Ultimate SECRET WAR "Issue #0, Prelude to WAR"

[farik]

Bruce Banner

A small corner panel shows a blood shot eye with the slightest tinge of green in the crevices of it's brown iris.

"Let me through!"

The panel expands to show Banner pushing past two guards on the roof.

"MOVE YOU IDIOTS!!"

Banner stands before Fury holding out a tangled mass of wires and component boxes.

"Here's my prototype. The fabrication team just got it done or I'd have gotten here faster."

Banner turns glaringly looking for the mutant speedster, but quickly turns his attention back to Fury.

"If someone can hold the little guy down I can hook it up. The engineers are still working on the other components but this rig should calm down the wall crawler."

 

[Kevin Perrine]

the ULTIMATES, Banner, Spidey & Namor!!

from somewhere in the clouds above the panel looks down on Manhattan... cutting quickly we begin to zoom in toward Upper-Manhattan. Through the rain, lightning strikes, etc... Finally catching up to the action at the high-tech base ...

North East of Manhattan island,
just south of the Bronx in the East River.
the Triskelion,
HeadQuarters of the
United States Superhuman Defense Initiative,
AKA: the ULTIMATES.
late-Evening [local time]
2004…

and the ULTIMATES gather!!

THOR & CAPTAIN AMERICA

"Play times over, lets get going." Thor says to Captain America as he heads towards the door.

HAWKEYE & BLACK WIDOW

"Trouble up top. Wonder what those jokers are up to now." He
spies the Black Widow just arriving at the room. "Hey Widow, Fury wants us
up at the flight deck, come on." He heads out of the room at a trot,
unfolding his bow and checking his quivers as he goes.

SPIDER-MAN & IRONMAN

It would be fairly easy for IronMan to disable Spider-Man from his POV, the webslinger hadn't even glanced at him. As Fury motioned to "take him" cautiously!

NAMOR

I shall be there within moments, General. Shooting through the midtown air, Namor dodges through the maze of buildings that form the Manhattan skyline.
The building sometimes known as the Triskelion appeared, and Namor hovered there, looking for other members of the Ultimates.

QUICKSILVER & Dr. BANNER

Quicksilver just leavs the scene, as fast as he can and start
to search for Banner, "Change-of-plan-we-meet-at-the-deck-two-minutes-five-seconds-a go." He grab Banner and lift it from the ground "You-should-lose-weight"
He rush back to the deck with his pack. When he arrived he puts down Banner. "Anything-else-Fury?"

"Let me through!" The panel expands to show Banner pushing past two guards on the roof.
"MOVE YOU IDIOTS!!" Banner stands before Fury holding out a tangled mass of wires and component boxes.
"Here's my prototype. The fabrication team just got it done or I'd have
gotten here faster. If someone can hold the little guy down I can hook it up. The engineers are still working on the other components but this rig should calm down the wall crawler."

As Banner makes his way toward Fury, he needs to pause quickly to step over the young Spider-Man - now blurried but out of his confused state. IronMan the the other Ultimates all stand around now, none of them save Fury and Rodgers may fully understand - but in Spider-Man's mental state he was an easy mark to take down... given the chance in full form, Spidey might not normally be coralled.
Either way young Parker's head is thumping and the visions are gone as Fury's voice slowly starts to come back to the forefront...

"Alright... good work Tony - Piotr... Now that Spider-Man is secure where's..... Oh! THERE you are Dr. Banner. We've been waiting on you... Have a nice nap, did we?
Whatever... alright - get to work. Get that thing on him. Park... Spider-Man Dr. Banner is going to wire you to this device. It should lock us in to whatever phenominon is causing the grief in your head." Fury steps back to let the scientist work... Glancing up he sees Namor...

motioning him down... Walking to the edge of the deck to meet him with hand extended...
"NAMOR! good to see you again your lordship. We've got a thing... yeah - it's something that seems to run a bit deeper than the Island (Manhattan)... I've just got word we're on alert status... hold on Namor. Let me rally the troops.

Fury steps back and to the side revealing the full stature for the Ultimate team to see - Namor the Prince of Atlantis...
"ALRIGHT People, if this is where the word goes down, so be it. Here's the news... I've just got word down from DHS Deputy Secretary Admiral James Loy, we've got a situation in Mid-town. If my guess is correct we may be able to garner some info on the phenom through Spider-Man.
OKAY! ...
Clay - get our rig up, all non-flyers onboard with me - Banner you and Spider-Man take the front bench and get your gear online in 5.

