The Compound - one week later

Robin Chapel, Director of Operations for Forceworks, called the staff meeting to order. "On behalf of myself and the Project Director, Colonel Del Tremens, I would like to officially welcome all you new members of the staff to Forceworks."

As Chapel continued her welcoming remarks, Mother Majowski leaned over to Peggy Carter and sarcastically whispered, "Where’s the great leader of men today?"

"You really….REALLY don’t want to know," Peggy Carter quietly whispered back. 

*******************************************************************************************

 A private ceremony inside the oval office at the White House

The President of the United States was speaking. "and with great heroism, demonstrated competence and inspired leadership, Colonel Tremens safely brought our people home. In recognition of Colonel Tremens accomplishments, I hereby…."

Anne-Marie Hoag, the Commission’s newest member, leaned over to the man standing next to her and whispered, "I can’t believe we are giving this man a medal, Ray."

"You know the reasons why, Anne-Marie," the acting chairman of the Commission responded, "It’s good for the Project, makes the President feel good and through our agreement to do this we are earning some of General Heywerth’s future goodwill."

Anne-Marie Hoag glanced at the grizzled military officer, standing ramrod straight and clearly in a near state of bliss. "If it’s that wonderful, then why does it feel so wrong?"  

******************************************************************************************* 

Chapel completed her opening remarks. "Now, I’ll ask for reports from the section chiefs and introduce the new additions to our staff as we go along. I’ll start with my own area, Operations and Intelligence."

"I would like to introduce Sharon Carter, formerly an agent of SHIELD and a member of the Forceworks team that preceded the current one." The pretty blond woman stood up briefly, nodded her head at the room in general and sat back down. "Sharon is our new Director of Security and Counter-Intelligence.. In addition, she will be lending her considerable expertise to the Intelligence section when necessary." Chapel started to move on then remembered. "Oh yeah, she is also the sister of our Director of Communications, Peggy Carter. Peggy, would you please give us an update on communications please?"

"Certainly," Peggy replied. "The new communications equipment installed prior to the last mission worked beautifully. It’s the most advanced stuff available outside of SHIELD."

Robin continued. "Thank you." Now, Intelligence?" Mother Majowski, the Project’s newly assigned Director of Intelligence, his trademark unlit cigar removed from his mouth and clinched between his fingers.

"It’s no secret that intelligence failures occurred during the first mission; however, the intell for the second mission was pretty decent, even though it could have been better. We have access to nearly every governmental and civilian information database in the world, as well as getting regular intelligence reports from the U.S. intelligence community; however, SHIELD is still refusing to share information with us, so we are pretty much stuck with whatever is generated by the U.S. government or what we generate ourselves."

Peggy Carter interrupted. "Generated ourselves? Do we have the manpower for that?"

Mother answered. "No, we don’t have the manpower, so we are farming out specific intelligence requirements to selected civilian contractors. One of the largest weaknesses in any operation like Forceworks is the lack of tactical intelligence. We are going to try to address this weakness as much as possible."

"Why don’t you have Sharon try to work on SHIELD for us?" Chapel suggested.

Sharon Carter replied. "He already asked me to do that. Unfortunately, all I got for my efforts was a more polite no."

Mother indicated that he was finished, so Chapel moved on to the next section. "I would like to introduce our new Director of Logistics and Support, Raven Darkholme."

She served as the Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Planning Agency for several years where she was involved intimately with the development of the converti-plane and other technological marvels. In addition, she was one of the people who organized one of our sister programs, Project: Wide-awake; and was affiliated with an earlier government sponsored superpowered group, Freedom Force," (or rather led that group of mutant former terrorists under the name Mystique, Chapel commented to herself). A decision had been made among the senior leadership in the Project to keep Darkholme’s alter ego secret from most of the Forceworks personnel and they had sworn the still-recuperating Crimson Commando, who had served under her in Freedom Force, to secrecy.

Raven Darkholme, voice tinged with the traces of a German accent, responded. "The logistical systems to support Forceworks are still being set up, but we should have all the problems ironed out within a couple of weeks. Our medical section has been fully staffed with specially chosen doctors supported by U.S. Army and Navy nurses and is at 100% operational capacity." Darkholme glared at Mother Majowski as he interrupted her with a question.

