Chapter 24: Wild West

The Fastest Man Alive
Chapter 24
Wild West

Jean Meta-Human Extraordinaire / Dancer  / Phoenix

Jean laughed as she listened to Ben grumble about working a mission for his Uncle as he directed Raven to his armory. Since Ben was about to go out and have his fun, maybe she should try her hand at keeping the city safe alongside Peter. Jean knew that Ben had created a hero suit just for her and Gwen, but she didn’t think that Gwen or herself had ever laid eyes on them.

With her mind made up, Jean made her way to Ben’s hero customization workshop, as he likes to call it; OVERWATCH.  When she got to the room, Jean was greeted with space. Peter’s suit wasn’t on the mannequin, but Natasha’s and Benjamins were, and the room was empty other than that. “Alfred, where is my suit?” Jean asked as she made her way over to the computer terminals.

At her approach, all the monitors came alive before Jean could take a seat at the terminal; one of the far walls spun around, revealing her suit. The suit Ben had made was beautiful, Jean thought. The pants were green with hints of black lines running down the inner thighs — the boots where black with gold trimmings and Jean liked that a lot. With the jacket removed, Jean was able to take a look at the shirt. Ben had designed the shirt to match the pants.

The shirt was long-sleeved to cover her whole arm, the colors were green in the midsection with a golden Phoenix on a black field on the chest that ran down the sleeves. She could only chuckle as it seemed Ben was doing up the Phoenix moniker. The jacket was all black with a golden phoenix on the back. The accessories that Ben had included were the signature gauntlets with the web-shooters, comms unit and hologram tech all built in. 

The belt that he placed with her suit came with detachable discs shaped like an octagon. From the description Ben had included they had an interlocking function to create a large shield. These discs were made out of Kevlar and ceramics, which made them completely bulletproof. It stated how these discs could be used in both an offensive and defensive manner. With a flourish Jean brought up the discs to float in front of her, then with a flick of a finger, She had the discs interlock creating a shield. With a smile, Jean returned the discs to her belt. 

There was headgear that she would have to wear when out: the headgear could open up into a half mask with a one-way lens allowing access to the heads up display. The mouth portion had air filtration built right in, while the part that doubles as a bandanna creates a static cling hologram changing her hair color from red to black.  Jean was sure that Ben had come up with that idea so her identity wouldn’t be revealed while she was out stopping criminals.

“Alfred, have the police been contacted for any criminal activity?” Jean asked as she got dressed in the gear Ben had designed for her.

“Currently, No: Spider-Man has just dealt with the carjacking and mugging that I located.” Stated Alfred from the speakers and Jean’s gauntlet. Since Alfred wasn’t aware of anything, Jean decided to go for a flight.

“Alfred, open up a secure exit for me please,” said Jean as she levitated up into the air. With a few presses on her wrist-mounted hologram she sent music to her helm and Jean was off into the night.

Flying was one of the great things that Jean loved about her abilities; reading minds came with too much noise, and then she had to deal with the emotions that everyone naturally gave off in waves. Xavier had shown her how to shut out the voices but with her level of power and living in the big city; some moments were harder than others. That was why she liked the quiet of her library and the silence of the danger room.

Jean was doing a spiral dive over Wall Street when Alfred notified her about a silent alarm going off. With her quiet moment disrupted, Jean was slightly interested in this development so she decided to investigate since she was wearing her suit and her identity would be covered. While floating above the building, Jean noticed the police pulling up to the front of the building. With no obvious break-ins, they had to wait for the owner to arrive for them to be allowed in to investigate more.

Motion on the back of the building did attract her attention, however. When she arrived, Jean found a lady hooking onto another roof with her grapple. The lady she was watching must have been the one that Peter was telling her about, this thief that was calling herself the Black Cat. Jean knew about the Black Cat since this was a person she’d found within Ben’s mind. 

When she had asked him about the Black Cat; Ben had replied that the Cat was a person to recruit and maybe save depending on the timeline. She needed to ask him about all his talk about time but with him off on his mission; it would have to wait. Now she just had to apprehend this person, with a smile Jean wondered about the look Peter would have on his face when he heard how she was able to catch the thief that keeps getting away from him.

Jean twirled in the air as she flew down to stop the thief. A smile plastered on her face when she landed in front of the escaping thief a few inches above the ground. With a proud nod she asked, “So what do we have here; isn’t little kitty a long way from home?” as the guard pulled back, revealing her mouth.

“So, did underoos send you after me? Aww, was I too much woman for him to handle?” Asked the unnamed Black Cat in front of Jean.  Jean was trying hard not to laugh at that. Hell, she knew that even Laura was currently too much for the nerdy Peter. He was trying, though, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. 

“I was flying over when I noticed something; peculiar so I decided to investigate.” Replied Jean as she adjusted the web fluid to handcuff her opponent.

