Issue # 8

After a long day of debriefings at UNTIL HQ regarding the Sea Drake and Pomegranate affairs, the heroes were faced with a series of new challenges. For days, Tom Clayborn (A.K.A. Rampart) had neglected his commitment to his band, which was on the verge of performing a very important concert. He therefore told his teammates that he might be unreachable for the next couple of days, but that he would be in touch as soon as possible. Similarly, Alex Lamberton (A.K.A. Apex) received word that his estranged family was suffering through a crisis, the nature of which required his immediate attention. Keeping the nature of his troubles private, he announced to his allies that he had to leave town, but promised to return as soon as possible. With Nightshift still failing to answer his radio and Starburst still recovering from the injuries he suffered at Tanghal Tower, only Sparrow Hawk, Troyus, and Crusader remained to deal with VIPER.

Things heated up that night, when Troyus returned to his New York apartment to find Cheshire Cat waiting for him. The teleporting villain assured Troyus that his surrogate family was safe and sound. He also promised the hero that they would remain unharmed as long as Troyus cooperated with VIPER’s demands. Specifically, Troyus was to secure the shipment of kevalrite that VIPER lost in the Sea Drake affair and deliver it to the Statue of Liberty that evening. VIPER would aid Troyus in securing the kevalrite by shutting down UNTIL HQ’s main security systems, but the kevalrite was contained in a separate storage facility that was off the UNTIL mainframe and therefore out of reach of VIPER’s hackers. In addition, the kevalrite was being kept in a chamber that dampened superpowers, which is why Cheshire Cat couldn’t teleport into UNTIL HQ and secure the kevalrite himself. In exchange for Troyus’ help, VIPER would release one of their captives to the hero. Troyus demanded that they all be released, but Cheshire Cat only said, “We’ll see!” before teleporting away.

Troyus immediately informed Sparrow Hawk and Crusader about his conversation with Cheshire Cat, and they agreed to confer with Major Martinez to set a trap for VIPER. The heroes knew that VIPER would scan anything they delivered that evening, so they proposed using the synthetic kevalrite developed by Dr. Pomegranate as a decoy. Knowing that UNTIL had been infiltrated by VIPER, they assumed that their every move would be watched. Having UNTIL simply hand over the synthetic kevalrite, therefore, might seem suspicious. They therefore planned a staged assault of UNTIL HQ. This would involve Troyus storming into the base and taking the real kevalrite by force just after the security systems went haywire. Troyus would then switch out the real kevalrite for the synthetic one just before leaving the base. Martinez and a couple of his most trusted agents would handle this transfer. As for the meeting with VIPER, Sparrow Hawk suggested coating the top of the Statue of Liberty’s head with a radioactive dust that would stick to anything that touched it. That way they would have something to trace via geiger counter, even if Cheshire Cat teleported the kevalrite away. The problem, of course, is that Cheshire Cat could teleport rather long distances, making it nearly impossible to trace him effectively with their limited sensory equipment. To compensate for this, they decided to call in a favor in the form of Fleetfoot, the only remaining active member of the Minutemen who the heroes had saved months earlier. As a speedster, Fleetfoot might be able to crisscross the city with a geiger counter at superspeed, therefore covering a wide area in short order. Although hesitant to turn over any form of kevalrite, synthetic or not, Martinez agreed to the plan. He immediately began to make his own plans to discover the infiltrator in the midst of his organization. Meanwhile, the heroes called Fleetfoot, who enthusiastically agreed to lend his assistance.

After receiving approval, the heroes began to make preparations. Reasoning that a hidden VIPER base needed a vast power supply, she hacked into the computer systems that tracked the city’s power usage and set up a program that would monitor that data for any irregularities. She then decided to visit the Statue of Liberty in her normal identity as Rebeca Glass in order to stealth away and remain behind when the park closed. Upon reaching the observation deck, she noticed a man staring at her in surprise and horror. She turned to meet his gaze, and he turned from her and hurried away. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn’t immediately figure out where she’d seen him before. Then it came to her. Place the face behind a VIPER helmet, and it’s the agent who killed her parents a decade earlier. Place his face behind a blue and white mask, and it’s CRUSADER! Her heart pounding, she raced to catch up to him, but he was gone. Without saying a word to anyone, she returned to base to conduct some research. She then returned to assume her post at the Statue of Liberty and wait.

