Captain America. Project's codename is W.E.N.D.I.G.O. From the data here, it seems as though they've let the subjects loose into the wild to hunt animals like bears and wolves or against their own soldiers to gauge its effectiveness." Aegis told him.

"Explains the news report. One of them must have gotten too close to people nearby." Domino suggested and they agreed with that logic.

"The other project is more heavily encrypted which means its important or dangerous. Likely both but EDI's only managed to get a name. Zzzax. Not much else but it's powerful enough to be fueling this entire base."

"Guess it's a good idea you brought Banner and Goldilocks." Logan remarked.

"Always plan for when things go to crap." Aegis stated.

"Words to live by." Psylocke agreed, looking at some of the security systems and noticed one scientist seemed to have universal access. She brought up the file on the doctor. "I think we found the guy in charge."

The others checked it out and she was right. Dr. Dale Rice had the highest security clearance in the entire base, even more than the security guards, so he had to be the one in charge. The guy wasn't much to look at. Old, likely 60s, grey hair and glasses but he was the chief scientist and project overseer for both W.E.N.D.I.G.O and Zzzax. Aegis noticed Logan's gaze was on the man's photo, more so than he or Domino and Psylocke. "Logan?"

"GAH!" Logan grabbed his head as a surge of pain ripped through his mind and his vision changed.

All Logan could feel was pain and his breathing was constricted. His vision began to clear, and he saw air bubbles, feeling himself submerged in water. His bones felt like they were on fire and sharp needles were drilled into his skin. His body was weighed down and he was strapped into place before he felt the familiar sensation of his claws emerging from his knuckles though now they were coated in metal. Through pure brute force he ripped himself free of his restraints, sliced through the needles and broke through his watery prison.

"RAHHHHH!"

A guttural roar of his berserker rage and Logan was free. He sliced through guard after guard who tried to stop him, feeling bullets hit him but they would stop against his bones and be pushed out as his body rapidly healed. Logan drove his claws into the stomach of one guard and then decapitated another when his gaze noticed people on an observational platform. Some were wearing military uniforms, but others had on doctors' lab coats. Their faces were blurred or obscure, indicating he didn't know who they were but one of them seemed to shimmer into focus revealing Dr. Dale Rice albeit about thirty years youngers.

"LOGAN!"

"AH!" Logan grabbed his head as he was brought back from his sudden memory resurgence. Aegis, Psylocke and Domino were concerned as to what just happened.

"Are you all right?" Psylocke asked. He looked like he had been through a lot, and she could sense a lot of turmoil in his head.

"I'm fine." Logan groaned in pain as Psylocke used her telepathy to help calm his mind down. "I've seen him before."

"Dr. Rice?"

"He was there when they did this to me." Logan unsheathed his metal claws. "He has to be how they got information on Weapon X."

"All right, case solved. Let's clean this place up." Psylocke stated when she and Aegis felt something was wrong.

"Get down!" Aegis formed a telekinetic barrier around the team as a powerful explosive destroyed the door, sending shrapnel all over the place. The second the door was gone the base's alarms went off and several flashbang and smoke grenades were thrown in, obscuring view of the intruders but thankfully Aegis's barrier protected the team from the effects of the flashbang.

"Move in! Move in! Move in!"

"Take them down!"

A dozen armed guards equipped with various small arms ranging from shotguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, and LMGs opened fired. The bullets rained down like hellfire but were blocked or deflected by Aegis's telekinetic barrier causing some ricochets. Aegis stayed in front of the others, his hands up as he concentrated on the barrier to keep them safe. The others felt a slight tingling in their heads before they heard Aegis's voice.

'I've temporarily linked us mentally so they can't jam our communications. Everyone ok?'

'Yeah, we're good.' Logan replied.

'Whoa, this is freaky.' Domino admitted, not used to the telepathy walkie-talkie.

'How the hell did they know we were here?' Psylocke asked.

'No idea but subtlety's gone out the window. Time for a fight. Ready?'

'Oh yeah.' Logan unsheathed his claws and was ready to use them. 'Let's fucking go.'

Aegis pulled his left arm back, ripping the guns from the hands of the guards before throwing his right arm forward sending Wolverine flying forward via his telekinesis.

"RAH!" Wolverine's feral yell echoed as he flew through the air and sent two guards flying back out through the doorway, his claws sinking into the chests before he pulled them out and drove them into their chests once more. A guard rushed out the doorway and hit Wolverine with a stun rod, but the feral mutant just toughed through the pain and sliced off his arm before stabbing him through the neck. More guards came down the hallway, so Wolverine used the body as a human shield and charged through gunfire.

Back inside the room, Psylocke went left while Domino went right, and Aegis went up the middle. Psylocke jumped forward, kneeing one guard in the chest and then dropping down into a leg sweep that knocked down another when she was grabbed from behind. She kicked her right leg up over her shoulder, hitting the guard in the face before elbowing him in the gut and taking him down with a judo throw. She summoned her psionic knife, a purple glowing razor-sharp edged psychic weapon of pure energy in her right hand and plunged it into his chest, going straight through the armor before using it to slice through the stun rods of the two guards and slicing them in the sides or arms. Once cut, the psionic energy of the blade disrupted the neurons of the target and they dropped to the ground.

Domino unholstered one of her Mac-10 submachine guns and shot at two guards, killing one of them but the other managed to pull his riot shield in front of him, securing it on his right arm. It blocked the bullets and once he was inserted his left arm into the socket below the armguard of the riot shield it latched and formed a metal gauntlet around his limb. The guard charged forward through the gunfire with his riot shield protecting him and when he got close he bashed Domino's gun out of her hand before he punched her with the gauntlet. Domino sidestepped to dodge before kicking him in the back of his leg and dropping him to a knee. She grabbed his gauntlet arm from behind and stabbed it with a knife from her belt, managing to hit it in the right spot which caused it to break apart. She followed that up by stabbing him in the rib cage and taking him to the ground with a flying armbar and knocking him out with a swift kick to the head. She rolled to the side to dodge the gauntlet punch of another guard with a shield and saw it punch into the concrete ground below them, so she had to be careful. The guard marched over to her only to trip over his friend's body and fall forward but landed gauntlet elbow first which ended up punching him in the face and knocking him out.

Aegis walked towards his guards who all pulled out their stun rods, riot shields and armored gauntlets. They charged at him only for Aegis to flick his right hand up, sending the guards crashing up into the ceiling before falling back down just as Domino and Psylocke finished with their guards. "It seems like you have an unfair advantage." Domino remarked.

"I do. You two ok?" He asked and got nods when he noticed they were one short. "Logan?"

"I think he went that way." Psylocke pointed to the doorway where they saw the bloody aftermath of his fight. They followed, stepping over the bodies of the guards Logan tore through and when they reached the end of the hallway they saw a blood trail head left. "Looks like he went off on his own."

