Iron Man 2099UG #6 (Volume 3)

Deception. Easily obtained with patience. To deceive consistently requires more patience than most have, but for a select few they have the power to constantly deceive multitudes at a time. Alastair Stark wasn't the exception to the rule; he wasn't any different. He was patient. His patience was possible the only reason why he is so close to escape, he was able to wait for the perfect moment to make his jail break. Deceit seemed to be a family trait going well pass his infamous great grandfather Tony Stark. His whole family's existence was built on lies. At one time he even debated the validity of his family name; that is how far these deceptions ran. If it hadn't been for this almost genetic trait that seemed to be woven deeply into him, he would not have been able to deceive the whole corporate system and the world. Unfolding in front of him at this moment was the fruit of these lies, in the form of his creation the Iron Man.

Stark hugged tightly against the wall as bullets poured into the side of the open door that led to surface level of the prison. He had been lucky the trip up the lifts. Rhod had disabled most of the prison guards that had been working the late shift. It had made it easier and a lot safer to reach surface level without as much as a scratch. He slid closer to the door still hugging the wall tightly and peeked through the crack between the doorframe and the hinges.

"Amazing..." He whispered under his breath, watching the glistening golden and red man take the wave of bullets with out being phased.

A bullet ricocheted off the side of the door startling Stark and sent him tumbling to the floor. He wasn't been hit, but he had a sharp pain that attacked his rear. Quickly he pushed himself up; a sense of relief overtook him. Again, he crept closer to his peek hole and watched his creation fight with utter amazement. He had only seen him fight in person a few times, but never on this large of scale. He watched a few more seconds before ducking back further in the hall. He was close to being free and wasn't going to get himself killed by watching the battle unfold outside.

The minutes passed, slowly. Stark waited, his hands lifeless by his side until he heard nothing. No more shots, no more screams, no more explosions, just an uneasy silence that shattered his nerves. It ended so abruptly, there were so many of them and he was certain Rhod was low on power. He didn't have time to invoke the self-repair protocol only the search protocol that seemed to have worked. He wished he had had more time in cyberspace.

Stark slowly moved toward the door, he breathed in deep before he opened it up totally to the outside. The hanger had all but been destroyed, the old metal roof had caved in and bodies of prison guards had been thrown about the place. Stark stepped around the bodies, some of them were half burned, other didn't looked like a thing had been done to them, while others had limbs and other body parts missing. With the little moonlight that did penetrate the heavy cloud cover Stark made his way around the pools of blood that had collected. Some of other ones had streamed together into a long snake-like river that ran all the way outside the hanger's front doors.

Stark froze in his place upon hearing a descending hiss that he believed to be a vehicle behind him. His face turned a pale white with a little color still in the edges of his cheeks. All his fear returned in an instant, he didn't want to go back, he wasn’t. He had been so close.

"I'm glad to see one of you made it out of the ‘safe house’ alive." Rhod said as he touched down.

"For the love of Thor..." Stark shouted in relief.

"Like I said down there, Andros, I have a few questions you better shockin' answer for me. Or I'll leave your ass here." Rhod looked down on Stark.

"Fine, I'll answer whatever you want me to. We just better get out of here now, I doubt a major prison break goes unnoticed."

"Alright."

Rhod reached out and grabbed Stark under his armpits, his feet hissed and the two were airborne. Rhod stabilized himself and started north.

"Where to? I'm guessing we can't go to New York..."

"Niagara. I have a few contacts there, they might help us." Stark looked up at Rhod. "Your GPS still online?"

"If it wasn't, I probably wouldn't have found you here."

***

It was his, the whole thing his. It was filled to the top with possibly his most favorite substance on the world; there was no denying that it was in his top three most treasured things on planet Earth. Roy Gladney beamed with a childish smile of joy hunched over his mini refrigerator in his new office. The endless supply of alcoholic beverages almost brought a joyous tear to his wrinkled face as he reached in and snagged his favorite brand of Stark/Fujikawa brandy.

