Trish giggled.
Greg walked to Betina, knelt and kissed her on both cheeks, welcoming her properly onto his team and into his family, all to the applause and cheers of Julian and Hestia.

The shuttle Hero was in final approach for the Lunar one base and all systems were still on automatic for landing operations. Nikoli maintained his watch in the command cabin for this most delicate phase of the voyage, if anything was going to go wrong, it would happen soon. The other members of The SIX were planning strategy and keeping their energy reserves at full for what they expected to be a battle royale. Exactly on time, the shuttle completed its landing operations. Nikoli was concerned that there seemed to be so little visible damage to the exterior of the base and told David so.

“It just seems too quiet. There should be some signs of the attack,” he offered.

“Niki, from our briefing I understand that the attackers just entered the base normally,” David observed. “Even the enemy knows that they need to maintain the integrity of the base in order to contain the atmosphere. However, your caution is duly noted.” He turned to address the rest of his teammates,

“Be aware team and be safe! The bad guys are not our only enemy, we can’t breathe in a vacuum! So suit up, check all your seals, and then check your teammates’. We can’t afford any mistakes!”

The SIX exited the shuttle’s airlock and set foot on the lunar surface. They carefully made their way to the base’s entrance where Watcher entered the code to admit them into the station proper. After the lock repressurised, they opened the inner doors. According to the briefings, the invaders had everyone held in the base’s common room. They quickly removed their suits and made their way towards the central habitat.

The air in the base was cool and dry and great care had to be taken not to walk with too much force in that environment of one sixth of the Earth’s gravity, which was the natural state of the moon. It would be much too easy for a normal person, let alone an enhanced being, to step down with too great a force and find theirself hitting the ceiling. Nikoli had trained them all to use a shuffle step on the balls of their feet to avoid any such predicament and so far, there had been no incidents. They approached the main hatch and opened it cautiously to find… nothing! There were no hostages, no signs of struggles, no enhanced terrorists.

The hatch shut and locked behind them and the mission monitors came alive again. The screens showed the main airlock of the base open up just as an explosive decompression blew their suits out onto the lunar surface. The lock closed again and the hallways started the pressurisation sequence. The monitor went fuzzy, then cleared to reveal the face of the U.N. Secretary-General. David addressed the screen angrily.

“Madam Secretary-General… what is the meaning of this... charade?!?”

“This ‘charade’ as you put it,” began Niobe icily, “is intended to stabilize the geopolitical situation here on Earth. You and your team of vigilantes have been disrupting the delicate nature of the power structures on the planet for quite long enough. We knew that you could not be contained here on Earth, so we lured you to the one place you could do no further harm. You are safe there, you have adequate food and water supplies and the base is quite self-sufficient, as long as you don’t meddle with any of the systems,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“This is insane! We were making a difference on the planet for its peoples,” he railed at the image on the screen.

“Tell that to the people of Washington DC or the people of Sudbury, Ontario for that matter,” she stated tersely.

“Washington,” David replied through clenched teeth, “was attacked by a band of enhanced terrorists and we went to defend the people there. Who will you call on to protect you if the terrorists attack again? Not us I presume,” he returned snidely.

“I have it from very good sources that you and your ‘Team’ were the ones that caused the most damage and The Security Council and General Assembly are also convinced of that fact,” she gestured to a sheet in front of her. “Now, just so you don’t get any ideas about coming back…”

The Secretary-General nodded to someone off-screen and the monitor switched over to display the shuttle lifting off the landing pad.

“…we’ll send for you if we need you,” she finished sweetly.

The connection was suddenly severed from the far end and nothing Watcher could do would bring it back. David looked pleadingly at Sarida. She tried to open a portal back to their base, concentrating for a moment and then letting out a frustrated howl.

“Oh God, I can’t find it! I just can’t find Earth!” she ran to David and sobbed on his shoulder. All David could do was shake his head sadly.

“You were right Nikoli, you were right…” he sighed.

Back in his office on the 101st floor of the New World Trade Centre, Nathanial Ravensclaw had watched the entire exchange on his personal video link. The U.N. had just handed him the keys to the kingdom and they didn’t even know it. He picked up his phone and called his contact at the space agency.

“Do it,” were his only words before hanging up the phone.

Back at NASA, a button was pressed and the shuttle Hero, now in lunar orbit, exploded into a ball of flame and debris. Nathanial waited for the confirmation and his specially worded press release was issued through his contacts in the mass media. In less than an hour, the world was informed that the shuttle Hero had been destroyed, along with all of its passengers, in a freak meteor shower while orbiting the moon. The world would mourn The SIX for a while and then forget that there had even been a crisis. However, the world had no idea what was really in store for it… Nathanial Ravensclaw would see to that. He began to chuckle as he planned what his next move would be in this grand chess game.