"Let's go." Aegis led them through the base.

With the base alarms going off, scientists were being evacuated while the guards fought off the intruders as best they could, which wasn't saying much. Many guards had tried to stop the Wolverine and were now corpses. The reason he had separated from the others was because his nose picked up a familiar scent but one he couldn't immediately recognize in his head. He knew it was familiar and if he couldn't remember then it might be Dr. Rice, so he followed it down to the second level where the two main labs were located. He tore through any guards in his way, his suit stained with some blood, but he was determined, and nothing was going to stop him. His nose led down a path cutting through a smaller lab connected to one of the main ones when he saw someone in his path. The guard was wearing a high-tech full body suit that had glowing sensor pads of light all over and a pair of special goggles on his head completed the look with a shotgun aimed at Wolverine.

"You even blink and you're dead." The guard told him.

Wolverine didn't look undeterred at all, taking one slight sniff before unsheathing both sets of claws and extending his arms out to his side, impaling two invisible figures. Their bodies slumped forward as Wolverine tossed their bodies to the ground and their cloaking field faded, revealing they were wearing the same armor the guard in front of him was. "Your friends use too much cologne."

The guard blasted Wolverine in the chest and pressed the button on his belt before he shimmered out of visible sight. Wolverine grunted in pain as the shotgun wound quickly healed, his body pushing out the pellets and saw the guard was gone. Unable to see him, he'd need to rely on his sense of smell and quickly picked up that there was more than one cloaked guard. He dove to the left, impaling a cloaked guard through the chest with his claws before hefting up the body and hurling it across the room. The blood that sprayed out of the guard's body ended up catching on two more cloaked guards so Wolverine rushed forward, slicing one at the leg and the other across the waist before making a wide cross cut that slashed them both across the chest. Whilst Wolverine was engaged with the cloaked guards, up above in the ceiling were four large metal containers which began to open, revealing another surprise for him to deal with but first things first.

Two quick shotgun blasts hit Wolverine in the chest and the mutant stumbled back before he leapt forward. His flying lunge landed as he impaled the cloaked guard through the chest before delivering a final stab into the man's neck. Wolverine got back to his feet before quickly turning and impaling another cloaked guard in the gut. "Nice try." Wolverine taunted when four orange colored security drones dropped down from the ceiling, quickly surrounding him. They were four-legged with red blinking lights on their tops signifying their heads, designed in part after crabs but unlike the crustaceans the undersides of the security drones had two deployable tentacle claws which quickly activated.

Wolverine sliced any of the clawed tentacles that came near him when one managed to wrap around his leg and pull his feet out from under him. A second grabbed his right arm and a third wrapped around his waist before he was held up and an electrical current surged through the metal appendages and into him.

"GAHHH!"

Wolverine's screams of agony were greater than usual given his metal skeleton was an excellent conductor meaning it hurt more. The drones began walking towards the door to the larger lab with Wolverine still in their grasp when they stopped moving. They stopped electrocuting Wolverine as the groaning sound of bending and twisting metal accompanied the chassis' of the four security drones suddenly being crushed by some kind of force. Wolverine hit the ground with a thud with his skin sizzling and smoking a bit from the electrocution he just went through but he was healing quickly, and the pain subsided.

He managed to push himself back up to his knees when he saw Aegis walk over with Domino and Psylocke with the former holding his hand out. Wolverine took it and got back to his feet. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it but next time don't go off on your own." Aegis said before he looked at the door to one of the main labs. "They were trying to take you there."

"So, let's find out why." Wolverine added.

Aegis clenched one of his fists and the door to the lab was ripped open down the middle. The four walked into the lab with the only lights being the flashing red base alarms along the ceiling and the faint white glow off to the left side of the room. The lab they walked into was massive, spanning a projected size of about 75 yards X 100 yards and the reason it was so big was because of what was inside. The faint glow of ambient light in the room ended up being three massive glass containment cells large and wide enough to fit something tall and massive. Inside said cells were massive, furred beasts. The first cell contained one that had white fur while the next two were green but all three were large, likely 7-8 feet in height and weighing anywhere from 1,000 to 1,300 lbs. They were submerged in some kind of liquid and they each had large metal collars around their necks but all three were asleep or in some kind of stasis. (4)

Aegis and Psylocke used their telepathy on the monsters to see what they could learn but there wasn't a lot there. Just jumbled fragments that were too scattered and hazy to get anything clear, but they saw plenty of experimentation. And the emotions they were feeling were simple.

"What are these things?" Domino asked.

"I'm not getting much from them. Just pain, anger, pure animal instinct to kill. These things are just animals." Psylocke said.

"And is that such a bad thing?"

[Clicking of guns & base siren turning off]

The main ceiling and flood lights suddenly turned on, completely illuminating the lab's massive size and all the science equipment that was used for this project. On the walls were various x-rays taken of the beasts to highlight certain attributes whether it was their dense bone structure or retractable claws, but the thing of note was the industrial catwalk ringed around the massive lab and the army of security guards with guns trained on them. There were several doors ringing the catwalk which is how the guards suddenly had them surrounded. Some guards in the front took a step to the side allowing Dr. Dale Rice to step into the view.

"After all, animal instinct is quite useful."

"You…" Wolverine growled out in anger as he unsheathed his claws.

"Weapon X. I can't tell you how much I've been waiting for this reunion. I'm glad to see you're making use of the significant financial investment we invested into your body." Dr. Rice remarked.

"How about I show you, bub? I've got a lot I want to show you." Wolverine growled only for the guards to set their guns on him.

"I'm very surprised you managed to find this lab but despite the annoyance of moving and restarting, your return is worth it. We did such tremendous things with you before and while not an exact copy, Project Wendigo is an admirable attempt to recreate that success. Granted, it took some trial and error but what you see before you is perfection. Pure animal instinct that can be controlled unlike you. But rest assured, we'll take care of that and with your compatriots perhaps some advancements can be made." Dr. Rice suggested and several more guards came in via the main entrance to the lab and surrounded the team.

"Over my dead body is that gonna happen." Aegis declared.

"That's actually the point. Your power set is impressive, bending light around your body to create invisibility is remarkable but I'm afraid invisibility cannot fool motion sensors as easily as it can security cameras. As powerful as you are, we have something even stronger than you. Did you really think that the four of you would be enough to take this base?" Dr. Rice mocked, which is when he saw the smirks on their faces below. Wolverine, Domino, and Psylocke all had matching smirks and if he could see Aegis's face then he'd see the same one.

"Whoever said it was just the four of us?" Aegis mocked back.

[Crack of Thunder & Loud Rumble]

[Base alarm going off]

The entire base violently shook like they were experiencing an earthquake which was strange enough when compiled with the fact that they heard the crack of thunder from this far down.

"RAAAHHHHH!"

The inhuman, monstrous roar that echoed throughout the lab was unmistakable and sent shivers of fear down everyone except for the heroes.

