WILDC.A.T.S.

Membership: Backlash, Grifter, Kenyan, Ladytron, Lord Emp, Maul, Mr. Majestic, Mythos, Nemesis, Savant, Spartan, Tao, Void, Voodoo, Warblade, Zealot

Base of Operations: Halo Building, NYC, NY, Earth-50

First AppearanceWildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #1 (August, 1992)

History (WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #0, 1) - Jacob Marlowe was homeless, an amnesiac and down on his luck until he met Void, who turned his life around. She told him he was once Lord Emp, a Kherubim responsible for defending Earth against the Daemonites. Marlowe ended up becoming a billionaire CEO operating out of the Halo Building in NYC. They assembled the WildC.A.T.S., a group of gifted Kherubim and half-Kherubim to combat the Daemonite invasion of Earth. The freebooter Gnome sold Marlowe information about “gifted ones,” and their roster included Spartan, Warblade and Maul. Void started having visions of the past and future possible timelines about an Orb of Power and realized they had to get it before the Daemonites or the world was doomed. Marlowe‘s secretary Janet told him Gnome had a new gifted one for him, and Marlowe met Gnome’s contact in a nightclub. The contact was an attractive woman and Marlowe came on to her. She rejected him, sending Marlowe into a depressive spiral, and he spent the night drunk in an alley. Ballistic and the C.O.P.s spotted him while they were chasing Velocity, but assumed he was too drunk to be credible witness or threat to them. While the WildC.A.T.S. waited for Marlowe to return to the Halo Building Spartan ran Warblade and Maul through combat training against battle-droids. Warblade had a temper, was filled with bloodlust, and couldn’t wait to test his skills in actual battle against Daemonites. Helspont and the Cabal were seeking out both gifted ones and the Orb of Power. Cabal member Alberto Cassini sold out his group, revealing the location of gifted one Priscilla Kitaen to Gnome in exchange for money. Grifter and Zealot were seeking the gifted one who had “the sight,” the ability to see and exorcise Daemonites, and were on Gnome’s trail. Gnome ordered his hired muscle the Triad to attack them, and Zealot insisted Grifter find Kitaen while she dealt with them. Priscilla was an exotic dancer working under the stage name of Voodoo, and Grifter found her at the Hot Spot. Gnome sold the information he had on Voodoo to Marlowe, asking not for money but for a favor with no questions asked. The Cabal dispatched two Daemonites and a Coda warrior to the Hot Spot, where they fought the WildC.A.T.S., Grifter and Zealot over Voodoo. The battle ended when the fatally wounded Coda warrior set off an explosive on her body, blowing up the Hot Spot. Helspont checked in with B’lial, a Daemonite mole posing as vice president Dan Quayle.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #2) - Void warped them away from the explosion, and the I.O., who were investigating them, tried to pull them into their field headquarters using one of their psionics. Void warped the team away from I.O. hq back to the WildC.A.T.S. MIRV. I.O. director John Lynch wasn’t thrilled with a rogue covert action team on the loose and dispatched a squad of Black Razors to deal with them. Grifter and Zealot informed Marlowe that the Cabal was using their mole B’lial and the U.S. government’s resources to construct a dimensional gateway to the Daemonite homeworld in a project called Reunification. Marlowe said he’d need Voodoo to exorcise Dan Quayle of the Daemonite possessing him, and Voodoo said she had no idea what she’d landed herself in. Zealot explained that the Kherubim and Daemonites had been at war for eons, and the WildC.A.T.S. and Cabal were from groups stranded on Earth long ago. Thirty years ago the Daemonites scored a major victory, and without Voodoo’s help they’d win the war for Earth. The Black Razor squad came at the WildC.A.T.S., deciding to shoot first and ask questions later. After a brief fight Lynch told Marlowe he wanted to make a deal with him, the identity of the Daemonite mole for the location of Project Reunification. The WildC.A.T.S. went to S.D.I. Astronomics, where Dan Quayle and the Cabal were set to receive the Orb of Power needed for Project Reunification from NASA. The WildC.A.T.S. dealt with the Cabal members, but Dan Quayle introduced his bodyguards, the government sponsored superteam Youngblood.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #3, 4) - The WildC.A.T.S. and Youngblood clashed, with Spartan trying to explain that Dan Quayle was possessed, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Pike noticed that some of the WildC.A.T.S. were absent from the fight and took coda warrior Devin to the Aironomics control center, where Helspont and M’koi were opening the gateway to the Daemonite homeworld with the Orb. The rest of the WildC.A.T.S. appeared and attacked them. Gnome, who’d been playing the WildC.A.T.S. and Cabal against each other, broke into the Orb’s containment facility with the help of the Triad. Youngblood beat their opponents, but knew something was wrong when Dan Quayle pulled a handgun and prepared to execute Voodoo. Shaft tried to stop him, but Quayle shot him, with the bullet grazing Shaft’s head. Voodoo exorcised B’lial from Dan Quayle. The Cabal fended off the WildC.A.T.S. long enough to open a stargate with the Orb, and an armada of Daemonite warships poured forth. Youngblood and the recovered WildC.A.T.S. fought Helspont. Voodoo tried to exorcise him, but found her powers ineffective because he was using an Arcturan host, not a human one. Spartan, willing to fight to the end, removed the relay switch, causing an explosion that blew him up but shut down the main control system, shutting the stargate. Helspont was furious that 30 years of work and planning on his part came to nothing, but vowed to snatch victory from defeat by claiming possession of the Orb. He opened the reactor core to find the Orb missing. Gnome and the Triad revealed themselves, with Gnome showing that he had control of the Orb claiming to rightfully belonged to him, and him alone. He blasted Helspont, critically injuring him. Void warned him that the Orb’s powers had become unstable, but he simply blasted her with it. Jacob Marlowe ordered him to drop the Orb, and Gnome reminded him he owed him a favor, which was to stay out of his way. Marlowe was fine with breaking his promise, shooting off the arm Gnome was holding the Orb with. The arm and Orb fell into a reactor and Gnome dove in to try to save his precious Orb. The Orb caused the reactor to go critical, and Youngblood, the Cabal and Triad all fled the facility. Marlowe lent his power to the weakened Void, allowing her to teleport the WildC.A.T.S. to safety. They celebrated with champagne, but Voodoo said she wasn’t in the mood for a victory lap because Spartan had to sacrifice himself to save the day. Marlowe showed her one of Spartan’s cyber-synthetic bodies, and said his mind and memories were currently being downloaded into it.

