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CHURCH OF THE RISEN SON, PART 3 (OF 5)

"Recovery Missions"

The Disciples once again found themselves standing in Nefaria's chambers. It had been several days since their fact-finding mission, and since then they had done nothing but train.

Pike rubbed his still aching neck. He was beginning to wonder if he should see someone about it. But did the Church have rules against something like that? Perhaps only divine healing was allowed?

He pulled himself from his thoughts and instead took to observing the other Disciples.

His friend, an alternate reality Ben Grimm who had been turned into a man-lizard by being exposed to some cosmic rays, was leaning back against a wall. He seemed in silent thought, but if one were to follow his line of sight, it would eventually meet Spiral. As Pike had noticed many times before, his green friend was rather intent on the sole female in the group. Pike had a theory that perhaps it was because it was Spiral who had found Grimm and had brought him to the Church, in effect rescuing him.

Spiral on the other hand seemed completely oblivious to Ben's emotions. Or to anyone's emotions for that matter. She too was silent, playing with two of her swords while her other four arms were crossed. She stood alone, mostly because she didn't think any of the others were worth talking to. The only person she seemed to respect was Nefaria himself, and even then, only to a certain degree.

Nomad, the group's leader in combat situations was also quiet, but unlike the others he was occupying himself, going over possible battle scenarios, trying to maximize the team's efficiency in combat. Nefaria had entrusted him with this duty and he took it extremely seriously. Perhaps too seriously. In all of his eagerness to have the team perform well, he took no note of any more social aspects of how the team functioned. The fact that Nefaria had given him a job to do had made him extremely narrow-minded. Every one of the Disciples respected Nefaria, but Nomad took it to a point of worship comparable only to Speed Demon.

Speed Demon made many of the members of the team very uneasy. He was a fervent religious nut. He seemed to actually believe that Nefaria was sent by God. Not only did he take his own worship to an extreme limit he did not cease preaching to others. If any Disciple made a statement that could possibly be misconstrued as a denial of Nefaria's divinity, Speed Demon would pounce on them. Shouting religious mumbo-jumbo constantly, Pike was fairly certain that Speed Demon was slightly on the insane side. Even Mentallo, the Church's supposed Prophet was visibly uncomfortable around the speedster.

Mentallo had been mysteriously absent for the past few days and was still missing.

Lastly, there was Dr. Spectrum. The man never uttered a word unless he was spoken to. And even then, his answers were short and curt. He didn't seem to like or dislike any of the Disciples more than the others. However, it would be easy to see how he could consider Speed Demon annoying. Not only did he have to put up with the religious babble that the rest of the team did, but Speed Demon seemed to have a particular attachment to Dr. Spectrum.

Pike was beginning to get antsy, all this waiting for Nefaria to arrive was bothering him.

Finally, the door to the chamber opened and a caped figure stepped in. Pike wondered how the man could constantly wear a cape. Didn't it get in the way?

Nefaria walked into the middle of his group of Disciples and raised his arms. At last, he began to speak, "My Disciples, we are coming closer and closer to our ultimate goal. There is still one member of our team whom we need to recover."

"We have to recover a member of our team?"

"Yes. You see this member is somewhat different than the rest of you. It is not a person with powers, but rather a machine that has the ability to copy someone's powers. It is known as… the Super Adaptoid!" *

(* Last time we saw the Super Adaptoid was in Baloo's Champions #19 -ADS)

Most of the Disciples once again had very little clue as to what Nefaria was talking about. The ones who did know of the Adaptoid knew that to get it would be an audacious move.

"The Super Adaptoid is being kept in a SHIELD warehouse. Luckily, the membership of our Church is large enough that we were able to get some important information regarding the building. Meanwhile, I have some other business that I must attend to. I too have something to retrieve."

The Disciples minus Mentallo stood down the street from what looked to be yet another abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of New York City. In reality, the rickety old building held a secret unknown to most. It was actually a state of the art facility housing several top-secret articles. Some, weapons seized from criminals, others, government-made products.

Nomad cleared his throat. He was now going to present the plan.

"Behind those walls is a state of the art facility run by SHIELD. We're here to get the Super Adaptoid and get out, that's all. Unfortunately, it won't be that simple. Apparently, SHIELD was anticipating someone with super-powers to come after the Adaptoid so they have extremely high security. They also have a forcefield set around the room that houses the Adaptoid that prevents teleportation meaning that the obvious option of having Spiral teleport us all in, isn't going to work.

"That would leave us with a frontal assault. Unfortunately, they have so many agents guarding this thing that by the time we got through them all, half the superheroes in New York would be on top of us.