"Is there some reason why we are recruiting former inmates from the Vault to staff all of our top medical positions? I mean, it makes some degree of sense for the operational team, but why are we doing it for our medical staff?"

Darkholme responded coldly. "Doctors Malus, Nightshade and Nagan are all experts in particular areas of interest to the Commission. Karl Malus has worked for the government in the past and will also be consulting on an experimental program being conducted at the Vault. Tilda Nightshade, has expertise in cybernetics which may prove useful in keeping severely injured field operatives within the program. In fact, she is working on an artificial hand for one of our people now. Arthur Nagan, though he looks a bit odd with his head grafted on a gorilla’s body, is indisputably one of the finest surgeons in the world. In addition, all three of these people, because of their criminal backgrounds, have been deemed expendable by the U.S. government, so if they end up serving as a medical person on a field team and get killed, frankly no one is going to shed a tear. Our final doctor is Deacon AKA Lifeline. He will serve as the designated field medical person and as my medical section chief. Now, if there are no further comments then I’ll continue."

Mother, looking unhappy, shook his head no. Raven Darkholme moved on to her next subject. "I have appointed with Ms. Chapel’s assent, Genji Odashu, a very experienced aviator, as our Aviation section chief. As of right now, we have a shortage of qualified pilots to operate the converti-planes, so I am working with the personnel section to rectify the situation." She gestured at the young Army officer sitting a few seats down.

Chapel, intentionally ignoring the young officer (who looked a bit miffed), moved on.

"Next, we’ll hear from Eugene Strausser, our Director of Engineering and Research. Strausser, noting the look of anger that Darkholme sent his way, stood up to speak. As he self-consciously arose, he spilled a cherry coke onto Peggy Carter’s skirt. While Strausser was occupied with trying to help Peggy clean up the mess, Chapel assessed the look that Darkholme had given Strausser. "Guess Raven’s still not happy about our decision to have all technical and maintenance personnel function under Strausser, not her."

It had been a three way screaming match between Tremens, Chapel and Darkholme with Strausser keeping his mouth shut and watching to see what the final decision was going to be. In the end, Tremens had concurred with Chapel that Strausser was a genius in the field and deserved to have control over the all maintenance, technical support and most R&D. Naturally, considering Darkholme’s background in R&D, she was angry at the decision and had not been mollified with the bone they had tossed her: control over all non-technical R&D. "Well, she’ll just have to learn to accept it," Chapel thought to herself as an embarrassed Strausser began his report.

"All…uh…upgrades to the older equipment has been completed. The maintenance personnel, both…uh….for the facility and aviation…uh, have been fully staffed and equipped thanks to Ms. Darkholme’s logistical efforts. M’Daka, a Wakandan who formerly worked with the…uh….Avengers in a similar position and that…uh…Russian, Andrei Rostov AKA…uh… Piston, are working out rather well as my supervisors within the department. The military personnel that…uh…we have assigned underneath them are very competent and only need…uh…occasional guidance. Maintenance of field equipment and weapons…uh…, I’m leaving to the field operations team. As the end users, I think they are more capable of assessing their priorities and of course, my department will provide any assistance they require. I really have only one major concern at this point."

Chapel spoke up. "What’s that, Eugene?"

"Well, we are critically short of spare parts for the twelve converti-planes we own, so as it stands right now, we will have to cannibalize some machines and/or build by hand most of the parts we will need to keep them flying.. " Chapel noticed how he didn’t punctuate his sentences with ‘uh’ when discussing direct problems or solutions to problems, hopefully, he would quit the annoying practice altogether.

"Okay, well, I want you and Darkholme to try and come up with a solution to our parts problem if possible," Chapel ordered. Both Darkholme and Strausser nodded their assent. Chapel continued.

