"Yer mine, asshole!" cried Wisdom as a Mandroid took him away. "I'll fucking have you!"

"Shut ya mouth, mutie," said the Mandroid as it shoved him onwards towards where the processing room was. Fire was in Pete's eyes as they marched onwards. He wanted to comment something, he really did, but there was no point and he needed to figure a way out of this mess. His powers were gone, which meant there was little he could do and there was no way out of this armour, making him a virtual prisoner. The wheels they'd put under him to move him around were also annoying.

"Jim," asked the guard as the Mandroid approached.

"Tobe," said the man inside the Mandroid.

"What you got?" Tobe asked as he looked at Wisdom who glared back.

"Wisdom, Peter. SHIELD Commander. Mutant. Boss wants him processed."

"Fine," said Tobe. "Rehab or reprogramming?"

"Reprogramming," said Jim. "He's too much of a threat."

"He needs to come lout of the armour," said Tobe. "You handle him if he gets antsy?"

"Fucking show you antsy, asshole," sneered Pete and Tobe slapped him and Pete felt blood in his mouth.

"Watch your mouth, mutie." Tobe wiped the blood on a towel and watched as the Mandroid armour charged it's laser cutter and sliced the armour off of Wisdom, who flinched as the torch burnt in to him. He was fortunate that his SHIELD uniform took the brunt of the damage. Pete's eyes narrowed, wondering if he could do something to get out of this, but without his powers he was ineffective against a Mandroid's weapons, so he knew he had to bide his time.

"Cell 17 is ready," said Tobe as he fixed a binder around Pete's hands, keeping them behind his back and leaving him helpless. Jim shoved him and he walked forward, following Tobe who was waiting a shirt way away. Above them, Pete could see the Leader walking with Kate and David and he wondered what he was saying. They were walking on some kind of hardened glass, and it kept the sound to a bare minimum. Then he felt something, a voice in the back of his mind. Tobe was saying something, but Wisdom ignored that and listened.

Courtesy of the Shadow King, the voice said and Pete gave an involuntary shudder, not just at the voice and he stepped in to the cell.

"You get that, mutie?" asked Tobe.

"Oh yeah," said Wisdom. "I got that. Hey I get a cigarette? I'd hate to do this without nicotine. There's a pack in my pocket."

Jim and Tobe looked at each other. "Sure," Tobe said and took the packet and gave Pete one before he put the pack in to his own pocket.

"Hey!" said Pete, keeping the cigarette in his mouth as he spoke. "I want those back."

"Or you'll what?" laughed Jim and walked away, his footsteps thudding around as Tobe made the preparations for Wisdom's conditioning. Then he looked at Wisdom.

"Need a light?" he said with a sneer and Pete smiled.

"Nope," he said and the cigarette lit itself. His hands fired five hot knives slicing through his bonds and suddenly he was free.

"Shit!" said Tobe and hit the alarms, but it was too late and Pete kicked him in the back, the guard's spine breaking under the impact, and he fell to the floor.

"Tobe!" shouted Jim as he hurried back. "You hurt?"

"It's worse than that," said Pete, standing there. "He's dead, Jim."

"Oh fuck," said the Mandroid but there was nothing he could do and Pete struck hard and fast with his hot knives and the man fell dead at his feet, and Pete walked out of the cell as alarms blared. "Now, it's my turn." He looked up and he could see his friends and the guy he really wanted a chat with.

"I'll see you in Hell," Maverick said, as the two Mandroids powered up their weapons for an execution but the rest of his comment was drowned out as alarms blared across the complex. It was the distraction he needed and in one fluid motion he ducked, rolled and tangled his legs with the Mandroid's sending it careening in to the other Mandroid and the immediate threat was dealt with.

Face down he could see Pete, freed and dealing with a Mandroid of his own and he smiled, not knowing how the Brit had done it, but he'd done it anyway and Pete nodded, firing a hot knife put and through the glass walkway and Maverick was up and he could see that Shadowcat hadn't wasted anytime either.

She was free of her bonds, and Maverick could only watch as she fought, using the techniques taught to her by Logan to put the Mandroids out of commission. The X-Men trained their people well, he remembered and she'd managed to convince one of them to blast the other, and as that one re-aimed, he went in, charging at it. Kate went down, and it toppled over her and as Pete came up through the glass it went down through it.

"Three Mandroids in a minute," said Pete. "That was fun."

