The Becoming (Super Heroes)

[Imperial Overlord]

October 19, 2002

Taskmaster stood at the podium of the small theater. His agents filled the first row, a dozen metahuman men and women who trusted him and were willing to put their lives on the line for him.

"This operation has been green lighted," he lied. "The target is one of Black Arion's last bases, if not last base." The screen behind him flicked on and projected an aerial photograph. "This is the hill country on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. It is effectively uncontrolled by what passes for the central government of both countries. No heavy equipment was involved in it's construction. The base was likely excavated by The Alchemist transmuting earth and stone into air."

He paused a moment for that to sink in. "What about vents man?" said Iron Mike. "At least some of those motherfuckers will need to breath."

"When one has Chronus and The Alchemist, vents cease to be essential," replied Taskmaster. "The base is, for all purposes, invisible until it was compromised. The individuals that Black Arion suborned are useless without proper handling and that means communications and that means a trail. And it lead here. The plan is simple.

"We arrive. We deploy a teleport screen." And pray to whatever gods that exist that it manages to disrupt whatever teleport system they employ. "Rictor cracks it open and we assault the base before they can organize an effective defense."

"We're talking about Chronus, The Prophet, and all their boys and girls," said Patricia. "They're dangerous rolling out of bed. Not that tall, shiny, and metallic sleeps in a bed."

"There is considerable risk," Taskmaster conceded. "Security concerns demand that this operation remain in house. Black Arion has compromised too many other organizations." Which was mostly true. "I will be leading the assault personally."

There was silence for a moment. "Boss," said Iron Mike, "this ain't a picnic."

"I've done field work before."

"Yes," said the Centurion, "he has. And he even managed to pull his weight."

"All equipment from the arsenal is authorized for this mission," said Taskmaster. "Including the Class X vault." There was a stir from the assembled agents. "Except for the MK VII. Questions?"

"Is this really the big show?" asked Iron Mike. "I mean, are we really going to be cutting off the head of the motherfucking snake?"

"Yes," said Taskmaster. "Unless I have erred. Which is unlikely."

"You can say that again," said Iron Mike.

"Engagement conditions?" asked Blackheart.

"Do not endanger yourselves in order to take prisoners. This will be hard fought and the intelligence value of Black Arion members has declined. One hundred percent enemy casualties is not ideal, but it is acceptable. Any other questions?"

"When do we go?" whispered Rictor. Like Blackheart he wore a suit of form fitting black body armour, although unlike Blackheart he still looked like a scrawny black teenager with a crew cut, prominent cheekbones, and skin just a little bit lighter than his armour.

"Six hours," said Taskmaster. "Any other questions?"

Silence greeted his words.

"Everything else is prepared. Use the time as you see fit." Atavistic activities like prayer would surely eat into it as well as sentimental letters written to loved ones and so on. He walked out of the theater. Patricia followed him.

"Boss."

"Yes?"

"About the MK."

"It's off limits because it is configured to my physiology."

"It's black market of more than a little bit questionable providence."

"From a parallel time line, fifty years in the future relative to ours. Our techs have been over it. I've tested it. It will serve."

"How did the DoD not get their hands on it? The power armour gap has got to be driving them crazy."

"Their bottleneck is power and since there are two people in the world who know how to make red mercury and one of them is The Alchemist and the other is known by the codename Red Silver it remains the bottleneck until we can figure out how to synthesize it or develop an alternate method of making a small scale portable power source of sufficient magnitude to run a suit."

"The Nazis managed."

"They managed one that gave the operator radiation poisoning."

"You kept it from them, didn't you?"

"I simply didn't inform them of something that wasn't there business. We were working with Justice when we took the suit. The DoD is involved with alternatives to power armour. Not that the gap is important. The Soviets have only a handful of suits and less than half as many metahumans as we do. Their military has only avoided disintegration by shrinking. You should focus on the task at hand and not on what secrets I'm keeping."

"You keep a lot of secrets."

"They are an effective tool and despite the crazed nature Black Arion's efforts, the world is far too close to burning. I intend to delay the day of ignition for as long as possible."

[SCRawl]

You know, I was just thinking to myself this morning as I procrastinated about getting myself up, "I haven't read an update to 'The Becoming' in a while. Pity." And this is what greets my morning e-mail. Excellent timing, sir.

[Simon_Jester]

I do like Taskmaster's perspective as an organizer- The Man Who Knows Just Exactly Enough.

[consequences]

"And after the mission they all made it home safely and had ice cream. The End."


*ignores all future posts by Imperial Overlord to the contrary*


Well, we know Blackheart won't dieget explosively eradicated from existence at least, right?

*Please don't think of time travel and alternate universes, please don't think of time travel and alternate universes*

[RazorSmile]

Yeeeaaaaaahhhh!!! Can't wait to see what happens next!