"I love you..." He squeaked as he faked wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

There are perks being department head of one of Stark/Fujikawa’s leading research complex; the one that Roy knew he would enjoy the most would be the free liquor that would be restocked every night. This was his paradise, he had liquor, he could fire those he didn’t like, and everyone had to do what he said. He had been waiting for this job all his life.

Roy pushed himself up straight, catching the back of his dress pants that had slowly been working their way down to his butt crack. He hitched them up to his waist as he rolled the small bottle in his hand watching the liquid inside dance with the motion. Heaven, he thought, he was simply in heaven now.

"You’ve only been director for five hours now and you are already raiding the mini bar...you’re a piece of work." Helen Poulson, who Gladney revered as his arch-nemesis, stood in the doorframe. Her hands were firmly planted on her round waist, her stomach almost folded over the top of her white lab pants.

Gladney didn’t even look back but kept his eyes on the bottle of brandy. He quickly popped the top of the small bottle and took a short swig before he acknowledged Helen.

"Problem?" He said in-between his sigh of satisfaction.

"I don’t know what kind of deal you made with Sama when you were up in New York, but I don’t like it." She snarled from the doorway.

"I didn’t make any deal, Chad screwed up. Plain and simple." He paused for another quick sip. "Sama probably has a little respect for me..." He burped in mid-sentence. "...’Cause I stared him down and didn’t flinch when he was chewin’ us out. Just admit it, I might be the best person for the job."

"I’m going to find out what it is, and I’m going to get you removed off this project." She said firmly waiting for him to counter, it wasn’t like Gladney not to counter after being threaten.

No one said anything for a minute. The eerie silence disturbed her. Even when Roy was drunk he was always quick with a remark especially in cases like these, but he just turned his back toward her. He faced his desk and broad empty wall.

"Do me a favor..." Roy said. "Call a staff meeting in ten minutes."

***

It was all gibberish to Edward Hurley, mindless babble of techno jargon that he couldn’t hope to fully understand in his lifetime. Despite the displeased look that crossed his face the three technicians carried on trying to explain to him the complexities of what had gone wrong when they tried accessing the files. The more they spoke, the stronger the look he gave them. This trip has put him in a very fowl mood, especially getting the news about Starks prison escapades. This situation wasn't helping.

"So..." Hurley silenced the three with the single word. "You're telling me that what we got was a virus. That these aren't the files?" Hurley glared at them flashing clenched teeth waiting for one of them to respond.

"Well, yes and no." The middle technician shrugged slightly trying to figure out a simple way to explain. "The files were there, yes. But!" He said cautiously. "They were already corrupted after we received them, probably a failsafe that was built in. We managed to contain the virus..." He said glancing out of the corner of his eyes at his counterparts. They stood silent listening to him explain. "But not before it infected some of the data processing pathways. It will take time to repair those, but the good news is it is only isolated to this department." He said with a smile beginning to form.

Hurley blank stared at the three, his jaw drooping a bit. "And that is suppose to make me feel better? How?" He shook his head amazed that they thought they had accomplished something good.

"It could have been worse." The middle one retorted, stunned that Hurley wasn't pleased.

"No, it will only get worse. Let me bring some reality into this conversation for you. This Iron Man debacle is costing Sama billions, yes billions my friend. I suggest you work very hard in making those files un-corrupt, because when it comes down to the money or you. Sama will take the money, you're replaceable." Hurley stood up and started to leave the conference area. He looked back over his shoulder before exiting and said. "Time is not a luxury, gentlemen."

As the door slid shut behind him Hurley rubbed his eyes trying to relax himself. He wished he hadn't taken this assignment, but at the time the money seemed too good. Looking back at it Hurley decided that he was being severely underpaid for this one, hopefully Sama would look kindly on him in the end and give him a bonus. Hardly, he thought, Sama was a tight wad and very protective of his money rarely renegotiating contracts and disguising his true feelings under an 'Honor Code' that he claimed to live by.

Hurley's pants began to vibrate; he had set his phone to silent mode and had forgotten to turn it back to normal. He reached in his pocket and raised the phone to his ear, not bothering to look at who was calling. He wasn't expecting a call, but in his line of work it was common. He listened. Slowly his face went white and a lump came up in his throat his lips slowly parted with a stunned aspect washing over his whole being.

