A Post Outside of 365...Gasp

HOLA!!!
Just wanted to post some brand new RMS parts for no discernible reason, and do it OUTSIDE OF 365.  Major gasp.  Just saying.

Anyway, here you go, and see you tomorrow!  :)

Random Marvel-based Story (Parts 62 & 63)

They walked silently through the warehouse, darting around haphazard crates and ducking under old, rotting ropes.  “This is an OCD person’s nightmare,” Luke whispered as he brushed past a box filled with scrap metal.

“Careful, it may be old but this warehouse is still alarmed,” Jess said, pointing at a red light above their heads.  It looked rather dusty, but if Jess said it was working, it was working.

A light ahead flickered on, but Jess ignored it and glanced around the corner.  “Crossbones is alone, not with our mystery man.”

“What’s your point?” Luke whispered, glancing around nervously, hoping no one was sneaking up on them.  Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of movement, or was that just a bit of gravel that had dropped out of Jess’s hand?  Whatever.

“We’re the only ones in the warehouse.  Here’s my game - we take Crossbones and switch him out with you.  Then we can figure out who the other guy is,” Jess explained, reminding Power-man that there were more important things than gravel.

“Uh-uh,” Luke grunted, shaking his head.  “I don’t like it.”

“Fine, I’ll be Crossbones,” Jess said, sizing up the man.

“No, I don’t like it because it’s too risky.  And besides - look at that guy!  He has to be at least 6’ 1”!  There’s no way that you can be him, just saying.”  He was right - Crossbones was pretty tall.

“Fine,” she spat.  “Clearly you’re much better at this than me.”  She wiped her wet hair out of her face again and muttered, “I need a blow dryer, ASAP, after this mission.”

“Would you shut up about the hair?” Luke snapped, rubbing his crew cut without thinking about it first.  She scowled.  “It’s not my fault we had to stake out for two hours in the rain.”

“Two hours and fifty three minutes does not two hours make,” Jess murmured, then stiffened.  “Somebody’s coming.”  She grabbed onto an overhanging rope and pulled herself up the shelves effortlessly till her head nearly brushed the ceiling.

Luke clambered up after her, heaving his heavy body over the edge just as as a black-shrouded figure walked down the aisle.  “Is that our target?”  He whispered, switching to laying belly flat against the crate and hoping it wouldn’t fall.

Jess knelt down next to him and pulled out a pair of binoculars.  “I’m assuming so, but Crossbones seems uneasy.  Poor guy doesn’t know what he got himself into.”  When Luke glanced at her, she whispered, “Crossbones is an old friend, believe it or not.  He used to be a mercenary, and when that got too evil he switched over to regular old bank robberies.”

“Right, Jess.  ‘Cause that’s not evil,” He said with a sigh.

“That’s not the thing that has me worried.  I can’t see if our Mystery Man is a guy, girl, superpowers, normal human -  anything!  Of course, that’s probably the point of wearing so much black, but it’s a bit worrying.  I don’t know what to prepare for.”

“Prepare for?  We’re not supposed to attack, we’re supposed to follow and call S.H.I.E.L.D.!”

“I think I can get Crossbones to walk into a trap, but it’s Mystery Man that I’m don’t know about.  Weaknesses?  Physical prowess?  I got nothing,” Jess said intently, completely disregarding Luke.

“Jess, what about do not attack do you not understand?”  He muttered angrily.

“I acknowledge the decision not to attack, but it’s a stupid decision and I’ve elected to ignore it,” She snapped, wriggling into a sitting position.

Luke glared at her.  “Did you just quote Nick Fury against Nick Fury?”

“Of course not, that would be silly,” Jess said sarcastically, strapping on her mask and placing a tiny robot on the back of her neck, where it instantly became invisible.  “Voice concealer,” She said, and indeed, her voice was completely unrecognizable.  “If I had Spider-man’s suit I could probably pass for him...mental note for April Fools.”

“That’s just creepy, but you’re missing the point,” Luke said.  “We’re not supposed to attack!”

“Gee, is that what our orders were?” Jess wondered, giving him binoculars and a very small, very powerful looking gun.  “I never hear Fury say that!”

He sighed, giving up.  “I didn’t either,” He agreed.  “Hey - be careful down there.  I would hate for you to die with wet hair.”

*******

Jess jumped from the shelf, hoping sincerely that she wouldn’t land on a crate of metal or something.  But no, she landed safely on the ground, making Mystery Man and Crossbones jump back in surprise.  “Well, that was quite an entrance,” She said calmly.  It took all her willpower not to recoil from the strange voice coming out of her own mouth - stupid voice concealer.

“We did not agree on somebody accompanying you,” the shrouded figure on the right said angrily.  It sounded like a guy’s voice, but something metalic about it hinted at another voice concealer.  Dangit, Mystery, I can’t ID you later?  But it would be fun!

Crossbones, his hand jammed against his white gun, had his priorities sorted out.  “Katy?”  He muttered, clearly thinking that nobody could hear him.  “Naw, you’re dead...”

Jess stood up, flipping her hair out of her face.  “Dead come back to life, Crossbones.  I mean, c’mon, your symbol is a pair of bones.  Do the dead really scare you?”

