Heroes for Hire #6 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...

Heroes for Hire #6

Iron Fist - martial arts master raised in the mystic city of K'un Lun! Luke Cage - street-tough private eye with super-strength and steel-hard skin! Black Knight - man of science armed with weapons of sorcery! White Tiger - acrobatic feline fighter created by the High Evolutionary! Ant-Man - scientific genius with the ability to shrink to miniscule sizes! Together, they make the Heroes for Hire - an organization devoted to righting wrongs for a price!

"Guess who's coming to dinner...."

Written by: Wes A.

***

Jim Hammond stood impatiently in the hangar bay at Oracle. He just got word that the Heroes for Hire were about to land, and he wanted to be there personally when they arrived. As the large Atlantean craft*(*Hey, when the Sub-Mariner is President of the company, expect some perks-Wes) landed, Jim noticed the large cargo door on the side had opened up. He had a puzzled look on his face as the Heroes came trotting down the ramp. He also noticed each of them had odd looks of their faces. Jim knew that something wasn't right.

"So, what happened? Did you guys nail Basset and his cronies?"

They explained what happened on their mission. They told Jim about the Onex Guard, how Dr. Nordstrom was tricked, and the death of Basset. Jim couldn't believe what he heard.

"He killed himself? Why? What was he afraid of?" asked Jim aloud.

"It sounded more like who he was afraid of." replied Scott.

"Ok, granted." said Jim as his brow furrowed, "There must be some connection between whoever Basset was working for and this Morden. I assume you told Bridge all this?"

Danny nodded.

"We sent in Bridge and his men after we found Basset." Danny looked at the others, looking for a sort of confirmation, "We also found someone else at Bransteg, Jim. Or to be more precise, they found us."

Jim raised his eyebrow at Danny.

"Who?"

Danny turned to the craft, whose cargo door was still open.

"You can come out now!" yelled Danny.

Out of the cargo door rolled out a blue and white Formula racecar. The other Heroes made room as the car parked several feet away from Jim and Danny. Jim's mouth dropped open when he saw that nobody was in the car's driver's seat.

"Danny, is this some kind of joke?" asked Jim.

Danny just stood there with an amused look on his face.

"I assure you Mr. Hammond, this is no joke."

Jim jumped when he realized that it was the car that just talked. He stared at the car for a minute, looking it over.

"You're not hallucinating Mr. Hammond, I'm quite real." said the car again.

"Who......what are you?" asked Jim.

Then before Jim's eyes, the car transformed into a large blue and white robot. The robot was about 25 feet tall, with some sort of cannon on his right shoulder. What was the front hood of the car was now the front torso of the robot and it was adorned with a red symbol of some kind on it. The symbol looked almost like a face.

"My name is Mirage. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Hammond."

At first, Jim could do little more than just stand there. He saw some impressive things in his time, but this was something a little new for him. Finally Luke came over, a smile on his face, and gave Jim a friendly slap on the back.

"Yeah, that was our first reaction too."

***

They all decided to stay in the hangar bay, being as all the other areas in the building had too low of ceilings for Mirage. They had started to throw out questions for the large robot.

"So you have been following our steps for several days?" asked White Tiger.

"That's correct. I wanted to make contact with you, but I was not sure of how to go about it. So I decided to, how do you humans put? Ah yes, lay low for a while*(*see issue #4, for those of you that missed it-Wes)."

"Maybe you should answer one question first before any others," said Jim, "What exactly are you?"

The Heroes were all ears for the answer as Mirage began to explain.

"I come from a planet called Cybertron. My people are a race of robotic beings called Transformers. Although there was a time of peace between all Transformers, it did not seem destined to last. I belong to the group known as the Autobots. We Autobots are peaceful and are not violent by nature. Our 'brothers' are the Decepticons, Transformers who live to wage war and conquer others. Autobots and Decepticons have fought on Cybertron for millions of years. Although we Autobots have tried our best in battle, we always seem to fall short of victory. At one point, we Autobots only had one city left to defend against the Decepticons. In a desperate gamble, our leader Optimus Prime assembled a crew to journey to this planet you call Earth to obtain Energon, a crystal that all Transformers need to function. On our way to your planet though, the Decepticon leader Megatron and his elite forces ambushed us. The Decepticons invaded our ship and we all crashed on this world.

"We don't know how long it was before we awoke. All we know is, the Decepticons were the first to arise and fled our ship before we could stop them. We took the forms of your vehicles, in an attempt to disguise our presence to the population of your world and avoid panic and hysteria. Our second in command, Prowl, split some of us up to find some trace of the Decepticons. As I made my way about and studied your culture, I found the existence of superbeings like yourselves. Although it wasn't in my orders, I knew that we would need to warn protectors such as you about the Decepticons. I would also like to forge an alliance between our two groups."

