TheSoviet

((It's a Malta squad. About ten random Malta, the Delta Titan(Modified Zeus Class), Curtis(Gunslinger Boss), Marcus(Tactical Engineer...But think lieut/boss level) and Reikoff himself, the Tactical Commander BBW.))

Reikoff watched the little red cloaked....

....girl?

He brushed off some fuzz that seemed to have appeared on his uniform and looked at her more intently. His biomods had nothing on her. Mechanical. Useless to the Malta, but he felt...compelled to attack...

He had to attack...Not a rage, but a need.

He raised his hand and pointed, his Malta instinctually listening to his subtle motion.

The bullets began to rip through the trees.

"[censored]!" Roared Curtis as he quickly sprayed chemical foam from his suit.

"Ditch the damn suits, we're found out!"

The Malta seamlessly unzipped and jumped clear of their powersuits, flying into the air in the Malta's own space gear. The suits landed and exploded brilliantly on a trip mine.

In the middle of a string of curses, Reikoff threw an EMP grenade into the trap field, hoping that the electronics would fry....

((I think that's my longest post ever...Hope you like it.))

((Bwaaaah, I give up! I'm a Malta addict! I need professional help!! I'll use another commander though...No promises that Reikoff, Curtis, Marcus, or Delt-Wait.))

((Marcus.....Marcus Marcone.

Backstory time.))

-----

The bubbles slowed to a stop. Shady figures laughed cruelly as a shadow sunk to the bottom of Independence Port...

"What the hell was he thinkin', joinin' tha Mooks."

"Served the [censored] right. C'mon, let's roll."

A small black sedan pulled away from the docks. Glittering sparkles drifted through the air from the huge swarms of superheroes going about daily life in the busy port.

"To Perez an' step on it."

The car roared and lurched forward. It was joined by another sedan of similar make.

"Jimmy." Stated a Marcone gangster through the car radio.


"Yeah?"

"You ice the super?"

"Yeah, man, he's sleepin' wit da fishes....Well, if dat's where da Malta put em!"

Both sides of the radio explode with laughter.

"Heheh, okay, meet us at da normal spot."

The cars speed through the streets as night falls...

------

Both cars pull up to an old warehouse near the corner of Perez Park. The gangsters all step out. There are eight total: Two Marcone Underbosses, a Consigliere, three Capo Gunners, and two Capo Muscles. The Consigliere is fiddling with a small pistol.

"Man, Marcus, ya gotta stop wit da tech. You confuzzin' us all."

"Shaddup, man, tech's what I do. You know I--"

"Yeah, man, you already told us a millyun times! Ya designed your own Consigliere cyber-[censored]!"

"Pft, 's so over your head, anyways."

"Wait up, boys, sumtin's wrong."

The Underboss carefully leans into the window of the office, listening intently.

His face slowly sinks to a deep grimace.

"Supers."

"Oh, [censored]! ROLL! ROLL!"

The gangsters dive back into their cars just as two burning Marcone buckshot run screaming from the doorway. The cars squeal and accelerate away quickly...

"THEY'RE COMIN'!" Screeched a gunner. Indeed, an Ice blaster and a Fire blaster were flying right behind the cars.

"We're pushin' a hunnred twenny! The damn ting won' take much more!!"

A gunner leans out the window and begins to empty his tommygun behind the car. The Ice blaster screams in pain as the bullets rip through him, but a quick heal from a passing empath sends him surging forward again.

"Damn pack mentality!" Roared an Underboss as he climbs to the top of the car, now roaring at 125.

The massively enhanced gangster taunts the fire-slinger, who willingly submits to his rage and enters hand to hand with the mafia man at 125 miles per hour.

They grapple and fight, roaring, grunting, screaming...

The blood and teeth fly away from them, until the fighters look nearly clean.

At that moment, they hit the wall.

It was broadcast nationwide as a horror. Two heroes dead.

The Family went unmentioned.

-------

"Wake up, Marcus. Wake up."

