Post by SpiritofPengeance on Aug 31, 2015 16:40:26 GMT -5
Issue #1 - Potential
By SpiritofPengeance
Washington DC
Henry Gyrich stared at the man across him with a frown, his default expression. The man was Pete Wisdom, an English man who had once been in the army and the secret service. Pete was also a mutant who could shoot “hot knives” out of his hands but, as Henry had to keep telling himself, that didn’t matter.
Wisdom looked like a secret agent. He wore shaded black sunglasses and a black and white suit. He was obviously well built as he filled his clothes perfectly. He also acted in a way that made him seem like someone straight from a James Bond movie, always on the lookout yet acting calm and collected at the same time.
Henry was noticeably different. His short and orange hair was the first thing people saw and it was that same hair that earned him the nickname “Carrot Top”. His face had frown lines and his body was on the thin side of toned. His grey suit and glasses made people think he was just a simple office worker, but he was a member of the CIA. A high ranking official with the clearance to be just about anywhere with just about anything.
“I’m surprised that the government even considered my proposal after that mess in Miami,” Pete told Henry to start the conversation.
Henry glared back at him, “As was I but, they did so what do you have?” He replied, quick to the point as ever.
Pete pulled a few pieces of paper out of his jacket and handed them to Henry, “I have ten candidates lined up but I have already worked out the best six. Those papers outline their basic genetic details, their family history and a list of recorded accomplishments or transgressions.”
Henry raised an eyebrow, “One of them is thief?” He questioned.
“Was a thief,” Pete corrected, “And she ended up handing in the leader of her gang.”
Henry placed the papers down, “How can you possibly hope to stop mutant terrorists if you’re employing thieves and criminals?”
“They aren’t the bad guys. Most were pushed into a dangerous life by the humans around them. Take Nicholas Gleason,” Pete pulled a file from the papers, “He was almost chased out of town by his friends.”
“Clarice Ferguson,” He pulled out another file, “Was kicked out of college for this. The evidence says that she was perfectly qualified and we know that it wasn’t a color based discrimination because that year was the most racially mixed of the lot.”
“These people just want show humans that they can be a force for good and that is was I offer you. A way to show people that mutants can help, not hinder, humanity.” Pete finished his speech and watched a fairly unimpressed Henry Gyrich slowly pick up the papers and start reading them again.
New York
Tabitha Smith pushed the door to her apartment open and sighed upon seeing the room. It’s walls were covered in peeling green paint that didn’t at all match the brown floorboards beneath her feet. The apartment consisted of three rooms; A bedroom, a bathroom and a living room that also had space for a small kitchen.
Tabitha walked in, threw her jack over the back of a chair and flopped down on her couch. A large amount of dust puffed into the air, causing Tabitha to cough and splutter out a few curses before switching on the tiny TV positioned at the wall.
After scrolling a few channels Tabitha gave up. It wasn’t her day today, she knew and accepted that now. She probably knew that her day was turning sour after she been rejected from her job interview. It was simply a cashier at the local market but still, she apparently wasn’t right for it. Naturally, the next move was let off a bit of steam so she had used her mutant power of creating small bombs in her hands to explode popcorn all over the aisle.
She smirked thinking back on that one before getting up and preparing a bowl of cheap macaroni and cheese and, after getting about three quarters of the way through the meal she fell asleep on the couch.
She woke up to a knocking on the door. Tabitha tried to ignore but the knocking continued so, with an annoyed moan, she trudged to the entrance of her apartment and swung the door open. Outside was a man in a suit and tie. He wore shaded glasses and had neat black hair.
“What?” Tabitha snapped.
The man was unfazed and stared down at his watch, “Your window.” He stated simply.
Tabitha looked behind her at the window and saw a man crashing through, he was in all black with combat boots, army pants and a form fitting shirt. His head was covered in a black balaclava with only glowing green goggles showing. He held an automatic weapon and wasted no time aiming at her.
Tabitha glared at the man in the suit before kicking him back and slamming the door. Then she moved quickly to her kitchen, grabbed a knife and hurled it at the gunman.
The knife was dodged and the gunman shot a few bullets at Tabitha but she dodged and held out her hand. In her palm there was a burst of flaming energy and three orange balls formed. Tabitha then threw them at the gunman who was blasted back into the TV as they exploded near his torso.