TONY - scout ahead from cloud cover, I want a Sit-Rep on Mid-town specifically Central Park A-SAP.

THOR - I want you to get some control on this nonsense as he motions up at the raining storm... and get me a visual scout of the Park as we follow.

NAMOR - you're more than welcome to accompany us in the Blackhawk or ship out with Goldielocks...

SPIDER-MAN - you... uh... focus... err... whatever the hell you do with your Sixth Sense thing. Banner here is gonna take readings, see if he can get a grip on what type of occurance this is.

WIDOW - you're on watch here at the ranch, I have Pym and Wasp on schedule to arrive back from Jersey in about 10 minutes. We'll need to update them and send in the cavalry if anything's amiss down-town.

Alrightalrightalright allllllll-right...
That's it people!
We've got a plan... let's make it happen!"

Nick loads onto the Blackhawk, it begins to dust off... Quartermain dips the front of the chopper and heads toward Manhattan. Fury pulls on his headset and smiles at Steve as he sits back... he loves this $#!*.
Cool.
Now.
QUICKSILVER - soon as we get over Up-town I'll have Clay hit the dirt, you're gonna get down town... you should be able to get in prior to Thor and Tony. You're gonna be on spy-mode... GOT IT Piotr? I said - got it Maximoff!!? Alright, from what I've got there's four gateways on this construct we have..... don't look at me funny ... Yeah - I said construct. Apparently it's some sort of Stonehenge like structure. you're not to engage or get within 50' but I do want a full Sit-Rep on all angles from ground. get back to me after - we're coming down at Northgate.

HAWKEYE - you've got the angles as normal, I want you sharp eyein' everything in range of the Northgate entrance while we get schematics. Anything moves out of the ordinary you're on mic with Tony to relay the intel. Cool?

CAP - You're point. yeeeah... you know it Steve. you're the one that took this job.
Fury smiles wide.

We've got word that some New Yorkers have dissappeared inside that this. We gotta rule out this is a follow-up of the martians. Between Tony, Thor and QS we should know what we're getting into.
Banner's gonna be our trump - hopefully he'll give us something to work with on the nature of it.

CAP - you'll lead in ALPHA Team. You've got the call on who goes in and how. I'll follow with the full compliment of the Ultimates, Banner an' the human geiger counter. We'll have Hank and Jan coming in for support...
First priority is to retrieve the citizens, Second is to secure the area for Banner, Pym and Tony to decipher what the hell this thing is.

You've got ground-call on the radio through IronMan Steve...
Got the checkered pinic spread fellas? Next stop, Central Park!

hehheh... Any luck and it'll just be a new stadium for the Mets..."

 

[Kevin Perrine]

the X-MEN

ANGEL

Before long Angel was on his stool in the Jet, his wings folded as close to his back as they could, his x-Uniform plastered onto his body, he could feel the panel that had to be sealed each time he got into it around his wing joint, wearing anythingn other on his back made him feel really umcomfortable, and flying like this, not natural at all....

ROGUE

The confused women just sits silently, trying to sort out what's going on. Her only signs of life are occasional glances to Nightcrawler and Wolverine. She just isn't sure if the later really comforts her.

NIGHTCRAWLER

"I don't think this is going to be a good day...Unt so it begains once more..." Nightcrawler slumps resigned into his seat ready for the trip.

COLOSSUS

Silent until now, Piotr finally stirs when the jet's radio picks up the broadcast. So something is afoot. And it sounds like this danger is already in good hands. But why would the professor want us there? Hmm. Piotr turns to Logan, This may prove to be more dangerous than it appears, what do you think, Logan?

WOLVERINE

"I think we go there and get Chuck out of there before those Ultimates decide to take matters in their own hands," Wolverine replied, "or before Chuck does to them whatever happened to us . . . and that could put all of Manhattan in trouble."

STORM

In the Blackbird, she rubs her temples, thinking, "Wow, I didn't think staying with Scott would have been less of a headache than coming back here..."
She looks around at the others. "You guys think that was actually the Professor? Am I the only one that thinks this doesn't seem right?"