Mirage looked at Jim.

"Does that answer you question, Mr. Hammond?" he asked politely.

Jim gave Mirage a funny look.

"Ah....yes...that will do. Thank you."

"Why did you choose to make contact with us, why not groups like the Avengers or the Fantastic Four?" asked Dane.

"From what I have gathered, those groups are more busy dealing with the evil forces native to your world. And any act taken by those groups is watched carefully by your people. You however, tend to keep a lower profile and that would be more beneficial to the Autobots."

"In other words you want the 'second stringers.'" said Scott under his breath.

White Tiger furrowed her brow in confusion at the comment. There were still some aspects of humans that she didn't completely understand yet. The others continued to throw questions at Mirage. Luke took the next turn.

"Exactly how many of the Decepti-goons are there kickin' it here on Earth?"

Mirage looked a bit uncomfortable when he heard the question. Or as uncomfortable as a robot could look anyway.

"We are not sure exactly how many were in Megatron's original garrison. We counted at least a dozen, not including Megatron."

Jim didn't like that answer. He held up his hands to stop Mirage right there.

"Ok, wait a second. Back up to that 'not exactly sure how many' part. Are you saying that you aren't even sure how many of them there are on Earth?"

Danny could tell that Jim wasn't taking this very good. This was a very serious matter. Granted, Earth has been no stranger to extraterrestrial life. But then again none of them were giant robots.

"Mr. Hammond, you must realize that when the Decepticons boarded our ship, some did stay behind to guard their ship. There was no way of knowing how many were on their vessel."

"Did their ship crash as well?" continued Jim.

"We believe so. Before we crashed, we managed to inflict damage to their engines. The odds of them escaping planetfall are slim."

Jim was about to argue his point further, but Danny stepped in. He firmly placed his hand on Jim's shoulder, a sign to let someone else step in. Jim gave a sigh and nodded for Danny to proceed. Danny set his gaze on Mirage, who appeared almost curious about the recent exchange between the two humans.

"Mirage, exactly how can we help you in your fight?"

"If the Decepticons begin to attack, you will need only summon us and we will rush to engage them. Although protectors such as yourselves are powerful, you haven't encountered any foes like the Decepticons. And we shall also aid you in fighting your enemies as well. It will be a strategic alliance that we can both gain from."

"Do you know of any place the Decepticons may attack first?" asked Scott.

"The Decepticons will need energy to manufacture Energon, and lots of it. They will most likely target your greatest power sources."

"Ok, we'll keep an eye out," said Danny "And tell your leader that we will are more than ready to aid the Autobots in their fight."

Mirage smiled.

"Thank you, very much. I'm sure the others will be happy to hear that. And here, I have this for you."

On Mirage's right hand, his index finger opened and a small device extended out. He took the small device in his left hand and gave it to Danny. The object was disc shaped and about half the size of a football.

"What is it?" asked Scott curiously.

"It's a communications device. Whenever you need to contact me or the Autobots, this will connect you with our ship's communication array."

Danny handed the object Scott, who looked over it like a kid would with a toy on Christmas.

"Thank you." said Danny.

After a few more questions, Mirage had to report back to his base. He said that he saw overdue on his report and didn't want Prowl to worry about him. After Mirage had left, the Heroes discussed the events of the past few hours.

"Man, this job just gets harder by the day," said Luke "If it ain't companies with hidden agendas, it's giant robots invading the planet."

"I believe Mirage, I think he doesn't want to hurt us." said Danny.

"Yeah, but these Decepticons sound like they would." argued Dane.

Scott turned away from examining the device Mirage gave them.

"Do you think there's any connection between these Transformers and the Battloids that Bransteg made?"

Everybody turned to Scott.

"What do you mean Scott?" asked Jim carefully.

"Well, think about it. The transformation the Battloids went through was similar to the one Mirage did. Maybe there's some sort of connection."

"But why would Mirage's people share their technology if they wanted to keep out of sight?" asked White Tiger.

"Maybe they didn't share that technology, maybe the Decepticons did." offered Dane.

Jim gave out a frustrated sigh.

"I think that if we want answers, we're going to have to find Morden and Basset's keepers. Whoever they are." he grimly said.

***

EPILOGUE

"You failed." she said.

Mr. Morden bowed his head.

"Yes. I deserve punishment for my failure."

She merely stared at him from the darkness. Morden tried to appear calm, despite a few beads of sweat forming on his brow.

"You have proven to be useful to me in the past, Mr. Morden. To eliminate you would be to destroy a useful resource. You shall not be punished for your.....miscalculation."

"Thank you." Morden said.

She slid out of the shadows, into the light of the room.

"The Bransteg project is a failure, it will be discontinued immediately. You will await your next assignment." she stated.

"Yes."