"We're not out of this yet," said Maverick. "We've no powers - yet."

"Great," said Pete. "And you let the leader go."

"Gyrich's not going far," said Maverick.

"Henry Peter Gyrich?" said Pete, the disbelief hanging in his words and Maverick nodded. "Oh there is a God after all..."

"We're still stuck," said Shadowcat. "Without powers..."

"Be careful then," said Pete. "You're trained in stealth, so find a way out of here, get help and I'll meet up with you later."

"What are you going to do?" said Kate, looking at him.

"Create a diversion so you can get out," he said. He was going to find Gyrich and make good on his promise. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"Just be careful," she said as the two of them started to move as Pete saw many other guards coming down to see what was going on. Gyrich could wait, Pete thought. The other two needed to get away first and he was the only one here who could sort that out for them. He was a trained killer - it was time to put the training to use.

"How is she doing?" Forge asked as he looked on the video communications screen at Lydia Del Ruiz, who was on the other side. It hadn't been too long since they'd been retrieved from the Hydra base with Citizen V, but Forge has been too busy to check in right away. There was a lot happening in the world that demanded the attention of the Director of SHIELD.

"Miss Riordan is doing fine," she said. "Her injuries were more mental scarring than actual physical harm, and Marcus has worked hard to repair the damage that was done." She looked away from the screen a moment. "I'm sorry we couldn't retrieve Colonel Fury, sir. The odds..."

"Don't worry," said Forge, with a slight nod to reassure her. "We'll find Nick again, I've no doubt, though I am having his claim about the Hellfire Club checked in to. As I understand it, Joseph Chapman used to date Romany Wisdom."

"Have we heard back from Pete or the others yet?" It was more than a concern for her colleagues in her voice when she mentioned the ubiquitous Mr Wisdom, or so it seemed to Forge

"No," he answered , shaking his head. "With all the commotion at the EU, I've not had a chance to deal with that yet."

"You don't need us to scramble over and assist?" asked Lydia. "With HERMES back online..."

"No," said Forge, shaking his head. "Excalibur are dealing with it, I want you to keep an eye on the Hellfire Club. They messed us up over Fury and if they're plaguing us again with the rogue CSA squad, I want their heads."

"Understood," said Lydia and Forge signed off, leaving the three X-Force members standing around.

"You think the others are in trouble?" asked Siryn as she looked at the concern on Lydia's face. Lydia considered it. The three of them were experienced field operatives. Shadowcat was one of Xavier's finest, Maverick was a veteran of black ops, and Wisdom was a survivor. Yet they were going against how highly defended opposition and the fact they'd heard nothing wasn't good.

"I think someone is," she said, finally. "I just have a feeling... a feeling we're being played somehow, and I'm not sure I like it that much. Marcus, how's Dallas?"

"She's tired, but she's also ready to talk. The telepath Tangerine did some serious damage to the mental blocks in her head and she knows what it is we're after. She knows who the First Director was." Lydia and Siryn looked at each other. This was what they had been after, and finally it had paid off. "We're going to have to play it slowly though," he said. "What we're about to learn about the formation of SHIELD... Ah'd say there's not more than twenty people on the planet who know."

"Then we're going to join a very elite club," said Lydia. "After you, my friend." Marcus nodded and led the way.

"The XSE," he said as he read the newspaper in front of him. "Brian Braddock, and SHIELD." He had gone to great lengths to obtain and publish the proposal that he had found in Braddock's office, and yet Braddock had managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat and show it was his idea and not SHIELD's. Or more specifically the idea of Forge.

Plus there were many things going on out there. SHIELD were active in the UK through X-Force, there was a battle at the European Commission Headquarters in Brussels and by all account Braddock was there, and the Hellfire Club were at work, plotting and scheming to be more than they could. It was interesting that the Inner Circle were actually people they had destroyed before now. Black Air was alive and well, and though it appeared to the world as though they had been destroyed, they were waiting for the chance to strike.

Sir James Jaspers put his newspaper down.

"This will not do," he said as he turned to his associate. "I think it's time we made our influence felt once more." His associate nodded, not wanting to get on the wrong side of Sir James. They had once though that they could control him. They had been wrong.

In truth, they should never have brought him back to life...

"Hi," said Dallas as the SHIELD agents arrived. "Thank you."

"Just doing our job, Miss Riordan," said Lydia, as she sat down. "How are you feeling?"