"Shock me." He whispered to himself.

***

The chilly morning slowly eroded away over the city of Niagara Falls Free Trade Zone into a warmer afternoon. The city buzzed with traffic all about in the sky and on the land. Meg-levs zoomed in-between the high raising glass towers that dominated while ground transports snaked their way through the giant maze of multi-level streets. The city bridges that crisis-crossed every inch of Niagara were crowded with people, the bridges full of people that hustled back and forth between home and work or where every else they might be headed. Unlike New York, Niagara had a feeling of safety in the air something Rhod was not use to.

Rhod tapped at the image-castor that was strapped around his waist. The digital image that cloaked him flickered for a moment and then reset itself. It was a cheap image-castor that they had picked up on their way up to Niagara to help him blend in. Rhod had selected an image of a man that looked similar to him, but not as rough around the edges as him. He had been waiting for Stark for nearly an hour in the market. It seemed so weird to call a man he had first come to know as Andros Starr a runaway scientist from Stark/Fujikawa to Alastair Stark a descendant of Tony Stark. He had to constantly remind himself of that fact that there never was an ‘Andros Starr’, that everything that this Alastair Stark might have told him was a lie.

So much had transpired in the last week that this simple fact seemed lost in the utter chaos he had endured. Mach was dead, the safe house with all the research was gone, and Stark/Fujikawa had aggressively stepped up its offensive against them. He wasn’t prepared for this, not this path and the road that lay in front of him didn’t seem any less bumpy.

"Javier!"

Rhod picked up his head looking to his left from the bench he was perched on. It was Alastair that had called to him from the sea of people moving against him. He waved fiercely to grab Rhods attention, Rhod waved back calmly trying not to make a scene.   Alastair had a large smile plastered on his thin face that seemed to run all the way to his ears. His slick backed black hair shone in the sunny winter rays.

"We’ll be making contact with my people soon." He said taking a seat next to Rhod.

"When? I think the power life on this image-castor will soon be done." Rhod said touching the device.

"Closer to evening. These streets are almost empty. There’s no SHIELD here, only pay cops. They’ll look the other way." Stark draped his arms on the back of the bench as he looked up and the block. He watched the mass people move about in the market with a curious look on his face. Stark was always fascinated with people, especially large amounts of people. The question always on the forefront of his mind, how do you control them all?

Rhod looked over at Stark who seemed lost in his own little world. "Andr...Alastair, who are ‘your people’ anyway?"

Stark didn’t answer, his mind still drifted only hearing some of Rhods question. "People with our views..." He said half aware of what he was actually saying.

"What the shock does that mean? I don’t even know you anymore, how can it be ‘our’ views? All I know is that you could be lying to me about this too!" Rhod said angrily, his mood was reflected in the caste image.

"Look, Rhod." Stark still had a strong smile on his face. "I may have lied about my name, but I was always honest about what I wanted to do." Stark turned a bit to face Rhod better, crossing his leg. "I want reform, you want it too, and so do these people. We are all fighting the good fight, isn’t that enough for now?"

"I’m fighting for something besides reform, Stark." Rhod said sharply. "I’m fighting to be normal again and not this freak of nature. I’m unwillingly fighting your battles for you."

"Javier, I promise you...I promised you that I would get the nanites out of your system. I’m not a man to go back on my word, but in the mean time just realize you are apart of something special. You’re bringing about change! You’re making the world a better place for everyone. Most would call that a noble deed you are doing, and I’m one of them." Stark patted Rhods leg with a large smile still on his face. "I’m hungry, let’s find a place to eat." Stark jumped up and quickly followed the sea of people down the street with Rhod following lazily.

***

Stark reached for the last bread stick as Rhod sat with his arms folded tried of watching him stuffing his face. It wasn’t the music that had been blaring at a deafen volume or the too nice for their own good waitresses that buzzed around that annoyed Rhod. Yes, they did annoy him, but they weren’t at the root of his displeasure. What annoyed him most was being in the dark and not having a clue of what's going on. Something Starr or Stark or whatever his real name was sitting across from him did quite often, and Rhod was getting sick of it.