"Finally, I will introduce our Director for Personnel, Administration and Budget, Lieutenant Lawrence L. Lynch. As you can tell by his uniform, he is an officer in the United States Army and has worked on some classified R&D programs for the military and has spent the last several years working in the Pentagon." (Heywerth’s nephew and Tremens’ personal watchdog and spy she thought to herself. Going to have to watch him.) "What’s the status in your area, Larry?"

"I prefer Lieutenant Lynch or at the very least Lawrence if you REALLY feel you must use first names," he said coldly.

"My apologies. Lieutenant Lynch it is," Chapel said without missing a beat. Somewhere in the room someone snickered. "Now report, Lieutenant Lynch." The military officer looked around to try to detect who had snickered then failing to do so, he gave his report.

"All of the new field personnel have arrived and been assigned either rooms or cells depending on their status. All of the standard personnel actions have been accomplished such as pay, benefits, etc. and I have scheduled psychiatric evaluations on all personnel. However, I do have a major concern. The use of criminals to…." Chapel cut him off.

"That issue has been addressed in detail, Lieutenant Lynch. I am responsible for the hiring of most personnel and Colonel Tremens, The Commission and the President of the United States, just to name a few, love the idea of having these criminals work off their debt to society in an easily measurable way. Our last mission, proved that the concept, with the use of proper safeguards, is sound and this conversation is ended. Clear?

An abashed Lynch replied, "Yes ma’am. Quite clear."

"Good, then if there is nothing else," said Chapel concluding the meeting.. "We are adjourned."

******************************************************************************************* 

Colonel Delbert Granville Tremens demanded, "Is everything ready, Ms. Chapel?" Robin replied as she thought to herself, "he always makes my name sound like he is really saying bitch."

"Yes sir, all of the aircraft landed on Masirah Island a few hours ago and the crews are going through mission prep (maintenance, arming, refueling, etc.) as we speak, sir."

"What about the field team with all those new additions, especially Strausser?" Tremens asked.

"They’ll be fine, sir. I’m sure Stone has them well in hand." 

******************************************************************************************* 

Marcus Stone, former Police Lieutenant, former commander of the NYPD’s now defunct Code Blue special action unit and the current field team leader of the Commission’s newly minted superpowered strike unit, Forceworks.. He looked out over his team as the briefing droned on.

Stone was an expert at observing people and he wasn’t sure if he liked what he was seeing. "What a bunch of apes," he thought. He ran them through his head for the umpteenth time while mentally assessing their individual strengths and weaknesses. Several had been involved in one or both of the missions into Costa Verde.

Bullet, a governmental assassin and a loner who charged his enemies like a rampaging buffalo, but with much greater impact. His charges could crush bone and crumple metal and he was a combat experienced veteran. The only nagging question was, "Was he capable of being a team player?" Only time would tell. Except for playing an occasional game of pool (lacking conversation of course), he avoided the rest of the team like the plague and largely kept to himself.

Next, he looked at two of the three members of the Harriers to survive Costa Verde still mission capable: Deacon AKA Lifeline, the team’s medic and Bobbi Chase AKA Blindside, his chosen assistant team leader (over her protests). Both were former agents of SHIELD and former mercenary soldiers. In both occupations they had fought all over the globe and probably had more direct combat experience than Stone himself. In addition, the rapid way they had bounced back from the massacre of the Harriers proved they were as resilient as they seemed. The third Harrier survivor to come out of the Costa Verde mess relatively unscathed, was Andrei Semyanovitch Rostov AKA Piston. His background was similar to the previous two soldiers; however, he had an additional advantage on this mission: he was Russian. Piston was absent from the briefing because he was working on getting his converti-plane ready for the upcoming mission.

Sitting near the former Harriers were two people he knew well: Tork and Alfredo Morelli. The first was his best friend and a former NYPD detective, Tork. He had a distinct preference for undercover work and large caliber firearms with a twelve-gauge shotgun and .44 magnum revolver being his chosen favorites. Stone had brought him into Forceworks for the sole purpose of having him to watch his back.