Morden turned and left the room, a feeling of gratitude washing over him.

The End.

Heroes for Hire #5 - Secrets, Revelations, and More Mysteries...

Heroes for Hire #5

Iron Fist - martial arts master raised in the mysticcity of K'un Lun! Luke Cage - street-tough private eye with super-strength and steel-hard skin! Black Knight - man of science armed with weapons of sorcery! White Tiger - acrobatic feline fighter created by the High Evolutionary! Ant-Man - scientific genius with the ability to shrink to miniscule sizes! Together, they make the Heroes for Hire - an organization devoted to righting wrongs for a price!

"Secrets, revelations, and more mysteries....."

Written by: Wes A.

***

Throughout most of the Bransteg building, people were rushing around. Many of them were preparing equipment and supplies to be moved. On the landing pad outside, Mr. Morden appeared very calm and collected. He watched as two aircraft landed. The wide doors on both the craft opened and two dozen armored men and women came out. The armor on each person was somewhat bulky, and had a chaingun mounted on the shoulder. The group made their way toward Morden, the one with the highest rank was in the lead.

"Onex Guard units #22 and 23 reporting for duty sir."

Morden nodded at the leader.

"Ladies, gentlemen. I assume you've all been briefed on you mission here?"

"Yes sir, provide protection from hostile forces while materials and personnel are evacuated to a secure location." replied the leader.

"Correct. Follow me."

Morden led the Onex Gurad in and had them divided up into groups. Some would be guarding the landing pad, some would be guarding labs, and others would be placed on stand-by. After Morden was finished dividing the team, he made his way to the main lab. In here too people were rushing, preparing for the move. Morden looked around and saw Dr. Nordstrom overseeing some Battloid remains*(*from issue #1-Wes) being stored into large containers. He walked over to Dr. Nordstrom to check up on his progress.

"Careful with that! That piece is the epicenter of the entire Battloid's weapons system!" exclaimed Nordstrom to one of the men.

"Doctor, how goes the move?" asked Morden.

Dr. Nordstrom turned around to find Mr. Morden standing behind him.

"Oh, fine Mr. Morden. The first shipment left a short while ago. We should have everything moved out within two hours."

Mr. Morden nodded his head in a way that almost indicated joy.

"Good, good. Glad to hear it. I realize that this is very sudden, but for the good of the project we must move elsewhere."

Mr. Morden's expression changed to a very serious one.

"There are forces at work out there, Dr. Nordstrom. Forces that threaten everything this project stands for."

Nordstrom's face appeared more resolved after that speech, ready to take on the odds.

"Don't worry sir, this project won't be shutting down. I know how important it is to this country. Nothing will keep it from accomplishing its goal."

Mr. Morden's face cracked a smile.

"Thank you Doctor. With men like you on our side, we can't possibly lose."

***

In his office, Mr. Basset was busy cutting through a lot of 'red tape'. To just pick up an operation like this and move it was a rather large task, but it had to be done. Their enemies were on to them now and this place was no longer safe. If all went according to plan, then they'd have nothing to worry about. The Onex Guard had arrived, so they should have adequate protection if any complications had arose. Mr. Basset was signing some papers when he heard a knock at his office door.

"Come in." said Basset without looking up from his paperwork.

Dr. Jacob Frost stepped into the room.

"Excuse me sir, but is this a bad time?" the Doctor asked.

"No, no, not at all. What can I do for you?"

"Yes, well, I just wanted to report that the first prototype-or the remains of it-were shipped out with the first transport and the second will be ready to shuttle in a little while."

"Thank you Doctor." said Basset, still concentrated on his paperwork.

"Sir, there's one other thing as well I wanted to talk with you about. Are we in any danger?"

The question stopped Mr. Basset from his writing. He looked up at the small man before him and realized he saw fear in the man's eyes.

"Dr. Frost, I won't lie to you. There may be people on their way here that wish us harm. But don't worry yourself. You have this corporation and all the resources at its disposal protecting you. You have nothing to fear."

Mr. Basset had a smile on his face that conveyed a sense of security. Jacob's mood began to rise.

"Of course sir, you're right. Thank you." returned Jacob with a smile of his own.

After Jacob left the room, Mr. Basset thought on the words he spoke. He thought of what might happen if he failed Mr. Morden and his superiors. He knew that failure wasn't an option, but he was prepared just in case.

***

The young receptionist at the front desk was busy filing some documents on her computer when she noticed a man walk into the lobby. He was tall and wore an overcoat that covered most of his body. She could see his muscles bulge underneath the coat.

"How may I help you?" she asked sweetly.

The man returned the smile with one of his own. The receptionist felt herself melt a little under the man's charming smile.

"I'd like to talk with Mr. Basset please." he said politely.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I don't." the man said almost apologetically.