WELCOME Gentle readers!
The X-men fresh from a supposed "night off" at the mansion now rush south toward the call of their mentor - Professor Charles Xavier. As they take a moment to pause and collect thoughts, the radio calls out the interesting news of the Stonehenge Construct in Central Park...

As Ororo looks down at the controls of the Blackbird - slowly coming out of their mental daze, she realizes the coordinates keyed in by her own "guided" hand only moments ago...
Latitude 40°47'N, Longitude 73°57'W...Place Status (Type) park
Location Manhattan Island, New York, United States, North America
Place Name Central Park
(1.3 sq mi/3.4 sq km), the largest park in Manhattan, N.Y. city; bordered by 59th St. on the S, Fifth Ave. on the E, 110th St. on the N, and Central Park W.


what seems like
Moments later...

Central Park West Drive,
Just east into the park Park Lake.
Central Park, Manhattan,
New York City, New York.
Mid-Evening local time
2004...

[NOTE: this occurs approximately the SAME time that Daredevil is in the Park, about 20 minutes prior to the Ultimates leaving for down-town, about 10 minutes prior to the FF arriving]

and suddenly a calming familiar voice enters your mind again...
Greetings once more, my X-men, it is so very good of you to all reply so very promptly. I have asked Storm to bring in a cloud cover on the western side of the park, it shouldn't prove too alarming with the current weather patterns. Please meet me at the East Gateway of the Stonehenge structure. You should be able to land and cover the Blackbird in Park Lake with little difficulty. I will explain once you all assemble. Good work my X-men!

as if by devine plan the Professor's guidence is perfectly accurate, none seem to take notice of the X-men as the Blackbird comes to a rest and they each dissembark to rendeavour with Professor X.

The rain still comes down - even Ororo can't seem to stop the pour, giving her a sense of edge as nature refuses to respond fully...

The page turns and reveals a birds eye view of the massive structure. To the south, unknown to the X-men Matt Murdock drops from a tree... an unconcious thug lies on the ground... and Daredevil yells out something - rushing into the structure. Above and to the West stands a lone man in front of the archway to the massive Stonehenge. The X-men move out of the tree-cover

Charles Xavier STANDS with a bronze tipped cane holding much of his weight. he quickly spreads his arms welcoming his children, then by reflex back to leaning on the cane.

"Good evening my students... Ororo, Logan I am so glad that you've been able to rejoin us for this exciting step into the future of our kind. I've been in contact with a being from beyond that gate. It wishes that we ...... well... I'll let you learn for yourself, come... come now..."
Charles' words seem a bit odd, perhaps out of place, perhaps a bit too at peace. But they seem more earnest than his X-men have ever felt.

and with a few steps Professor Xavier steps to the archway, motioning back to the children...

"Come now...

 

[Kevin Perrine]

Daredevil

Matt hazily stands up, stumbling around, barely even able to walk. His senses are messing with him, sounds coming from every direction, the same sounds, but every one different. It's like nothing he ever felt before, almost like he lost control of his senses.

As the thought leaves his head, that one name comes to his mind, his most hated enemy, the man he most wanted to see dead. No more mercy, Vengence was now. Vengence....Death......FISK

As Matt finally regains a little bit of his senses, he starts to head for the building in front of him, whatever in the hell it is, the same thought repeating through his head, over and over.

"I'm Coming Fisk..."
"I'm Coming Fisk..."
"I'm Coming Fisk!!!!!!!!!!!"

As Matt rushes toward the structure
somewhere in the distance Daredevil hears the "whrrrr" from the jet that's coming down 2 blocks to the NorthWest.
First thoughts would be - what in the hell is a jet doing coming down in post 9-11 NYC....... But that's not on the mind of Murdock.

before his feet hit the ground Daredevil hears the beats of the heart ahead of him... he may want it to be Fisk - but reality tells him it's another... Afterall the Kingpin isn't the crime lord of this city for nothing. He wouldn't sully his hands with the blood, at this level if he didn't have to... the sound on the end of that heartbeat is quicker.
He knows it....
Only one man has ever beaten Matt so fully.
and Elektra was dead for it.

