Chapter 2

"Psionex"

By Scott O'Neil

In the short time he's been a super hero Alex Power has seen and heard many things. He's been to space and back, more than once, he's stared death in the face, and he saw his friend Friday nearly destroyed.(*1) In all of that time, he has never been more shocked than he was at this moment in his parents NYC brownstone apartment.

"You want me to WHAT??" Screamed Alex.

" Did I stutter? Friday needs our help for once and I think we can get it for him if you suck it up a little." sneered Jack Power, Alex's little brother, also known as Mass Master of Power Pack.

"I thought you guys hated the Warriors, and now that I agree with you, you want me to re-join!?"

"It's not as simple as all that Alex," said Julie Power, " We don't want you to fall in love with them or anything, but Friday needs parts if he's going to fix himself, and we don't have the money or the know-how to help him do it. The Warriors do."

Alex sat silently for a minute, thinking over what his siblings were asking of him. Finally, he came to a decision, " Just to be clear on this, I am only going to join until Friday is 100%, then quit and rejoin the Pack right?"

Jack and Julie, " Right! "

"But what happens if the Warriors aren't too happy with me when it all goes down when I leave?"

Young Katie Power, the Energizer, who had been watching tv accross the room finally spoke up, " The Warriors aren't so tough."

"Funny Katie Bear," laughed Alex, "but does anyone have a serious suggestion?"

"Bro, I think she was serious," Jack solemnly stated, "and after what they've done to Friday(*2), if the Warriors have a problem with you leaving when Friday is done, the Pack might have to get involved."

Interlude 1:

She melted through the darkforce dimension at speeds which had become second nature to her. She had to get to the Warriors, only they could save her. If they would take her back that is. She could feel them still behind her. After her. She was being watched, A dark shadow of a man watched from a distance, with a grim look of satisfaction on his face.

In the Warriors Gym:

"Speedy get outta the way!!" screamed Nova as his teammate took an errant richochet into his flight path, "Nita, you and Turbo hit em high, me and Thrash will take the point!"

"Uh, Rich?"

"What is it now Toothpick?"

"Turbo is too unconcious to hit them high."

"Fine, Alex, you're with the air group now, enter the exercise."

"Yes Sir," Alex Power snapped.

Nova began to make his run down the middle of a formation of training level battle robots on loan from the Avengers when the new Thrasher screamed his battle cry at the top of his lungs and threw himself into the attack. Nova hoped beyond hope that it would go better this time through. He was wrong.

Trey Rollins had his heart in it just as much as Dwayne, there was no doubting that, but the skill was simply not there. Trey gestured to launch one of the Escrim sticks at the lead robot, but instead triggered the Cayanne pepper spray which inadvertantly hit Kymaera. The robot took advantage of the lapse of attention and swatted Trey away like a gnat.

"Um Skipper? I think Gilligan just got knocked silly."

"Not now Speedy. Carlton, shut them down, we're done for now." said Nova dejectedly.

Richard Rider was beginning to get a headache. This was the fifth training session held since the Warriors had solidified their roster a month ago. They had recieved a much needed increase of power when Alex, AKA Powerhouse, had unexpectedly decided to rejoin, but they seemed to lose the cohesion the team used to have. Taylor and Vance had organized them in the past, and they just didn't seem to have the same teamwork without their coordination. Nita had tried to lead in the past, and she turned blue from all of the stress. Literally.(*3)

Rich tried as hard as he could, but he kept running into problems he couldn't solve. Like Trey.

"Trey, don't worry too much about it, just try to check out the manual a little more before the next training session next week," suggested Rich.

"Manual? It's got a manual? I knew it had a sunroof, but unless you're reaaaaly confident I'd keep it closed." snickered Speedball, who was having a hard time keeping his composure.

"Why don't you shut your mouth *&#@face! I didn't see you doin anything great either. And you can shove your manual." shouted Thrash as he stormed towards the locker room.

"Geez is he gonna do this every time out?" asked Speedball, "It's like a mix between Sergeant Schultz and Shaft!"

Nobody really laughed, which made an eerie kind of silence in the gym. The team was falling apart and they all knew it.

"I'm going to check on Friday." said Alex.

