Secret Invasion Contest: Going Green, Seeing Red

[aquarius]

It was a rare night off for Jubilee, but with things getting quieter for the X-Men again after the Apocalypse mess it was at least becoming more frequent again. She'd managed to get a ticket to a concert taking place in the city, and once the sun was properly set she was on her motorbike and out the gates, heading for the venue, a converted warehouse quite close to one of her favourite nightclubs that she was planning on heading to once the concert was over.

Parking up a brief walk away from the venue, she arrived a little later than she'd hoped but was at least still a little early. Once inside though, it seemed either quite a few others were yet to arrive, or the turnout was less than she'd expected. It should have been at least a few hundred for this band, but there were probably less than a hundred here so far. At first Jubilee wasn't suspicious until a speck of dust irritated her nose, causing her to sniff in irritation. That was when she noticed - there were no scents from any of the people around her!

Turning towards the exit as unobtrusively as she could, suddenly a dozen or more people were blocking it. A sudden flash-bang detonated, and when her eyes cleared no longer were there civilians standing there, instead ninjas in red garb. The Hand!

A glance around the room revealed that everyone there was now a ninja, and already forming a circle around her clearly preparing for the inevitable gratuitous messy fight that always accompanied their presence. But none of them moved any further towards her. Instead, in perfect unison each of them drew a blade and cut their palms, then smeared their blood onto the floor in front of them, between them all forming a circle around her. Only then did anyone advance, a single figure identical in appearance to the others. Despite her record against The Hand in the past, Jubilee knew better than to take any of them for granted. If The Hand thought this one was enough to deal with her? They probably had a good reason for that.

That reason was discovered as soon as she tried to dodge his first strike and only barely managed it. It wasn't that he was fast, it was... her supernatural speed was gone. But how?! Another sniff and she realised. The scent of garlic filled the air along with that of their blood. They'd used their dark magics to sap her speed, strength, and who knew what else?

When the next attack came, she found out what else. Not only was this ninja far stronger than they had any right to be, but their skill was beyond anyone Jubilee had fought against. She wasn't even sure if Logan was this good! Within moments she was held in a grapple she couldn't find her way out of, and she was being bound with ropes that had the painful sting of garlic - plus the faintest burn of silver. They'd really prepared, it seemed. Only when a hood was slipped over her head and she found herself slipping into unconsciousness did she wonder just how much their dark magics were capable of...

[aquarius]

Finesse's exceptional deductive skills had been tasked with helping in a lot of intelligence analysis without any idea of what it was actually about. This was... frustrating. She had voiced her concerns about how it was limiting her effectiveness in finding out whatever it was she was meant to be finding out, but apparently 'finding anomalies' was her only brief, and any elaboration would risk "revealing top secret information".

She'd already managed to work some of it out, of course. But that had only lead to more questions - ones she knew would not be answered if she asked them. And so she set out to learn the answers for herself. Scanning documents and reading reports had gotten her as far as they would for the day, so once she was permitted some rest time, Jeanne decided to 'take a walk in the park'. In truth, this was a simple enough pretext to investigate the site of one of the events in the reports she'd read. Maybe a bit more information would reveal more hidden answers...

When she neared the old warehouse, there were a few signs of suspicious activity almost immediately. Signs of unusual movement patterns, and despite being a relatively low value property there was a surprisingly advanced security system, and more than that it was not from any supplier that she recognised. Beyond that, it bore signs of the early stages of being dismantled, as if the owner didn't want to leave anything behind which might help identify them.

Officially she had no authority to enter the building of course, nor would her instructors approve of her taking matters into her own hands like this. But that meant she felt the need to take a look all the more. The advanced alarms and sensors were child's play to one such as Finesse, and she was soon inside searching for clues. Sadly, that proved a lot less simple than she'd hoped, as if the place had been swept clean by highly capable individuals, leaving very little for her to find. However, there was the faintest smell of... Garlic?

This brought to mind a few unrelated reports she'd analysed recently, but as she moved around Finesse noticed the scent was localised very specifically, mixed in with the definite aroma of blood. Quickly this was determined to be confined to a very small area, further adding to her suspicions. Of course, this lead her to investigate the middle of the narrow area of floor, where she found...

Nothing. No trace of anything even remotely interesting. She hadn't expected a lot, but at least something would have been nice. It was only when Jeanne moved away again and crossed the invisible threshold of the circle that anything changed. A flash of light blinded her, and a sense of disorientation that she knew from training signified teleportation.

And in the rafters above where she had been just a moment before, a figure moved out of the shadow in which they had been hiding, slipping away in silence.

[aquarius]

Gambit had a list of a few people he'd been watching, and today a few of them had sort of crossed paths. As one of them had laid an obvious trap, another had... arrived to walk right into it. Surely Jubilee knew better than this? Though to be fair she presumably didn't know half of the stuff he'd been finding out over the past few weeks. Or...

Or her being on his list was for a good reason.

He kept himself hidden for now, watching as events unfolded and only when everything was over did he begin to reflect on what had transpired. Jubilee was a vampire now? Had he really been gone for that long? Or was it that... Ugh, Fury's paranoia was as infectious as it was justified. This was of great interest to him, but only on a personal level. Why did saving the world have to be so... difficult?! Back when he was a Marauder, heck even when he was an X-man, he'd have dropped what he was doing and gone off on his own personal side quest. But something told him that doing so with Fury as his boss would be an exceptionally bad idea even by his standards.

And so he kept his position and resumed his observations of these remarkably unusual people. After a minute or so he began to pick up a few more clues from their movements, far more coordinated and precise than he'd have expected for these people. It kind of reminded him of... But that didn't make any sense...