Crossbones shook his head, his skin white under his skull-ish mask, muttering under his breath.  Jess ignored him, glad that Crossbones had never been the smart one.  She tossed her hair again, extending her hand to Mystery.

It wasn’t accepted.

Fully aware that Luke’s eyes were boring into the back of her head, Jess grinned and said, “You know, in normal villain society, when somebody wants to shake your hand, you shake their hand before they wipe you off the face of the earth.  But I’ll go with no hand-shake.  That’ll work.”

The black figure nodded slowly.  Clearly, Mystery wasn’t a talkative one.

“So, what are we dealing?  Money?  Weapons systems?  The downfall of the Avengers?  A mixture of both?”  Jess said, grinning even more.

“You’re not a part of this meeting,” Mystery snapped at the same time that Crossbones said, “Katy, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, it’s just business as usual for me, I got hired on,” Jess said innocently, focusing on Crossbones.  “Took your place as a mercenary - somebody had to fill the hole in the market.  I saw an opening and I took it.”

“What is this, a sewing circle?”  Mystery said furiously.  “I have business to do and if you’re too busy catching up, I’m sure I can buy from somebody else.”

Crossbones stiffened.  He can’t afford to lose this deal, Jess thought, he’s too broke.  Either that, or it’s too big.  Or Mystery is too powerful.  She frantically started thinking of a way to balance out the meeting.  Please be in the right spot, Luke, Jess hoped and tossed a tiny cube at Crossbones.  He didn’t even notice - the cube grenade was the top-of-the-line silent-as-a-whisper, but Jess still crossed her fingers anyway.

Half a second later, an cube-shaped energy field sprung up around the unsuspecting Crossbones.  He cried out in surprise, but it was too late - he was trapped.  Mystery eyed the energy cage, then Jess, and vanished.  Jess looked around her, surprised, but the person was gone.

Suddenly, an invisible fist slammed harder than Jess had believed possible, ramming her into the concrete floor.  She winced and to her eternal humility, whimpered as she stood.  A blow knocked her down to her knees, and a heavy foot slammed against her back.

Silence.

Then the voice concealer pulled away from Jess’s neck and a bone-crushing snap told her that there was no hiding her voice now.  “What’s your deal?!”  She asked, spitting through the two gaps where her teeth used to be.  “What do you know about breaking glass?”  Jess could never figure out why she said it, but something felt...off, and she was going to find out what if it killed her.

“Well, you’re really not in a position to interrogate, now are you?”  Said Mystery Man, but a tinge of uncertainty crept in, along with...pain?  Why would Mystery be in pain?

Jess bucked, throwing off the foot, and sprung up, only to see nothing.  “You know what I’m talking about...don’t you?”

Another blow from behind sent Jess sprawling across the floor.  C’mon, she thought, feeling the foot return.  Where are you Luke?  A voice hissed in Jess’s ear, and she was completely certain that it was a girl - probably not too much older than Jess herself.

“I don’t know who you are, or how you knew about the breaking glass I keep hearing, but I’m tired of your little mind games.  Now, I’m going to have to handcuff you and destroy the evidence, if you know what I mean.”

“Um, how about no,” Jess said, and flipped over, pinning the girl to the ground.  She vanished again, not turned invisible, but vanished right out from under Jess.  Jess braced for attack, but none came.

“So that’s what that gun does,” Luke said calmly, picking a dart up from the ground.  “Is this a hypodermic dart?  Why didn’t it hit Mystery Man?”

“Mystery Gal, and it did,” Jess corrected, standing painfully.  She picked a black and red mask up from the ground, tracing her finger along the formed rim.  An electric zing crackled down her spine, making Jess shudder.  “She was wearing this, you must have clipped it off when you tried to shoot her.”

“Mystery is a girl?”  Luke wondered.

Jess looked at him, exasperated.  “Yes, keep up with the conversation, Power-man.”  She glanced at Crossbones, who was banging on the electronic cage wall, mouthing furious words at her.  Jess rolled her eyes.  “C’mon, let’s take him back to HQ so that he can be arrested like a big boy villain.”

Luke started towards the cage, but Jess shook her head.  “Hold your breath,” she said evenly and tossed another grenade at Crossbones.  The black-and-white suited man collapsed to the floor.  “Sleeping bomb - or at least, that’s what we’re calling it right now.  I’m sure Tony will think of some ridiculous name for it.  It’ll only keep him out for half an hour, so let's get a move-on.”

Luke heaved the slumbering Crossbones onto his shoulder, grunting when the two hundred pound mass slumped over.  “Am I going to have to carry him all the way back to headquarters?”  Power-man complained.

“No, I’ll call in some S.H.I.E.L.D. bots to take care of him.  Just make sure he doesn’t decide to get up and run away,” Jess said sarcastically (at least, Luke thought she was being sarcastic - with Jess it can be so hard to tell), stepping out into the rain.  She made a face.  “Just when my hair started to dry!”

Luke shrugged his free shoulder, not really thinking before blurting out, “Oh please, if your hair was wet you could stop an army without  breaking a sweat.”

Jess glared at him.  “The last time I tried to stop an army, I almost died,” she said coldly, and stalked across the alley way to where a S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercraft was landing.

Sorry these two were so long, but I had to  make up for not posting for a while some how, right?  If you think this one's long, tomorrow's going to be even more.  See you then!