"Lousy," she said. "I... I'm not comfortable talking about it, just yet."

"I understand," said Lydia.

"There's a Leonard Samson being brought in by SHIELD for you," said Siryn. "He's a psychologist."

"The one who treated Bruce Banner," said Dallas. "I didn't realise I was that bad." She gave a thin smile and they could see she was joking.

"He's very discreet," said Siryn, thinking that was a contradiction in terms seeing as how Samson was more or less a muscle bound giant with green hair. "He's treated a number of super-humans, the Hulk being his most prolific case."

"Dallas," said Marcus. "We need to know what you've remembered. Ah know we're askin' a lot of you, but it's important."

"I know," she said, turning away slightly. "We know that in it's current incarnation the SHIELD Director has absolute authority and reports to the United Nations? In the old days, SHIELD's Level One Public Director reported to the Executive Board of Directors, who in turn reported to the founders."

"We know this," said Siryn, gently. "We even know who they are, thanks to the documentation from the Deltite Affair and the United Nations paperwork from when they disbanded SHIELD and reformed it a little later."

"What you don't know," said Dallas, "is that the first Director of SHIELD was not Jim but John Watkins II. The third Citizen V."

"Citizen V?" said Siryn. "That's... that's..."

"Incredible," said Lydia. "The records seem to indicate that is was Jeff Mac, who as the Patriot was part of the All-Star Squadron, who formed the Penance Council of the V-Battalion."

"The Vanguard, the V-Battalion headquarters was built during his life time and it was that which brought him to the attention of the Executive Board. They figured a man like that could be the person to combat Hydra, seeing as how Citizen V was renowned for fighting Nazi's such as Zemo and Strucker."

"They used Mace's name, though?" asked Marcus.

"Yes," she said. "He was dying of cancer, and after the death of Watkins, the Council knew that he was the one they could use to protect the name of Citizen V, with the permission of the Executive Directors, and as they knew who the first Director was..."

"They had no choice," said Siryn. "Classy."

"Where is his body now?" asked Marcus.

"His ashes were scattered at his home town of Harlow in Kent," Dallas said. "I believe there is a park there with a lake he used to visit as a child with his mother."

"There is no body," said Lydia. "Nothing for Hydra to take and display."

"Stalemate," said Marcus. "We can't protect anything and neither can they steal what isn't there."

"They'll come after me again though," said Dallas. "They want to know what I know." Lydia nodded.

"We'll think of something," she said, already getting an idea in mind. "I promise." The other two looked at each other, seeing her thoughts through the mind-link set up by Marcus. It would work, but it just depended on how far Forge was prepared to go.

Maverick and Shadowcat moved through the complex, trying not to be seen or caught. Kate was a ninja, trained by Ogun and Logan to hide in plain sight and she was using everything they had taught her to good effect. North was a trained espionage agent, taking on operations that few would know of or even hear about because they were that covert and he too knew how to be careful when he had to be.

Neither of them had their powers just yet, which meant that they had to work twice as hard as normal, because they had no super-human edge to aid them this time, but form all accounts they might not need it because when Pete Wisdom said he was going to cause a distraction, he caused a distraction and after ten minutes or so they had managed to get to where their motorcycles were.

"I'll keep an eye out," said David as he did a quick sweep. "You get on to SHIELD, get the troops down here."

"On it," said Kate as she went to work. The bikes weren't too badly damaged and the rogue CSA technicians hadn't done anything she couldn't fix, given time. It was just uncertain as to how much they had and she knew that though it wouldn't take long for the cavalry to arrive, it still could be too late.

"Agent Pryde to SHIELD, come in SHIELD," she said as she flipped the comm switch. "Agent Pryde to SHIELD, come in SHIELD," she said a little more urgently but was met only with a static reply. "I'm getting nothing, Mav," she said.

"Keep trying," he said, then a moment later he muttered 'uh oh'.

"What?" Kate asked.

He looked at her. "Company," he replied. "I'm guessing someone heard the message. We could really do with a distress beacon..."

"Of course," said Kate, slapping her forehead. "Gimme a sec." She took the front panle of the computerised dash and started to play with wires.

"Hurry!" hissed Maverick, with some urgency, as he could see the guardsmen checking each door before they moved to the next and they were getting closer.

"Almost there," she murmured and she made the final connections of two wires and a high pitched squeal went out.