Fisk was responsible, Fisk may be responsible for the pain but his instrument of death was inside the structure now swiftly approaching as Daredevil rushes in...

and then as Matt's blind eyes open wide with the power coursing through the gate, the heartbeat disappears!!
and all is silent.
Matt feels his atoms seperating..................


[NOTE: Daredevil is OFF the first one to enter the war. When next we speak of him it will be as the group arrives on BATTLEPLANET.]

 

[Kevin Perrine]

the FANTASTIC FOUR

NOTE: the Fantastic Four AS A GROUP have been the least active of the players, for whatever reasons... so I'm speeding up their interactions and actions

The Baxter Building proved to be a perfect launch platform for Mr. Fantastic's flight-systems... Johnny's favorite was the little one - dubbed the "Flying Bathtub". As Ben and Jenn LOL, I didn't see that coming prep and move the Tub into the sky above Park Avenue, Sue could begin looking into the readings Reed had recorded from her Biological Diagrams of the site for which they now sped...
As the Bathtub moved along, Reed could stretch out (late as usual) to catch his seat as he continued calculations and hypothesis.

Johnny, still sidelined from his racing incident, quickly contacted the Mayor's office to alert them to the appearance of the Stonehenge structure.

MEANWHILE
On arrival...
coming from the Eastern side of Central Park
Mid-Town Manhattan,
New York City, New York
Mid-Evening local time
2004...

The four set down on the green just south east of the sturcture. A giant archway stood open, doorless to the onlookers.
and the Fantastic Four look upon the second most awesome spectacle they'd ever seen... The first gave them their powerful abilities.
THIS ONE
may hold the answers to why they have those powers
and WHERE
Victor ended his journey as an "imaginaut".

What now would they do...??


KKKRRAAAAAASH, kkkkrraaash...
the short range radio buzzed to life... as Ben tuned it in....
This is General Fury of the Triskelion, representing the HSD. Richards are you on scene of the phenominon yet? ....Over.
Fury waits for the briefest second... not patient enough for Richards, he cuts in...
Okay Richards, this is the news... Your team of Four are NOT to interfere with this investigation. We have Stark moving for Sit-Rep from the god's-eye-view. Thor should be in shortly and Quicksilver will be circling the structure in t-minus 8...
You will be coordinating with Pym from the Triskelion by vid-phone. Banner is on-site to the North entrance in 15 minutes. the IronMan team will be requesting your initial scans for download and analysis.
You got theories, Richard?!! Put a hypothetical out there!! Earn your name "Mr. Fantastic".
Captain America has your muscle on his payroll - GOT IT Doctor?!!
Link She-Hulk and Grimm in on code Alpha-Cappa-Alpha-103 station and await orders. .... Over....

Fury gruff and ever the authoritarian ends his conversation and turns the mission to Steve Rogers...



NOTE: this happens shortly before the Ultimates touch down on site... to coordinate everyone we have:
- Daredevil: at the Southern entrance of the Stonehenge Structure at approximately 10pm EST
- the X-men: at the Western entrance of the Stonehenge Structure at approximately 10:10pm EST
- the Fantastic Four: at the Eastern entrance of the Stonehenge Structure at approximately 10:30pm EST
- the Ultimates: at the Northern entrance of the Stonehenge Structure at approximately 10:45pm EST

 

[Radiant]

Rogue- X-Men

With a very sceptical look Rogue turns from Prof X to the rest of the X-Men after he vanished through the gate.

"Am I the only one who finds that just a bit strange? I never figured that man out but this was just wyrd."

She faces the structure again and takes a step towards the gate but hesitates.

"Wolverine, what about your super senses? Was that really Xavier?"

 

[Insight]

from somewhere in the clouds above the panel looks down on Manhattan... cutting quickly we begin to zoom in toward Upper-Manhattan. Through the rain, lightning strikes, etc... Finally catching up to the action at the high-tech base ...

North East of Manhattan island,
just south of the Bronx in the East River.
the Triskelion,
HeadQuarters of the
United States Superhuman Defense Initiative,
AKA: the ULTIMATES.
late-Evening [local time]
2004…

and the ULTIMATES gather!!

Fury steps back to let the scientist work... Glancing up he sees Namor...

motioning him down... Walking to the edge of the deck to meet him with hand extended...
"NAMOR! good to see you again your lordship. We've got a thing... yeah - it's something that seems to run a bit deeper than the Island (Manhattan)... I've just got word we're on alert status... hold on Namor. Let me rally the troops.