(WildC.A.T.S Special (Image) #1) - Void had a vision of a war-torn land where a Daemonite prepared to possess an infant. Void felt empathy and a sense of maternal protectiveness for the child, an emotion she wasn’t used to in her new life, and knew what she saw could not be allowed to come to pass. The WildC.A.T.S. helped interpret her dream, believing the child to be a gifted one or Kherubim like themselves. Zealot said the war-torn setting sounded like Yugoslavia, which was undergoing a brutal campaign of war against the neighboring Kasmia, and led by Baroness Destine, a Coda like herself. Gnome learned about the gifted one, and to get back at Lord Emp he informed a Daemonite looking for a new body about the child, assigning Providence to get him to Yugoslavia. Gnome also warned Baroness Destine that the WildC.A.T.S. planned on interfering in her war. Emp put Voodoo and Grifter on the ground, with the rest of the team ready to back them up in their MIIRV. By talking to a bartended he knew Grifter learned about Eliska the Witch, a woman who had precog abilities and had just given birth. They arrived at Eliska’s house to find Destine, Providence and the Daemonite, who’d taken possession of the child. Voodoo was troubled by Providence, saying she sensed no evil in her, and Providence responded that she simply ensured events came to pass as they were destined to. Voodoo exorcised the Daemonite, and when their teammates came in as backup Warblade slew him. Grifter shot Destine through the chest, and Zealot was troubled that she did not feel her die even though all Coda were bonded. The WildC.A.T.S. brought Eliska and the child back to their ship, saying the child had a lot to learn about their Kherubim heritage.

