Agents and Marshals and Mutants... Part I

Posted on Thu Sep 28th, 2023 @ 5:00pm by Administrator Myz Phoenyx & General Dyami Bentley (Tribal : Bent Leaf) & Level 10 Minamoto 源 Takashi 崇

Mission: HYDRA: Another Head Rises
Location: Small Cult Compound, Southern Idaho
Timeline: Present Day

The scene that met the Shaman of the Nations upon his arrival was one of controlled devastation. The center point of the compound had been burned into lifelessness. A sheen of glittering black glass covered the ground, glinting in the flickering light of the lanterns at its edge. Both were a testament to the exacting control of the mutant that had caused the destruction. None of the houses were even so much as singed, not even the light stands that illuminated each porch.

Five terrified looking men sat in the center of the thin sheet of black glass, each of them tightly tied with law-enforcement grade zip-ties. A young man with dirty blonde hair, no older than sixteen years old, was standing protectively between the new arrival, and a thin, pale girl with wide, blind eyes, along with an older woman, who was grasping at the boy, trying to keep him from squaring off with the new arrival.

“Y-you Talon?” The young man asked, trying to put on a brave face, but his blue eyes were wide, his voice shaky, his hand tightly wrapped around the grip of the dirty .45 that he had taken from their leader, as he had been told.

“Don’t be rude, Thomas! The Mountain Man has come!” The skinny little red-headed girl nearly chirped with happiness, her thin hands clasping in front of her, drawing a strange look from her mother, as well as a couple of furious glares from the men. Oblivious to such trivial things, the strange little waif continued, her tone suddenly dark, serious, almost ethereal, “The Light-Bearer purified this dark place with light, Mountain Man. She is in the wind now, bringing light to others. Her path is perilous, her light will dim. Another...comes...”

With that, the already ashen girl paled even further and crumpled into an unconscious heap, as though finally being able to rest once her message had been delivered. The woman that had been next to her stood there briefly, blinking, her night having already been a series of terrifying events. She then knelt down and gathered the girl into her lap, cradling and rocking her, silently crying into the girl’s bright, frazzled curls.

Talon surveyed the scene of destruction with a trained eye, and extended his senses into the surrounding area looking for other signs of life. Other than those in here with him there were some twenty more, women and children if his ears did not betray him, in a bunker to the north of the central compound building. Using his preternatural senses he could smell that the door had been melted closed.

Looking at the victims first he spoke, “Yes, I am Talon.” He held out his hand for the gun, “All of you are safe now. There is no need for that any longer.” When the young man handed the gun to Talon hesitantly, the Indian continued, “You did a good job, others will be here soon to assist us. For the moment go help them.“ He motioned to the woman and child.

Approaching the prisoners Talon smiled a sly grin, before saying quietly, making certain that the others could not hear him, or see his face, “You were far safer with the boy guarding you. I would suggest you do not try to escape, lest I have to hunt you down.” The Indian hero’s smile widened and his teeth grew sharper and more feline, increasing in size until the entirety of his lower face was more muzzle than chin.

The formerly terrified men were paralyzed with fear, eyes wide in horror. Talon’s face quickly resumed his normal visage and he continued. “Nod, if you understand.” The men quickly did as they were told. “Good, now that is taken care of.”

Talon returned to the woman and child. Removing several items from his Dream Bag he passed them to the three victims each receiving a bottle of cold water and a small cloth bag containing beef jerky, fry bread, and a few small sweet cookies.

Turning his attention to the woman he asked, “Is this your child, sister?”

At first, the woman looked startled by the man’s approach, flinching away from him, pulling the girl tighter to her. “She is, sir,” she responded softly, nodding and avoiding direct eye contact, as though trying to remember her place in front of a man. “And Tommy is my boy.”

“Tommy will grow to be a good man now that he is free of the grasp of these wicked men,” Talon motioned to bound prisoners. “I have a place where you and your children will be safe. I would like to take you there. I am afraid you must come quickly before the government men arrive. Will you come to our village?”

Takashi had landed about a mile out from the beacon’s location, purposely silent so as not to give away his position. He was dressed in his Shinobi outfit; all black with light absorbent material so he could move nearly invisible, his ever present Daisho sheathed at his right hip ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. His *tabi* covered feet silently moving in the direction of the beacon’s origin.

Whatever had happened out there, he could see a residual energy signature lingering in the air practically illuminating his path toward the camp. With his enhanced speed, he arrived at the outskirts after a few moments and stood in the deep shadows of a corner of one of the small houses. Closing his eyes, he focused into his *Chi*, controlling his breathing and folding his hands in the ancient Shinobi *Kuji Kiri* hand seals of *Pyō* - Channel, *Rin* - Strength, *Tō* - Harmony, *Kai* - Sense Danger, *Jin* - Reading Thoughts, *Retsu* - Control of Space and Time, and finally *Zen* - Enlightenment.

His hands flowed from seal to seal with practiced ease as he silently chanted the mantra associated with each *Kuji Kiri*: “私は顕在化した現実のエネルギーと一つです. 私は力を与えられ、活力を導きます. 私は強く、力強く、思いやりがあり、謙虚であり、霊的な源とすべての人の一体性への奉仕に専念しています. 私はすべての心の一体性を謙虚に認識し、それらを尊重し、知っています. 私は自分自身、無限、そしてすべてのものの間のエネルギーのつながりを見て、感じて、知っています. 私は自然の要素と調和しており、それらを使って現れます. 私は虚無であり、光です - I am one with the energy of manifested reality. I am empowered and channel vital energy. I am strong, powerful, compassionate and humble, and I dedicate myself to service of the Spiritual Source and Oneness of All. I humbly recognize the Oneness of all minds and respect and know them. I see, feel and know the energy connections between myself, the Infinite and all things. I am in harmony with the elements of nature and use them to manifest. I am the Void and the Light.”

