Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

As Beetle blew up the rear door of the transport he glanced at his communicator on his wrist. Seeing that both the police and heroes' attention was at the Chess Tournament he figured it wouldn't be long before they noticed the commotion he was causing here. He quickly stepped into the prison transport and pulled out a laser and started cutting through the restraints on the man next to him.

"This is a surprise. Figured that my boss would leave me for dead. Or at least send someone to kill me." The gravelly voice stated.

Beetle grunted, "can't. Boss wants us on our toes. He thinks one of the branches, probably the mutant one, is going to make a big unsanctioned move."

"Oh joy… should we step up recruitment?" Grim Reaper shook off the cuffs as they clattered to the ground he retrieved his arm scythe from Beetle as it was handed to him.

"Nope… we are doing the opposite. Stopping all operations and closing all doors instead." Beetle moved to the other Hydra operatives and started cutting them free.

"Huh… well this should be interesting…" As the blade hissed and clanked as it connected completely he twirled it quickly and cut through several of the restraints, "let's pick up the pace a bit."

—------------------

Jean rested her leg on another chair as grunted in pain from the chair. When her door opened she looked over to see Charles rolling in. Followed by Ororo, Henry McCoy, Logan, and Havok. As they came in they closed the door behind them.

Jean frowned and then sighed seeing this, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this impromptu meeting?"

Charles sighed while rolling his eyes, "do we know how security failed at the event?"

Jean shrugged, "according to Pepper, they are looking into it still. But it appears that the two companies assigned to take security did not send anyone and did not tell anyone either. So when Oscorp security showed up on their behalf the security did not question it. But even then there was still some Stark security on staff, but the police dug up some bodies with Stark security uniforms on it already. Even then they had a failsafe that should have been transmitted directly to Mister Stark. But that failed."

"Then how did he get there so quickly?" Charles asked.

"Apparently, Mr. Stark has been having problems with spies recently. So he secretly set up another backup to send a message to his suit in the event that the backup failed. He profusely apologized and asked for some time to sort his company out before entrusting them with the security of our students." Jean sighed as she thought of the apology present he was sending.

Charles seemed surprised then a bit sad, "I suppose the tech students won't be able to leave for the time being. Okay, Havok, inform the appropriate students. Fortunately we won't have any events until the next semester begins but inform the students that we will be stopping any outings for the time being, Logan if you would." Logan nodded then left through the door followed by Havok.

Ororo sat down while Beast sat in the other chair, "now about what happened. We did not get to see much but from what Colossus, and the students told us, the tutor was very adept and quick on her feet."

Jean cracked a small smile as she thought of those two, "yes, Miss Hardy was quick on her feet and handled herself well in the emergency situation. She even 'tamed' the Brotherhood members that showed up to cause trouble."

"Well then," Mister McCoy sighed as he leaned forward, "her boyfriend acted quickly as well. I don't know how but a minute after the Brotherhood appeared he seemed to realize that something was off with security. I got a look at his phone and it seemed far too advanced for an ordinary person."

Jean shrugged, "as far as I could find they have no connections with any groups or organizations. The boyfriend used to work security for Oscorp but has since left within the past month following a shooting where a few of his colleagues were killed. But as far as I can tell they are a pair of geniuses. What would you like me to do about them?"

Charles lifted an eyebrow in surprise, "you could read their mind?"

Jean chuckled and shook her head, "can't. They have some psionic blocker that prevents psion particles from entering within a foot of them."

"A psionic… how? That technology is only theorized about." Mister McCoy leaned forward with the usual sparkle in his eyes that he gets when he talks about experimental technology.

Jean showed a small smile and shrugged. "No clue."

"Hmm… why did you hire her if you couldn't read her mind?" Charles asked, he had always trusted people after reading their mind. It was only in some rare cases he would not read a mind, like mental cases.