Marcus opened his eyes. A Malta was looking down at him.

"Hey, you're the one that we--"

"Yes, I know. Look, I don't like doing this for people, but you lessed us two supers, so please, stand up and stretch. By the way, welcome to your involuntary life career in the Malta."

Marcus stood up. He flexed his hands, good as new. He looked in a mirror; same eye color could be seen through his engineer's mask. He had been reconstructed.

"We regrew your skin. Interestingly found your affixation with technology...Welcome to the Engineers. We couldn't save your cybernetics, but you have been highly biomodified, part to survive the surgery, part for your new employment."

Marcus looked at his savior. An imposing Russian-looking man, Reikoff was wearing a Tactical Commander's uniform. Marcus nodded. "Anything for someone who would save my life."

He jumped back. That wasn't his accent.

"Your brain reconstruction wasn't exactly perfect. We saved pretty much everything but most of your memory. Clean slate."

"Hmph." Marcus grunted in agruable approval.

"Now, come, your first assignment with us is about to begin."

The two passed out of the lab, into a bustling underground fortress. Passing through caverns and rooms, weapons lockers and Titan bases, they eventually reached a swirling portal that was surrounded by men.

"Boys, this is Marcus. He'll be accompanying us on this mission. Now then, this portal was found opened inside a Red Cap fortress, and we're the expeditionary team to send. Accompanying us will be Delta Four."

The men roared in approval as Marcus looked confused.

"D4!" Exclaimed a TacOp to the befuddled man. "The best Titan this base has!"

The beast clanked into the room.

"Greetings, human comrades!"

The men cheered in approval.

"Right, come on boys, D4 has our extra supplies stored in his cargo compartment. Commander Firenze expects nothing less than success, so let's do it!" Roared Reikoff.

They stepped into the swirling portal....

...And appeared in a forest.

"Now come on, let's find this world out..." Told Reikoff to his men as he spied a red figure in the distance.

((Enters The Wolf!))

Elf freak.

Goblin nut.

Relax....They'll all be ours...In the end..

"Psst." Grunted Reikoff subtly.

As Spion ran out of the building, the Malta exchanged nods and glances. Reikoff stared intently after him, lights flickering in his helm.

"Nothing in the World Super Database. Guess we'll have to add an entry, eh? Come on."

The three Portal Corp employees smoothly brought it to anyone arounds' attention that they had left a part out in the flatlands, and softly hopped away from the base.

((By the way, Marcus's last name is Marcone. It follows that he is related to the Family. Be mindful of that later.))

Reikoff nods in approval to the registrar and looks greedily at the burning eyes of Andraxus.

((Mmm...Can't...Resist....Moon...Goodness....))

((BUT WAIT! I am Soviet Strike. I don't play good guys....I play the best guys.))

Reikoff stretched.

((Oh, hells yeah...))

"I don't like these powersuits, boss."

"Shut the hell up, Curtis."

"No need t'get touchy."

"Keep your mind on the mission."

Samuel Reikoff, Curtis Richardson, and Marcus Marcone stood on top of the Portal Corp. base building in their inconspicouous spacesuits. Any PortalCorp employee would be wearing them, so a few on the roof was nothing big.

"I'm not getting too many supers. Mostly 'bots."

"I don't like it. Aren't there 5th here?"

"Yeah, but you know commander Firenze's policy on mutants."

"Bossman, we're bioenhanced."

"And? We weren't in his division when we got our mods."

"True that. C'mon, let's blend in."

Marcone, Reikoff, and Richardson jumped from the top of the building, slowly falling to the main door.

"Act busy."

The trap was laid, the Malta were in wait....

((Sometimes I worry that I'm either Malta obsessed or unable to think of anything original.))

((Oh well.))

The Circle are powerful mages. They will be ours.

You got it.