(WildC.A.T.S. Trilogy (Image) #1) -Voodoo was an instinctively skilled fighter, but an amateur compared to her teammates, so the WildC.A.T.S. had her go through combat exercises in their training room pitting her against Spartan, Maul and Warblade. She acquitted herself well by taking control over Spartan's mind, although his willpower was great enough to shake off her control and he disliked her being in his head. Warblade felt she’d embarrassed her during the combat session and tried to attack her, but Spartan held him back. Emp checked in on his team, and was disappointed to see Grifter and Zealot were missing, having their own business to attend to that they said didn’t involve their teammates. The Cabal tried to rebuild their power base, and Cabal member Hightower agreed to work with Coda sister Artemis to destroy their mutual enemy the WildC.A.T.S. Grifter’s informer Lonely said he had a hot tip for him, that there were armed guards at the waterfront unloading heavy machinery and the operation was being supervised by the Cabal and the Coda. Grifter went to investigate, and Lonely reported to Coda Sister Artemis and Daemonite Hightower, who’d paid him to lure his friend into a deathtrap, and Artemis murdered him, saying a traitor deserved no better. Grifter fought his way past come security guards on the waterfront only to stumble upon a group of Hybridroids that opened fire on him. He survived, but was waylaid by Hightower, who caught him unaware by shapeshifting and appearing to Grifter as Lonely. Void sensed Grifter was in distress and informed Emp. Grifter woke to find himself bound, and Artemis began to torture him. She’d happily see him dead, but said she’d keep him alive because his blood bond with Zealot would draw her to him. Artemis knew that if Zealot came after him the WildC.A.T.S. would follow and she and Hightower planned on killing them all. Zealot arrived, and Artemis said she’d die for dishonoring her and getting her expelled from the Coda. Artemis and Zealot agreed to fight to the death, and Artemis warned Hightower not to interfere.

(WildC.A.T.S. Trilogy (Image) #2) - As they fought Zealot tried to convince Artemis that there was more to the Coda than precepts, that the blood bond was as important. She’d formed a blood bond with Artemis the first day they started training together, and their bond was the reason Zealot had not given her an “honorable” death after the Trojan War. Zealot defeated Artemis, but found that she could still not bring herself to kill her former friend. Hightower wanted to order his Hybridroids to kill Zealot, but Artemis reminded them they were not to interfere. Hightower said the Cabal would be best served if Artemis died alongside Zealot and Grifter, and ordered the Hybridroids to attack. The WildC.A.T.S. teleported to the scene and ran through the Hybridroids. Artemis fled, and Zealot thanked her teammates for their help, starting to truly see them as friends, but said she had to pursue Artemis by herself. Grifter wanted to come with her, but Emp convinced him that Zealot had to handle her business by herself. Hightower possessed Voodoo, forcing her to attack her teammates. She punched through Spartan’s chest, disabling his android body. The Hybridroids joined the onslaught, defeating the WildC.A.T.S. Zealot caught up with Artemis, who demanded she battle her for the life of her friends. Coda oracle Delphae used her scrying pool to locate Zealot, and during Zealot’s battle with Artemis a gateway opened, discharging Coda majestrix Andromache and several of her Coda sisters.