Lowering his hands, he moved like a shadow, gliding silently from a dark corner of a small house, to a doorway of a shed, then to the shade of a nearby well, and finally to a corner of the nearest porch of a little house closest to the small silicate lined indentation. He had a suspicion as to who could have made such a mark, but it was a fleeting thought within his focused mind as he quickly glanced about to mark all of the people nearby. Exhaling softly, he stepped out of the shadows unseen and unheard.

“Not if I have something to say about it,” Takashi said confidently in his Japanese accented English.

Taking a few steps towards the edge of the indentation, he instinctively dropped his gloved left hand to the junction of where the *saya* (scabbard) and *tsuba* (guard) of his family katana rested, his left thumb popping the *habaki* (metal collar holding the hilt of the katana within the sheath) out of the *saya* with a near imperceptible pop. His right hand hovered at his right side, visibly unmoving so as not to openly threaten anyone.

Talon was still crouched down when he heard the words spoken behind him. Responding to the statement the Indian answered in flawless Japanese, “Ah, Director. I was hoping to be able to meet you. Honestly you have caught me, you arrived a bit earlier than I expected.”

The shaman rose to a standing position still facing away from the man. Both hands clearly visible at his sides before continuing to speak. “If you would be so kind as to allow me to evacuate these poor victims, I would be happy to speak with you once they are safe.”

Tommy nearly choked on one of the cookies he was already nibbling on when the other man seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He jumped up and stepped in front of his mother and sister protectively. While his actions were brave, it was clear that he was dangling off of that last raw nerve.

“Just stop! The shiny...light...lady said you’d be here! Talon and, um, Tack?” He paused, looking a bit confused for a moment, shaking his head as though the very idea of that being a real name escaped him. As he continued, he was rattling things off absently, nervously. “I think that’s what she said. She said you’d know why. And she sealed the other women and children in the bunker. But there’s lots of food and water in there, even air-scrubbers, so they won’t die or anything.”

He looked around at the compound in general, then glared at the tied up men on the ground. “They were going to kill us! She didn’t let them though! I don’t know why she didn’t just kill you, too!” He went to kick dirt on them, but his booted foot only hit the glass at his feet, causing it to crackle outward in a glittering web.

“What a pathetic excuse for a son,” one of the battered men spat at the blonde boy, shaking his head in disgust. “How embarrassing.”

With that, all of Tommy’s screaming rage was directed at the man that he bore a disturbing resemblance to. He lunged forward, lining up to punt the bound man right in the face.

He slowly began walking toward the young boy as he screamed at the bound men, his feet crossing behind him as he sidestepped toward him, his silent *tabi* covered feet maintaining perfect balance beneath him. His eyes shifted from Talon to the others and back, focusing sharply on his danger sense to notify him of any impending attacks.

“If I were you,” Tak said to the idiotic man berating the young boy, obvious steel in his accented voice. “I would shut my mouth before it is shut for you.” With every word he continued to get closer to the edge of the silicate layer, trying to get as close as possible before someone inevitably told him to stop. His gloved right hand stood visibly away from the hilt of his katana. He didn’t want to seem threatening to the boy, as well as the others.

“*Hai*,” Takashi said to the boy and nodded, his voice now soothingly placating. “I am Tak. Who said I would be here?” He wanted confirmation of his guess. After all, they had been at a similar compound recently.

Thomas launched a heavy kick towards the mouthy man that was trussed up on the ground like so much livestock, causing him to close his eyes and cringe away from the inevitable. But rather than connecting, the kick went just wide enough to miss the abusive, but ultimately helpless man. Instead, he spun around and spit on his father. “She’s right. I don’t want to be like you. I’ll never be like you,” the boy nearly growled, then looked over at the new arrival.

He was breathing heavily, his face still red, but he was calming down as he turned to face Tak. “Fractal said so. She said we could trust you both and to not shoot you. There’s a computer over at that house,” he said, pointing at the largest of the small houses.

“She made sure the women and children were safe by sealing them into the shelter out back. These are the ones that wet themselves and ran as soon as the fight started.” He nodded towards the five bound men on the ground at his feet. “All the other men are dead. It’s not her fault though! She saved us. So don’t be mad at her, okay?”

As he explained, he motioned to the warped, melted gun barrels that were sticking out of the strange black glass at nearly even intervals just inside the outer edge, as though part of the setting of some giant, twisted jewel. He also pointed at a rather large corpse of a man that was missing a good chunk of his face and most of the back of his head, just beyond the burned out circle. Then his shoulders sagged and he heaved a broken, exhausted sigh. The young man returned to his frightened, sobbing mother, and his pale little sister, who was still unconscious after her strange rant.

As the boy distracted the new SHIELD director, Talon considered sending the mother and child to his village with a portal. Thinking that it would be better to work with the Director, rather than against, he stayed his magic and observed passively as the boy shed some of his rage.

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TBC
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Administrator Myz Phoenyx
NPCs - Family

Minamoto Takashi 源崇
Hypernova
Director of Shield

Dyami Bentley
Talon
Mutant Underground