"Then I can't let you in." she said.

"But it's very important that I see him."

"Well, what's your name? If I tell him I'm sure he'll be willing to see you."

"Cage." the man said simply.

"Excuse me?" she asked, confused.

"Luke Cage. And oh yeah, my partners came with me too."

With that, the rest of the Heroes for Hire walked into the door and joined Luke at the desk.

"Sure he's not too busy?" asked Black Knight casually.

The secretary's face went slightly pale. She hit a button on the underside of her desk and a squad of armed security guards burst into the room. They opened fire, only to have done little harm to the heroes. Luke and Black Knight were unharmed by the shots, Iron Fist and White Tiger were agile enough to avoid harm and Ant-Man merely shrunk down to ant-size and the shots just whizzed by. Iron Fist and White Tiger took the offensive and attacked the guards.

"Ok people, cover's blown! Let's get it over with!" said Iron Fist.

The guards barely saw Iron Fist and White Tiger coming at them before they were knocked out cold on the floor. Luke threw off the bullet-ridden remains of the trenchcoat to reveal his uniform. He tossed the coat to the secretary, who was frozen to her chair with amazement over what just happened.

"Say, would you happen to know where any labs would be around here?" asked Luke in a charming voice.

The secretary just gave him an amazed look, then pointed down a hallway.

"Go down your second left, pass another four offices, the take the elevator down to sub-level #2."

"Thanks." said Luke with a smile.

***

They had almost made it to the elevator when they ran into more security guards. Except this time though, the guards were armed with some type of stunguns. White Tiger took a direct shot and went down to the ground. The shots barely affected Luke, so he shielded Iron Fist. Black Knight absorbed the blasts into his shield, channeled the energy into his sword, then shot it at the guards. They were all knocked back by the force of the blow.

"Nice shot." said Ant-Man, who was riding around on his small Deviant flyer.

"How's Tiger doin'?" asked Luke.

White Tiger groaned and began to get back up on her feet.

"I am being fine, thank you for asking."

"Come on, let's go." said Iron Fist.

***

By now, Basset had made his way down to the lab. He called Mr. Morden over to him with urgency in his voice. Morden saw that something was wrong and ran over to Basset.

"What's going on?" asked Morden.

"The Heroes for Hire are here. They've made their way to the elevator entrance. I've assigned a squad of Onex Guard to intercept them. We have to get everything out of here NOW!"

Morden cursed under his breath.

"Very well, we'll have to make this next shipment the last one. Let's hope the Onex Guard can keep our foes busy long enough so we can get out of here."

***

As the elevator doors opened, the Heroes found themselves facing the Onex Guard. Each of them had their chainguns aimed at the heroes. For a moment, they all froze. But that was only a moment.

"Fire!" ordered the Onex Guard leader.

Just after the order was given, the Chi powered hand of Iron Fist smashed the Onex Guard right between the eyes. The Guard fell back, causing the two Guards behind him to misfire and hit the floor instead of their intended targets. Using the distraction, the Heroes launched themselves into battle. Luke leaped forward and tackled one of the Guards to the ground. White Tiger used her claws to shred one of the Guards chainguns to pieces. Black Knight and Iron Fist teamed up on one of Guards, Iron Fist using his Chi powered fist to hit him in the ribs and Black Knight using his sword to slice the chaingun like a knife through butter.

While the other Heroes fought off the Onex Guard, Ant-Man flew up into the air vents unnoticed. It was a tight squeeze, but it made it through with his Deviant. He flew through the air vent until her came to an air duct overlooking the lab. From what he saw, all the equipment in the lab was being prepared for shipping. In the middle of the operation, Ant-Man could see Mr. Basset along with another man overseeing the operation. Ant-Man could also see more Onex Guard in the lab, apparently Basset was prepared for an attack. Ant-Man pulled out a small communications device from his belt. It was given to him by G.W. Bridge. When the Heroes wanted back-up, all they had to do was give the word and a strike-team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would be there in a matter of minutes.

Ant-Man was about to use the device to call for the back-up when he noticed Dr. Nordstrom enter a smaller lab off to the side of the main lab. Ant-Man put the device away and made another trip through the vents. He came to the one in the lab where Dr. Nordstrom was. Nordstrom was working on a computer, pulling up some sort of file. Ant-Man landed on the floor of the room and dismounted his flying Deviant. He then grew up to full size.

"Dr. Nordstrom?"

Nordstrom jumped from surprise. He whipped around to face Ant-Man.

"You! How did you get past the Onex Guard?!" exclaimed Nordstrom a bit franticly.

Ant-Man raised his arms, palms out. He hoped to calm the Doctor and reason with him.