Nita sensed that Alex was troubled and said, " It'll be all right, kid, the team always pulls through."

"Whatever," Alex said offhandedly as he walked out the door.

Speedy, Turbo, Nita and Rich stood for another moment in silence until Rich had to say something. "Hey Nita, have you made any progress on the whole Undertow thing?(*4) Do we have enough to go after them yet?" he asked.

Nita gave him a half smile and said, "No need, I already took care of that little problem."

Interlude 2:

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean:

Protocol watched his viewscreens closely.(*5) He had come down hard on his soldiers after the escape of Kymaera. He knew in his mind that he would have her and her teammates eventually, but it still annoyed him. He was disturbed by the sudden buzzing of the intercom, "What is it now Obsidian?"

" A problem sir, check the forward moniter if you will." replied a nervous Obsidian. Protocol checked the screen and saw a single figure standing in the water in the path of the Undertow headquarters. Protocol keyed up the sound.

"...arning! For your transgressions against cousin Nita, you have earned the ire of the Avenging Son!! The ruler of Atlantis will give you one and only one chance at surrender!" Namor, the sub mariner was the one in their way. Funny, Protocol mused, he didn't look nearly the 15 feet tall his reputation implied. " Keep moving Obsidian. If he doesn't move, it is his problem." As the sub continued on it's path, Protocol's eyes widened with shock as he saw that beyond the reef near Namor stood the entire military might of the nation of Atlantis. Millions of Atlanteans, armed to the teeth stood ready to cause damage. None of them looked happy. Protocol could only mutter to himself as his carefully arranged forces were taken apart. "Oh my..." he whispered as his sub exploded under the icy ocean water.

Back in the Warriors Gym:

"What do you mean you took care of it?" asked Nova, hurt that she did not tell him earlier.

Before she could answer a shodowy form streaked into the gym. A shadowy form that was all too familiar to the Warriors there. It was the form of Silhouette Chord. She was panting and out of breath, and only muttered the words, "they're after me..." before more people entered from the darkforce.

Bandit, flanked on either side by Pretty Persuations and Impulse and trailed by Mathemanic and Coronary emerged from the black nothingness. Before the Warriors could react, Coronary stopped their hearts. Not long enough to kill them, but enough to put all of them out except Nova.

"What...?" he muttered through lips tight with pain.

"Simple punk. Psionex is back, and I taught em to be ruthless again after Dwayne made them soft.(*6) All we want to do is damage, and when we come back, we won't be playing around. " sneered Bandit.(*7) He turned without another word and disappeared into the darkforce.

Two hours later in the uppermost level of the Pad, the Warriors were trying to make some sense out of the whole thing. It was mostly coming from Sil.(*8)

"I made some major mistakes. I make my apologies first and foremost. Bandit preyed on me when I was vulnerable. It was so hard with all of the trouble with my brother and his gang, and I was on some drugs. When I got clean, I left, realizing Bandit's edge was too hard. He reminded me too much of my brother he was so ruthless. I left, he formed Psionex back together somehow and followed. It's scary. They are all insane. They also have much better control of their abilities as we saw this afternoon. If you'll have me back, I would like to go after them with you." She said, seeming on the verge of tears.

"Welcome back Sil," Rich said with a genuine smile on his face. Any ideas on how to go after them?"

"Actually," she said, " we have alot of firepower here. We should match up well with them as individuals, but if we work as a team we should have the edge. Asylum must be back with them, because none of the ones there had anything to do with the darkforce, and that's how they come and go."

Silhouette planned strategy for the better part of an hour, talking strengths, weaknesses and battle strategy. Rich saw what they had been missing. He had mistakenly thought of only Vance and Dwayne as former leaders of the Warriors who did well. Sil had been in that role too, and after the meeting ended, and all but Sil and Nova had gone, he offered her the reins of the team. For just a second, in the shadows, he thought he heard a laugh.

Far away, a dark figure wasn't laughing, but had a smile on his face for the first time in a long time. He was startled out of his concentration by a voice. "What're you so happy about, Tyrone?" asked a young woman named Tandy Bowen, AKA, Dagger.

" Success " said Tyrone, the dark man known as Cloak. "Success."

To Be Continued...

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