"Because she did not try to hide it. In fact she told me her reason, apparently you are well known in some circles for your… disregard, for a person's permission to dive into a person's mind." Jean reminisced with a chuckle at remembering the terms that Felicia used. "Besides, they seem like genuine and nice people."

Charles frowned then sighed, "very well, I won't stop you. Just remember to be careful about trusting non-mutant humans. They aren't always that transparent."

"You're sounding like Scott…" Jean frowned at Ororo's mention of her ex. "That reminds me, apparently he has been having… behavior issues. Even in the field, perhaps it is time to pull him from the team." Jean nodded in agreement at Ororo's words.

Charles loudly sighed, "yes… well. I have noticed since he broke up with Jean he has been spiraling."

Jean flinched but then made a disgusted face. Because she knew he was spiraling before she broke up with him. But let Charles think what he wants. Her decision to break up with him has only become more logically the farther he spirals out of control.

—----------------------

Tony stood at his desk quickly typing on the transparent keyboard. Nearby Pepper was pacing back and forth while yelling into her phone.

"What do you mean? We never gave any order to lower the amount of security at the event. Nor would we ask you to not send any! Sort your shit out Osborn, or we won't do anymore business!" Pepper hung up and walked over to Tony's desk. "Okay that is Osborn done. Have you figured out what happened?"

Tony nodded, "yup, they hid it well but this is SHIELD. They bought off some of our employees and left a line of money leading back to one of the cover companies." Tony cleared out the screen, "Jarvis pull up my conspiracy theory wall on SHIELD, display it in the holoroom."

"Yes, sir." The mechanical voice of Jarvis responded.

A digital wall of photos and notes popped up, on it was a list of people. Including Fury, Coulson, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, and Clint Barton. As well as several other people. Notes by each person and notes on each connection made between them.

"Okay, so for some reason SHIELD did not want me nor Stark industries to assist the mutants in a crisis situation that they more than likely knew was happening. Do you think it is him trying to take advantage of the situation or paranoia towards mutants?" Tony asked as he observed what he had gathered so far on SHIELD. Which included stealing from several different groups to obtain a technological advantage.

"It seems… it almost seems like Fury is preparing for war." Pepper observed as she looked at the list of stolen and appropriated tech. "Which is worrying that a militarized organization like SHIELD is stockpiling weapons. If there was a threat that was dangerous shouldn't he have warned various governments?"

Tony could only shake his head, "he is a paranoid spy. He is probably hoping he can resolve whatever it is without public oversight… but why would he want that? Hmm…"

"Perhaps your and Fury's plans for your respective hero teams should be expedited?" Pepper recommended, begrudgingly.

Tony nodded, "Jarvis display, 'Project Defenders'. If I recall…" A new field of pictures appeared.

This time there was a bald African American man who wore a yellow shirt and black jeans and displayed a set of muscles. There was a list of notes attached with the highlight being:

Name: Luke Cage

Codename: Power Man

Occupation: Barber

Ability Type: genetic alteration

Ability: Super Strength, Invulnerable Skin

The next one was a woman with pitch black hair in a black leather jacket and jeans. In the photo she had a camera in hand. Another note and list of notes were attached:

Name: Jessica Jones

Codename: Jewel

Occupation: Private Investigator

Ability Type: genetic alteration

Ability: Super Strength

There were several others like that which included the names of Iron Fist, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and then the last one being Spider-Man.

"I guess I should start with the most elusive… time to find 'Ghost Rider' but I have a feeling he will be more of an on the occasion hire." Tony stated as he pulled up a more indepth file on Ghost Rider.

—------------------------

Ethan stood over the corpse of the little girl and watched with a mixture of shock and surprise as her slit throat slowly started regenerating.

He glanced over at the thug who's neck he snapped after he happened upon the sight of him killing the little girl. He shrugged then picked up the unconscious girl and started walking back to the new apartment that he and Felicia had decided to share.

It seems they would have a new house guest for the time being.