"I'd check that sheet again!" Yelled an operative from across the room. There again the sheet displayed the title:

MALTA OPERATIVES, TEAM CHARLIE
SAMUEL REIKOFF, COMMANDER
4 AGENTS, 2 TITANS
SEE CAPTURE AGREEMENT IN DOCUMENT 37, SUB. 2.

Reikoff stared intently at AI.

This is Agent Reikoff, testing telepathy cybernetics.

Read you, commander.

Identify...er...thinker?

Marcus.

We can't have the elf woman quit. Her power is destined to be ours. Someone go and pretend to ex us off of the list. Any sort of temporary hologram would be great.

Done and done.

Speaker?

Delta Four.

You Titans can hear us?!

Yes, sir. Performing command.

The Titan rises from its wall slump and bumps the registration pad as it passes to the opposite wall. When he is gone from it, AI sees the Malta signature scribbled over. The Titan slumps to the other side of the wall.

Excellent work, D4. Deactivate the hologram when the registrar begins to ready the list for approval.

Yes, sir.

"Good." Reikoff stated. He signed himself and his crew up for the fight.

"There will be plenty of heroes..."

The Malta entered the lobby. The attendant was asleep. Typical.

"WAKE THE HELL UP!" Reikoff yelled into his face.

((Come on, Khell...))

((I'm having horrible flashbacks to Iron Fist.))

((I'm assuming I'll be the only one up, so I'm putting myself at 3 in the morn.))

Reikoff awoke without an alarm.

Cracking his neck and rolling on to the floor, he quickly performed a pushup which left him in a standing position. He prepared himself and placed on his special forces gear. He entered the lobby.

The Malta streamed in, the Hercs moving very quietly for giant mechanical beasts.

Reikoff nodded and the whole of the Malta went outside.

At a stiff 0310 hours, they begin warmup.

Nope, not from MGS3. I forgot where I learned that, but yeah, let's drop it. Game's a game.

I've got to point out that the sideways "Gangsta" shooting is actually real...

This style of shooting was invented in China, I believe, and is called "Bandit Shooting." It's used to (Inaccurately) clear entire rooms. Of course, I may be spewing BS, but that's the facts I've got.

Reikoff nodded in approval and handed off keys.

"We meet here at three o' clock in the morning to begin pre-combat excercises. Dismissed."

The Malta disbanded and left for their rooms.

Reikoff swore in a string long and terrible enough to make a sailor cry.

He went to the front desk.

"We'll be staying for the night. Any assassination attempts and you will find your family dead. Are we clear?"

Both the Jaguar and the cub are then trapped and shipped to my labs for testing, until I realize that I just want to shoot things, and so I do. I then blame it all on Bill, from accounting.

The hunter is immediately killed by a worthless fanboy of the X-men, who was trying out the wolverine claws that I sold him only to find out that they are actual steak knives.

The Malta, shielded by the Rikti, ignored the gunfire of the hero above for the time being, save for the sapper, who was driven to take down the foe who had dodged him.

The other Malta were closing to melee range with AI, sapsticks and tasers drawn. Another super for the ranks.

"Damnit!" Yelled Reikoff.

"New target! Sapper!"

The sapper's eyes gleamed as he fired the Sap rifle into the newcomer.

Performing an aerial flip, he jumped towards the hero, shrugging off hit after hit, bringing down his Sapstick, which would knock the hero out cold.

"SHE'S DOWN!" Screamed the Malta.

They drew their stun rifles and fired. A blast like that and she was clear for teleport. The Maltans moved in and began to lock her coordinates.

((Stop 'em or whatever, your choice, Khel.))

Reikoff and the Malta scattered.

"It's a flamer! Cryos fire!"

Several of the Agents threw out cryogenic bullets and grenades, cold enough to make the Winter Lord shiver, hoping to offset the fire.

"Locking." The Engineer stated, reading his sensors carefully.

"Two more left turns, and we'll head him off head on!"

The Malta rounded the corners and opened up blindly into Agent Immolate, laying down suppression fire for their Rikti comrades to get to cover.