"I'm not here to hurt you, none of the Heroes are. Doctor, you must listen to me, Mr. Basset has lied to you, he's lied to all of you. Bransteg has no involvement with the government. They're up to something, something bad. We're here to stop whatever it is they're here to do, but we need your help to find out what exactly they're up to."

Nordstrom shook his head.

"No, that can't be true. They came to me, to ALL of us. They said they needed our help. They said that the government wanted to make a robot capable to combating super-powered criminals and they hired Bransteg to build them."

"Doctor, that's not true. The government had no such plans, and they sure didn't have any contracts with Bransteg."

Dr. Nordstrom shook his head again, except this time with confusion.

"But I don't understand, why would they lie to us? Why wo-"

Before Dr. Nordstrom could finish his sentence, the door to the small lab opened. The man that entered was the man Ant-Man saw with Basset in the lab. As soon as he saw Ant-Man, his face darkened.

"You."

Before Ant-Man could do anything, the man pulled out some sort of gun from his business suit jacket and fired. Instead of bullets though, the gun shot a sort of energy pellet. The pellet his Ant-Man square in the chest and knocked him flat on his back. Nordstrom was frozen where he stood, not believing what he just saw. The man turned to Nordstrom.

"What was he doing here?" the man demanded.

Dr. Nordstrom just stuttered his response.

"Mr. Morden, he just startled me.....I didn't see him until....."

"Did you tell him anything?"

"No, n-no, of course I didn't."

"Why don't I believe you?" asked Morden coldly.

Nordstrom saw the cold, hard look on Morden's face. He knew that no answer he gave would save him, so he chose to give none. Morden pointed the gun at Nordstrom, ready to fire. Suddenly, Morden was hit with a yellow beam of energy. Morden gave a hard grunt of pain as he hit the lab floor. Nordstrom followed the blasts path towards Ant-Man's gauntlet.

"Ready to reconsider your job options now?" asked Ant-Man.

Suddenly, alarms began to blare throughout the lab.

"Your allies I take it?" Nordstrom asked as he helped Ant-Man up.

"They must have gotten through the Onex Guard, they should be here in a bit. C'mon let's get that Morden guy and......."

It was then they realized that Morden was gone. They saw the open door and made their own judgement.

***

At the loading area to the landing pad, everyone was busy either loading materials or trying to get on one of the aircraft. Basset waited for Morden beside a smaller aircraft. The Heroes were very close now, and he wanted to leave. He breathed a relieved sigh when he saw Morden coming, obviously in pain.

"What happened? Where's Nordstrom?"

"I'm sorry to say that Dr. Nordstrom will no longer be with us. He just became a security risk."

It took Basset a moment to process this.

"You mean you......killed him?"

"Unfortunately, no. We'll have to settle that loose end later on. Right now Mr. Basset, let us leave."

The craft had just began lift off and Basset was about to shut the door, when an energy blast rocked the craft. The force of the blast rocked the craft and Basset was thrown out. He hit the floor very hard. Morden looked down to see Ant-Man ready to fire again. Morden pulled out his gun and fired back, forcing his attacker to take cover. While Ant-Man took cover, the craft left the hangar and shot off into the sky. Ant-Man cursed, then made his way over to Basset. Basset was in bad shape, his leg was visibly broken.

"Don't move, we'll get you to a hospital. You're going to be fine." said Ant-Man, trying to keep Basset calm.

"No, no I won't be," said Basset with a grim smile "not if I talk. If I talk, they'll know. And believe me, that's a fate almost worse than death."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ant-Man, confused.

Basset snorted, as if someone told a joke he only found half funny.

"You don't know. You don't know who you're dealing with, but you will. They aren't going to forget about you. SHE won't forget about you. I knew the job was risk. But it's an even bigger risk to run from them. Well, I'm not going to run."

He looked Ant-Man straight in the eye.

"I wish you luck. You'll need it for the road you're going to take."

Suddenly, Basset bite down hard on something in his mouth. Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, his body going limp. Ant-Man just held Basset's body, unable to believe what just happened. He didn't know how long it was between Basset's death and the other Heroes arriving. They ran up to Scott.

"Scott, what happened?" asked Danny.

"Basset killed himself, poison pill."

All was silent for a moment. Finally, it was Scott who spoke again.

"We should call Bridge, let him clean this up. I heard Nordstrom mention the name 'Morden', maybe Bridge can find something on him."

"Where is Nordstrom?" asked Dane.

"He ducked out after I went to chase down Morden, I don't know where he went. Did you take care of all the Onex Guard?" asked Scott as he got up.

"Yeah. Sure was enough of 'em." said Luke.

The Heroes began to leave the hangar, tired from their battle.

"Wish we could get some answers about all this." said Luke idly.

"Perhaps I can give some." came a voice.

The Heroes looked up to see a section of the air in front of them shimmer for a moment. Then, a large blue and white robot stood before them. The Heroes stood, frozen where they took their last steps.