"Excellent food." Stark said between bites with a smile plastered all over his face.

That was another thing that had been annoying Rhod, he couldn’t eat and he resented Stark rubbing that in his face. He couldn’t even smell the buttered bread if he wanted to, the nanites made it impossible for him. With each bite Stark took he felt less human, silently praying to Thor that he could once again just briefly taste the warm butter that topped the bread. Rhod wished he could vocalize his feelings and lay them out, even when he was human he had trouble with that. But all he could do was grunt and hide them.

"What’s wrong?" Stark swallowed before he spoke, reaching for his glass of water.

"Nothing." Rhod kept the blank expression on his face. He slid down in his seat a bit as he watched Stark take a quick sip of water, remembering how good it felt to have cool liquid wash his tongue and throat.

Stark sat the glass down and eyed Rhod for a second. "With that image-castor I could swear it shows emotions. Rhod, we aren’t outlaws here. I say enjoy the time while we have it." Stark shrugged reaching for another piece of bread.

"Here you go sir." The waitress, Emily, who they had ordered from earlier, emerged from the chaos that was the restaurant’s lower level. She held the tray carrying Starks food high above here head and slowly lowered it. When the tray was chest level she removed the steaming plate of fajitas and placed them in front of Stark. "There you go." She smiled turning to Rhod. She tilted her head a bit, her short pink hair followed and smiled at Rhod. "Are you sure I can’t get anything for you sir? Not even water?" She smiled harder.

"No. I’m fine." Rhod said disheartened.

"Um...This is kinda against rules and policies..." She said still smiling at Rhod. She tightly grasped the round tray in both her hands as she gathered her self before she continued. "But my shift is over in an hour...and. um...I was wondering...um...if you like would like to go get some coffee or something?" She said with her eyes now tightly shut waiting for his reply.
Rhod glanced across the table at Stark who had already begun assembling his fajitas. All Stark could do was grin trying desperately to fight back any laughter he felt coming on. He had no plans to help Rhod in this situation and patiently waited Rhods response.

"Well you see, darlin’..." Rhod started looking the girl over better. He had ignored her the first time she had come around and hadn’t noticed that she was quite cute with the pink hair and the light blue eyes that just sparkled when they met his. He could already see heartbreak in her feature before he could even get to his ‘easy’ let down. "I’m already involved with someone...But if I wasn’t, I would snatch you up in a heart beat." He tried to smile.

"Yeah...well...enjoy your meal." She walked off, her head somewhat hung low. Rhod felt bad about that, but his current appearance, the appearance she liked was all just focused light and would disappear when the power cell died.

"I feel a little sorry for the girl." Stark said grabbing another fajita.

"What did you want me to say then? ‘I’m sorry I would love to meet you after work, but in my current state I’m a living super weapon of mass destruction on the run from the Stark/Fujikawa Corporation?’ Yeah, that would have gone over well." Rhod shook his head.

"You could have been nicer." Stark shrugged jamming the last bite of the fajita in his mouth.

"Hurry up, I hate these type of restaurants anyway. Isn‘t it getting close to time for meeting your ‘contacts’?" Rhod grasped the buckle of his image-castor belt and flipped it so he could see the power reading. "I only have an hour left of power."

"We’ve got time." He started another fajita. "You said something about another specimen that looked just like you earlier?"

"Yeah, stronger, faster, but it seemed all automated. Knocked itself out...Really, hurry up being low on power is making me kinda nervous here." Rhod said with urgency.

"I’ll..." Stark devours his last fajita. "I’m done." He said swallowing the large bite hard and dropping the last bite of fajita back on the plate.

"So where are we meeting them?" Rhod said starting to stand.

"Degen Town." Stark said with a smile on his face as he quickly wiped it clean with his paper napkin.

