Post by Spider-Man Beyond on Apr 6, 2007 10:03:23 GMT -5
WildC.A.T.S. #3
Gathering the Pride Part 3
Gathering the Pride Part 3
Written by Mike Bowen (Spiritofvengeance)
Edited by Daniel Dyer (Spider-Man Beyond)
Lord Emp sat in a chair in the conference room of the Halo Building in downtown Manhattan, thumbing through several files. He was deeply engrossed in two of them when Spartan entered the room from the far side, not even looking up.
The cyborg moved silently into place just behind the man’s left shoulder.
“What do you think, Spartan?” he asked in a hoarse whisper. “Two men, very similar powers. Which one do we want?”
Spartan inched forward and scanned the files. Emp was right, both of these men had extremely similar powers, but looked nothing alike. The first was an extremely good-looking man with mop of blond hair. The photo of him in the file had him wearing blue jeans, a flannel shirt and a backwards baseball hat.
The other one contained very limited information and an old tattered photo of a pale, young boy, bare-chested with his dark hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“Quickly, Spartan!” Emp shouted as he spun in his chair. “You are supposed to be the leader of this team and I need you to make a decision. Will it be Reno Bryce or Robert Bearclaw?”
Spartan glanced over the files again and tossed one down on the table in front of Emp.
“Bryce.” Emp clapped his hands together. “Excellent decision, my boy,” he said smiling. “Do you know why?”
“Absolutely. Bearclaw is not Kherubium.”
The diminutive man stopped short, his mouth hanging open. That bastard just ruined my test. “How did you figure that out?” he asked.
The cyborg cracked a smile. “Simple. There is nothing remotely Kherubim about his features. The paleness, the dark hair. Look at the sharpness of his nose and facial features. I don’t know what this boy is, but he is definitly not one of us.”
The word us startled Emp for a moment. Sometime he forgets that Spartan isn’t just a robot, but a lot of him is a living, breathing Kheran.
“Congratulations, son,” Emp said. “I had this set up as a test for you after Void did her precog thing and determined Bearclaw would be disasterous for the team in the future.” He motioned a small stack of files. “As a matter of fact, she’s already picked the remaining team members this morning.
“Speaking of the team, how’s our new recruits doin’?” he jabbed a thumb back to the door Spartan entered from.
It had been nearly three weeks since Emp, Spartan and Void had rescued Priscilla Kitaen outside of a nightclub from a Daemonite attack. To their surprise, also on the scene was Dr. Jeremy Stone. Stone was descended from a Titanthrope, a race that was the original inhabitants of Khera before being pushed into subterranean cities by the Kherubim majority.
“They are in the training room right now, if you’d like to observe, Sir,” Spartan said.
“Lead the way, Soldier,” Emp replied. “And just as a note, they’re going to need codenames. We can’t go into battle with the Dameonites led by Dr. Jeremy Stone, you know?”
Spartan had already began to head towards the doors. “Already taken care of, Sir,” he replied without looking back.
“Really? And who came up with them? You?” Emp replied.
“They did, Sir.”
“Oh, this ought to be good. What did they come up with? Let me guess... something cheesy like Giant-Man and Supergirl?”
“Actually, Kitaen will continue to use her stage name Voodoo. As for Stone, he has chosen to go by Maul.”
Emp started to jog to keep up with the larger man’s pace as they headed through the double doors and into the hallway. “Excellent,” he said as the came to a dead end. He reached up, just above his eye level and touched a small, hidden panel on the wall. It flipped open and he pressed his hand inside. Several seconds later came a metallic ding and the wall slid to the right, revealing a hidden entrance. “After you, Son,” he said, waving Spartan forward.
—