Thanks to Marvel Comics for all of their wonderful characters. Psylocke, Juggernaut, Courier, Nitro are all their characters.

Chapter 3

Psylocke, Juggernaut, Courier and Nitro are from the Marvel comics universe.

I added some art to help you visualize the main characters.

Robert Hunter, aka Nitro entered the Chemical Bank branch in Taylor, Michigan. He was dressed in a rumpled outfit consisting of khakis, tee shirt and an unbuttoned flannel shirt. His long white hair was a mess, and he looked more like a bum than a former high level executive of the sixth largest company on the Forbes 500.

He waited patiently in line, casually whistling a tune, which didn’t sound like much to the outside listener, but in his mind was a rendition of the Pat Travers tune “Out Go the Lights” which was always preceded by “boom boom”. He chuckled openly at that.

The accident that had changed him was a fortuitous accident. The research was gone, but he became more than the research. He was now a living, breathing bomb. He didn’t know how big an explosion he could cause, but he knew that there were a lot of people who would pay big money for his talents. Right now, he needed some walking around money, and he didn’t need any witnesses. He stepped up to the counter, where he saw a pretty, petite woman of about 25 working the window. She was very pregnant.

“May I help you sir?” asked the bank teller with a smile.

“Yes, I’d like to make a withdrawal, please.” He looked at the name plate in front of the window. “Missy”

“May I have your account number, sir?”

He got an evil smile on his face and his eyes began to glow a bright yellow. “Sure! It’s 3…2…1…”

The explosion blew out the front of the building. Missy, her supervisor and 9 other bank patrons were killed instantly. Missy was just about to go on maternity leave.

There was a mist in the bank, that began to coalesce into a human form, then features could be made out, and soon, Nitro was back in his normal form, no worse for wear. He went behind what was left of the counters and collected what he guessed was about ten thousand dollars.

A police cruiser pulled up to the remains of the bank. The uniformed officer ran to the building, calling for fire and rescue as he ran. He looked into the shell, and saw an older man walking about in the rubble.

“Sir! Are you okay? You need to get out of here. Fire and rescue are on the way.”

Looking at the officer impassively, Nitro just laughed. “I’ll be fine, officer, but you need to walk away”

“Why?”

“I’ll ask you what may seem like a dumb question, but humor me”

“What?”

“Could you identify me in a lineup if you had to?”

“Yeah, I guess. Why?”

Hunter’s eyes began to glow. “Wrong answer….”

I woke up slowly. My head was throbbing and my vision was extremely blurry. I couldn’t get it to clear.

“She’s coming to, Garrison.” I recognized Courier’s voice. “Hey, Betsy, take it easy. Just lie there for a second”

“W-w-what happened? Where’s Tracy? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, Betsy, she wasn’t there, remember? You’ve been out of it for about an hour. You’re in the hospital”

I could hear Garrison in the background. “Doc’s on his way”

Courier was holding my hand. “Do you remember anything?”

Closing my eyes, I tried to remember. Everything was too fuzzy, like trying to remember someone whose name is on the tip of your tongue. “No. My head hurts. The light in this room is killing me. Turn it off. And call Tracy.”

I could feel Courier turn to whoever was still in the room. The lights went off.

“There. Is that better?”

“Yes, thanks. My head still feels like it’s gonna pop.”

“Just close your eyes and try to relax. We’re trying to figure out what happened to you. I called Tracy and she’s on her way”

“Good. I feel like crap”

The doctor came into the room. “Betsy. I’m Doctor Blake. I’m going to take a look at you, Okay? Why are the lights off?”

“They hurt my head.”

“Interesting. I’m going to need to turn them on for a little while, so close them if you have to”

He performed his exam, and asked me to open my eyes. The light was still on, and the pain was intense.

“I’m gonna throw up!” I lost my cookies into one of those funny shaped cups. My head was in agony.

“Shut the lights off!” shouted the doctor. The lights went off.

I was crying, angry and in pain. “Give me something for this headache, dammit!” I moaned, unable to scream like I wanted too.