The news of the shuttle’s explosion reached the AERI and was met with immediate suspicion by members of the team. Deep down Greg knew this was a set-up and said so.

“I’m sorry Julian, I don’t buy a word of it. It’s just too damn convenient. It smells of Ravensclaw,” Greg declaimed.

“I agree Professor. It is more than obvious as the telemetry from Lunar one stopped within milliseconds of the explosion,” stated Solomon.

Julian glanced wearily at Greg and said,

“I understand both of your points of view Greg, Solomon. But until we have more hard data…” Solomon swiftly overrode the Professor,

“Excuse me Professor, DAN Au reports that he has traced the source of the Lunar one telemetry. It was a research station in Antarctica.”

“Spoofed!” spat Greg.

“Dammit, I knew it! Only The Council could have pulled this one off with this degree of accuracy and secrecy,” he completed his thought.

“It seems you were correct in assuming this entire mission was a trap Greg,” mused Julian before issuing orders to the computer.

“Solomon, Priority one: search using whatever radio telescopes you can seize and find the actual Lunar one data link and route it to us, ASAP.”

“Now what do we do Julian?” asked Greg.

“We watch and wait for The Council to make its next move, which unfortunately, will probably be a raid on AERI,” he responded. “I suggest that all the defensive systems be brought online and we should consider moving all operations to the shielded bunkers.”

“You arrange that with Betina, Julian and make sure she’s safe this time. I have a few ideas I want to discuss with Trish and Hestia that may tilt the odds a little more in our favour.” Greg turned and left the room.

Half an hour later, Greg was explaining the plan that he and Trish had worked out to Hestia.

“… so that’s it in a nutshell. Trish and I managed to handle the one in Europe with the element of surprise. They have no idea of Shadowknight’s connection to AERI and if we set up a broadcast of the trigger word as soon as they’re in range of the house, we’ll have a definite advantage,”

Greg cleared his throat and continued. “Hes, I want a perimeter set up 30 feet around the house with active scanning from the house to the edge. If you see anything humanoid in that area, trigger the broadcast. If they’re enhanced, the shutdown of their defences will be immediate. If they’re non-enhanced, you hit them with sonics, got it? Trish and I will live in the ACM until further notice and any unusual aerial activity is to be considered cause for alarm.”

“I understand Daddy,” the AI replied. “I’ll get the upgrades started… um… should we place some lethals as well?” Greg thought about that for a moment and directed,

“Only if we’ve exhausted all other options Hestia. Depend on non-lethals for all but structural defence breaches, understood?”

“Understood,” she responded.

he checked in to make sure.

she said, sounding more energized than she had in quite some time.

The week leading up to September tenth, 2010 found the U.N. in a buzz. The press release announcing the death of The SIX had not been discussed, nor had the destruction of the X-97 shuttle. The Security Council was avoiding all but the briefest of media appearances and the Secretary-General had been left holding the bag for Ravensclaw. The General Assembly had voted unanimously to declare a worldwide day of mourning for the ‘lost heroes’ and the world expressed its grief. By September 10th, everything was pretty much back to normal around the world, with various committees being formed to assuage the doubts and fears of the general populace and to quell, well enough in advance, any conspiracy theories that might arise about the incident.

On the 101st floor of Manhattan’s New World Trade Centre, Nathanial Ravensclaw held a meeting with his daughter.

“Natalia, I want you to send Dragonschild, Mobius and Thug to Canada to finish wiping Greg Howard’s work from the planet,” he directed.

Natalia raised one perfectly arched eyebrow in surprise.

“Three Daddy? Are you expecting trouble from a lab assistant?” she asked feigning innocence. Nathanial smiled at his daughter’s impertinence.

“Not at all darling, but I have reason to believe that Saber and maybe Howard could be holed up in that shack. I want the same ‘scorched earth’ approach that your team used in Switzerland. That island is to be scrubbed clean of any sign of the AERI,” he paused and smoothed back his hair. “I want Shark to start wiping out hydro-electric installations and desalinization plants in the Middle East. I want you here to ‘address’ the U.N. once we start destabilizing the world powers. Your other three should be finished in Canada in a couple of hours and they have their secondary assignments to start destroying the wind fields around the world after Franklin Island has been left a smouldering ruin.”

“But I want to do some field work too Daddy…” Natalia took on a whiney tone but Nathanial cut her off saying,

“I know Sweetie, but sometimes a leader has to lead from behind the lines. You can coordinate things from the base or even from your condominium if that will make you feel better. Just remember Darling, the world belongs to us now,” he smiled triumphantly.

“I’ll send the teams out now Daddy… love you,” she blew him an air kiss and flounced out of his office.

“I love you too, Natalia. Now make me proud!” He watched her leave as she hurried to begin her assigned tasks, a whiff of Chanel No. 5 lingering in the air.