Alfredo Morelli, who frequently described himself as devilishly handsome, was one of the foremost thieves in the world and a completely different story. He was an acknowledged expert at a multitude of things: locks, security systems, covert surveillance, demolitions, parachuting, SCUBA diving, weapons, electronics, spoke several languages fluently and knew about anything else that a man in his profession would ever need to know. Yet, the most curious fact about him had nothing to do with his skills, but rather his motivations.

Alfredo Morelli came from a rich New York family with old money who had made its fortune in shipping. He had been educated in the finest schools and moved freely through the upper crust of society. Moreover, Morelli was also the sole surviving member of his family and heir to their vast fortune, so he was fantastically wealthy. He had no economic reason to steal, but he had a very real addiction: he was an action junkie. That addiction had led him to become a world-class thief, the best friend to the late son of Wilson Fisk (the notorious Kingpin) and an inmate at Ryker’s Island Prison. What was really strange was that Tork and Stone had put him in prison, yet he appeared to hold no grudge against them. Oddly enough, he acted as if the two former cops were his best friends. Stone doubted if he would ever truly understand Morelli.

Sitting on the next row back were three other survivors of the second Costa Verde mission: Quill, Occult and Meteorite. All were former members of the mutant terrorist group (or freedom fighters depending on your perspective) called the Resistants. Originally seven Resistants had been tapped to join Forceworks on the Costa Verde rescue mission, but some had fallen by the wayside. Mentallo, who had turned traitor on the mission, had been promptly returned to the Vault (missing a few teeth to be sure) as soon as the team had arrived back to the Compound. Crucible, who had fought bravely in the initial stages of the battle, had died as a result of multiple rounds fired from an enemy machinegun. Paralyzer, escaped from the team while in Costa Verde and was currently wanted by Interpol and the U.S. government. A fourth member, Mist Mistress, had briefly attempted escape in Costa Verde, but had returned to her assigned position. Her actions had likely saved the now departed U.S. Agent’s life (though he would never admit it) and had possibly saved the mission. She was currently laid up in the Compound hospital recovering from multiple fractures to one of her legs and a severe concussion, but she had indicated a willingness to remain with the team and Stone would insure (injuries willing) that she had the opportunity.

The three ex-Resistants, Quill, Occult and Meteorite, had each proven themselves in combat in Costa Verde, but he didn’t really trust all of them. Quill was a young black man who had taken some hard knocks being a mutant (especially considering that he was a rather obvious mutant with those big spikes growing out all over his body), but whom Stone felt still had the chance for rehabilitation. Occult seemed pretty okay to Stone also. Like Quill, he was also an obvious mutant with no way to hide his genetic background. Occult had big bulging eyes set into a large oversized head that was in turn, usually covered in battle by a large oversized helmet. The helmet served two purposes. First, it magnified the plasma beams he emitted from his eyes by 200% and second, it provided that big target of a head with some level of protection. His eye beams combined with his telescopic vision made him a real asset to the team. The third former Resistant on the mission was also the most disagreeable one, Meteorite. He was obnoxious, conceited, overbearing and belligerent; however, he was also one of the most powerful members of Forceworks. Meteorite could increase his own body density several times increasing his strength to the level that he could pick up about 10 tons and making his body resistant (no pun intended) to damage. Stone had Strausser increase the level of explosives in the collar that the man wore to account for the man’s increased ability to resist damage. In addition, he had a terrific control of gravity and could make objects lighter. He had used this ability to topple a large stone tower at the prison in Costa Verde and this power made him a deadly opponent. Stone didn’t trust Meteorite as far as he could throw him.

The rest of the assembled ground team was composed of new members or temporary additions to Forceworks. Two of the newcomer’s, sitting together and looking a bit out of place, were old crooks from the early days of costumed menaces. One was Trickshot, an expert archer and (if the rumors were true) the guy that had taught that bow-wielding Avenger, Hawkeye, to shoot. He claimed to be looking to rehabilitate, so Forceworks had given him the chance (with Hawkeye’s recommendation). The other was a member in good standing of the previous Forceworks team, but had been out-of-touch and on leave (to his embarrassment) during the Costa Verde missions. His name was Trapster and he was an expert at using adhesives. He fired them from his wrist-mounted paste-shooters and used them in some special traps of his own design. Like Trickshot, he too was just an old crook looking to rehabilitate. Since both had been enthusiastic volunteers, neither had been forced to wear the explosive collars (which Tork refers to as "loyalty on a neck") that kept the other former members of Forceworks towing the team line.