(WildC.A.T.S. Trilogy (Image) #3) - Hightower hooked Emp up to an energy siphon, bragging that he’d absorb his powers and his life essence, which would ensure his rule of the cabal. While he was gloating Spartan recovered enough to ask Grifter for help in healing him. Grifter grabbed cel-packs from Spartan’s thigh pouch and rubbed them on his chest, healing his wound. Emp pleaded with Voodoo to fight Hightower’s control, and she confronted him on the psionic plane, managing to cast him out of her body. Hightower was shocked by Voodoo’s immense mental will and power. Grifter shot Hightower numerous times, annoying him, and Spartan took the opportunity to hit him with a plasma charge. The wounded Hightower fled, taking his Hybridroids with him. While his teammates tended to their injuries Grifter ran off to help Zealot. Andromache wanted not just Zealot dead, but Artemis as well. She had been fomenting revolution, believing the Coda had been led astray from the path of noble warriors by becoming paid assassins. Artemis admitted she was torn between wanting to fight Zealot to the death and asking her to return to Themiscrya with her to overthrow Andromache. Zealot and Artemis tore through the coda, with Zealot saying her old friend should have reached out to her instead of trying to kill her and her friends, and Artemis conceded she had a point. With only Andromache standing Zealot promised she’d remain in exile with Artemis and never bother the coda again if they kept their distance. Andromache still demanded blood, and another cadre of coda poured in through the gateway. Andromache threw a spear at Zealot while her back was turned, but Artemis dove in the way, sacrificing her life for Zealot’s. Zealot cradled her coda sister and Grifter arrived, getting the drop on Andromache with his gun. He threatened to kill her if the coda didn’t leave, and Grifter realized Andromache had grown soft, because any other majestrix would have sacrificed their life before surrendering in battle, but she hesitated. The rest of the WildC.A.T.S. arrived, and Emp threatened to burn down all of Themyscrya if Andromache didn’t forget her grudge. Andromache relented, and Zealot insisted she take Artemis back to Themyscrya to be given a warrior’s funeral and grave. Grifter went to Lonely’s funeral, and the only other person in attendance was Schmidt, a former director of the Stasi. He told Grifter that Lonely was a double agent, and if it weren’t for him the Stasi and KGB would have eliminated grifter long ago. Lonely felt a bond with Grifter and defected, betraying the Stasi. Grifter was conflicted, and even though his friend had just betrayed him he chose to remember the good he’d once done for him.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #5, 6) - Grifter got intel from Cyberjack that the Daemonite Dr. Heinrich Richtoffen was working with warlord Kaizen Gamorra. Gamorra produced Hunter-Killers, biosynthetic entities, or bisey, and Richtoffen was helping him improve on his technology to create the perfect host bodies for his fellow Daemonites. Grifter and Zealot made an assault on Richtoffen’s lab on Gamorra Island with the rest of the WildC.A.T.S hanging back in the MIRV. Grifter and Zealot fought their way past a number of Hunter-Killers and droids, and Grifter accessed the lab’s databanks, realizing they were using Spartan’s O.S. for their latest wave of bisey. Grifter was ambushed by Richtoffen and his assistant Misery. Misery defeated Grifter in combat and the droids were about to overwhelm Zealot when the rest of the WildC.A.T.S warped in. Voodoo exorcised Richtoffen, and Spartan finished off the Daemonite with a bio-blast. Warblade was shocked to see his ex-lover Misery still alive, and they engaged in bloody combat. Misery was convinced he still loved her, but Warblade insisted he wanted her dead. Spartan tried to delete the lab’s databanks, angered at the thought that the Daemonites could benefit from his own technology, but he accidentally set of an auto-destruct sequence. Maul dragged Warblade away from his fight and void prepared to warp the team back to the MIRV. Misery taunted Warblade, who deserted his teammates just as they warped away. The WildC.A.T.S saw the lab explode, and were convinced that Warblade couldn’t have survived the conflagration. Voodoo wanted to check the smoldering lab on the slim chance that Warblade was still alive. The Gamorran airforce came after the WildC.A.T.S, with Gamorran Vipers firing on the MIIRV, blowing it to pieces. Void was stunned, and couldn’t warp them to safety. Spartan landed Voodoo safely, while Grifter and Zealot landed on one of the Vipers, taking out the crew and making an emergency landing. Maul grabbed Void, and grew larger than he ever had before to survive his own crash landing. Voodoo had a concussion, but used her sight to turn back on Maul’s brain, which switched off when he grew too big. She again insisted they look for Warblade. Void warped Voodoo to the Halo Building to get her medical treatment, with her teammates promising to find Warblade. The WildC.A.T.S found Misery and Warblade still alive, but Misery teleported away with their teammate. Spartan used his thermal imaging vision to reconstruct what had happened. The lab explosion blew Warblade and Misery into a subbasement, where Misery unlocked a control panel. Within the WildC.A.T.S discovered a stasis pod, but when Grifter tried to open it he received an electrical shock. Marlowe contacted his team, warning them that the Gamorrans were raising complaints with the U.N. security council, and they needed to leave the island as soon as possible. The WildC.A.T.s told him about Misery, and Marlowe said he was always worried about Cyberdata coming after Warblade, since he rescued him from them. Warblade awoke on the Isle of the Dead off the coast of Gamorra. Misery reminded him the last time they were there he tried to kill her. Warblade attacked her, but was stopped by Cyberforce’s Ripclaw, who had a dream vision of Warblade and Misery still being alive.