“Take it easy, Betsy” soothed Courier. “We’re on it. C’mon, doc. Can’t you do something?”

“Hang on” He reached for a hypo and injected something into the IV. “There, that should help”

Soon the pain faded, and I could relax.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Well, you have a pretty serious concussion, but I’ll be damned if I know how you got it. According to your friends here, you just collapsed. While you were out we were able to do a CAT scan, and your brain was injured as if you had been struck by something. We normally only see this kind of brain injury in soldiers who have been exposed to an explosion of some sort.

I was still foggy, and starting to get very sleepy. “I need to get some sleep.”

The doctor spoke up quickly. “That’s not a good idea right now. I want to do another scan, just to make sure there isn’t anything we missed. Do you think you can stay awake for that?”

“I’ll try, but don’t count on it.” Then I was out.

I woke up feeling a lot better. My headache was gone, and I could remember what had happened. Nitro had gone boom when I was connected to him. It must have created a psychic feedback wave that had affected me like I had been there.

Looking to my right, I saw Tracy sleeping in the chair by the bed. She looked so cute sitting there all curled up.

“Hey sleepyhead. Wake up.”

Yawning, Tracy rubbed her eyes and smiled at me. “How are you feeling?”

“I need to pee”

“So, pretty much normal then”

“Ha, ha smarty pants. So I don’t have a super bladder”

I was still hooked up to the IV, and I really needed to pee. I buzzed the nurse to help me up. About three anxious minutes later, a nurse showed up.

“Oh. So you’re finally awake! Good. I’ll let the Doctor know you’re up”

“Ah, I really need to pee”

“We’ll need to wait until the doctor gets here before you get up”

Tracy began snickering. “Here it comes”

“If I don’t go now, you’ll have something else to do before he gets here. Like clean up this bed. I have to PEE”

“Oh! That bad, huh. Okay, let’s get you fixed up”

I ended up peeing in a bedpan, which is about as screwed up a way to go as there is. But I did feel a lot better after I was done. I can’t hold my bladder. When I have to go, I have to go. I’ll bet Supergirl never had this problem.

The doctor came and went. I passed all of the tests they give to concussion patients. Tracy was totally calm, which really helped me out. If the roles had been reversed, I would have been a wreck.

After checking my pupils one more time, the doc pronounced me fit. “I can’t explain it, but you appear to have recovered really well from your brain injury. I’m not saying you’re healed, but I think we can cut you loose for now.”

I knew I was okay. If there’s one thing I had a sense of, it was my body. I knew when I was hurt, and when I was recovered. My brain had a way of healing itself, evidently, and I wasn’t complaining. I just shut down, and it did its work.

They pulled the IV out, and I was able to go to the bathroom to take care of myself in the proper way. I washed myself off as well as I could, and brushed my hair. Tracy had brought me some things to wear, a cute maxi skirt that was totally comfortable and some flats.

Walking out of the bathroom, I looked in my hand mirror. Biting my lip, I wasn’t happy with what I saw. “Tracy, my hair is complete crap. Could you braid it for me?”

“Why certainly, baby girl! One long one?”

“Yes, thank you”

As I sat down on the bed she took my brush and began separating my hair for the braid.

“You never want your hair braided. Why now?”

I shrugged. “Woman’s prerogative? Besides, I like having you play with my hair”

She laughed. “You’re learning, Betsy. You’re learning. Soon the student will be the Master”

I was discharged later in the morning. Garrison met me at the hospital door with a very big man.

“Cain!” I shouted as I ran to hug him. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Good to see you too, kid” he rumbled. “You too, Tracy. C’mere”

Tracy came over and hugged Cain. We were both dwarfed by the seven foot behemoth. For someone so big, he knew just ho to control his strength. His hugs always made me feel safe. He never squished me.

“You girls ready for something to eat? I’m buying.”

“Well, duh! I mean I just came back from death’s door. Don’t you think we deserve some handsome guy buying us lunch, Tracy?”