"Kill them all!" Dr. Rice shouted and the guards all opened fire while he tuck tail and ran out the nearest door like a coward.

Aegis formed a barrier around the team, deflecting the bullets which ending up causing numerous ricochets that killed some of the guards before their guns were ripped from their hands and all crushed together into a large ball. Aegis then sent the large ball of twisted gun metal into the catwalk, taking out a chunk of it and killing some guards before he used his telekinesis to snap the bolts holding the structure in place. The catwalk quickly collapsed causing the guards to drop down into the lab where they were met by either Aegis, Wolverine, Domino, or Psylocke.

Dr. Rice ran through the hall of the base as quickly as he could, hearing the distant sound of fighting and roars. He managed to get to his lab and quickly put everything of value into a briefcase before going onto his computer and bringing up the controls for the Wendigo project. He activated all three and input a singular command: leave no survivors. Once that was done and he erased everything else on his computer he left his office and headed to the second major lab on the floor aside from Project Wendigo where Project Zzzax was located. He arrived at the doors which were triple-secured and heavily fortified, more so than the other labs before using his personal electronic key and code to enter. The doors to Project Zzzax slowly opened as Dr. Rice was jittery with anticipation. He needed to escape to warn the others so to slow down the heroes or even outright kill them, it was time to see if his projects were really as strong as he hoped they were. The doors came apart as a yellow glow washed over Dr. Rice's body and a distinct electrical hum made the very air sizzle with energy.

Back with the heroes, they were making quick work of the guards who were fighting a losing battle. Aegis sent four more flying across the lab with a telekinetic wave before ducking an armored gauntlet punch from another guard, grabbed him by the back of his vest and hurled him all the way up into the ceiling before he came crashing back down, landing on some more of his friends. They were then sent flying across the lab and landed on some guards who tried to rush Domino from behind. She disarmed another guard of his stun rod and punched him in the throat before zapping his face. She dropped into a knee spin, and swung her arms, knocking a guard off his feet before zapping him in the junk. With a quick twirl of the stun rod, she zapped a guard behind her and kicked him back causing him to fall back into others. One guard fell onto a gurney which came loose and slid across the room until it crashed into another guard who managed to pull out his sidearm. The crash knocked him off balance and he accidently fired his gun pointing straight up which hit a pipe that came loose and hit him and another guard on the head. One of the guards managed to grab one of Domino's submachine guns but when he pulled the trigger, it jammed. She kicked him in the nuts and took back her gun which then began to shoot smoothly. Luck indeed.

Psylocke wielding her katana and her psionic blade was making mincemeat of the guards. Her katana sliced and diced the guards, but her psionic blade cut through riot shields and stun rods with ease. One guard shoved a cart at her only for her psionic blade to cut straight through it like it was made of butter and she then kicked him in the gut. She rolled over his body and slashed him across the back before attacking another guard who had a stun rod. She parried and blocked his attacks before cutting the stun rod with her psionic blade and then slashing him across the throat with her katana. Beside her two more guards were sent flying courtesy of Wolverine who was going through them bit by bit. Slice, stab, impalement, rinse and repeat. He stabbed one guard in the chest before grabbing him by the arm and throwing him to the side. He crashed into some fellow guards, and they bounced against one of the Wendigo containment cells. Wolverine sliced another guard across the chest and slammed his face into the ground when he heard some growling. He turned around and saw the eyes on one of the Wendigo's open, revealing feral red eyes.

"Look out!" Wolverine pushed Psylocke away as the white-furred Wendigo broke free of its glass containment cage and grabbed him. It slammed him into the floor and repeatedly punched him down before it picked him up and hurled him across the lab. Wolverine crashed through some equipment as Domino unloaded her two Mac-10s into the Wendigo, but the bullets didn't penetrate the skin, just dug into before being pushed out. It turned its head and swiped one of its claws at her only to get thrown back by a telekinetic push from Aegis. It hit a wall but quickly bounced back to its feet, growling in anger and its claws grew in length. The other two green-furred Wendigos woke up and broke free of their glass containments cells, grabbing nearby guards and taking them out. Chomping their heads off or tearing them into pieces, it was clear the Wendigos were taking down everyone whether they were on the same side or not. Domino reloaded her SMGs and fired again at the white-furred Wendigo with Psylocke throwing a psionic knife and hitting it in the stomach. It staggered the beast's charge momentarily but quickly bounced back and charged forward again when Wolverine leapt through the air and tackled it. His claws dug into its chest, and it stumbled back from the sudden weight shift. Wolverine repeatedly stabbed the Wendigo in the chest, digging his claws in and out in quick succession as its green-colored blood dripped from his claws but it clawed and teared at him as well, managing to pull him off and slam him into the ground. It raised its foot to stomp on his head when it was lifted up into the air and sent crashing through the wall of the lab by Aegis.

The other two Wendigos finished eating the guards and sensed their alpha in danger, so they roared and charged forward. One tackled Aegis to the ground while the other attacked Domino and Psylocke. Aegis hit the ground hard as the Wendigo tried to claw his head off, but he froze its arm and then kicked it in the face before giving it a powerful telekinetic push. It flew back and smashed into the containment cells but quickly got out and charged forward again only to quickly dash to the side to dodge a blue telekinetic energy blast. Aegis then lifted some of the science equipment in the lab and hurled it at the Wendigo, keeping it pinned down temporarily as he saw Domino and Psylocke keeping their distance from their Wendigo as it clawed and swiped at them. Domino shot it in the face with her submachine guns but when she ran dry she slipped in between its legs and ran away just as Psylocke ran by and sliced it across the leg with her katana and with her psionic blade. The sword didn't cut through its tough skin, but the psionic blade managed to stun the leg temporarily, allowing the two to get some distance before it chased after them.

Aegis lifted his Wendigo up into the air and blasted it in the chest with his energy blast, sending it crashing into a wall before he lifted up Wolverine. "Ready to fly?"

"Make it a strike!" Wolverine smirked and Aegis sent him flying.

The Wendigo chasing Domino and Psylocke swiped and clawed at the two but just missed so it swung with its tail, managing to knock them back. Before it could pounce on them, Wolverine came flying in from the side and pierced it in the side with his claws. It howled in pain as the two tumbled on the ground before Wolverine kicked it off. He got back to his feet, the Wendigo's green blood staining his claws but then saw it slowly get back up as all the cuts and holes his claws made began to heal over. Not like his healing with his rapid regeneration as this seemed more like scarring but it was recovering to get back into the fight. It wasn't alone as the other green-furred Wendigo got back up with the burn scar on its chest from Aegis's energy blast scarring over. Both Wendigos growled in anger before charging only for part of the ceiling to come crashing down as a bolt of lightning zapped them both. They howled in pain before a distinct hum in the air was heard and a flying hammer bashed into both of them, knocking them back. Mjølnir then stopped and flew backward into the grasp of Thor who had jumped down the hole his arrival had made. "I've fought foul creatures before, but you are among the foulest." Thor remarked as he walked over to the others when a guard lifted his head up so Thor kicked him and knocked him out.