"So, this is the plan. Spiral's going to teleport us into a room where there's little to no security. From there, a small team goes after the forcefield generator. Once that's down, Spiral's going to 'port the second team into the room with the Adaptoid. You take out whatever agents are in your way, get the Adaptoid and get out.

"Meanwhile, that will have provided enough of a distraction to let the first team get out. Everyone got it?"

Everyone nodded, and Pike had to admit, although perhaps Nomad was overly preoccupied with the efficiency of the team, he was at least doing a good job of it.

Nefaria stood in a quiet part of New York. In front of him was a familiar-looking brownstone that seemed deserted. *

(* This brownstone was seen in Avengers #404 by Scott Harris -ADS)

However, one always knows better than to assume a building is abandoned.

A smile crossed the former crime-lord's face. This would be all too easy.

Pike looked at the other members of his team. And all he could do was shake his head. He had been put on the covert team. How this could be, he had no idea. He was, with Ben, the biggest Disciple. However, Nomad had taken the time to explain to him that they needed all their heavy hitters to go after the Adaptoid. That meant that Dr. Spectrum and Grimm had to be on that team. In addition, Spiral was the one who would be 'porting them in, so she would have to go as well. Nomad, being the member of the group with the least amount of powers was on the covert team, as was Speed Demon for his great recon capabilities. That meant three on the attack team, and two on the covert team. So, despite his size, Pike had been stuck with Nomad and the Speed Nut.

In addition, Nomad had mentioned that it would be useless to have two big bruisers on the same team. At that comment, Pike began to question his usefulness among the Disciples in general. He quickly dismissed the thought as Nomad gave word that they were going to be jumping into action.

Nomad, Pike and Speed Demon approached Spiral who began to wave her arms in what was now becoming a very familiar fashion.

Pike saw a flash of light that caused him to shield his eyes. When he opened them, he was no longer in the alley. Or, at least not in the same alley. He was now in more of a hallway. Everything sparkled a metallic gray.

Pike rubbed his eyes one more time. He had teleported with Spiral a few times before, but no matter how many times he did it, he could not get used to the feeling.

"Shit!" whispered Nomad, as he ducked into a doorway, urging the others to do the same.

"Spiral! You couldn't have teleported us to a more… private area," he hissed.

"Sorry, best I could do," replied Spiral, a large smirk across her face as she waved her arms once more and was gone again.

"I wonder about her loyalty to the Son," muttered Speed Demon.

"As do I, but we haven't the time to worry about that now. Shhh…"

Footsteps could be heard approaching. Only one or two sets, but it only took one to set off an alarm.

"I could - " began Speed Demon, but he was cut off by Nomad.

"Pike! Open this door, quietly!"

Pike obliged by pulling the metal door open. The trio slipped into the room and Pike closed the door behind them.

Nomad breathed a sigh of relief.

Pike looked around and saw that he found himself in a storage room of sorts. Not surprising considering the building was a warehouse. Unlike the room that Nomad had described to him with the Super Adaptoid, this room had no forcefield, no guards, and, well, no Adaptoid. Instead a bunch of wooden crates were stacked on top of each other all over the place.

The crates had attracted Pike's curiosity, but not Nomad's. While Pike wondered what could be in all those boxes, Nomad had pulled out a blueprint of the building.

"Okay, we're here," said Nomad pointing to a small room on the left side of the sheet of paper. "This is where the generator is," pointing to a much larger room in the middle of the floor they were on.

"Speed Demon, your job is to run recon. Let me know how many men there are between here and the generator."

Without saying a word, Speed Demon sped out of the room. Less than 5 seconds later he had returned.

"None."

"None!?"

"Not anymore," said Speed Demon with a wide smile on his face.

A very ugly-looking scowl crossed Nomad's face. "I swear Demon…"

He seemed to seize control of himself before he could say anymore. "Let's go."

The trio stalked down the hallways keeping a vigilant eye out for SHIELD agents. Every once in a while they would have to step over the prone form of an agent.

When they reached the room where the generator was located, two agents were standing at the door. "Let's make quick work of them."

Speed Demon didn't need to be told to do his work quickly. Apparently though, Nomad was determined to get a piece of the action, because before Speed Demon could get to the second agent, Nomad had already disposed of him with some nifty moves.

Pike just followed the other two, feeling more and more useless.

"Pike, the door."

So far, his job had consisted of opening doors. Still, he did what he was told to as he smashed this thicker metal door off its frame. On the other side was a bit of a scary sight. An entire room full of SHIELD agents, and in the center of the room, a large whirring machine, the generator.

The trio was quickly scattered by blasts from the agents.

"Just get to the generator!" cried Nomad diving and rolling from blaster shots.