Tabitha immediately ran at the man and kicked him his head back into the ground as he started to get up, knocking him unconscious.
After taking a few breaths Tabitha glanced over at the door to see the man in the suit standing there, watching. Tabitha stormed over to him, fuming because of what just happened.
“Well, I’d say that was a success.” The man told her, instantly confusing the young woman.
“What, was that some kind of test?” She asked incredulously, “He could’ve killed me!”
The man smiled, “But he didn’t, actually it was more that he couldn’t,” The man said, “And yes, that was a test.”
“A test for what?”
“A test to join X-Force. I’m Pete Wisdom and I think you have what it takes.” Pete informed her.
“What’s X-Force?” Tabitha asked, wondering how many questions she would have to ask today.
“X-Force is a government task force consisting only of mutants who are dedicated to stopping anti-mutant terror attacks, whether they are committed by humans or mutants.” Pete explained, leaving Tabitha a little gob smacked.
She quickly recovered and crossed her arms, looking at Pete skeptically, “Alright, one last question,”
Kentucky
“What’s in it for me?” Sam Guthrie asked Pete Wisdom, the man who had just had him attacked.
Sam was a young man, only out of school for a couple of years. His brilliant golden hair and fair complexion were all developing a thin layer of dusty black from his short time working in the coal mines.
“Aside from a fair sized wage you’ll receive training for your powers until you can hopefully use them for longer periods with more control and less lethality. You will become the model for what humans need mutants to be.” Pete replied.
The speech certainly caught Sam’s attention. It had a feeling of glory to it that he didn’t want to pass up. In Sam’s head there were currently two thoughts, the first was that he loved the sound of being a superhero and the second was that he would effectively be a government agent, almost a secret agent and that was coolest job in the world. For him, it was a now a no-brainer.
“I’m in!” He decided and extended a hand to Pete.
The man in the suit shook it and showed Sam to their mode of transport, an AW159 Wildcat. Pete heard the sharp intake of breath from an astonished Sam and smiled.
“This will be our main mode of transportation. It’s built for seven passengers plus two pilots. We’ve equipped it with torpedo’s, rockers, two separate machine guns and two different types of missiles. I plan to have everyone able to fly this helicopter soon so that we aren’t hampered by a limited amount of pilots.” Pete explained to Sam.
The young teen looked up at Pete quizzically, “Now that you bring it up, who are the others?”
Hong Kong
“Our next guy is a criminal?” Sam asked incredulously, causing Tabitha to raise an eyebrow.
It went unnoticed however as Pete replied, “We’re here for the woman who caught him.” Pete pointed to a woman sitting a plastic chair across the hall.
The woman was easily identifiable as a mutant on account of her pink skin. Her hair was a deep purple and her eyes glowed green. She wore a dark green jacket and jeans with red and white Converse sneakers for footwear.
Next to her was Henry Gyrich. He had been sent in to protect her from any attackers while Pete worked his way over. However the woman had been attacked by some particularly angry anti mutant protestors and ended up stopping all ten armed men and women as well as sending them to the police.
“Sam, Tabitha, say hello to Clarice Ferguson and Henry Gyrich. They’ll both be joining us. Henry as our ethical, legal and political adviser, Clarice will be part of the field team with you two.”
Clarice gave them all a wave while Henry just stared them down before turning to Pete, “Is that all? You wanted six.” In silent reply Tabitha discreetly gave him the finger.
“It’s not like Agent Zero and James Proudstar need to be tested. We know that they can fight and we know what they can do. Nicholas Gleason, on the other hand, is proving difficult to find.” Pete replied.
Cleveland
As Nick Gleason ran through the streets he wished that his parents hadn’t died. A fairly normal thought for someone who had lost their parents but for Nick it meant just a bit more. His parents had protected him, they had ensured that no-one hurt him or captured him due to his appearance.
His appearance was that of a wolf crossed with a human. He had a wolf’s head, human body and claw like fingers. His legs were human so he could stand on two feet or two paws really since his feet took on a more wolf-like appearance. His fur was light brown and his skin took on the same color.
BLAM!
“GUNS? This is crazy!” Nick thought in a panic as a bullet flew past him.
As Nick rounded the corner he found himself face to face with a police officer. Nick had finally gotten lucky, “Holy shit, thank God. Officer you have to help me, they’re trying to kill me!” Nick exclaimed.
His relief turned to horror as the officer pulled out a hand gun and aimed it at Nick’s head.