Wolverine picked himself up and rotated his shoulders to ease some tension while Aegis helped Domino and Psylocke back to their feet. "You're late, Goldilocks."

"Apologies. Some of men from this lab attempted to flee so I stopped them. They put up a fight."

"How were they getting out?" Logan asked.

"There's a hidden exit approximately 200 meters north." Thor pointed in the direction. "It leads to a causeway for vehicles both aerial and land based."

"Then that's where Dr. Rice is headi—[BAM!]"

The white-furred Wendigo was thrown back into the main lab where it crashed onto the two green-furred betas. The thing that knocked the Alpha Wendigo through happened to be the Hulk, wearing his new Hulk pants which were nice, long-legged, and stretch so he wasn't going to rip through them. Granted the prospect of not ripping his pants was the least concerning thing with the most prevalent being the scratches and claw marks all over his body. Clearly the Hulk and Wendigo had fought and if the Hulk's expression was anything to go by…he was pissed. The Wendigo's got back up and roared at Hulk who just roared back.

"RAHHH! Furry men hurt Hulk! Hulk smash furry men!"

Hulk met the Three Wendigos head on, and a wild melee ensued. While the Wendigos had numbers on their side, they were dealing with the Hulk. Their claws and bites made him angry and that didn't serve them well at all. He punched the White one in the face and then kicked it back before backhanding one of the green ones. The other green one leapt at him, but Hulk dodged and grabbed its tail. With his grip he swung the Wendigo around, slamming him on the floor before swinging him into the other green one and they both crashed into a wall only for the White one to jump on his back. It bit Hulk on the shoulder, so Hulk punched it in the face and slammed it into the ground repeatedly. He stomped on its face only for it to bite his ankle when one of the green ones came at him from the side only for Hulk to grab it by the neck. It struggled in his grasp, clawing and scratching at the Hulk's arm when the second green one leapt forward so Hulk punched it in the face and then used the green Wendigo he was holding as a bat to beat the other two senseless.

"Ok, he's got this. Let's go." Aegis led the others out of the lab to follow Dr. Rice before he could escape. He lifted them up into the air, following the same door down the same hall Dr. Rice took. They passed his office and continued through the when Aegis's warning sense went off like a firework as they turned the corner. He summoned a barrier when surge of yellow and black energy broke through and zapped him. "GAHH!"

Aegis's body convulsed as the energy shocked as well as drained him of bio-electrical energy. It then seeped out like a liquid and formed into an amorphous blob before blasting Wolverine, Domino, and Psylocke. Like Aegis, they were zapped and drained before Thor swung Mjølnir forcing the energy back. The amorphous blob of energy reformed itself across from the Thor who was ready to slay this being. "Attack me monster!"

The energy being sparked with electricity before lunging at Thor who charged with his hammer which was surging with lightning. "HAVE AT THEE!"

The two beings made contact and Thor's hammer managed to disperse the energy being in a bright spectacle of lights before it seemed to vanish. Aegis and the others groaned in pain from the unwanted electricity conducting as they got back to their feet. "Are you all right?" Thor helped Aegis steady himself.

"Yeah. That was unpleasant." Aegis shook his head and cracked his neck. "Where is it?"

"Defeated. The beast was fearsome but nothing the God of Thunder can't handle." Thor said, holding up Mjølnir only for it to begin glowing like the energy being that just attacked them. "That's not good, is it?"

"No, it's not." Psylocke said when a burst of energy erupted from Mjølnir, knocking everyone back, even Thor. The electrical being reappeared now seemingly stronger after absorbing the electrical energy Thor used to attack it and continuing to absorb some of the electrical energy inherit in Mjølnir. It no longer remained in an amorphous shape but instead was taking on a human-like form. A large body with two legs and two arms though the hands were more like claws and its head had no real design other than a head with distinct black energy of the being creating the pupils and mouth. (5)

"Zzzax…Zzzax…" What sounded like garble radio transmissions mixed with a megaphone was the energy field's version of talking. Project Zzzax.

"Oh, that's not good." Thor remarked as Zzzax blasted him with a beam of electricity when Aegis ripped the roof down and dispersed its form, also causing it to drop Mjølnir.

"Logan, go! Thor and I will handle Zzzax. Get Dr. Rice!" Aegis told him as they saw the flickers of yellow and black electricity begin to reform. "GO! Domino, Psylocke, go with him!"

They ran as quickly as they could, continuing the hunt for Dr. Rice while Thor called Mjølnir back to his hand and Aegis powered up, glowing bright blue. The two Avengers stood side by side as Zzzax reformed its body. "Do you have a plan?" Thor asked Aegis.

"Stay alive."

"Good plan." Thor and Aegis readied themselves as Zzzax's body reformed and leapt forward while the two heroes blasted it with the combined power of a telekinetic energy beam and lightning.

Back in the main lab, Hulk was still beating two of the Wendigos with the body of the third one until all three were a bloody, bruised mess. All the impacts and damage done by the fighting and now the beating had significantly damaged the control collars the Wendigos were wearing. The Hulk slammed his Wendigo bat into the other two and gave them all a combined final double hammerfist so powerful it shook the entire base, cause a massive crack to cut through the floor and made more of the roof come down. That final impact was enough to exhaust the healing factor of the Wendigos while destroying their control collars so all three were just splayed out on the ground, knocked unconscious.

Hulk looked down at their bodies before he let loose a roar of victory. "RAH! HULK IS STRONGEST THER—[Bam]"

Zzzax crashed through the walls into the lab, sending Aegis and Thor to the ground. Both of them were sizzling a bit from being shocked by Zzzax's electricity as it seemed to be getting stronger the more they fought it. Thor's lightning or Aegis's energy blasts only seemed to make it stronger and physical attacks just dispersed its form which it was able to quickly reform. Zzzax stood in the lab, standing taller and larger than it was before indicating it had absorbed more energy as its gaze looked over at the Wendigos and then at the Hulk. Hulk saw Aegis and Thor on the ground and growled in anger.

"Yellow man hurt Hulk's friends! Only Hulk can hurt Hulk's friends! HULK SMASH YELLOW MAN!"

"Zzzax…Zzzax…"

"RAH!" The Hulk charged, punching Zzzax in the face and its head quickly dispersed but reformed and quickly zapped Hulk. Hulk roared in pain and just punched it again, causing it to disperse once more. Zzzax zapped Hulk once more but for some reason wasn't able to absorb the gamma energy radiating from him and wasn't getting any stronger which meant the Hulk wasn't getting any weaker, just angrier. "RAH!"