Two other volunteers that Chapel had scraped up for this mission were Blue Shield (on temporary loan from the Vault) and Captain Ultra, a wannabe superhero that had never really been able to make a successful go of it. Blue Shield is basically a gimmick superhero who relies on a belt that generates a blue force field around his person (hence the original sounding name). Captain Ultra, on the other hand, has some real power. He has terrific fighting skills, is extremely agile, is stronger than any single person in Forceworks (he could dead lift 10 tons without a hitch), can fly and has incredible endurance. He even has the ability to look through objects to an extent (he calls it penetration vision). However, he also has some real weaknesses. He has zero confidence, a pathological fear of flame (he gets so scared that he passes out in it’s presence) and a talent for doing the absolutely worst thing in any given situation. In addition, he is a bit of a braggart, wears the gaudiest (and ugliest) costume imaginable and talks in this strange comic opera voice. Most major superhero groups (and even one villain group) have turned him down for membership at one time or another, so Forceworks is probably his last chance to avoid being a superpowered plumber for life.

Iron Maiden was a one-shot deal. She was a former member of the KGB who had been one of their most active operatives during the Cold War. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the armor-plated Iron Maiden had become a rogue agent-for-hire and a minor criminal. She is intentionally abrasive, exceptionally arrogant and isn’t trustworthy in the least. She was hired as a mission specialist because of her familiarity with the specific target zone, her command of the language and her knowledge of Russian operations. She would be paid off quick after this mission and probably never used again.

The last new member had become the bane of my existence over the past few days. The tall, muscular, blond headed man with the neat ponytail hanging down his back and a hideously scarred face went by the name: Bushwacker. He was a cold-blooded killer-for-hire with a very nasty hobby of hunting down and killing mutants in his spare time. He claimed he was ex-CIA and ex-U.S. Navy, but neither organization would admit to ever having employed him. His primary weapon was his prosthetic gun-arm that had replaced his right forearm. It was cleverly designed to function exactly like a normal arm until he flicked that neural switch which made it transform into a hi-tech machine gun. In addition, he had an unbelievably high tolerance for pain, which meant he could be severely wounded and still feel well enough to kill you. Bushwacker obviously had some big mental problems including a decided tendency towards paranoia and a pathological hatred of mutants (he sat through the entire mission briefing pretending to be aiming and firing an imaginary pistol at the back of each of the ex-Resistants heads), but that was not his worst trait. He is basically a mean spirited S.O.B. with a wicked tongue.

In the few days that he had been assigned to Forceworks, he had caused problems with most members of the team and staff.. I should have realized there would be a problem after he held his first conversation with Pete Petruski AKA The Trapster during his first breakfast in the Compound cafeteria.

 *******************************************************************************************

"Pleased to meet you," Pete said.

"Hey," replied Bushwacker. "Don’t I know you? You look familiar to me."

Pleased at having been being recognized, Pete responded happily, "I’m Pete Petruski AKA The Trapster!" To which Bushwacker gave his own response.

He laughed.

Puzzled, Pete asked him, "What’s so funny?"

Responding through laughter, Bushwacker replied, "Didn’t you used to be called Paste-Pot Pete?"

Embarrassed, a red-faced Pete answered, "That was a long time ago." Bushwacker continued to laugh, so Pete trying to get him to stop said, "Hey, I’ve had a fairly distinguished career!"

Bushwacker continued to laugh and said sarcastically, "Right……….."

Pete, being persistent, said, "I helped the Avengers once!"

"Did they ask you to join?" Bushwacker asked grinning.

"Well no", Pete replied, (he was really getting embarrassed at this point because people at other tables were starting to notice) then said, "I was a member of the Frightful Four!" Bushwacker began to laugh again.

" We fought the Fantastic Four on several occasions and I’ve personally fought Captain America!" Pete exclaimed.