"Greetings," said the robot "My name is Mirage. I have come on behalf of the Autobots and Optimus Prime to ask your aid."

"Be careful what you wish for....." said Luke under his breath.

TO BE CONTINUED............

Heroes for Hire #4 - And the Verdict is...

Heroes for Hire #4

Iron Fist - martial arts master raised in the mystic city of K'un Lun! Luke Cage - street-tough private eye with super-strength and steel-hard skin! Black Knight - man of science armed with weapons of sorcery! White Tiger - acrobatic feline fighter created by the High Evolutionary! Ant-Man - scientific genius with the ability to shrink to miniscule sizes! Together, they make the Heroes for Hire - an organization devoted to righting wrongs for a price!

"And the verdict is...."

Written by: Wes A.

***

Mr. Basset poured himself a cup of coffee from the coffee machine in the lounge of the Bransteg building. After he was done pouring the coffee, he added three sugars. Usually he only took two, but today was proving to be a bit of a stressful day. He took a sip from the mug and let out a sigh of approval. The extra sugar was definitely helping him calm down a bit.

After a few more drinks of his coffee, Mr. Basset left the lounge. He left to another level of the building, to a sort of "ready room". When he entered, he found five men putting on suits of armor. Four of the men had armor that was very similar in design, but one had armor like the kind the Guardsmen had at the Vault*(*A type of prison of super-criminals-Wes). Except his armor was a more advanced version. The man in the Guardsman armor turned to Basset as he entered.

"Ah, Mr. Elkins. I trust your trip here was a pleasant one?" Mr. Basset asked the man.

"Yes sir, it was."

"Good, good." said Basset with a smile.

"Excuse me sir, but how long is this going to take? We DO have another job to be getting back to." said one of the other men.

The man in the Guardsman armor turned and gave the other man a hard glare. Mr. Basset merely smiled.

"Don't worry Whysper. I'm well aware of your mission against the Thunderbolts. But with no recent sightings of them, your superiors didn't object to you all getting the chance to sharpen your skills further."

"We'll do our best Mr. Basset." said the Guardsman.

"I expect nothing less Sentry. Now, on to your assignment."

With that, Basset turned to a TV in the room. Basset turned it on and on the screen was footage from newscasts of the Heroes for Hire in action. This new-bit showed the Heroes battling Orca and Killer-Shrike on a battleship in New York Harbor**(**this scene is from Heroes for Hire #4-Wes).

"These are your targets gentlemen. We recently hired them for a job. Some secret files were stolen from us, so we hired them to get the files back, which they did. But they were recently attempting to break into our computer system to retrieve those files for themselves. We'd like you five to take the Heroes down so that they can be convicted for their crimes."

"Don't worry Mr. Basset," said Sentry "the Jury will bring them down."

***

At Oracle Inc., the Heroes for Hire were gathered in their meeting room. Also in attendance was Jennifer Walters, better known to the world as She-Hulk. Jennifer was hired on as the group's lawyer, nothing more. Occasionally she did lend a hand on missions, but that was a rare occurrence. Right now though, she wasn't a very happy camper.

"I don't know which is more unbelievable. The fact that Bransteg is lying about having government affiliations, or that you guys tried to hack into their computer system." said Jennifer.

"Jennifer, they're hiding something. We KNOW they are." replied Jim.

"So you hacked into their security system? Jim, you guys could be thrown into jail for something like this."

"I contacted S.H.I.E.L.D., we have their full support in dealing with this matter. And as soon as we give them a shout, they'll come charging in with the Calvary."

"I think we may have a more pressing concern here." said Danny. "Bransteg knows we're on to them. If we are going to make a move, we have to do it soon, before they do it first."

Jim sighed. "You're right Danny. Ok team, get ready. You move out within half an hour."

The rest of the team nodded in agreement and left to prep themselves for battle.

***

"This appears to be the correct address." he thought to himself.

He checked again, just to be sure. It was indeed the right address. Now the only problem was what to do now? It was one thing to get there, but quite another to make his move. He was one hundred percent sure that nobody knew of his presence. All the equipment was still in working order and he made sure to test it out beforehand. Granted, this mission wasn't exactly in his orders, but he knew that it was important.

"Hmm?"

His sensor just detected five bogeys, headed by air towards the Oracle building. Suddenly, it seemed like the timetable may have to be pushed ahead.

***

"Ready for some action Scott?" Luke asked as they approached their aircraft in Oracle's landing bay.

"You bet."

Scott just put on his helmet and his little Deviant flew up onto his shoulder. Luke raised his eyebrow.

"Isn't it kinda weird ridin' around on that little dragonfly-whatever it is?"

Scott nonchalantly shook his head.