With a powerful thunderclap, Hulk caused Zzzax's body to burst only for it to quickly reform and grab Hulk from below, then quickly envelope him. Zzzax's goal was to try and envelope Hulk's body so he could completely incinerate him through the pure power of his electricity, but the Hulk was too angry and too unwieldy as each stomp and punch caused part of it to disperse.

Aegis and Thor were jostled awake from his little unconscious state by all the shaking and jostling going through the base and saw Hulk fighting Zzzax, having better luck than they did. Zzzax was powerful, able to absorb energy and grow stronger, even with bio-electricity. With that in mind it seemed unstoppable, but it had to have a weakness. "EDI? EDI, are you there?" His HUD was fritzing, and his voice changer was garbled from all the shocking Zzzax did to his suit.

"I…am…having…difficulty…maintaining…connection…suit…system…damage…"

"Dammit." Aegis banged his mask and his HUD stopped glitching, but he wasn't sure about EDI. "Any ideas, EDI. Anything."

With part of her system damaged, EDI saved power by not speaking and just showed Aegis the data she was able to compile. Zzzax was a being of energy, electricity to be more precise so in theory, the same weaknesses electricity had Zzzax would have. It meant insulators, conductors, and energy overload. In this immediate situation he wasn't sure what would work as it didn't seem as though Zzzax had any limits. Before he was set free it was used as the energy source for the base.

"Energy source…battery…short circuit…water…" Aegis began to formulate a plan in his head that could work. He saw some of the destroyed science equipment and concocted a plan in his head. "Hulk, by me some time! Thor, with me."

"RAH!" Hulk just kept fighting Zzzax as Aegis scrounged around for pieces of metal which in this lab he was really only able to find steel and aluminum which was fine for this instance. He then ripped off some of the cables from the walls and saw copper wires which was perfect.

"What are you doing?" Thor asked.

"I'm trapping this thing." Aegis used his powers to reshape all the metal pieces into makeshift conducting rods and then wrapped the copper wires around one of them. "Hit these with lightning when I tell you."

Thor nodded as Aegis used his powers to stake the newly made conducting rods into the ground around Hulk and Zzzax and then wrapped the cooper wires around each rod, effectively making a ring around them. "Hulk, get clear!"

Hulk heard his shout, so he gave Zzzax a double hammerfist and jumped back just as its head began to reform. "Now, Thor!"

Thor used Mjølnir and fired a bolt of lightning at the conducting rod which became supercharged, and the cooper wire charged that energy to each of the conducting rods staked around Zzzax. The conduction field drew Zzzax in, trapping him in the makeshift superconductor field, albeit temporarily. Zzzax was fighting the pull and trap which is when Aegis moved onto the next part of his plan. Using his powers he instantly froze the molecules in the air around Zzzax and the superconductor field, effectively making a massive ice prison. Zzzax was stuck inside a giant superconductor surrounded by ice which was beginning to melt because of the heat he generated. What came next was a massive flash of light as the second Zzzax's electricity mixed with the melted ice, he short-circuited.

Aegis fortified the ice around Zzzax, making it as thick as possible and even formed a barrier around said ice. The Hulk and Thor shielded their eyes from the bright light display as a being of pure electricity just experienced a massive short-circuit but once it faded they could see the end result. The ice prison held strong and there was a pool of water in the center with a dimmed amorphous shape that was Zzzax. With his dimmed brightness and slower activity compared to before, Zzzax was severely weakened. With the pool of water inside with him, Zzzax wouldn't be able to regain power, so he was dealt with.

"I need to remember that one going forward." Aegis said, taking some deep breaths as he was able to relax a bit.

"Well done, my friend." Thor patted him on the back. Hulk just spit at the ice prison before he looked at Aegis.

"Hulk had that."

"I know, bubby but he needed to go down quickly. Besides, you still got those three." Aegis pointed to the unconscious Wendigos. "Hulk beat them badly."

"Hmmm…Hulk did."

Aegis tapped his mask a few times to get it to stop fritzing and contacted Domino, Psylocke, and Wolverine. "Zzzax is down as are the Wendigos. Sound off. Anyone hurt?"

"We're fine. Ran into some scientists and more guards. They're taken care of." Domino reported.

"Though we lost Logan. He jumped onto Rice's helicopter as it was taking off." Psylocke reported.

"Logan, can you hear me?" Aegis radioed his earpiece. "Logan, are you there? Logan, come in?"

"Yeah, I hear you kid. I'm fine. Dr. Rice on the hand…not so much. I'm coming back to the base though it'll take a bit."

Will wasn't sure what that meant but whatever. So long as Logan was ok then they were set. He called in SHIELD for backup and prisoner securing.

Line Break xxxxx

An hour later…

SHIELD backup arrived to assist in the prisoner collection. Several SHIELD Quinjets arrived with agents to take in the base guards as well as the scientists. If it was just Aegis, Domino, Psylocke and Wolverine then a lot of scientists would have made their escape via the north entrance as Thor said but with him there and not revealed he was able to keep them from leaving. This was a big boon as it meant there was little to no chance anyone slipped through the cracks. Aegis stood watch standing next to Dr. Banner and Thor, the former of whom had reverted from the Hulk and got changed into some new clothes. With them was Psylocke and they watched the SHIELD agents escort the prisoners onto their Quinjet transports. Domino was waiting back on their Quinjet as part of the deal for her to maintain some anonymity. The reason they were standing watch was partially for security but also so that no science teams could recover anything from the labs. EDI had copied the base's files, but Will promised the base would go boom and he was keeping that. Logan was still MIA, but he reported that he was on his way back from wherever he was.

They saw special SHIELD containment cells carry the three Wendigos and Zzzax out of the base for transport to the Fridge or another SHIELD prison. Once the four enhanced entities were secured on their quinjet, it took off immediately which is when Will saw a figure in the distant walking towards them.

The SHIELD agents were immediately on alert and readied their guns. "We've got an unknown coming in from the north. Secure the area!"

"Stand down. He's with us." Aegis told them and they nodded, going back to their jobs. After some long hiking, Logan had arrived back at the secret base. His suit was torn in a few places, his cowl had one of the horns burnt off, one of his gloves was gone, and he was carrying a briefcase. "What happened to you?"

"I got some closure."