“You’re a freak and a danger, I’ll be doing society a favor by killing you.” The officer explained and took the safety off.
“Just a second there!” Yelled out a man from behind them.
Nick looked around the officer who had turned as well. The man was Pete Wisdom, not that either of them knew that yet.
“My name is Pete Wisdom. Depending on the day, I work for the US or the UK and today, I’m on the side that can haul your ass to prison. You have two choices, drop your gun and come with me now or, you can shoot Nick Gleason, start a fight you won’t win and I’ll promptly handle you myself.” Pete said with a threatening tone that would’ve made iron feel as tough as jelly.
The officer stared Pete down and, deciding it wasn’t a bluff, dropped his weapon and kicked it away.
“Good choice.” Pete said. Then he punched him with a right hook that knocked him straight to ground where he hit his head and lost consciousness.
“Can I trust you?”” Nick asked warily to the man who had just assaulted a police officer.
“Yes. In fact I’m here because I need to know if I can trust you. I’m putting together a team to stop the people like that guy would have everyone believe that mutants are a danger to society. We’re called X-Force and we want you.” Pete informed Nick.
The teen mutant stared at Pete for a second before nodding. Pete smiled and motioned for Nick to follow him to the X-Force helicopter. A few minutes later and they were flying away from the group of bloodthirsty humans looking to kill Nicholas Gleason.
Death Valley
The X-Force Bunker, Living Facilities, Head Quarters, Training Facilities…You get the point
The four new recruits followed Henry Gyrich down the hallway that lead to a meeting room. Like the rest of the establishment the hallway had white walls and deep brown floorboards. In fact if they hadn’t already had a tour and knew what the place was for then the four mutants would’ve guessed that this place was a resort.
Once they entered the meeting room the group saw three other people sitting inside. Closest to them was Pete, on his right was a huge, muscled man in a black t-shirt and jeans with long black hair. On Pete’s left was another athletic looking man, this one however was much smaller and had short brown hair.
“Everyone, this is James Proudstar,” Pete pointed to the larger man, “And Chris Nord,” now he pointed to the smaller one, “They will be part of the team as well. For you two, over there is Tabitha Smith, Sam Guthrie, Clarice Ferguson and Nicholas Gleason.” Pete introduced with corresponding gestures to help everyone.
Now that the entire six person strong team, plus Henry and Pete, was seated and together Henry took over from Pete.
“You are now all part of Project X-Force. You’re being primarily tasked with stopping mutant threats however you will also be stopping threats to mutants. For anyone thinking that they can break the law while in the field I would like to remind you that this is a government operation, we will be monitoring your every move and I have no qualms with sending any of you to jail.
Over the next few weeks you will be training to hone your skills. None of you will be going on missions if you can’t tick every box. Each and every one of you will be assigned a codename for when you eventually do get in the field to protect your credentials from enemies. Lastly is a small test. Each of you will be tested today to see where we stand with your training. Mr. Nord and Mr. Proudstar have already completed and passed the test.”
The training room was a lot simpler than the newest four thought it would be. It looked like a dojo from a movie. The floors were made of wooden boards and in the middle was a carpet mat. The new group had been expecting a high tech room with lots of weapons and explosives however. They were relieved because this looked a lot easier than what they had in mind.
“If you would all please enter the room and await your instructions.” Henry instructed.
Tabitha, Clarice, Nick and Sam all walked into the room and awkwardly stood in the center, waiting for instructions. The four looked amongst themselves and wondered if this was a test where they were maybe supposed to fight each other. However there instructions came through a moment later through an intercom.
“Your instructions; Duck.” The voice of Pete Wisdom said.
Each of them wondered what he meant until a large wooden log came swinging across the room and it threatened to take them all out.
On instinct Clarice teleported out of the way and Sam blasted upwards. Nick leaped across the room and over the log while Tabitha was the only one who ducked under the log. The next challenge came fast as small rubber pellets flew out of the wall.
Clarice and Nicholas took advantage of their powers by bobbing and weaving in Nicholas’ case and by throwing a portal to teleport the bullets around herself for Clarice. Tabitha had a lot of trouble however and ended up thrown back against the wall and knocked out by the force of it. Sam flew to the roof and used his increased durability to shrug off the attacks.