***

Could nothing go right today for Edward Hurley? It seemed too much for him to ask that at least one thing goes right for him, that's all he asked for just one thing. He was tired of being made to look like a fool, first with the files earlier today and now this. It had been his idea to stick Stark in that prison outside of Washington and away from New York. Keeping distance between Stark and his pet project seemed to him the best strategy to bring out this Iron Man, but in no less than twenty-four hours it had all back fired.

"Right, we don't know where he is. Perfect, just shockin' perfect. Really, can someone please tell me how this happened? I thought maximum-security prisons were supposed to be secure? I thought that was the shockin' reason why we stuck Stark there in the first place!" Hurley got nose to nose with the holo-graphic projection of Kevin Holden's head, the warden of the prison Stark was being held at.

"It happened so fast, my men weren't ready. It knew exactly where to hit and when, the thing is a killing machine. The boy built it right." Kevin Holden spoke at a normal speaking level voice, trying to stay calm.

"Did any SHIELD patrols spot it?" Hurley whirled around and took in New York's skyline from his office at Stark/Fujikawa Tower. He hoping that Holden would say yes that some patrol spotted them and the direction they where heading. That might just be his one big break of the day he needed if a SHIELD patrol spotted them.

"Only on a heat tracker, disappeared around Buffalo."

"Jammit, he's going to Niagara..." Hurley slammed his fist on his desk; he knew Stark was just out of reach. "Damn Accord that Sama signed with Ares International..."

"So you boys can't go in with guns a blazin'?" Holden chuckled.

"Phone off." Hurley snarled out loud. The connection was cut with Holden and Hurley was once again alone in his office.

The accord seriously handicapped him in his efforts to retrieve Stark and the Iron Man. No Stark/Fujikawa Watchdog employees could set foot in Niagara according to the deal that Ares International and Sama struck. Niagara Falls Free Trade Zone had been under the thumb of Alchemax for so long and Ares International acted more like a cog in Alchemax than a separate entity. The accord had been standing now for the past six years, but the landscape had changed. There was no more Alchemax, or there was no more Alchemax grip on Niagara. Ares was on its own there with hungry wolves all around her, she would more than likely make some concessions.

Hurley turned around and stepped closer to the holo-phone and pressed a button at its base to activate it again. "Ares International, Amanda Drake."

***

It felt like home down in the lower levels of Niagara, it had the similar look and that signature smell of rotten eggs that Rhod thought he could only find in Downtown. If it hadn’t been for the dominating city bridges of above that cloaked this basement level of the city in eternal darkness Rhod could have sworn it was Downtown. Most of the buildings were old twencen brick buildings in disrepair. Every few buildings there was one just a bit more modern, but still out of date by today’s standards. Rhod quickly realized why it’s ‘Degen Town’, most of its inhabitants were Degens. Most were out of copyright and others probably run away from the States.

To Rhod the sidewalks were covered with circus sideshows, but in his present state he wasn’t able to comment. He was still learning that on some levels he is one of these people, if you could even call them people anymore. It frightens him to no end as he and Stark walled the streets that were wrapped in the weak glow of city streetlights. In the end, he was a Degen, or one form of it.

"For Thor’s sake, why would anyone want to live down here?" Rhod turned to Stark, with look of disgust on his face.

"Some don’t have a choice." Stark shrugged waving off an on coming street vendor with wares in hand.

"Are your contacts...well ya’know..." Rhod leaned his head closer to Starks as they continued to walk. "Degens?" He whispered softly in his ear.

"No, no. Ares International’s Legion patrols stay far away from down here." Stark smiled. "Niagara is neutral ground, with Alchemax in ruins the city is pretty much on its own. The Canadians aren’t taking much of a chance by walking in and taking over, have major riots on their hands if they did. Can’t necrotoxicify the area, it’s too big."

"So basically this is the safest place on Earth right now?" Rhod asked.

"Yeah, somewhat. Especially for what I have planned." Stark smiled picking up the pace a bit.

"And what’s that?" Curiosity marked Rhod’s voice as he matched Starks speed.

"You’ll see."

Stark stopped in front of what looked like an old hotel, most of the windows were broken and the front doors looked like they just sat on their hinges. It looked like most buildings that ran up and down the street except for the sign, or what’s left of the sign, on the front that hung above the doors. Stark smiled harder and started up the steps to the front door.