“It couldn’t be little ole me; I’m innocent.” Stated the Black Cat as she leaned back against the railing. “Then how about you tell me what’s in the bag?” Prompted Jean as she levitated the bag over to herself, but before she could reach out and take the brown paper bag. A hand came out snatching it from the air. With a raised eyebrow Jean looked at the Black Cat with a smile on her face.  Although Jean wasn’t expecting the smile that she noticed on the Black Cat’s face.

“Ohh, don’t be like that; I’m still enjoying the view of your pretty curves.” Purred the Black Cat as she looked Jean up and down.

Jean couldn’t help but snort at that, “I already have a boyfriend, girlfriend, and I’m sure a shapeshifter soon. Enough of that though you’re coming with me.” Jean replied as she thought about having a word with Ben when he returns. Jean reached out to levitate the Black Cat.

“Aw don’t be like that; we were getting to the good part.” Said the Black Cat and with a flick of her wrist she shot out projectiles towards Jean. With a wave of her hand, Jean froze the four projectiles in mid-air, “Awe sweetie, you will have to do better than that.” Jean spoke as she aimed her hand to web-up the Black Cat.

“I did,” Stated the Black Cat as the objects Jean had frozen in mid-air burst into smoke obscuring her vision of the surroundings.

SNIKT!

Jean’s head snapped around at the sound, and that was when she felt a tug as the Black Cat vanished from her hold. With a telekinetic push, all of the smoke blasted away from her location. When she looked around the Black Cat was nowhere to be found; then Jean looked down and noticed a small key chain of a black cat with a note attached.

-Next time cutie pie-

Jean could only laugh at the small key chain figure. Yeah, she would have to let Ben know that she found his mark. “Alfred, find out the school she is currently attending. I know Ben gave you a profile with her name in it.”  With that Jean flew off into the night, using her abilities outside of a controlled situation was so different, Jean thought to herself. She wouldn’t let that deter her though because this was the night the Phoenix was going to rise Jean thought.

Benjamin Blake  – Billionaire / Anti-Hero / Gun Nut

We left Jean to her practice as I directed Raven to my armory. Fury had asked for the person doing the raids recently; which means I couldn’t be seen in Russia as myself or LightSpeed. So I would have to go with the persona I have been using after the raid I performed with Spiral. So it was time to break out the alternate identity I made.

Jason Todd was the persona I had created once I realized that I couldn’t be seen blowing up secret bases and their ilk. Jason Todd was a twenty-five-year-old African American given to an orphanage at birth. The background was set up with juvenile records up until he turned eighteen. At age eighteen he was apprehended and was given an ultimatum by the judge. Go to jail or join the military.

From there Jason did a tour in Somalia, then joined a force recon team, which in turn caused all Jason’s information to be redacted. I had left enough trails for this persona that any hacker or a bribe to the right official could get the information with some trouble. I ignored Raven making her way around my armory as I brought out the signature Red Hood helmet, the black leather jacket, combat boots, and a customized bulletproof vest with the blood-red bat logo on the front.

Now that I had PYM particles in my hands, it was time to update my weapons. I had already built a custom gauntlet for the needed ammo storage, but I did have Alfred commission a utility belt while I was dealing with Anna’s powers. 

“Alfred, backdate my plane ticket and do the same with the hotel planning,” I stated as I began to bring out all the big guns. Before I was able to make any changes, Raven was at my side. 

“Why are you bringing so many guns?” Asked Raven as she picked up my dual Steyr TMP sub machine guns.

“We are heading to Russia, that place is like the wild west, so plenty of guns and ammo are needed,” I stated as I brought out the customized AR-15 and then went back for the M32 grenade launcher.

“What’s this round?” Raven asked as she picked up a few custom mags I had prepared.

“That my dear is a .50 Alaskan round for this AR-15 right here,” I stated as I pointed at the rifle I had placed on the table. I also went on to explain how it fired a 900-grain bullet. It was also a subsonic round going roughly one thousand feet per second and with the flat, half-inch meplat, it would basically cut a human in half at short to medium range. 

Any flesh wouldn’t just get a hole punched through it but would explode out from the point of impact, creating a massive chasm of a hole. These rounds could only go about a thousand feet per second, but it was packing 1.25 tons of energy in a half-inch circle.

Then, when I showed Raven the video of the round being shot, she had one of the brightest smiles around. I could only grin at that because she had the same look Gwen does when Natasha and I bring her to the shooting range. After my explanation, I shrunk down roughly four thousand rounds (I had the ammo broken up and then packed into sixty round, dual drum mags). 

The mags were also encased in an expansion pack; a quick tear would enlarge the contents and presto: regular-sized ammo. I would have to take time to recreate the Hoi Poi capsules from Dragon Ball Z once I made it back from Russia. In a snap decision, I added them to one of the tactical pouches on the vest as well. Inspecting my custom .45 Sig Sauer Military spec, P320s, I had to make sure I had everything from regular rounds to silver rounds. The laser designators needed new batteries, so I was grateful I caught it sooner rather than later. With those taken care of and packed away, I was again distracted by Raven.