The next tactic came in the form of metal ropes flying from the wall and trying to grab the group. Sam found the third challenge the easiest and flew ahead of the rope and he even managed to grab Clarice on the way. Nicholas however was caught as he eventually got taught in the tentacles and was held captive against the wall.
Sam was immediately kicked back once the third challenge ended as a group of attackers jumped into the room. They quickly threw punches and kicks at Clarice but she dodged, trying and failing to get a portal going as she had no time to focus.
Sam took hit after hit until he was knocked down with a spinning back kick to the chin that sent him into the wall and next to a still struggling Nicholas and Clarice followed quite quickly as the men grabbed a hold of her and threw her across the room.
A siren sounded and in walked Henry Gyrich, Chris Nord and James Proudstar and just a moment later Pete Wisdom followed. Henry had a look of disdain on his face and shook his head as everyone woke up.
“Those boxes I told you about. You need to all survive to at least fifteen minutes if you want to even be considered to join the team in the field. Any less and you will be sidelined.” Henry explained.
“Looks like there’s some work to be done.” Pete added.
Later
Henry’s Office
Pete walked into Henry Gyrich’s small office in the X-Force facilities and sat down. While Henry had called Pete in the former had began filing some papers and ended up making Pete wait a full minute before Pete had to interrupt.
“What did you want me for Henry?” Pete asked.
Henry placed his papers down and gave Pete a pointed look, “I wanted to let you know that I’m not impressed.”
“Well then I don’t think we have much more to talk about. You haven’t been impressed since the start.” Pete said and stood up to leave.
“And I also wanted to tell you that I don’t approve of this at all.” Henry added.
Pete stopped and sat back down while Henry continued, “Your group are young, most are untrained and they uncontrollable. If Sam or Tabitha lost their grip on their powers in the field then lots of people could die. You can’t train kids like that.”
Pete leaned forward, “What are you saying?” He inquired.
Henry leaned forward as well and stared Pete down, “I’m going to help you while it works but the moment you slip up, I’m shutting X-Force down.”
Pete stood up and walked for the door but turned around before leaving, “Unless we physically injure innocent civilians there isn’t much you can do. So do what you must Gyrich, but don’t kill X-Force just because you hate mutants.” And with that Pete slammed the door shut and left Henry Gyrich sitting in his office with his hand on his chin and a frown on his face.
Henry Gyrich stared at the man across him with a frown, his default expression. The man was Pete Wisdom, an English man who had once been in the army and the secret service. Pete was also a mutant who could shoot “hot knives” out of his hands but, as Henry had to keep telling himself, that didn’t matter.
Wisdom looked like a secret agent. He wore shaded black sunglasses and a black and white suit. He was obviously well built as he filled his clothes perfectly. He also acted in a way that made him seem like someone straight from a James Bond movie, always on the lookout yet acting calm and collected at the same time.
Henry was noticeably different. His short and orange hair was the first thing people saw and it was that same hair that earned him the nickname “Carrot Top”. His face had frown lines and his body was on the thin side of toned. His grey suit and glasses made people think he was just a simple office worker, but he was a member of the CIA. A high ranking official with the clearance to be just about anywhere with just about anything.
“I’m surprised that the government even considered my proposal after that mess in Miami,” Pete told Henry to start the conversation.
Henry glared back at him, “As was I but, they did so what do you have?” He replied, quick to the point as ever.
Pete pulled a few pieces of paper out of his jacket and handed them to Henry, “I have ten candidates lined up but I have already worked out the best six. Those papers outline their basic genetic details, their family history and a list of recorded accomplishments or transgressions.”
Henry raised an eyebrow, “One of them is thief?” He questioned.
“Was a thief,” Pete corrected, “And she ended up handing in the leader of her gang.”
Henry placed the papers down, “How can you possibly hope to stop mutant terrorists if you’re employing thieves and criminals?”
“They aren’t the bad guys. Most were pushed into a dangerous life by the humans around them. Take Nicholas Gleason,” Pete pulled a file from the papers, “He was almost chased out of town by his friends.”
“Clarice Ferguson,” He pulled out another file, “Was kicked out of college for this. The evidence says that she was perfectly qualified and we know that it wasn’t a color based discrimination because that year was the most racially mixed of the lot.”
“These people just want show humans that they can be a force for good and that is was I offer you. A way to show people that mutants can help, not hinder, humanity.” Pete finished his speech and watched a fairly unimpressed Henry Gyrich slowly pick up the papers and start reading them again.