Rolling her eyes, she said “Why yes, Betsy, yes we do. After all that death’s door crap, I mean drama”

Cain laughed a laugh that would make a bear cringe. “Handsome guy, huh. Well since he’s not here, maybe I can buy”

Garrison was watching impatiently. This guy needed to take a serious vacation. I could tell he hated Cain, but I didn’t get any deeper. Not polite, you know. Besides, I don’t think Cain Marko really gave a damn what Garrison thought of him.

“C’mon, let’s take my ride”

“What about my car?” asked Tracy.

“Don’t worry about it; we’ll pick it up later”

Cain’s “ride” was a customized H1 Hummer with a diesel engine, which was about the only vehicle in the world big enough for him. Garrison made a move to come with us, but Cain stopped him.

“Unless you fit in the “girls” category. You ain’t invited, Garrison”

I felt bad about that for some reason. Maybe because I blew up at him earlier. “It’s no trouble, Cain, really. I don’t mind if he comes”

“I do. We’ll catch up with you later, Special Agent”

As we pulled out of the parking garage, I spoke up.

“Well, that was awkward. Did you have to be so, I don’t know, short with him?”

Turning to look at me, he gave a small grin. “Just watch you back around that guy, kid. I don’t trust him. He’d sell you out in a heartbeat to advance his agenda. He’s all about him self. Believe me, I know”

“How?”

“Because he sold me out once, that’s how. He’s a worm from word go in my book. If I were you, I’d keep an eye on his thoughts”

“Okay, if you think so”

“I do. I would be a really good idea” Pausing, he said, “So, where to? Are you up to eating?”

Replying quickly, I said, “Always. I didn’t say anything before, but I think I heal from brain injuries, pretty rapidly”

Tracy was surprised. “Brain injury?”

“Yeah. I was connected to Hunter when he detonated. Somehow, that created some kind of feedback that damaged my brain as if I had actually been there. Two days later, and I’m ready for, what do you think Tracy? Cajun?”

She bounced on the seat like a little kid. “Ohh, yeah girl. That’s a crazy good idea”

I looked at Cain. “We need Cajun!”

He took us to a place by one of the casinos in town. He had the valet park his monstrosity. He looked like some high powered pimp, rolling in with two beautiful girls on his arm. He had this silly little grin, knowing he was making a big splash. Men and their egos! It was fun though.

We got a table in the back of the restaurant, away from the crowd. Sitting down, he was as tall as the little waitress that came to serve us. She was clearly intimidated by the huge man.

“W-what would you like to drink, sir?” She asked nervously.

“A gallon of iced tea. With lemon, please”

“And the ladies? They’ll have iced tea also” He looked at me and winked. “Still like the berry tea?”

Smiling, I replied “How sweet of you to remember, Cain. Now what about Tracy?”

“Plain, no sweetener. She’s sweet enough”

Tracy made a retching noise “Oh, please, Cain. Stop before I get sick!”

While they were laughing, I leaned over to the waitress and whispered “He’s a big teddy bear. Just be nice to him, and he’ll be nice to you”
I explained the situation to Cain over out drinks. From what I discovered to the bank robbery. He ordered for both of us, some fish concoction that was very tasty.

“So, do you think you can help us? This guy sounds like he would be a little out of my league. Garrison doesn’t want the other metas involved if he can help it”

He shook his head. “That’s not surprising. Less credit to share for him. Yeah, I think this guy is right up my alley. I did a little checking on the bank job he pulled. Fifteen people killed, including a cop and a teller who was eight months pregnant. Cops thought it was a bomb. They still do. I was against holding that bit of information back, but Garrison’s the boss, I guess. So when do we get to work?”

“As soon as we drop Tracy back at the hospital. Tracy, remember. You know nothing, okay?”