“Why are these filled with what appears to be silver ammo, why not lead?” Raven asked as she held up one of the thirty-millimeter rounds. What Raven was holding was one of the custom made rounds for the also custom, ten round M32 rotary grenade launcher. 

The one she was holding up was my innovative silver coated, depleted uranium cored, bundled flechette round encased in an ultra thin lead lined saboted shell which protects the barrel and the shooter and increases the velocity all while ensuring a lovely forty-five-degree spread. The idea behind this round was to make sure whoever it was shot at died by the gross; more than a few times over. 

The sabot would allow the flechettes to open and begin expanding within a foot from the muzzle, nailing everything in front of it to the wall or just turning everything into meat slush. It was a portable, hand held Claymore mine on steroids. Yes, I was rigging for bear since I wasn’t going to be able to use my powers. I wanted to be able to clear a 25 x 25 meter room full of five hundred people in less than five seconds.

With the drum motor upgrade to the launcher, I could spit out these grenade rounds at a rate of two rounds a second. I made sure that if I had to bust this thing out. Everything was going to die with no discernible parts left over.

When I relayed this information to Raven, she had a manic grin on her face and asked how much ammo would she be able to carry and that the grenade launcher was now hers. I turned over a utility belt to her, and Raven proceeded to stuff it with as much ammo that she could lay her hands on. I was genuinely amused at that until she reached for an extra AR15 that I had for the .50 Alaskan round.

I chuckled at her antics while I also packed away my strobe light, but then I spotted my one hundred thousand lux UV light.  That made me pause and think; most if not all the rounds I was carrying were made for vampires, zombies, ghouls, and humans alike. Taking these with me would be specifically for vampires. Although I haven’t told anyone yet, Blade was somewhere out there, and the vampire situation was a worry of mine. 

I shook my head and ignored it. I was going on a destroy everything mission for Fury, there was no need to worry about vampires, but I did notice that when I turned away from it, Raven packed them into her utility belt. With a sigh, I decided to pack some of the UV treated clothing I had. Those bulbs could produce sunlight level lumens all within the infrared spectrum and cause sunburns to the skin and eyes in the dead of night, so some precaution was necessary.

Before I left, I grabbed my Adamantium Roman Gladius and Pho crystal face mask. With a few words to Alfred about some things to keep an eye out for, It was time to head to Russia and find these missing agents.

It was time for Jason Todd to visit the old country. While we made our the way to the garage, Raven had transformed again into another stunning beauty as she wrapped herself around my arm. There was no need to be such a stickler since she was my partner on this operation, and since I wasn’t wearing my face, I was going to enjoy this mission.

Russia

Touching down in Moscow on my private jet was a godsend from Stan Lee, the creator himself. I had learned how to speak the Russian language within the first thirty minutes of taking off from the runway. From there I  had to listen to Raven pine away about the fact I owned the jet and we should break into the mile high club since this was its maiden flight.

After getting past all the flirting and innuendos, talking to Raven was something else. She knew over three hundred and fifteen languages, sixteen different martial arts, and so much more. Raven had more than a few passports with her; since it was all part of her trade, there was nothing for me to say. Other than to have Alfred add her into the plans for the flight and hotel commendations.

Leaving the airport was almost smooth but when they x-rayed the carry on bags Raven and I brought, some moron decided to open it to take a closer look. Luckily we had used the PYM particles to shrink everything down. So, when they opened the carry-on, we all had a good chuckle at the miniature toy-sized weapons.

The guy behind the x-ray machine thought that they were just high-grade replicas, and knowing better, I didn’t see the need to correct him. With that out of the way we did our check in’s, and it was time to find the wayward agents or blow lots of shit up Red Hood style. We made it to the five-star hotel that I had Alfred book for us. When the valet opened the door for us, we were greeted with two rows of maids and butlers lined up bowing deeply before the center of the group opened leading into the hotel. Raven strolled in like a queen walking into her court; so with a smile of my own, I just followed along behind her.

The Presidential master suite Alfred had reserved was located on the top floor. With a simple scan and check-in, we were one our way up the express elevators. When we got to the room, I have to say: I was impressed. There were four bedrooms total, and each was the size of a master bedroom. Each room came with its own huge bathroom, and with a few checks, I noted that each over sized bathtub came with a Jacuzzi function.

Tacky, but doable. Each California sized bed was covered with the most beautiful silks. I sighed at that because I knew Natasha had put in a lot of work when she had the decorators come in to set up the living quarters but, since I barely slept in my bed, it went unused more nights than not. I would have to rectify that once I got back. After walking around and taking in the sites of the suite, I tossed my bag down on the couch; then I took out my scanner to check for bugs.

“So who are we looking for?” Asked Raven, but I had to hush her because I was running a scanner around the room to make sure it was clean of bugs. I was confident she had no worries because she could turn into someone else and disappear. I had to use more caution because I didn’t want this cover to be blown since I had spent a whole two minutes setting it up. It would seem someone was already onto me because I found two miniature relays.