"What the hell?" asked Maverick, looking at her. So much for subtlety.

"It's being broadcast on all main SHIELD frequencies," she said. "They'll find us now."

"So will they," said North. "Here come the Guardsmen!"

"Hold them off," she said, looking at the tech devices. "I've an idea..."

Pete Wisdom was having fun.

Mandroids, guardsmen and others were coming at him and he was dispatching them all with hot knives, fighting techniques and other things, as the prisoners cheered him on, watching as he battled his way through. He couldn't hear them but he knew what he saw and it drove him on.

The hot knives were being used at a frightening intensity and if it wasn't for the fact they were more or less solid now, he wouldn't have been having as much luck as he was. However because they were solid and he had control over them, he was doing things with his powers he'd never imagined before.

"GYRICH! I'M COMING FOR YOU GYRICH!"

People were dying and all he wanted to do was get his hands on Gyrich and find out where his sister was and if he had to beat that pencil-necked geek to a bloody pulp to get his answers he would do. He knew a lot of ways to get information from people without killing them, and he generally didn't get much use to put those talents in to operation. That would change very soon.

"YOU'RE NEXT, GYRICH!"

Explosions rocked the place as he put hot knives in to canisters and power packs and other vital systems and it became very clear that the mutant was doing whatever he could to destroy the place. He generally fired them from his hands but they were manifesting from all over his body and being hurled in many directions to cause as much damage as humanly possible and soon there were very few coming after him, all afraid of what he would do.

Wisdom was bloodied, scorched and bruised by the time he was done. His SHIELD uniform was in tatters and he simply walked on with a grim determination, still calling out Gyrich's name. Wherever the bespectacled traitor was, he would soon be... then a sonic burst hit, him sending him flying back and Wisdom shook his head, trying to clear his vision.

"This is mine!" Gyrich shouted as he advanced, a sound blaster in his hand. "I built this place and I will not see some freak tear it apart." He blasted Pete again, and Wisdom cried out in pain. "This thing was capable of taking down Venom or any of those blasted symbiotes that Spider-Man unleashed, so just imagine what it's doing to you right now!" Pete struggled, not hearing what was being said and trying to make his eyes focus on Gyrich as pain coursed through him and he could see Gyrich was suddenly having difficulties. He seemed to be shaking the gun as if some unknown force was interfering in what he wanted it to do. Pete pulled himself together and shakily got to his feet.

"Gonna... fuck... you up," he said firing hot knives wildly, but they didn't connect, and Gyrich threw the gun to the floor.

"That piercing sound!" he said, covering his ears.

"Good God," cried Maverick, covering his ears. "What did you do?"

"Patched the base's communications in to the SHIELD ones," shouted Kate, as they made their way to the surface. "And amplified it."

It took them a few minutes, but they managed to make their way unmolested and outside they managed to hear properly again.

"I think it might have been too much," she said as she lay on the floor and closed her eyes, thinking she needed an icepack after that.

"You think?" gasped Maverick. "I feel so dizzy..."

"Just imagine what it's like down there," said Kate with a smile.

"What about Pete?" said Maverick, fighting the urge to vomit. "He's still down there...

"Oh hell," she said. "I forgot..."

Gyrich was on his knees and Pete dropped to the floor.

"Where's... my... sister..." he said, but Gyrich couldn't hear anything above the sound that was piercing his very soul and even with his hands over his ears he wasn't able to block it out, so whatever the SHIELD agent was saying it was over.

Inside the cells, the prisoners just looked, unable to hear the full effect of the sound thanks to the sound proofing of the cells. Pete could see that the rogue agents were all down, all in pain and he knew that he needed to get safe before it got to him too. In truth he was beginning to feel something ringing in his ears and he'd thought it was an effect of the sonic weapon but it was something else and he knew he couldn't take much more of this. He fired his hot-knives down and fell through the floor which broke easily enough and he landed quite hard, and he had to crawl to an empty cell and he closed the door.

The pounding in his head stopped, but he knew that he wasn't going to get what he wanted now. He guessed that the noise was something to do with Maverick and Shadowcat, which meant help was on the way and once Gyrich and his buddies were in custody, they'd be out of his reach. He'd lost the chance of finding his sister, and the masterminds behind this.

He'd failed, he'd tried so hard, but he'd failed and he let go of his emotions and began to weep at the lost chance, and waited for the rescue squads to arrive.