Flashback…

Wolverine, Domino, and Psylocke were running through the halls of the base while Aegis and Thor dealt with Zzzax. Wolverine has Dr. Rice's scent, and he was nearby. After a lot of running, they arrived at large security doors leading to the causeway that was the exit Thor spoke about. Wolverine sliced through the doors with his claws and saw a lot of vehicles were destroyed. Trucks, jeeps, and helicopters were smoldering wrecks thanks to Thor, but one helicopter survived and was preparing for takeoff. His sense of smell knew that Rice was on, so he charged after it, leaving Psylocke and Domino to deal with some guards and scientists who were trying to leave. The blades on the chopper spun up as it began to lift off the ground. Logan knew he wouldn't make it in time when he saw a guard manage to get one of their pursuit motorcycles up and running so he rushed over, knocked out the guard and drove it as fast as possible to catch up with the helicopter which had gotten off the ground. It moved down the causeway with Logan right behind it, slowly catching up as it began to gain some altitude. Logan drove the motorcycle up off the edge and jumped toward the helicopter, unsheathing his claws and sticking to the side. He began to slide off as his claws dug into the metal, but he quickly unsheathed his other claws and stuck them into the chopper, securing his position. Logan climbed his way to the front of the chopper when the side door opened, and a guard opened fired with an assault rifle. The bullets hurt but they didn't deter him from continuing on. Logan moved up and stabbed one of his claws into the vents underneath the blades and the engines began to falter while warning alarms began to go off. The helicopter began to shake and jostle around as the pilot had a harder time keeping it steady now that there were problems. Logan then swung down, kicking the guard in the face which made him shoot the pilot in the back by accident. The pilot faltered, doing his best to try and keep the helicopter steady despite the pain, blood loss and numbness he was feeling. Logan tossed the guard out of the helicopter before he grabbed a scrambling Dr. Rice and punched him in the face.

"No, please! Please! Mercy!" Dr. Rice screamed in terror as Logan unsheathed his claws and stabbed him in the side. "AH!"

"How do you like your own handiwork, bub?! Do I make you proud?" Logan twisted his hand, so his claws dug in, and it hurt more. "There were other people who did this to me, weren't there? Right?!"

"AH! Yes! There were others. I actually had little to do with your procedure. Merely supervisory and assistance. That's it. I swear." Dr. Rice was spouting off anything he could think to say to get onto Logan's good side and save himself from a grizzly fate.

"Are they alive?" Logan asked.

"Yes, they are! They are! I can lead you to them. Just spare me, please have mercy!" Dr. Rice begged as the pilot slumped forward dead and the helicopter began to head to the ground. "What happened?"

"Oh, that's not good." Logan remarked when he saw the briefcase Dr. Rice had so he took it. "Thanks, Doc."

"No, please. I can help you! I can lead you to them! Please, Weapon X, you need me!" Dr. Rice begged only for Logan to punch him in the face as the helicopter descended faster and faster to the ground.

"You made three mistakes. Thinking I needed you to find them." Logan secured the briefcase in one hand before grabbing Dr. Rice around the throat with the other. "Thinking I would let you live. And my name is Logan!"

"NO!" Dr. Rice screamed as the helicopter crashed in a fiery wreck so bad that only Logan would be able to walk away…and he was the only one to walk away.

End flashback…

"Glad you got your closure." Aegis said as Logan held up the briefcase. "One down…"

"The rest to go." Logan remarked. "Let's get out of here. I'm freezing my ass off."

"That sounds good. I need a vacation." Psylocke admitted so she and Logan headed back to the Quinjet.

"Go ahead, Dr. Banner. I'll finish up here." Will told him and Bruce nodded, joining Psylocke and Logan on their way to the quinjet. Will stayed where he was and looked at Thor. "Thanks again, Thor."

"My pleasure. It is the least that I owe you and I cherish the thrills of battle with you, my friend. Midgard is under my protection and now that I will be here for the foreseeable future, perhaps this will be but the first of many future laurels for us." Thor said.

"That sounds good to me. I'll handle the cleanup. You can head back to Dr. Foster. And London is that way." Will pointed east.

"Thank you, my friend. I await our next battle." Thor spin his hammer before he flew away.

Once the last of the prisoners were taken away, Will used his touchpad computer on his left arm to reactivate the base's security countermeasures, triggering the bombs set up as a failsafe. In this instance, a quick and easy method of clean up with the lab taken out by the explosion and buried under 100 feet of rubble.

All in all, good day.

Westchester, New York

After dealing with some logistical stuff, the team went their separate ways for now. Thor went back to London and Will dropped off Dr. Banner at Avengers Tower. Psylocke and Domino were given a lift back to the SHIELD warehouse at the Montreal airport where both would go their separate ways, but both were ready and willing for the next mission. Logan was the last one to be dropped off as they ended up on a secure video call with Fury and Hill and informed them of the situation. Fury wanted some answers regarding the three Wendigos and Zzzax that were designated for imprisonment at the Fridge. They explained the base, their infiltration and the data they were able to steal along with the revelation on the mutant experimentation. Then the reveal that the scientist in charge of the base was one of the scientists who put Logan through Weapon X. He was the brainchild behind the Wendigos and Zzzax.

After a long battle, the remaining guards and scientists were arrested, and the enhanced creatures were taken into custody. The guards were keeping silent, but the scientists were already trampling over one another to try and get the best deal. Interrogations would have a field day with them. Logan killed Dr. Rice, getting some vengeance but got confirmation that other scientists from Weapon X were still alive so they were an issue and none of the data they got was enough of a smoking gun to take down the Essex Corporation or expose the new Hellfire club. So, you win some you lose some.

"The guards were all Donald Pierce's private military contractors. They're not saying anything, but this couldn't have been just a regular job for them. They were in it for the long haul and their gear definitely wasn't standard. From the data you sent us it seems that everything, the cloaking suits, the armored gauntlets and those security drones were highly advanced. The design and components of those weapons are a dead ringer for AIM so they're still out there and working with the Hellfire Club and the Essex Corporation." Agent Hill told him.

"Makes sense. They were bedfellows before, and they are still and are just as elusive as the Hellfire Club and Essex." Fury added.

"I know, it's beginning to piss me off. Still, with the data we got from the base and from Dr. Rice's briefcase maybe we'll be able to find another lead to exploit." Will hoped.

"Anything actionable from the files?" Hill wondered and got a head shake in response.

"No. They're all in some kind of code. Guess Dr. Rice was seriously paranoid but hopefully we break it soon and we can find the rest of those scientists. In the meantime, I'll task Braddock with looking into another lead into the Essex Corporation. That company is bad to the bone, so we need another exploit." Will told her.

"Keep up the work, Agent Detmer. This fact-acting covert new squad of yours could be the thing we need. Keep us updated of any developments. And tell Logan he did good. Fury out."

The call cut out after that as the Quinjets autopilot hovered them down to the Xavier institute. Logan grabbed his gear and lit his cigar as the ramp opened up. "Thanks for the adventure, kid." Logan remarked as he walked out.

"Logan." Will called out, getting the old gruff Canadian to turn around. "I promise I will do everything I can to help you find the rest of them."

"That's a tall order, kid."

"Well, before we didn't even know that base was a thing but now we do, so finding the rest is only a matter of time and when we do, I guarantee you'll be there to get some revenge." Will promised and Logan had to admit that his determination, resolve, and hope was infectious.

"Whatever you say, kid." Logan gave him a mock salute before he turned around and walked towards the mansion.

[Phone Ringing]

Will pulled out his phone and saw it was Coulson, so he answered. "Hey, Coulson. What's up?"