(Cyberforce II (Image) #2, 3, WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #7) - Misery manipulated Ripclaw into trying to kill Warblade, and Warblade’s pleas that she was the villain fell on deaf ears. The rest of Cyberforce arrived to back up Ripclaw, and Heatwave hit Warblade with a blast of solar energy that knocked him off a cliff, mirroring Warblade’s last encounter with Ripclaw. The WildC.A.T.S arrived on the scene and Misery convinced Cyberforce they were working with Cyberdata. Jacob Marlowe brooded, wishing he could be with his team, but he had business meetings to attend to, and maintaining his financial empire was necessary to fund the WildC.A.T.S. Voodoo was recovering, and confided in Void that she was deeply shaken by her brush with death, realizing how dangerous their job was. Void admitted that their missions always had an element of danger, but the WildC.A.T.S always looked out for each other. The WildC.A.T.S and Cyberforce clashed, but Misery was able to sneak away from the battle with Ripclaw to Richtoffen’s sub-basement to locate the stasis pod. She disabled its’ security system and downloaded its’ data, saying it held the key to a brave new future with no death and decay. Warblade, although severely injured, survived his fall and confronted them, saying he’d never let Misery sell bisey tech to the Daemonites. The battle between the WildC.A.T.S and Cyberforce raged, and the WildC.A.T.S realized their opponents were under the mental control of Misery and refused to use lethal force, putting them at a disadvantage. Misery spurred on Warblade and Ripclaw to kill each other and for Cyberforce to execute their opponents. Warblade overpowered Ripclaw, and Misery realized Ripclaw loved her even without her mental manipulation, and she didn’t want to see him die. Ashamed at her emotions she unleashed a psionic blast against Warblade and Ripclaw. She was determined to use her power to destroy them both, loosing her control over Cyberforce, who stopped fighting the WildC.A.T.S. Warblade asked her what happened to her pregnancy when she conceived a child with Ripclaw, and the distraction allowed him to stab he. Misery knew Richtoffen’s programming made her do awful things, and she admitted to Ripclaw that she was once pregnant with his child. She begged him to end her life, tired of being Richtoffen’s pawn, and he reluctantly complied. Warblade opened the stasis pod, revealing Spartan’s severed arm he’d lost during the WildC.A.T.S first mission. The WildC.A.T.S reclaimed Spartan’s arm and called a truce with Cyberforce, hoping their next meeting would be more amiable.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #8, 9) - The WildC.A.T.S had some down time and Zealot wanted to spend her time off in the combat simulator, but Grifter dragged her off to his favorite dive bar. After a round of pool and a bar brawl Grifter got a text message from Cyberjack and told Zealot he had personal business to attend to. Zealot reminded him that they were a team but he insisted that what he had to take care of he had to do alone. Maul and Warblade attended an art opening in Soho and had an enjoyable date with two of the patrons. Maul was more interested in culture and dating than Warblade, who was just glad he finally had a home to call his own and friends after spending most of his life on the run. The Halo ocean liner Island Angel vanished in the Bermuda Triangle, so Jacob Marlow set sail in his pleasure cruiser Caribbean Princess along with rich and spoiled clientele as well as Spartan and Voodoo to see if he could learn what happened. Voodoo got flirty with Spartan, but their moment was interrupted when they approached the Bermuda Triangle and a spacewarp opened up, sucking up the ship and crew. Void sensed the disturbance in spacetime, and the psychic backlash put her into a coma, but not before she warned Marlowe’s assistant Jules that the WildC.A.T.S. were in danger. Jules flew the MIRV to assemble the team to rescue Marlowe, Spartan and Voodoo, who found themselves in the lair of Lord Entropy. Entropy said fate had brought Marlowe, or Lord Emp as he knew him, into his hands. Emp had no idea why Entropy had a grudge against him, and Entropy told the tale of their time as knights in the Middle Ages, and their clash with Brannoch The Dark that resulted in the death of Entropy’s wife Gynith. Emp admitted he couldn’t confirm or deny what Entropy told him because he had no memory of his life before four years previous. Entropy believed him, and used his Orb of Power to make him remember. Void woke from her coma, sensing Entropy using an Orb, and warped to the Bermuda Triangle to help her teammates locate Entropy. She told the WildC.A.T.S. she was attuned to Entropy’s Orb because she was herself an incarnation of an Orb of Power and located Entropy’s flying fortress. They found the passengers of the cruiseship bonded to the walls of the fortress. Emp relived his past as a knight with Entropy, and the time he was forced to kill Entropy’s wife after she was possessed by a Daemonite. He was adamant that he did what he had to do, and as Entropy was prepared to kill him the WildC.A.T.S attacked him. Void allowed Emp to channel his forgotten Kherubim powers and after blasting Entropy with a bolt of energy the villain lost his will to sustain his flying fortress, and it started crumbling around him. The WildC.A.T.S escaped as the fortress collapsed on Entropy, killing him. Back at the Halo Building Marlowe made the decision to take a leave of absence from the WildC.A.T.S to discover his own past.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #10, 11) - Zealot attempted to give Voodoo combat training, but found her a stubborn student. Zealot reminded her that her fulfilling her potential was important to keeping not only her safe during missions but her WildC.A.T.S teammates as well. A ship fell from the sky in an explosion, and Alabaster Wu, severely injured, tumbled to the ground. His pursuers were Raksha, and Zealot engaged one of them in combat, beheading them. Zealot heard a cry for help and entered the ship. The Rakasha’s body infected Zealot, possessing her, and Alabaster Wu fled, seeking help. Zealot found Miranda Tai aboard the ship, and saved her by fending off a group of Raksha. She was aided by Tai’s protector Huntsman, and she initially distrusted him, but after he disarmed her and handed her her sword back she rethought her position. Wu desperately tried to contact Jacob Marlowe, with little luck, and the infected Voodoo killed innocent bystanders, needing their lifeforce to sustain the Raksha. She contacted the rest of the WildC.A.T.S and