Fury steps back and to the side revealing the full stature for the Ultimate team to see - Namor the Prince of Atlantis...
"ALRIGHT People, if this is where the word goes down, so be it. Here's the news... I've just got word down from DHS Deputy Secretary Admiral James Loy, we've got a situation in Mid-town. If my guess is correct we may be able to garner some info on the phenom through Spider-Man.
OKAY! ...
Clay - get our rig up, all non-flyers onboard with me - Banner you and Spider-Man take the front bench and get your gear online in 5.

TONY - scout ahead from cloud cover, I want a Sit-Rep on Mid-town specifically Central Park A-SAP.

THOR - I want you to get some control on this nonsense as he motions up at the raining storm... and get me a visual scout of the Park as we follow.

NAMOR - you're more than welcome to accompany us in the Blackhawk or ship out with Goldielocks...

NAMOR
I shall accompany Thor and travel under my own power.​

Without waiting for a response, the Prince of Atlantis takes flight using only the feathery wings on his ankles. He arcs high away from the Triskelion, curving ever closer to the phenomenon in Central Park.

Alrightalrightalright allllllll-right...
That's it people!
We've got a plan... let's make it happen!"

Nick loads onto the Blackhawk, it begins to dust off... Quartermain dips the front of the chopper and heads toward Manhattan. Fury pulls on his headset and smiles at Steve as he sits back... he loves this $#!*.

.
.
.

We've got word that some New Yorkers have dissappeared inside that this. We gotta rule out this is a follow-up of the martians. Between Tony, Thor and QS we should know what we're getting into.
Banner's gonna be our trump - hopefully he'll give us something to work with on the nature of it.

CAP - you'll lead in ALPHA Team. You've got the call on who goes in and how. I'll follow with the full compliment of the Ultimates, Banner an' the human geiger counter. We'll have Hank and Jan coming in for support...
First priority is to retrieve the citizens, Second is to secure the area for Banner, Pym and Tony to decipher what the hell this thing is.

You've got ground-call on the radio through IronMan Steve...
Got the checkered pinic spread fellas? Next stop, Central Park!

hehheh... Any luck and it'll just be a new stadium for the Mets..."

NAMOR
Captain America, I would be honored to scout ahead for any signs of trouble.​

Namor hovers in mid-air, watching Captain America and keeping an eye on the park for anything popping out of the woodwork, so the speak.

 

[DanMcS]

Hawkeye- the Ultimates- the anomoly, midtown NY, NY

HAWKEYE - you've got the angles as normal, I want you sharp eyein' everything in range of the Northgate entrance while we get schematics. Anything moves out of the ordinary you're on mic with Tony to relay the intel. Cool?

Through rain, backlit by lightning, Hawkeye zip-line deploys from a hovering chopper to his perch on the roof of a cathedral overlooking the site.

The next frame shows him prone, with night vision goggles, peering past a stone gargoyle down through the rain towards the alien structure.

"Hawkeye to team; I have eyes on. Overwatch established on the north gate of the structure. Nothing anomalous to report, besides there being a bunch of huge freaking pillars in the middle of the park."

 

[Keia]

Wolverine - (Logan), unhurt [X-MEN]

"Good evening my students... Ororo, Logan I am so glad that you've been able to rejoin us for this exciting step into the future of our kind. I've been in contact with a being from beyond that gate. It wishes that we ...... well... I'll let you learn for yourself, come... come now..."

Logan was certainly unsettled by the current events. His senses were his own again (or so he thought) . . . no one or nothing had been able to control him like that before - so powerful. Logan sniffed the air, glancing this way and that, looking for clues.

It didn't appear that he really needed the cane . . . it was just a prop. The words seemed like something Chuck would say, but still. He listened to his senses and to his gut, and neither one had a good feeling right now.

"Wolverine, what about your super senses? Was that really Xavier?"

"Working on it," Logan grumbled, "Gimme a sec . . . "

 

[DocSpoon]

Nightcrawler

"Wolverine, what about your super senses? Was that really Xavier?"

"JA Wolverine, this seems too strange even for Charles. What do you say?"

Kurt stops short of the gateway next to Rogue and looks back to Logan.