"’Ton Hotel?" Rhod said as he followed Stark up the steps.

The image-castor around Rhod waist beeped softly catching both the attention of Rhod and Stark. The caste image that engulfed his true figure flickered out like a candle being blown out. Rhod sighed heavily saddened that he no longer had the outward appearance of a man. He had enjoyed those few short hours as a normal and not attracting stares, well not stares with disgusted looks. He had just begun getting use to being in crowded areas again with people, real normal people. In the light as well, not hid away in the darkness like the freaks that found refuge here.

"We’ll pick up another power cell for it." Stark said trying to comfort Rhod.

Stark stepped closer to the door and raised his hand balled into a fist to knock on the door with. Slowly his fist move toward the wood of the door until it paused suddenly, as if Stark was hesitating on purpose. Drama, Rhod thought, Stark always wanted to make things dramatic as possible. Starks arm dropped to his side and he looked over his shoulder, his lips slowly mouthing words to Rhod.

"Scan...the...building..." It looked to be the words he had mouthed.

Rhod stepped forward next to Stark and extended his neck a bit. Quickly he let his infrared sensors search for heat, to his amazement the building was cold probably due to sensor resistant plating on the inside. The building was too old to have it installed at the time it was built, this was a recent addition and a spotty one at that. He got glimpses of heat signatures pouring out of the cracks in-between the plates, whoever had installed them had done it quickly. Rhod powered his sensors more and could make out flashes of hot, probably a person or hot coffee. He couldn’t be sure, but definitely something was in there.

"I see flashes of heat...they plated the building up with some metal that my sensors can‘t break through, can’t really get a fix on anything."

"I guess we are going to have to leave it up to fate then..." Stark extended his arm and knocked on the door forcefully.

Deep down Rhod felt like something was wrong, he couldn’t place his finger on the emotion or really name it. If he had to label it though he would have probably labeled it anxiety mixed with a hint of fear. Again he was stepping into the unknown at full running speed. He had no guide this time. When he first became trapped in this suit of nanotech he had Stark to guide him. But now, he had no one, he couldn’t even trust the one man he once respected. He charged his weapon systems with a thought, it soothed his fear but the anxiety still had its death grip upon him. He watched the door crack open and balled his fist, he was ready. Half power would roast anything this close and Rhod was ready to unleash it if the person greeting them was a hostile.

A graying haired man stuck his head through the crack and a large smile creased his face. He looked like a kindly old grandfather; he had the same gentle caring brown eyes as his grandfather, Rhod thought. He had only seen faded wrinkled photos of his grandfather that his mother had carried over from Spain. The eyes of this elder man and that of his grandfather seemed to match perfectly. Rhod cut the power to his weapon systems, he felt safe in this man presence. There was nothing sinister to him only a peaceful aurora blanketed him. The sudden thought crossed Rhod’s mind that this was possibly the closest thing he would ever come to matching his grandfather’s caring eyes with any living being. The door opened wider and Rhod’s fear returned.

“How...how? SHIELD here?” Rhod said dumbfounded stumbling back.

Oh, how eyes lied.

Fear coursed through Rhod's body. Clenching his teeth he balled his fist tightly stepping in front of Stark to protect him. They had been setup again. He should have known that SHIELD had been tapping all of Stork’s communications. If they had tapped it when Stark was supposedly to meet a hacker with pass codes to Stark/Fujikawa's mainframe, why couldn't they have tapped it again? He felt real foolish; to be lead into another ambush this one seemed too obvious. But being ambushed and trapped seemed to be the theme for he and Stark over the past month.

"Get back." Rhod said.

His hands tingled and began to glow with a fresh surge of power running to his weapon systems there. Warning messages flashed, one after another, he overrode them all. He didn't like overriding those messages he had learned his lesson back in New York when he leveled their former safe house. He was not too fond of losing control of his body again so it could recharge.

"Javier!" Stark yelled over the sizzling of power being given off by Rhod's glowing hands.