New York
Tabitha Smith pushed the door to her apartment open and sighed upon seeing the room. It’s walls were covered in peeling green paint that didn’t at all match the brown floorboards beneath her feet. The apartment consisted of three rooms; A bedroom, a bathroom and a living room that also had space for a small kitchen.
Tabitha walked in, threw her jack over the back of a chair and flopped down on her couch. A large amount of dust puffed into the air, causing Tabitha to cough and splutter out a few curses before switching on the tiny TV positioned at the wall.
After scrolling a few channels Tabitha gave up. It wasn’t her day today, she knew and accepted that now. She probably knew that her day was turning sour after she been rejected from her job interview. It was simply a cashier at the local market but still, she apparently wasn’t right for it. Naturally, the next move was let off a bit of steam so she had used her mutant power of creating small bombs in her hands to explode popcorn all over the aisle.
She smirked thinking back on that one before getting up and preparing a bowl of cheap macaroni and cheese and, after getting about three quarters of the way through the meal she fell asleep on the couch.
She woke up to a knocking on the door. Tabitha tried to ignore but the knocking continued so, with an annoyed moan, she trudged to the entrance of her apartment and swung the door open. Outside was a man in a suit and tie. He wore shaded glasses and had neat black hair.
“What?” Tabitha snapped.
The man was unfazed and stared down at his watch, “Your window.” He stated simply.
Tabitha looked behind her at the window and saw a man crashing through, he was in all black with combat boots, army pants and a form fitting shirt. His head was covered in a black balaclava with only glowing green goggles showing. He held an automatic weapon and wasted no time aiming at her.
Tabitha glared at the man in the suit before kicking him back and slamming the door. Then she moved quickly to her kitchen, grabbed a knife and hurled it at the gunman.
The knife was dodged and the gunman shot a few bullets at Tabitha but she dodged and held out her hand. In her palm there was a burst of flaming energy and three orange balls formed. Tabitha then threw them at the gunman who was blasted back into the TV as they exploded near his torso.
Tabitha immediately ran at the man and kicked him his head back into the ground as he started to get up, knocking him unconscious.
After taking a few breaths Tabitha glanced over at the door to see the man in the suit standing there, watching. Tabitha stormed over to him, fuming because of what just happened.
“Well, I’d say that was a success.” The man told her, instantly confusing the young woman.
“What, was that some kind of test?” She asked incredulously, “He could’ve killed me!”
The man smiled, “But he didn’t, actually it was more that he couldn’t,” The man said, “And yes, that was a test.”
“A test for what?”
“A test to join X-Force. I’m Pete Wisdom and I think you have what it takes.” Pete informed her.
“What’s X-Force?” Tabitha asked, wondering how many questions she would have to ask today.
“X-Force is a government task force consisting only of mutants who are dedicated to stopping anti-mutant terror attacks, whether they are committed by humans or mutants.” Pete explained, leaving Tabitha a little gob smacked.
She quickly recovered and crossed her arms, looking at Pete skeptically, “Alright, one last question,”
Kentucky
“What’s in it for me?” Sam Guthrie asked Pete Wisdom, the man who had just had him attacked.
Sam was a young man, only out of school for a couple of years. His brilliant golden hair and fair complexion were all developing a thin layer of dusty black from his short time working in the coal mines.
“Aside from a fair sized wage you’ll receive training for your powers until you can hopefully use them for longer periods with more control and less lethality. You will become the model for what humans need mutants to be.” Pete replied.
The speech certainly caught Sam’s attention. It had a feeling of glory to it that he didn’t want to pass up. In Sam’s head there were currently two thoughts, the first was that he loved the sound of being a superhero and the second was that he would effectively be a government agent, almost a secret agent and that was coolest job in the world. For him, it was a now a no-brainer.
“I’m in!” He decided and extended a hand to Pete.
The man in the suit shook it and showed Sam to their mode of transport, an AW159 Wildcat. Pete heard the sharp intake of breath from an astonished Sam and smiled.
“This will be our main mode of transportation. It’s built for seven passengers plus two pilots. We’ve equipped it with torpedo’s, rockers, two separate machine guns and two different types of missiles. I plan to have everyone able to fly this helicopter soon so that we aren’t hampered by a limited amount of pilots.” Pete explained to Sam.