"Really? Did you win?" Bushwacker asked.

In a very quiet voice, Pete replied, "Well…not exactly." Bushwacker continued to laugh and it at that point some others began to laugh also.

Pete gave up. Red-faced, ears burning with the room’s mocking laughter and feeling thoroughly humiliated, he dearly wished he was wearing his paste-shooters, so he could seal this guys mouth shut (later, Tork had to do everything he could to prevent that from happening). He picked up his tray, dropped it off in the dish window and headed for the doors.. As Pete slunk out the doors of the cafeteria, he heard Bushwacker say, "Seeya around Paste-Pot!"

Unfortunately, the name stuck. Most of the former inmates of the Vault (and some of the support staff) started calling him that and Pete stayed in a permanent state of misery. I talked to Tremens about the incident and he was greatly amused, "About time we got someone funny around this place."

 *******************************************************************************************

Bushwacker had become increasingly disruptive after his humiliation of Pete Petruski in the cafeteria went unpunished by Tremens. In the few days until this mission rolled around, one of the few who hadn’t been subjected to Bushwacker’s acerbic wit was Tremens who though he was a "real hoot."

He referred to Blue Shield whenever he drew within earshot as "a minor league man in a major league world." The over-sensitive adolescent Quill became ‘Pin Cushion." He claimed to have seen Trickshot picking his nose in the smoking area, so he began to call him "Snot shot" (which Trickshot, with his weird sense of humor, seemed to think was kind of funny). He referred to the ex-Resistants as "The Sell Outs" because he claimed they had surrendered their ideals to work for the government. Iron Maiden was ‘The Big Metal Commode." Finally, he discovered that Peter Quinn AKA Occult had formerly been called Peeper when he was with Mutant Force, so Bushwacker called him "Pee Pee" and insinuated that the reason Quinn had originally chosen the name was due to the fact that Quinn’s sex life consisted strictly of looking through other people’s windows while they were coupling. Captain Ultra avoided him like the plague, because Bushwacker would light flick his lighter and scare him into unconsciousness every time he saw him. After three days, almost everyone hated him like poison and that’s when it got worse.

One night, in the Rec room, Bushwacker (with a little help from the normally taciturn Bullet, who Bushwacker NEVER messed with), talked Meteorite (with his increased density) and Captain Ultra into arm wrestling. It was a fairly even match early on, but Captain Ultra’s endurance made the difference; after an hour and a half, Captain Ultra put Meteorites arm on the table. Meteorite, with that massive ego, was pretty angry about it, so Bushwacker started getting him riled up. Saying stuff like, "You got whipped by a goofy flatscan" and things like that. Within minutes, Meteorite was slugging it out with a very surprised Captain Ultra. By the time security was able to separate them, the Rec room was demolished. I tried to get Tremens to dump him the next day; however, Bushwacker offered to pay for the damages to the Rec room, so the Colonel let him stay.

Needless to say, by the time we reached Masirah Island, only one thing was certain. It was a complete crapshoot trying to figure out who would be the first to try and shoot Bushwacker in the back once we hit the war zone.

A few minutes later, the briefing was over and I stood up, informed the team that we would leave in six hours and told them to get some rest.

******************************************************************************************* 

The two converti-planes flew low over Azerbaijan closely following the terrain. They were 20 minutes from reaching their destination, a small village near the border with Iran. Once there, Forceworks would rendezvous with their contact, deploy to ambush a convoy of trucks, seize their cargo, gather all intelligence or prisoners possible then sneak back out of the country the same way they got in.

*******************************************************************************************

A soldier passed the radio handset to the nightmarish man in charge, Grigori Andreivitch. The leader spoke into the radio in Russian.

"We are in position. The stolen nuclear devices will be in our hands in less than two hours."

******************************************************************************************* 

A convoy of trucks is snaking southward.

 *******************************************************************************************

NEXT ISSUE: Forceworks vs. Remont! What will happen when these three groups collide in that little Azerbaijani village? Who will be the first to frag Bushwacker? After the completion of this mission will the team’s record be 2-1 or 1-2?