convinced them Alabaster Wu was trying to kill Marlowe. Marlowe met with Wu at a Halo construction site, and Wu said he was calling in an old favor. The WildC.A.T.S arrived, warped in by Void, but they were also met by the Triad and Providence, who’d been hired by the immortal sorceress Tapestry. The WildC.A.T.S realized Voodoo had betrayed them and engaged in battle with the Triad, who’d learned from their previous encounters, making them much more formidable opponents. Providence and Void fought, with Providence reminding her they were both incarnations of the Orbs of Power, the only difference between them being who they chose to serve. The Triad were victorious, and Tapestry and her lover Soma paid them off, saying their business was concluded. Attica said they couldn’t call their victory complete until Zealot and Grifter, who were missing from the battle, were defeated, so Tapestry agreed to give them a new assignment. Zealot, Huntsman and Miranda Tai rushed to the scene, with Zealot suffering from septic shock due to her injuries she’d suffered during the fight with the Raksha. At the sight of Tapestry Zealot decided they should make a tactical retreat. She contacted Savant, calling in a favor, and in turn Savant got in contact with Soldier and Majestic.Tapestry and Soma kept the WildC.A.T.S in captivity, but Providence refused to leave Void’s side, saying they both served a higher power. Tapestry told her she didn’t understand her own power or what she was a fragment of. She melded Void and Providence together, intending to fuse them into an Orb of Power for her own use. Tapestry probed Jacob Marlowe’s memories and the formation of his WildC.A.T.S. She then changed the past, so that Zealot killed Grifter and Tapestry killed Lord Emp to protect him. She promised him that if he gave himself to her body and soul they would be unstoppable together.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #12, 13) - The Triad pursued Zealot, Miranda and Huntsman, with H.A.R.M. launching missiles that scorched whole city blocks in Brooklyn. Attica was concerned about the attention they were attracting and suggested moving in for the kill in close quarters. Tapestry continued to reweave the histories and souls of the WildC.A.T.S making them into her loyal servants. Voodoo’s Raksha demanded to be fed, so Lord Emp called his assistants Jules and Stansfield to meet them and act as a sacrifice. Voodoo rebelled against hurting her friends, fighting the Raksha on the psychic plane. Huntsman was prepared to make a final stand against the Triad, asking Zealot to guard Miranda. Zealot’s wounds she’d suffered from the Raksha grew infected and she felt herself becoming possessed., but fought off the demonic control. Huntsman fought bravely, but was seemingly incinerated by Slag, who was always pleased to inflict pain. Miranda had a violent reaction to Huntsman’s seeming passing and Zealot went into battle against the Triad, but was surprised to find Huntsman unharmed. Zealot tapped into her magical abilities, casting a spell that turned slag back into a human being. Huntsman was impressed, but Zealot told him she’d just damned her soul. Savant, Majestic and Soldier arrived in time to take out the rest of the Triad, but Savant was distraught that they’d arrived after Zealot had been forced to cast a spell. Grifter arrived on the scene to offer his support as they prepared to confront Tapestry. Tapestry was watching them through a scrying spell and gloated that Zealot’s soul would forever belong to her. Jules and Stansfield, trusting Voodoo implicitly, lent their lifeforce to her to help her exorcise the Raksha. Zealot and company battled against the WildC.A.T.S and Alabaster Wu, who were now all loyal creations of Tapestry. Zealot and Tapestry engaged in a sorceress’ duel, but were quickly stalemated. Miranda Tai took a shard of an Orb of Power from Savants bag, swinging the battle in Zealot’s favor. The battle left Tapestry injured, and Soma fled with her, telling Zealot he’d kill her for harming his mistress. Savant told everyone that the magic Zealot used was learned from Tapestry herself, who’d always wanted to craft Zealot in her old image. She claimed the power was bound to corrupt Zealot, and she had to die. Majestic said that as a Kherubim lord hee agreed and had the authority to pass sentence on Zealot. Zealot agreed that she would eventually be unable to control her magical powers, and wished she could purge therself of them. Voodoo came to her aid, helping her purge Tapestry’s magic, and in the process returning the WildC.A.T.S to normal. Emp agreed to give Alabaster Wu the Brooklyn dockyards so that he could resettle his people and save lives.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #15, 16) - The new U.S. administration, wanting to undue the ecological disasters perpetrated by the Daemonite possessed Dan Quayle called for an energy commission summit in Aspen, CO and invited the country’s biggest corporate heads. Jacob Marlowe was on the committee , and told the WildC.A.T.s they could have some time off, which he believed was well deserved. An attack helicopter assaulted his winter lodge, and Grifter shot it out of the air, but not before Voodoo was shot and badly injured. The Daemonites were behind the attack; they’d been targeting members of the energy commission and had already picked off a number of corporate heads. The Black Razors were tasked with protecting the remaining members of the energy commission and learned that the Daemonites had an assassin planted as a mole in the WildC.A.T.s, disguised as one of their own. Higher-ups ordered the Razors new leader Ben Santini to stay out of action because he was too valuable to lose and direct his team. He told the Razors he knew some of them lacked confidence in him, but assured them he wanted them all to come back alive. The Black Razors attacked the WildC.A.T.s at the energy conference, hoping to find the mole. The Daemonites provided backup in the form of aircraft, cutting Santini off from his team. Santini identified Maul as the imposter Mr. White, and joined the battle, gunning the imposer down. The Black Razors took Mr. White back to their labs for dissection. Voodoo was the primary target when the Daemonites first attacked the WildC.A.T.s because they knew her second sight would have eventually identified Mr. Whie. With the conflict over Santini made it clear to Jacob Marlowe that he held a grudge against him for shooting him in the kneecap and crippling him during the Razors’ first encounter with the WildC.A.T.s, and when Marlowe asked where the real Maul was Santini said that wasn’t his problem.

(WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #17) - The only clue Marlowe had as to who had taken Maul was that the Cabal was involved, so he split the WildC.A.T.s into teams to assault Cabal strongholds in Morocco, NYC and the Florida Keys. Spartan and Zealot attacked the Moroccan base commanded by Johnny Feh, and after Zealot threatened him with a sword Feh was ready to talk. Warblade broke into a NYC restaurant that the Cabal used as a money-laundering front and fought with Pike while Grifter went solo against the Cabal’s Florida Keys compound. An information broker informed Void that a government computer system had information on where Maul was being held, so she tested the limit of her abilities and entered the computer system, learning that Maul was being held by Stormwatch on Skywatch. Void teleported the WildC.A.T.s away from their missions and teleported into Skywatch, teleporting Maul out.

Comments: Created by Jim Lee & Brandon Choi.

The WildC.A.T.S. were originally published by Wildstorm Comics, an imprint of Image Comics, which DC acquired the rights to in January, 1999.

The WildC.A.T.S. appearance in WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #1 was reprinted in Millennium Edition: WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams #1. Their appearance in WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #1-13, Cyberforce II (Image) #2, 3 was reprinted in Absolute WildC.A.T.S., WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #0-12 and WildC.A.T.S Special (Image) #1 was republished by DC Comics in a digital format. WildC.A.T.S: Covert Action Teams (Image) #15-17 was reprinted in James Robinson’s Complete WildC.A.T.S. Their appearance in WildC.A.T.S. Trilogy (Image) #1-3 was reprinted in the WildC.A.T.S. Trilogy TPB.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com