The young teen looked up at Pete quizzically, “Now that you bring it up, who are the others?”
Hong Kong
“Our next guy is a criminal?” Sam asked incredulously, causing Tabitha to raise an eyebrow.
It went unnoticed however as Pete replied, “We’re here for the woman who caught him.” Pete pointed to a woman sitting a plastic chair across the hall.
The woman was easily identifiable as a mutant on account of her pink skin. Her hair was a deep purple and her eyes glowed green. She wore a dark green jacket and jeans with red and white Converse sneakers for footwear.
Next to her was Henry Gyrich. He had been sent in to protect her from any attackers while Pete worked his way over. However the woman had been attacked by some particularly angry anti mutant protestors and ended up stopping all ten armed men and women as well as sending them to the police.
“Sam, Tabitha, say hello to Clarice Ferguson and Henry Gyrich. They’ll both be joining us. Henry as our ethical, legal and political adviser, Clarice will be part of the field team with you two.”
Clarice gave them all a wave while Henry just stared them down before turning to Pete, “Is that all? You wanted six.” In silent reply Tabitha discreetly gave him the finger.
“It’s not like Agent Zero and James Proudstar need to be tested. We know that they can fight and we know what they can do. Nicholas Gleason, on the other hand, is proving difficult to find.” Pete replied.
Cleveland
As Nick Gleason ran through the streets he wished that his parents hadn’t died. A fairly normal thought for someone who had lost their parents but for Nick it meant just a bit more. His parents had protected him, they had ensured that no-one hurt him or captured him due to his appearance.
His appearance was that of a wolf crossed with a human. He had a wolf’s head, human body and claw like fingers. His legs were human so he could stand on two feet or two paws really since his feet took on a more wolf-like appearance. His fur was light brown and his skin took on the same color.
BLAM!
“GUNS? This is crazy!” Nick thought in a panic as a bullet flew past him.
As Nick rounded the corner he found himself face to face with a police officer. Nick had finally gotten lucky, “Holy shit, thank God. Officer you have to help me, they’re trying to kill me!” Nick exclaimed.
His relief turned to horror as the officer pulled out a hand gun and aimed it at Nick’s head.
“You’re a freak and a danger, I’ll be doing society a favor by killing you.” The officer explained and took the safety off.
“Just a second there!” Yelled out a man from behind them.
Nick looked around the officer who had turned as well. The man was Pete Wisdom, not that either of them knew that yet.
“My name is Pete Wisdom. Depending on the day, I work for the US or the UK and today, I’m on the side that can haul your ass to prison. You have two choices, drop your gun and come with me now or, you can shoot Nick Gleason, start a fight you won’t win and I’ll promptly handle you myself.” Pete said with a threatening tone that would’ve made iron feel as tough as jelly.
The officer stared Pete down and, deciding it wasn’t a bluff, dropped his weapon and kicked it away.
“Good choice.” Pete said. Then he punched him with a right hook that knocked him straight to ground where he hit his head and lost consciousness.
“Can I trust you?”” Nick asked warily to the man who had just assaulted a police officer.
“Yes. In fact I’m here because I need to know if I can trust you. I’m putting together a team to stop the people like that guy would have everyone believe that mutants are a danger to society. We’re called X-Force and we want you.” Pete informed Nick.
The teen mutant stared at Pete for a second before nodding. Pete smiled and motioned for Nick to follow him to the X-Force helicopter. A few minutes later and they were flying away from the group of bloodthirsty humans looking to kill Nicholas Gleason.
Death Valley
The X-Force Bunker, Living Facilities, Head Quarters, Training Facilities…You get the point
The four new recruits followed Henry Gyrich down the hallway that lead to a meeting room. Like the rest of the establishment the hallway had white walls and deep brown floorboards. In fact if they hadn’t already had a tour and knew what the place was for then the four mutants would’ve guessed that this place was a resort.
Once they entered the meeting room the group saw three other people sitting inside. Closest to them was Pete, on his right was a huge, muscled man in a black t-shirt and jeans with long black hair. On Pete’s left was another athletic looking man, this one however was much smaller and had short brown hair.
“Everyone, this is James Proudstar,” Pete pointed to the larger man, “And Chris Nord,” now he pointed to the smaller one, “They will be part of the team as well. For you two, over there is Tabitha Smith, Sam Guthrie, Clarice Ferguson and Nicholas Gleason.” Pete introduced with corresponding gestures to help everyone.