“Yeah, I know. Top secret. Don’t worry; your secret is safe with me”

As we were driving back to the hospital, I dialed my phone to contact Courier, thinking about the people killed by Hunter. This guy was a stone cold psycho. Having the Juggernaut with me was an edge that we needed. He could blow himself up all he wanted to, and Juggy would shake it off. Well, I hoped he would shake it off. After watching him pound that big creature a couple of years ago, I wasn’t sure anyone could take him.

“Psylocke?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Where are you?”

“At the scene of the bank job.”

“Okay, I’m heading your way. Is Garrison there?”

“No, He grabbed a flight to Washington to kiss up to the Secretary. We are on our own”

“Great! That’s the best news I’ve had all day. We’ll be there in about thirty minutes”

After hanging up, I spoke to Cain. “I’m going to check out for awhile. I’m going to try to find Hunter”

“All right. Do your thing”

I closed my eyes and began to listen. I don’t know what else to call it. I finally found Hunter. I couldn’t locate him exactly again. I knew he was still in the area. His mind was getting harder to track. It was like he was changing patterns. His thoughts were jumbled, and I could tell he was stating to lose his grip on sanity. Or was it something different? Was something fighting for control? I needed to think harder….

“We’re here” Cain jolted me out of my meditation and I jumped and squeaked. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you”

“It’s all right. I wasn’t asleep. I’m having a hard time tracking him down”

Courier came up to the Humvee. “Hi, Cain. Nice to finally see you again”

Cain blinked. “So you’re the new Courier. What happened to Jacob?”

Courier shifted a little and swallowed. “I’m Jacob.”

Cain started to say something and then began to laugh. “No shit! Aren’t you taking this shape shifting thing a bit far? The Jacob Gavin I knew was more likely to be getting the clothes off a woman than putting them on”

Courier started to turn red. “I had an accident, and now I’m stuck like this. I can still change, but I always end up like this”

“Serves you right, Jake. Every girl you ever blew off is laughing their collective ass off right now”

“Don’t remind me, Marko. I’ve thought about that every day since the change” then she smiled. “It has its benefits, though”

“I’ll bet. So, what have you got?”

“Not much. Microscopic analysis of the debris shows a level of nanites. Inert, inactive, dead. Whatever you want to call them. But it’s as good as a signature. We’ll know whenever he sets off a blast”

Kicking at a brick, I asked, “What enables him to blow?”

“That we don’t know. We do know that the human body has a lot of chemicals that could be very volatile in the right situation, but, in his case, we don’t know”

Looking around the shell of the building, I said “If what I’m getting from his mind is right, the process is driving him insane. I’m not having much luck getting a fix on him. When I do, just leave him to Juggernaut and myself. You’re smart and a pretty good fighter, but unless you find a way to imitate him to death, then you won’t be much use in a fight with someone like him. Nothing personal, okay?”

She nodded. “I understand, Psylocke, I do. I had no plans of mixing it up with him anyway. I’ll keep doing what I can here, and give you what intel I can find. We are already watching his home, all his family, and three of his ex wives. The fourth one is dead, killed in the Jefferson explosion”

She turned around and went back to scouring the wreckage. “Oh, Psylocke?”

“Yes?”

Your stuff is in my trunk. I got you a new combat uniform. It’s a lot better than what you had. Your weapons are in there too”

“Thanks, I’ll get them, Jackie”

“Jackie?”

I cringed, knowing I just made a mistake. “Sorry, Courier. I forgot.”

Cain walked over to Courier. “Jackie?”

She turned around, her face even redder than before. “Do I look like a Jacob? Don’t even go there. Besides aren’t you a little small to be a ‘Juggernaut’?” She made the air quotes. Oh no.

“Small?”

Cain started his transformation. I don’t know if the armor is hidden by illusion or appears from nowhere. All I know is its damned impressive. By the time he was done, his armored head was scraping the ceiling, and his already impressive girth was tripled. He reached down, picked up a piece of stone and crushed it like a marshmallow. “You were saying?”

Courier put on her glasses “You wouldn’t hit a girl with glasses, would you?”

Even the mighty Juggernaut had to chuckle at that one.

To be Continued