"After a while you get used to it. Besides, this little guys a lot faster than an Ant any day of th-"

Scott's sentence was cut-off by the ceiling of the landing bay was caved in. Rubble came raining down onto the ground. Luke and Scott looked up to see the Jury hovering in mid-air. Sentry was using the flight boots built into his suit. Whysper, Bomblast, Firearm, and Ramshot all had small flight disks attached to the bottoms of their feet.

"HEROES FOR HIRE! Stay where you are! You are being placed under custody of the Jury, for the crime of stealing top-secret files from the Bransteg company and the U.S. government! Come along quietly and no harm shall come to you!" ordered Sentry.

"What was that Danny said about moving out before they made the first move?" Scott whispered to Luke.

"You've had enough time! Put your arms up!" barked Sentry.

Scott moved forward.

"Listen, you've got-"

"Get 'em!"

Several energy beams suddenly shot out at Scott. Scott quickly leaped out of the way, landing roughly on the floor.

"Aw well." shrugged Luke as he picked up a piece of rubble from the roof and flung it at the attackers.

The Jury quickly evaded the piece of debris and took the offensive. Sentry, Bomblast, and Ramshot went after Luke while Firearm and Whysper took on Ant-Man. Sentry fired a Repulsor blast at Luke. Luke's skin merely absorbed the brunt of the blast, but Luke was knocked to his knees. Sentry dove at Luke, fists first. At the last second, Luke grabbed Sentry's wrists and flung him at Ramshot. The two armored fighters smashed into each other, both of them colliding with the ground.

"Try this!" said Bomblast as he shot a plasma bolt from his large cannon.

Luke took the full force of the hit and was thrown clear off his feet. He skidded several feet on the floor before he got back up.

Meanwhile, Whysper and Firearm closed in on Ant-Man. Whysper shot a sonic blast, but Ant-Man shrank down to miniscule size and avoided the hit. The two Jury members looked around.

"Where'd he go?" asked Firearm.

"He must have shrunk himself. It'll probably be impossible to find him now." said Whysper.

While the two were looking around, Ant-Man was carried by his Deviant right behind the two men in armor. Ant-Man aimed his gauntlets at Whysper and fired at full force. The sting hit Whypser and he was thrown to the ground. Firearm activated his armor and his forearms became surrounded with flames. He searched for any sign of Ant-Man, but was also met with a sting blast.

Sentry and Ramshot got up and began to power-up their weapons.

"Got us good that time." said Ramshot.

"Yeah, he did," said Sentry with venom in his voice "we better finish these two off before the others come looking for them."

"Too late for that."

Sentry and Ramshot turned to see Iron Fist, White Tiger, Black Knight, and She-Hulk. Both sides looked at each other for a second then broke off into their own attacks. Ramshot fired the small vibration-cannons he had built on his gloves at Black Knight while Sentry took to the air. Black Knight's shield absorbed the blast, channeling it into his sword. Sentry shot a Repulsor blast at Iron Fist and White Tiger. The two martial artists evaded the blast with ease. She-Hulk used her leg muscles to leap at Sentry. She collided with Sentry and both fell to the earth.

"White Tiger, help Black Knight with Ramshot, I'm going to help Ant-Man." ordered Iron Fist.

White Tiger nodded in agreement. Black Knight shot his energy blast out of his sword at Ramshot, causing him to lower his defenses. White Tiger leapt in and used her claws to slash at Ramshot's armor. She followed up with a series of savage punches and jabs before Ramshot knocked her away. Black Knight then launched an offensive attack, taking Ramshot by surprise. As the two fought, White Tiger recovered to help Black Knight double-team his foe.

"Give up now and you won't get hurt." said Whysper.

"Yeah, right." thought Ant-Man.

By now, Whysper and Firearm recovered from the sting blasts. Firearm configured his armor to pick up Ant-Man's body heat and the two Jury members were throwing blasts at him left and right. It took all of Ant-Man's skill and the Deviants speed to keep from getting blasted to pieces.

"He's tiring. One more shot should get him." said Firearm.

He aimed another blast when his shoulders were grabbed from behind and he was flung backwards. Before he knew it he found himself on his back, looking up at Iron Fist.

"I'd ask for an explanation, but I have the feeling you'd just tell me to 'give up and I won't be hurt.'"

Whysper aimed a blast at Iron Fist's back and fired. Iron Fist heard the blast being fired and backflipped out of the way. While in the air, he charged his fist with chi power and when he landed in front of Whysper, he let his fist smash into the armor warrior. Whysper was then hit by a roundhouse kick.

"Offfff!"

Whysper doubled over and was hit with an uppercut by Iron Fist. Not far away, Luke was smashing Bomblast with his powerful fists. Without being double-teamed anymore, Luke was holding his own quite well.

"You think you can beat us?" asked Bomblast spitefully.