"Will…it's Skye. Something happened."

Will felt his stomach drop at those words and flew the Quinjet as fast as he possibly could to the rendezvous.

Elsewhere…

In a secret hidden lab somewhere on the planet, a lone figure could be seen working on various experiments. While the equipment in the lab was cutting edge and state of the art it had the aesthetics of a steampunk/19th century laboratory for Dr. Frankenstein, complete with horrifying experiments. This was Nathanial Essex, head and founder of the Essex Corporation. A brilliant scientists and an expert on genetic mutation with a deep, dark, and twisted sense of scientific curiosity and fevered passion that many, if not all would view as sickening.

Nathaniel Essex was a strange man and many, not even those in his company knew his truths and he could care less as all he cared about was his research and didn't care who he aligned himself with to achieve his goals. At that moment, he found himself in an alliance with Sebastian Shaw and his Inner Circle but was using them as much as he was sure they thought they were using him. Oh, to be so misguided. While he was working on an experiment, he was watching some security footage from a secret lab that had recently been compromised and destroyed. The lab that was constructed and set aside for the Wendigo and Zzzax projects. Much like an inventor watching his product in action to inspect for flaws, Essex noted the limitations regarding the Wendigo and Zzzax projects. While he wouldn't classify them as outright failures, he wouldn't call them perfection.

What really drew his attention was the work of the attackers at his base. Mutants and Avengers which could be trouble in the future but what really intrigued him was Aegis. A powerful psychic and if he was a mutant, perhaps his DNA could be useful for his ultimate project. It still eluded him to his day but perhaps he now found something that could give his experiment the push it needed. To find and create the ultimate being, perhaps he needed to study one of the strongest Avengers.

The faint glow of some chemicals illuminated part of Essex's face, revealing pale white skin, red eyes, with a red diamond on his forehead. As he was on the inside, so he was on the outside. There was no good in Nathaniel Essex.

He was truly…sinister.

End of Chapter 22

1). Elizabeth Betsy Braddock AKA Psylocke played by Olivia Munn. First mentioned and shown in Chapter 11 for those that don't remember and the chapter with the X-men was chapter 10. Shiro is Shiro Yoshida AKA Sunfire also introduced/mentioned in Chapter 11. He'll be making his debut soon enough.

2). Neena Thurman AKA Domino as played by Zazie Beetz with her outfit from that movie although with longer sleeves and a heavy jacket and she's pale skinned. So Zazie Beetz is still the face claim but her appearance is more in line with the comics. Psylocke's outfit is more based on her uniform in Uncanny X-Force, black and tactical and not just a one-piece bathing suit with leggings.

3). Wolverine's X-force suit, the black and grey one.

4). The Wendigo from Marvel comics. Less ancient curse and more genetic experimentation. One is white furred and the other two are green like in episode seven of Wolverine and the X-men. One alpha and two betas.

5). Zzzax from Marvel Comics. Introducing some more marvel villains.

Hey everyone. Hope you liked the chapter. What started out as a small subplot ended up involving into a chapter on its own, but I think it went well. It has revealed future storylines, villains, and such and where the story will go in the future. Inclusion of one villain so sinister, he had to be included. Enjoy. I know this was supposed to include Will meeting John Garrett, his father but I'm saving that for next chapter as that and the following episode are going to have a lot of drama and problems.

Next chapter, Will's small excursion to Canada was good in that it revealed another problem SHIELD needed to deal with but it meant he couldn't be there to protect Skye. Now she's in danger and the only way to help her is the same thing that helped Coulson and that path puts Will on the path to finally meet his birth father. How well with that go. And as if that wasn't enough, not so soon after an Asgardian comes down to earth with the express goal of finding Will and twisting him to her will. He's one of the world's strongest heroes but if he was mind controlled, who could stop him? Until next time.

For Logan, his usual costume is his brown and orange costume but in this instance he's wearing his black and grey X-Force suit, it's more suited to stealth. I know we now have him wearing blue and yellow like in Deadpool & Wolverine, but I introduced him in my story, in chapter 11 for those that need a refresher, wearing his brown and orange suit, complete with a helmet. Hugh Jackman, of course, as the Wolverine, and for those that haven't seen Deadpool & Wolverine, I won't spoil it but damn it was good to have him back.

Another cool thing is we got the beginning of the X-Force. Maybe not comic accurate but the beginning of a more black ops type team with mutants to handle the dealings of Mr. Sinister and his secret weapons projects. Sorry Deadpool, guess Will beat you to it. And I've introduced Mr. Sinister who will be a recurring background antagonist going forward.

Updates for July: The Perfect One updated on 7/31/2024. Omniverse Earth-38 will be updated on 8/5/24 to get it just right. Sorry for the delay.

Again, thanks to everyone for all the suggestions, reviews, and words of encouragement. Special thanks to Masamune X23, my Beta reader. He gives me a lot of great ideas for this story as well as my other ones as well. Also, thanks to War Sage, JhotoLoraxius, Omni-Creator Kami of Anime and all the other people who PM me with ideas for my stories. Thank you, guys. They help a lot. Also, make sure to check my DeviantArt every now and then for new pics I'll put up. I've made cover photos for about all my stories, but I'll have more pics made so check them out.

Also, not sure if you checked my profile page but I do have a P-A-T-R-E-O-N page now. It's Choejhulkp9 writing endeavor. Don't feel pressured to sign up. Regardless, I still plan on doing what I'm doing. Writing for free and updating on and I'm slowly working on Wattpad. Sorry I'm really bad about that. But for those that would like to help with what they can or are feeling gracious, it would be greatly appreciated. I've got tiers for any small amount. And some exclusive stuff for the time being to start a new possible story. Again, don't feel pressured.

William Alexander Detmer/Birthname: William Alexander Danvers

Born: September 8th, 1988-Currently 25

Moniker= Aegis (means something under protection from a benevolent source/Shield of Zeus and Athena)

Primagen Enhanced Inhuman

SHIELD Status: Level 8 Agent / Special Operations, Tactics and Defense Specialist (SOTD) Serial number: NE616IN

Member of the Avengers

Appearance: Stephen Amell from Arrow, Season 1 build.

Aegis Combat gear: Earth X's Dark Arrow Vibranium jacket and pants with retractable full-face mask colored Black and Blue. Eye covers in mask are colored blue as well. Improved design resists more damage and resists deep sea and certain atmospheric pressure with in-built recyclable oxygen supply to last an hour and improved HUD. Special polymer blends and weaved material with special Vibranium micro-weave mesh mixed with steel alloy Carbonadium increasing strength and durability without adding on additional weight. Tear resistant and bulletproof.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

SHIELD gear: Combat boots, black combat pants, with form fitting dark blue long sleeve athletic shirt. SHIELD Tactical combat vest.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

Casual Outfit: dark blue or black sneakers, jeans, blue or black t-shirt and either a zip-up hoodie, jacket, or button up over.