Speed Demon was there in a split second, but before he could do much damage to the monstrous machine, he was knocked off his feet by a blaster shot. Nomad could not get close enough to the machine to do any damage whatsoever.

Pike set his jaw. He was the only one who could do it. He set off towards the generator in a dead sprint. Blaster shots whizzed by him, some grazing him, others landing directly on his robust skin, and although they slowed him, they could not stop him. Finally, arriving at the generator, with one large sweep of his powerful arm, he smashed the machine to bits.

"Team 2, go, now!" Nomad yelled into a communicator as he somersaulted out of the way of a blast and connected with both feet on the chest of an agent.

Inside the Brownstone that Nefaria had been spying earlier were three peculiar looking figures. In the darkness none of their features were visible, except for one. He seemed to have a… a mane!?

The hair that surrounded the individual's head, definitely bore a strong resemblance to a lion's mane.

Suddenly a wall of the brownstone exploded and through the smoke stepped Nefaria, looking very colorful in his cape and costume.

"What the…!?" came a cry from one of the three individuals.

"Leo, who the heck is that!?" asked another.

"Th - That, Cancer, is a dead man."

Nefaria chuckled. "Believed dead actually. I am Count Nefaria. Founder of the Church of the Risen Son. I have come for the Zodiac Key. You have two options. One hand it over peacefully and I will leave you be. Or, two, I kill you all and find the key myself. I do hope you choose the former, it would be less work for me. Albeit, less fun as well."

Leo growled. "You don't scare us Nefaria."

"Ah - but I should." In the blink of an eye Nefaria was gone from where he stood. A grunt came from Capricorn's direction, as the villain lay in Nefaria's arms… dead, his neck snapped.

"Care to re-think that?"

Cancer reached for a large weapon on the table, he whirled it around to point at Nefaria, but before he could get a shot off, laser beams flared from the Count's eyes and destroyed the weapon in Cancer's hands. The next blast from his eyes hit Cancer square in the head. The Zodiac's body slumped to the floor, his head barely recognizable.

Leo held his hands up at Nefaria. "Please. Stop. I'll give you the Key."

Leo walked over to the far wall and placed his hand on one of the visible bricks. A beam of light scanned the man-lion's face. All this occurred under Nefaria's watchful eye. Once the retinal scan was complete. The wall slid away revealing a room the size of a closet. Leo opened a case, and pulled from it, an object that could pass for a key. He tossed it at Nefaria.

"There, you have what you want, now leave."

An evil sneer appeared on Nefaria's face.

A few moments later Nefaria was speeding back towards the Church, the Zodiac Key in his hand. And Leo lay in the Zodiac's brownstone, no less dead than his comrades.

Once the signal came from Nomad, Spiral began waving her arms again. Herself, Dr. Spectrum and Grimm were soon in the middle of a large room. They were greeted by the shocked facial expression of dozens of agents.

At the other end of the room was their ultimate prize, the Super Adaptoid!

The shocked agents wasted no more time and opened fire. None of the blasts reached their targets as they all harmlessly bounced off Dr. Spectrum's colorful bubble.

"Enough of this nonsense. Spectrum, cover Grimm while he goes to retrieve the Adaptoid."

Spectrum lowered his bubble, and erected a new one around only the lizard-man, Ben Grimm. Grimm ran towards the Adaptoid. Agents in his way couldn't even slow him as their blasts bounced off his protection. In addition, the agents themselves had to avoid the giant hammer that was looming over their heads, also courtesy of Dr. Spectrum, as well as Spiral teleporting around chopping their weapons to pieces in the blink of an eye.

It didn't take long for Grimm to reach his goal, once there, he picked up the large humanoid looking machine with one hand. "Hey, Spiral! CATCH!" He shouted as he chucked it at the Amazon. Just as it looked like the robot would collide with her, both vanished.

Spectrum and Grimm exchanged a look and agreed on a course of action. The large hammer in the air swung round and round until it collided with a wall, making the wall crumble. The two disciples scrambled out of the new doorway, agents in hot pursuit. However, as the agents reached the hole, they bounced off a red wall which made Dr. Spectrum smile.

Meanwhile, Speed Demon had recovered, and he, Pike and Nomad were on the way to their own escape. They reached a wall of a hallway, and Pike took a swing at it, puncturing the metal, and destroying the glass that was visible from the outside of the building. He quickly set to work on making the hole bigger. Once it was big enough the trio jumped out of it towards the ground. Beneath, there was a group of four. As they plummeted towards certain doom, one of the four beneath them began waving her arms. As soon as the trio was within ten feet of the ground, the entire group of seven had disappeared.

To Be Continued!!!

Reach me, Adam, at: adamds@videotron.ca