Now that the entire six person strong team, plus Henry and Pete, was seated and together Henry took over from Pete.
“You are now all part of Project X-Force. You’re being primarily tasked with stopping mutant threats however you will also be stopping threats to mutants. For anyone thinking that they can break the law while in the field I would like to remind you that this is a government operation, we will be monitoring your every move and I have no qualms with sending any of you to jail.
Over the next few weeks you will be training to hone your skills. None of you will be going on missions if you can’t tick every box. Each and every one of you will be assigned a codename for when you eventually do get in the field to protect your credentials from enemies. Lastly is a small test. Each of you will be tested today to see where we stand with your training. Mr. Nord and Mr. Proudstar have already completed and passed the test.”
The training room was a lot simpler than the newest four thought it would be. It looked like a dojo from a movie. The floors were made of wooden boards and in the middle was a carpet mat. The new group had been expecting a high tech room with lots of weapons and explosives however. They were relieved because this looked a lot easier than what they had in mind.
“If you would all please enter the room and await your instructions.” Henry instructed.
Tabitha, Clarice, Nick and Sam all walked into the room and awkwardly stood in the center, waiting for instructions. The four looked amongst themselves and wondered if this was a test where they were maybe supposed to fight each other. However there instructions came through a moment later through an intercom.
“Your instructions; Duck.” The voice of Pete Wisdom said.
Each of them wondered what he meant until a large wooden log came swinging across the room and it threatened to take them all out.
On instinct Clarice teleported out of the way and Sam blasted upwards. Nick leaped across the room and over the log while Tabitha was the only one who ducked under the log. The next challenge came fast as small rubber pellets flew out of the wall.
Clarice and Nicholas took advantage of their powers by bobbing and weaving in Nicholas’ case and by throwing a portal to teleport the bullets around herself for Clarice. Tabitha had a lot of trouble however and ended up thrown back against the wall and knocked out by the force of it. Sam flew to the roof and used his increased durability to shrug off the attacks.
The next tactic came in the form of metal ropes flying from the wall and trying to grab the group. Sam found the third challenge the easiest and flew ahead of the rope and he even managed to grab Clarice on the way. Nicholas however was caught as he eventually got taught in the tentacles and was held captive against the wall.
Sam was immediately kicked back once the third challenge ended as a group of attackers jumped into the room. They quickly threw punches and kicks at Clarice but she dodged, trying and failing to get a portal going as she had no time to focus.
Sam took hit after hit until he was knocked down with a spinning back kick to the chin that sent him into the wall and next to a still struggling Nicholas and Clarice followed quite quickly as the men grabbed a hold of her and threw her across the room.
A siren sounded and in walked Henry Gyrich, Chris Nord and James Proudstar and just a moment later Pete Wisdom followed. Henry had a look of disdain on his face and shook his head as everyone woke up.
“Those boxes I told you about. You need to all survive to at least fifteen minutes if you want to even be considered to join the team in the field. Any less and you will be sidelined.” Henry explained.
“Looks like there’s some work to be done.” Pete added.
Later
Henry’s Office
Pete walked into Henry Gyrich’s small office in the X-Force facilities and sat down. While Henry had called Pete in the former had began filing some papers and ended up making Pete wait a full minute before Pete had to interrupt.
“What did you want me for Henry?” Pete asked.
Henry placed his papers down and gave Pete a pointed look, “I wanted to let you know that I’m not impressed.”
“Well then I don’t think we have much more to talk about. You haven’t been impressed since the start.” Pete said and stood up to leave.
“And I also wanted to tell you that I don’t approve of this at all.” Henry added.
Pete stopped and sat back down while Henry continued, “Your group are young, most are untrained and they uncontrollable. If Sam or Tabitha lost their grip on their powers in the field then lots of people could die. You can’t train kids like that.”
Pete leaned forward, “What are you saying?” He inquired.
Henry leaned forward as well and stared Pete down, “I’m going to help you while it works but the moment you slip up, I’m shutting X-Force down.”
Pete stood up and walked for the door but turned around before leaving, “Unless we physically injure innocent civilians there isn’t much you can do. So do what you must Gyrich, but don’t kill X-Force just because you hate mutants.” And with that Pete slammed the door shut and left Henry Gyrich sitting in his office with his hand on his chin and a frown on his face.