"Mama didn't raise a quitter." responded Luke.

Bomblast then aimed his cannon at Luke and fired, knocking Luke into a wall. Luke tried to get up but only got as far as his knees. He grunted as he got to his feet once again.

"She might've raised a loser though."

Luke's eyes saw red. Before Bomblast knew what happened, Luke was flying through the air and had tackled him to the ground. After pinning Bomblast, Luke laid blow after blow into the armored Jury member.

"Suddenly, I'm starting to regret this job." thought Bomblast.

Bomblast finally managed to get Luke off by using his plasma cannon as a club. Luke came tumbling off and Bomblast did a check of his armor. He had taken heavy damage and it was doubtful that he could last much longer.

"Don't you bad guys learn? Storming the good guys headquarters is an invite for a butt-kicking." said She-Hulk.

Sentry threw a punch at She-Hulk, but it was blocked. She-Hulk laid a left punch into Sentry's torso. The blow left a small dent in Sentry's armor. Lashing out, Sentry laid a punch of his own into She-Hulk, hitting her square in the jaw. The blow only had a momentary effect however and She-Hulk quickly retaliated with several hits of her own.

"If you think you can get away with stealing top-secret information, you're wrong!" said Sentry.

With that said, Sentry hit She-Hulk with another hit. She took an involuntary step back and sighed to herself.

"You ever think of checking into your bosses 'top-secret' project with......oh, I don't know....the government maybe?" she asked.

Her response was another hit to her face. She-Hulk quickly responded with a hit of her own. She began to lay into Sentry with some her most powerful hits. Sentry got in some of his own, but it didn't make up for the beating he was taking at the hands of the jade giantess.

"My armor wasn't designed to take this kind of beating." he thought to himself.

Finally, Sentry took to the air and shot a Repulsor blast at She-Hulk. She was hit hard and hit the floor. Sentry quickly surveyed the battlescene and found that the Jury was losing. Bomblast had sustained heavy damage, the others were barely holding their own, and he knew that he couldn't take on She-Hulk. The mission was doomed to failure unless they evacuated immediately. Sentry patched into the Jury's Comm channel, built into each member's helmet.

"Jury, prepare to retreat! I repeat, prepare to retreat!"

The others had quickly gotten away from their opponents. Firearm swooped in to pick up the badly damaged Bomblast. The armored warriors were headed out through the hole in the ceiling when they found themselves at the ends of two-dozen gun barrels belonging to S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Each agents was armed to the teeth with various weaponry and had a flight suit on. Accompanying the agents was half a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. Mandroids. In the lead was none other than S.H.I.E.L.D. commander G.W. Bridge.

"Do yourselves a favor boys, and come along quietly." said Bridge.

Down below, Iron Fist's face broke into a smile.

***

"So how did you guys know we needed the assist, G.W.? And don't tell us you were just 'in the neighborhood'."

Bridge smiled at Danny.

"After Hammond informed us of Bransteg's suspicious activities, we decided to keep an eye on them. Shortly after we handed the case over to you guys, we found out that the Jury had been called away from their Thunderbolt hunt and been temporarily hired by Bransteg. It doesn't take a Reed Richards to guess what assignment the Jury would be given."

After Bridge and his team showed up, the Jury promptly surrendered themselves. They gave their side of the story and were willing to take responsibility for their actions. The heroes hadn't taken any major wounds during the battle. Right now, they were discussing plans with Bridge.

"So what'll happen to the Jury?" asked Jim.

"Well, there'll be an investigation, but my guess is that they won't be punished very severely. Bransteg did pull the wool over their eyes. But the sooner we can bust Bransteg, the better."

Danny nodded.

"I think it is time we settled with Bransteg. The fact that they sent the Jury proves they're hiding something, and they're afraid that we know it."

"So what're we waiting for, let's go get 'em." said Dane.

***

"YOU IDIOT!!" yelled Morden.

He backhanded Basset and the man went to the ground. Basset wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth and stood up to face Morden once again. Morden's eyes were like daggers, shooing out at Basset.

"What were you thinking?" asked Morden with restrained anger.

"I was thinking of the safety of this project." stated Basset.

"Well now thanks to you, our cover has been blown for sure. We might as well just invite every super-powered do-gooder on the face of the Earth in now."

"Just because the Jury hasn't reported in yet doesn't mean-"

"SHUT UP! Thanks to you, we'll have to shut down and try to move it elsewhere. I'll contact the Overseer and arrange for some security, just in case our enemies arrive before we've moved. You get everyone in this facility ready to leave as soon as possible. Can you do that without screwing up?"

Basset just nodded. Morden turned and left the control room, on his way to contact his superiors. He hoped he caught them in a good mood.

Next Issue: The Heroes for Hire pay a visit to Bransteg's headquarters......