Minutes before the appointed hour, Troyus, Sparrow Hawk and Fleetfoot were in place, but there was no sign of Crusader. As scheduled, UNTIL’s security systems went down, and Troyus made his move. His force field at maximum, Troyus was able to easily fly by the lighter armed guards that Martinez had placed in his path. He grabbed the kevalrite and flew out of the base, switching it with the synthetic kevalrite as planned. He then flew towards the Statue of Liberty. Seconds before getting there, Martinez radioed in, “We’ve discovered the infiltrator,” he reported. “It was Moliere. He’s dead.” Troyus’ heart sank. Moliere, the undercover UNTIL agent who had worked with him as a mechanic in Joe Robert’s shop, had been a great comfort to him in recent days. Pushing those thoughts from his mind, he focused on the mission at hand. Landing on top of the Statue of Liberty, he was instantly joined by Cheshire Cat. He smiled, inspected the container, and then scanned its contents. While he was doing this, Troyus noticed the flare of jet packs descending from the dark clouds above, as two VIPER air cavalry agents carried Joe Roberts roughly by his armpits towards the Statue of Liberty. “You’ve done well,” said Cheshire Cat. “Boys! Turn him over!” With that the VIPER agents dropped Joe Roberts, letting him drop towards the ground. Troyus dove after him, only to see Sparrow Hawk dive from the Lady Liberty’s crown to reach him first. Moments later, he noticed Crusader, jump boots blazing, rocketing towards the scene of the battle. Seeing that Joe was safe and that Cheshire Cat had taken the opportunity to teleport away with the synthetic kevalrite, Troyus launched after the VIPER agents, who were already speeding towards the cloud cover with their jet packs.

Sparrow Hawk carried Joe Roberts safely to the Statue of Liberty’s observation deck, only to be joined by Crusader seconds later. “Hey, prettybird, let’s catch us some – umph!” Sparrow Hawk kicked him in the stomach. He reeled back, surprised and in pain. “What was that for?” he croaked.

“Don’t play games with me,” replied Sparrow Hawk. “You’re one of them, and you always have been. You killed Rebeca Glass’ parents ten years ago. Security tapes show that you were working for days at Glass Industries before Ogre broke out – before VIPER moved in. You betrayed us, and you’re going down.”

Joe Robert’s watched as the heroes battled it out, Sparrow Hawk striking in a barely controlled fury, and Crusader fighting defensively, trying to plead with her. He insisted that “the snakes” captured him a decade earlier. They tortured him and brainwashed him into serving as their operative. Yes, he’d killed for VIPER, but only once. He broke his conditioning as a consequence of that moment and escaped. Feeling guilty over the murder he committed, he donned the identity of Crusader and had been fighting VIPER ever since. Doing so was the only way he knew how to make amends. Crusader said all of this, but Sparrow Hawk wasn’t having it. “So that’s the way it’s going to be? Fine. But I won’t sit in jail while VIPER gets away with more murder. It doesn’t make sense. It isn’t justice. Goodbye, Prettybird. I wish it could have been different.” With that, he leapt off the observation deck and escaped using his glider wings. Deciding it best not to leave Joe Roberts alone, Sparrow Hawk decided to let him go.

Meanwhile, Troyus followed the VIPER agents to a VIPER troop transport hovering in the clouds above the Statue of Liberty. He downed the VIPER agents easily, and then gave chase as the plane rocketed away. His intention was to follow the vehicle to VIPER HQ, but the pilot seemed aware of this possibility. The troop transport opened fire on Troyus with its turrents, all of which were easily disabled by the young hero. Troyus smile of triumph turned to a wide-eyed expression of alarm when he realized the pilot’s last ditch plan to fly the transport into the Chrysler Building. Troyus dove towards the troop transport as the VIPER agents bailed out in jet packs. Flying up from underneath the craft, he strained his muscles and flew into it, trying to divert its course away from the skyscraper. Exerting himself beyond all known limits, Troyus blanked out from pain and exertion. He awoke minutes later, lying on the rooftop of a building several blocks away from the docks. Hearing the sounds of a city gone mad below him, he stood up and was gratified to see the back end of the troop transport sticking out of the Hudson River. Moments later, both he and Sparrow Hawk responded to a radio communiqué from Fleetfoot. “Guys?” he said. “It was touch and go there for a second, but I’m pretty sure I’ve found where Cheshire’s got to. With any luck, we’ve got ourselves a VIPER’s Nest!”