"What!?" Rhod said, throwing a look over his shoulder while he kept his defensive stance.

"He's my contact." Stark got shoulder to shoulder with Rhod.

Rhod turned his attention back to the aging SHIELD agent pressed up against the door's frame chuckling to himself. He was much taller and broader than Rhod had realized. His arms were perfectly cut, and seemed to be restricted a bit by his uniform. His body had the appearance of a strong young man, but his face told a much different story. The crow's feet wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, his gray hair, and smile lines told Rhod that he was easily fifty and most definitely in shape.

***

Those frost blue eyes, cold and shallow, sat him at unease. Amanda Drake slowly wrapped her thin finger around her platinum colored hair in delight. A sinister smile etched with red full lips graced her face. The Ares International Chief Executive Officer started to circle the holographic projection in the middle of her pure white marble office, much like a predator did its wounded prey before the final strike. Edward Hurley shuddered as she circled him, her long thick heels clicked with every step on the marble floor. It irked his nerves greatly, making him edgy. He felt her blue eyes search him for weakness; he stood taller and corrected his posture.

“I like you.” She purred passing through the image causing it to flicker out.

“How comforting.” Hurley’s voice lacked emotion. His holographic image readjusted itself back into focus with a low hiss.

“Stark/Fujikawa seems to be a virus.” She moved closer to her desk, leaning on its edge. It struck Hurley odd that the whole office was just one giant piece of marble, including the desk that had been craved in the center. “Attacking and replicating.” She flashed a quick smile.

“Indeed. It’s a new era! Something was bound to change. It just so happened that Alchemax was the first step.”

“You’re looking for Alastair, Alastair Stark. That’s the reason for this call, isn’t it?” Drake smiled innocently, reveling in his apparent shock. “Did you think I was only a pawn of Alchemax, Mr. Hurley? Shame, shame on you.” She shook her head and laughed a bit, she truly enjoyed this. “ I have my own informants within your organization. I am quite capable on surviving on my own. But as you said, a new era, a new era full of new friendships.”

***

The holographic line was cut and Hurley was again alone in his office. Things had started to look up for him, greatly. He had access to Niagara Falls, even if it was on a limited basses, with a small group of Corporate Raiders. Amanda Drake had also ensured him the help of the Legions, the Ares police force for the city. He didn’t truly trust Drake, but he had no other choice to.

Again, he pressed the button on the base of the holographic phone and spoke. “Scorpion.”

***
Alastair laughed a moment as he looked out among the faces below him from the grand staircase. He stood perched on the first landing; his hand stuffed snug in his pants pockets. He waited for the side conversations to die out from the thirty or so that he was about to address. Scanning the crowd he looked for Rhod, he found him in the back. His arms crossed waiting for answers, or truths more like it. Alastair was somewhat sorry that he had to lie, and for this long but the situation called for it. These plans had been laid for years and Rhod was not in the original blue prints at all. An amazing addition, Alastair would only confide to himself, but amazing addition it was. He started to speak, catching the attention of the few to the sides that still carried on with conversations.

“You’ve all been here in Niagara for a couple of months now. My friend, Neil Coplin,” Stark nodded toward the direction of a man in the front row, the one who had greeted them at the door. “Has kept you pretty busy these last few months. Probably wondering why you were gathering all this equipment, especially all this equipment that deals with cyberspace. Simple, really.” He shrugged pacing back and forth on the landing. “You’re all here because you supported Doom and his efforts to put the Corps in place. That’s why you joined SHIELD, to support Doom and his goals. You wanted a better tomorrow, just like he did. I want that better tomorrow too, so does Neil.” He stopped to clear his throat. “Alchemax has already fallen, know what that tells me? These bastards aren’t as invincible as they would have us think. But we have to band together, and make a few certain concessions along the way to get that better tomorrow. In the next few weeks we will be preparing for a hostile take over of the Stark/Fujikawa Corporation.” Alastair’s face was drawn serious now. “The ground floor for our battle has already been established. We will win this.” He nodded as if agreeing with himself. “All I ask is your support.”

***
Next Issue-
The Scorpion strikes...!