Then they had finished their work concealing any evidence of their presence, and they all gathered in the middle of the room, vanishing in a green pulse of light and taking all evidence of their presence with them. But this was the last little clue Gambit had needed to finally make some sense of this part of the puzzle. When you were looking for evidence of one hidden threat, it was all too easy to overlook the existence of other dangers. How to react to this though? It was still possible it tied in to his mission, after all. But there was no way he was going to be able to investigate this any further on his own, or indeed under any form of cover.

The faint sounds of movement alerted him to another presence, and he looked down to see one of the Avengers' trainees he'd read a file about briefly. She had potential, he had to admit. Lacked any real experience, but hopefully she'd live long enough to gain it.

Of course, her vanishing suddenly in the same green flare meant another rapid re-evaluation of his next course of action. He couldn't investigate directly without inevitable breaking his deep cover. He couldn't not investigate, which meant only one option remained. Be sneaky and manipulative and trick someone else into doing it for him! And so he stood up from his hiding spot and slipped off into the night, a plan - no, a scheme - already forming.

[aquarius]

Thor had been the only one at the Avengers Mansion when the call came. The Chieftain of the Police had called to tell him of a member of the public who had reported seeing the abduction of one of the trainees of the Avengers. All children were worthy of protection of course, but especially so when they were students of the Avengers, and therefore of him.

Thor took the information down, writing it on an it-of-posts, hoping others would return from their missions before long. And with that done, he was straight out the door, soaring into the air and heading to the nearby location that would surely be where his goal would be found.

Less than a minute later, and the Prince of Asgard fell like a comet from the skies onto the front lawn of the Latverian embassy. He strode towards the main doors, a bellowed challenge giving the merest fraction of a warning before he knocked with all the force that Mjolnir could bring to bear.

"DOOM! I WOULD HAVE WORDS WITH THEE!"

The oaken doors, reinforced with metal and various mystical wards might as well have been cheap plywood for all the resistance they offered him. Standing the other side of the cloud of splinters and sawdust, he saw... an elderly man, one apparently unable to stand without leaning heavily on a walking stick.

"Good evening, your highness. My master has bade me direct you follow me to meet him. I am to assure you that no misdeeds shall be directed at you so long as you refrain from further damage to the embassy."

As he shuffled down a corridor, leading Thor onwards he spoke in what seemed to be a speech that had been prepared for him - an explanation of what Doom had done, and how he had done it. A horde of Doombots disguised as civilians, with secondary camouflage as footsoldiers of The Hand ninjas, then a magical trap left behind with just enough bait to lure in the trainee Avenger.

This monologue that Doom had delegated to his underling lasted just long enough for their journey it seemed, no doubt another calculated move by the Latverian dictator. The doors were opened, revealing a massive laboratory which would no doubt be many months of study were Stark ever able to access it.

At the far end of the room stood Doom, at the controls of a complex looking machine. Many cables ran from the computer bank to a pair of glass spheres, each over two metres in diameter. In the first he could see Finesse, and in the second he recognised Jubilee of the X-men. He spoke only two words as he held Mjolnir in front of him.

"Get down."

Lightning surged forth from his weapon into the two domes, shattering them and raining shards of glass over the two girls who had thankfully managed to avoid the worst of it all, stepping out of the wreckage and moving over to Thor's side cautiously, expecting one or both of these two epically powerful beings to begin fighting at any moment.

"Finesse? Ensure Miss Lee gets out of here safely."

[aquarius]

Everything had naturally gone according to plan. The test subjects had been acquired and brought to him without complication or delay. Doom was pleased at a plan that had gone smoothly and without any unanticipated interference. His enhanced scanning device was giving him all the data he'd hoped for, confirming biometrics of every conceivable sort that would act as a frame of reference when compared against that of various kinds of other 'enhanced' individuals.

That was when an alert sounded confirming the arrival of the inevitable. A 'rescue party'. Only a team of one, though? They would have to be formidable to brave the halls of Latveria's monarch on their own. Danvers, Stark, or the Asgardian then. The X-Men had a few that could conceivably consider themselves capable enough to threaten him on their own, but they were a more 'team' focused collective. They would not have come to challenge him without everyone they could possibly bring.

When his laboratory door was finally opened, he was not surprised to see Thor walk in, nor to see his 'all business' attitude - one which he couldn't fault given the circumstances. This was business for the both of them after all, otherwise Doom might have taken a very different and less extreme approach to this whole 'experiment'. As his guests cautiously left, Doom commenced his inevitable monologue.

"No harm was done to either of them, and they are free to go, with thanks for their service to Latveria. As a sign of my gratitude for their cooperation I am prepared to share my findings with all who as..."

That was as far as he got before the departure of the young ladies meant that Thor was no longer holding back his wrath To spare their eyes from such terrible sights, and a lightning bolt came hurtling towards him. Doom had warded himself against lightning as a precaution of course, but it was still enough to knock him off his feet and past the wreckage of the domes, striking the wall behind with great force.

"Whatever game you are playing, the Avengers care not. If you abduct innocents again, if you try my patience by preying upon others at all, my response shall not be so merciful."

With that the Thunder God left, allowing the Latverian's footman to shuffle into the lab to check on his still prone master. As he passed underneath the remains of the broken dome of one of the test chambers, a green light blinked on. Doom did not move until his servant reached him and offered his hand to help his Lord up. The monarch accepted the help, and engaged his suit's electric shock generators at full power, his steely grip not shifting until the now green form of his former servant fell to the ground.

"As I suspected. Doom cannot be deceived by anyone from this world or any other. Now to the business of finding the rest of your kind who dare cross the borders of Latveria."