Weapons:

Signature Guns:

Modified Heckler & Koch P30L handgun with custom grip and micro-dermal sensor to his palm print. Improved barrel for accuracy and damage output. Added compensator or suppressor attachment. Spare firearm Glock 17.

Modified Knight's Armament SR-25 Sniper rifle with modified scope, bipod, and suppressor.

Modified M249 Mk46 Light Machine gun with a modified barrel, magazine insertion well. Equipped with adjustable buttstock, 100-round magazine drum, deployable bipod, red dot sight, flashlight, and laser sight attachment.

Modified TDI/KRISS Vector-.45 ACP with modified barrel, stock, grip, extended magazine, red-dot sight, flashlight, laser sight, and silencer attachment.

Modified Remington 879 MSC Masterkey 12-gauge compact shotgun.

Custom collapsible Oneida Kestrel Compound Bow and quiver of special arrows.

Milkor 40mm Grenade Launcher.

Others:

Right forearm guard wrist mounted retractable Vibranium/alloy blades.

Left forearm guard wrist mounted small retractable Vibranium Shield & touchpad computer.

10 dark blue flechettes/throwing arrows wrapped around his ankles.

2 Vibranium orbs that Will is able to manipulate.

Natural Language Modified Artificial Intelligence program EDI.

Predator Combi stick/spear

2 Predator Shuriken

4 Laser net devices

Predator knife

Microtech Combat Troodon OTF knife

Personal Vehicles: Red and Black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS (At home in Jersey City), Red and Black 1970 Harley Davidson Titan V-Rod motorcycle, Specially modified 2012 Aston Martin DBS V-12 spy car, SHIELD Quinjet for transport

Notable talents: Genius level intellect potential, self-defense military training from Harold Detmer, knowledge, and training in 15 types of martial arts, gun knowledge and expert marksman trained by Clint Barton, espionage and spy skills trained by Natasha Romanoff, SHIELD tactics and medical training from Coulson and SHIELD trainers, well-crafted knowledge and understanding of psychology, knowledge, and experience with engineering both mechanical and electrical, fluent in dozens of languages, trained pilot.

Personality: Kind, caring, composed, attentive, intelligent, and driven. Can be a bit of a smartass.

When insulted, angered, or in a serious situation, focused and relentless. Considered dangerous and unforgiving in these types of situations.

Uses powers sparingly in the field unless absolutely needs to.

Pairing: Will x Skye/Daisy Johnson x Crystal

Powers:

Rakyat Tatau: Mystical tattoo that enhances speed, strength, stamina, intelligence, instincts, healing speed ad metabolic function to absolute human peak potential. (Captain America Level Super Soldier)

Telekinesis: the ability to impact objects through the direct influence of mental power or other non-physical means

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Binding-to keep an object/being from moving

Levitation-to lift an object

Orbital Field-to makes objects and energy orbit around user

Telekinetic Shield-to create a shield of telekinetic energy around user or others/strength of shield depends on mental strength and focus of user

Psionic Speed-to augment user's physical speed

Psionic Strength-to augment user's physical strength

Telekinetic Bullet Projection-projecting telekinetic energy as bullets

Telekinetic Choking-to strangle someone with telekinesis

Telekinetic Grip-To grasp an object firmly in place

Telekinetic Maneuver-to alter an object's directional course

Telekinetic Pull & Push-to pull or push objects away from user

Telekinetic Aura/Sense-To sense one's surroundings with telekinesis (10-mile limit)

Telekinetic Compression-to crush or compact an object

Telekinetic Blast-to emit telekinetic energy as a blast of blue energy

Telekinetic Destruction-to make an object explode into dust

Telekinetic Flight-using telekinesis to fly

Psionic Explosion-to create/discharge psychic energy across a wide range

Telepathy: mentally receive or transmit information

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Mind Reading-ability to read the thoughts of others

Memory Reading-the ability to read the target's memories

Psychic Communication-the ability to secretly converse with others

Telepathic Speaking-to speak aloud using the mind

Telepathic Projection-to project images or memories into the physical plane

Download-the ability to process/download information of another person (If used in a violent or angry mood, can harm the victim)

Knowledge Replication-the ability to replicate learned knowledge and skills

Knowledge Projection-the ability to project knowledge to another

Rapid brain activity-the ability to process and understand information at incredible rates

Mental Inducement-The ability to put the targets mind into the wanted state

Mental Hallucination-the ability to cause mental hallucinations

Mind Link-the ability to develop a permanent mental bond with any person

Mind Walking/Melding-to enter another's consciousness

Precognition awareness-six sense awareness of imminent danger

Telepathic Prediction-the ability to know a person's moves by reading their brain waves

Astral Projection-to separate one's mind from their body and explore physical and extra-physical plane

If separated from body too long, very dangerous. Capable of killing spirits, demons, and other supernatural souls.

Telepathic Surgery-the ability to perform neuropsychic surgery, healing and/or damaging the mind

Memory/Mental Manipulation-the ability to manipulate a target's memories and mind

Clairvoyance-the ability to gain direct visual information through non-physical means

Triggered only by serious events

Foresight-the ability to foresee possible future events and observe what may happen

Needs certain triggers to activate

Powers Gained from Exposure to the Aether

Invisibility-Can use his telekinesis to fold the light around his body or an object to make him or anything invisible to sight. Requires concentration.

Healing-Can use his telekinesis to move parts of the human body around at the molecular or atomic level to heal. Requires a great deal of concentration.

Molecular Manipulation Power Boost: Can use his telekinesis to adjust the molecules in an object to turn it into something else so long as he understands the objects chemical structure and makeup. I.e., turning gas into water or turning gravel into iron. Can accelerate, slow down and adjust spacing of molecules. Requires a great deal of concentration to master. Has sub powers.

Fire manipulation-Can use his telekinesis to ignite the elements in the air by creating friction at a molecular level at will to make fire.

Ice/Water manipulation-Can use his telekinesis to slow down or stop all the molecules around an area from moving, thus creating ice and freezing anything he stops from moving. Can turn ice into water or steam by manipulating the speed of the molecules and control the element with his telekinesis.

Wind manipulation-Can use his telekinesis to move the oxygen/nitrogen molecules around him in the atmosphere to manipulate air/wind.

Earth manipulation-Can use his telekinesis to manipulate the molecules of earth or earthen elements including most solid objects, specifically all minerals and mineral compositions regardless of their state.

Plasma/Lightning manipulation-Can use telekinesis to manipulate highly ionized gas molecules in the air to build up a static charge and then discharge it as a form of ionized Plasma/lightning. Plasma/Lightning is colored blue. Can be condensed to form a nuclear-bomb scale like explosion. Requires complete concentration and is very taxing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of SHIELD or any Marvel Properties, they belong to their respective owners, I'm just a fan.