At 10:00am Eastern Standard Time, the three Hammers approached Saber Base from across Georgian Bay. They were picked up by Hestia before they were within five miles of their target. Frank West looked at the house in the middle of the clearing with disdain. It wasn’t even as big a target as the AERIE.

“I could have done this on my own,” he sneered. “Why did they send three of us to destroy this shanty?”

“Feggedaboutit Frank,” growled Sam Munio. “We follow the boss’s orders and orders are we work together to wipe the joint out.”

Lia Tang eyed the others coldly. She then scanned the target as she interrupted yet another stupid argument between the two men.

“Perhaps we should all simply pick a side of the clearing and advance towards the house. It’s elemental strategy… though you are in charge Sam,” she said in a tone that dripped contempt.

“Shaddap! We land in the yard and just smash stuff, OK? They ain’t got nothin’ to take us down with!” Sam stopped them cold. He banked and headed into the clearing that served as the AERI’s yard, the other two landing beside him. There was a slight popping noise as a loudspeaker hummed to life.

Inside the house, Greg spoke one word into the mic…

“Kryptonite.” He sealed the battlesuit and drew his katana.

she responded as Shadowknight stepped out of the door to face their opponents.

“You are trespassing on an ecological preserve of the Governments of Ontario and Canada. Defence systems have been activated. You have one minute to surrender,” he stated.

commented Trish.

he told her.

Thug looked at the slender figure in black and started to laugh… he gestured to Dragonschild who seemed to disappear.

Greg checked in.

Shadowknight then moved at a speed that seemed impossible and swatted the air with their free hand. There was a sickening thud and a very small cloud of dust arose at their feet.

“You were warned… and that’s one.” Shadowknight pointed down to a spot by their feet. West looked ill.

“Oh Jesus… what did you do to her?” he whimpered.

“Same thing I do to any other insect around here… I swatted her.”

“Christ… Fra… Mobius… take him out… age him, freeze him… whatever…” stammered Thug.

ordered Greg.

Mobius surrounded Shadowknight with a bubble of accelerated time. To Shadowknight, it seemed like the world had gone into slow motion. They walked towards Mobius and hefted their blade. To Mobius, Shadowknight’s crossing of the yard was a black blur and the last sight he saw was a flash of silver. All Thug saw was Mobius falling with a sword embedded in his head.

“Gee Sammy, still can’t get any quality muscle, huh?” Shadowknight taunted.

“That voice… I know that voice! But it can’t be you… y-you’re dead…” Thug was confused now as well as panicky. Greg dropped the ACM’s hood and faced the man he had humiliated in Germany.

“Surprised Sam?” he taunted Thug again. “Maybe I’m the spirit of vengeance… or maybe your boss’s prized killers aren’t worth the money he paid them. All I know is you and your ‘super bad guys’ killed two people that were very dear to me and you crippled a young woman who had never done a thing to you.” Greg pulled the katana from the rapidly cooling corpse that had been Frank West… Mobius, and after wiping the blade clean on the body, approached the larger man.

“Maybe I shouldn’t kill you Sammy, what do you think?” he asked coolly.

“You gotta believe me man,” Sam pleaded, “it wasn’t personal or nothin’. C’mon Doc, I’m just the hired muscle…” he whined.

“Only following orders, eh Sammy?” snapped Greg. “Others have tried that excuse in the past. It didn’t work too well for them either. Maybe I should just cripple you for what you did in Washington. Oh, and by the way, if you’re planning on attacking me, by all means, do so. But your body armour and repair functions have pretty much shut down, so any really physical moves could shred your muscles from your bones. Me, I’d suggest standing very still,” Greg shrugged.

“I know that you’re just a… what did you call yourself again? Ah yes, a Thug, but you know something Sam? You should have stayed with the mob,” advised Greg, pure malice dripping from each word.

Sam made a move towards Greg, but Greg was faster and the killing blow was swift and precise. Sam fell to the ground and choked out his last words…

“Ahhhh… shit,” was his final utterance. Greg wiped the blade of the katana on the body and returned it to its sheath in one smooth motion. He then walked to the tree line and was violently ill. When he was done vomiting, he sat down rather suddenly and began trembling violently. Trish took control of their vocal chords and began to yell,

“Greg! Greg! Dammit! Hestia, Father, any one! Help!”

Julian rushed out of the house followed by Hestia and Betina who were limited to the back porch. Julian managed to help a much shaken Greg to his feet and supported him back into the house. They put him down on the couch and covered him with a quilt where he lay shaking. The Professor then went outside with some old blankets to cover up the corpses. He came back in with a rather odd look on his face.

“Hestia,” he made a liquid noise in his throat before continuing, “I… uh… need a very small stretcher and some blanket scraps. It… um… seems we have a very small survivor,” he said, a slight tremor in his voice.

To Be Continued