Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

Felicia tilted her head into Ethan's workshop. She could see him hunched over a tablet and a keyboard. Quickly switching between the two as he worked. She had already seen the rough draft version, now she was watching him make a more permanent version.

She sighed as she walked away. They had both dived right into work after his parents left. But it was more because of the absence of Laura. They both missed her. Ethan had dived into his project while Felicia dived into her training.

But even that was not distracting enough, she needed a new project until she started her internship and schooling. Which gave her an idea, they had plenty of incomplete chemicals she could play with. Maybe she should start there.

As she grabbed her purse and left the apartment she thought back to what Black Fox had told her. Apparently Ethan was on the tail end of his training, he had a few weeks at most until he was done. While she would continue at least for a few more months. It was frustrating but it was because he had trained in numerous martial techniques and knew how to move stealthily already.

She was training quickly but all Ethan needed was practical testing. It also meant that he would undergo final testing before her. As well as being exposed to the inner workings of First Line.

She arrived at the hideout within an hour, she would have arrived more quickly but she made certain she was not being followed. A habit she started developing at Black Fox's encouragement.

She started looking through the various chemicals that Ethan had found. There were so many defunct and shutdown companies he took from that the organizational system alone was a mess.

She skipped over the super soldier variant formulas and went straight towards something she knew she could work with. Formulas for aphrodisiacs, a lot of them, could be useful. Acids, dangerous to work with, but could be useful. Sleeping agents, close but not what she was looking for. Poisons, not quite her speed but it did give her an idea.

Liquid Temporary Paralytics. There were five different groups that had recipes, Hydra, SSR, Stratious, Life Foundation, Ambrosia. It even seemed each took a different aspect and method to achieve their goal. Now she just had to take the best of each aspect and turn it into something usable.

Now to come up with a temporary name for this paralytic.

—--------------------

Wolverine's head hurt as he walked down the hallway. He figured he might as well go to the danger room in order to train. The room was spinning as he arrived but the room was already in use. But they were just about to finish, as the door opened he blacked out.

The door opened as Havok, Jean, and Storm began exiting but they stopped at the sight of Wolverine hunched over.

"Logan are you-" Jean started as she reached out to his mind to find it quiet. But then it roared to life as Logan roared and snarled along with it.

"Aaarrrgghh!!!" He dashed toward them and all three jumped back with Jean and Storm taking flight and Havok jumping back and sending off a blast of energy.

"He is not in control. We need to subdue him!" Jean quickly declared as she levitated a piece of debris from their earlier training and tossed it at Logan.

Logan regenerated quickly from Havok's concussive blast and sliced through the debris Jean sent at him. Then Storm hit him with a gust of wind that barely sent him back.

"Jean, can you knock him out with a telepathic blast?" Storm asked as she picked up the force of the wind to keep him back.

Jean focused on Logan's mind and frowned, "I can but it will take me time and concentration. It appears that some sort of metal block was placed in his mind, I need to navigate it carefully to avoid causing him permanent damage."

Jean lowered herself on the other side of the room and focused on navigating the maze that appeared in Logan's mind.

"How is that possible? You and the Professor are the only telepaths that can do something like that and have access." Storm asked as she switched to making a storm cloud in doors while Havok tossed more concussive blasts.

Jean quickly navigated and quickly realized what had happened, "actually it was not made by a telepath. It looks like a strong form of hypnotization, reinforced for several years at a time. But it seems to have weakened with time. It is almost like it was reactivated after being dormant."

"Hypnosis? Actually that makes sense, Doctor Faustus was known for his ability to hypnotize anyone. Logan's missing memories might involve him and when Logan was guarding the doctor, a hypnotic suggestion was reactivated." Havok suggested as he was winded and took a step back as Storm stepped in causing it to rain on Logan with a strong wind.

Jean was surprised by Havok's insight but ignored it for now. She was almost there, these barriers were surprisingly difficult for someone who had no telepathic ability.

She was too focused and did not notice when Logan threw a piece of debris at Storm which hit her on the head. Disrupting her flow for a moment which allowed Logan a moment to race across the room to Jean. His claws were shining with killing intent as he went in to kill her by stabbing her in the chest.

Havok jumped in front of her at the last moment and shot off a more powerful concussive blast that sent Logan sailing across the room. At the same moment Jean opened her eyes and spoke a single word that rippled through Logan's mind, "Sleep."

Logan was unconscious before he crashed into the wall and slumped to the ground. Jean and Storm focused on Logan's unconscious form and only turned away when Havok collapsed with a grunt of pain.

"Urgghh…" There was a lot of blood pooling on the ground. "Damn, he got me good."

"Alexander!" Storm yelled in surprise before jumping over to help him.

"Bring him to the medical wing." Jean stated as she levitated Logan, "I have Logan."

—------------------

"He has slipped into a coma," Professor Xavier sighed as he backed up from the table Logan was lying on. He was both restrained and hooked up to machines.

"Alexander is fine, none of his vital organs were damaged. A few days bedrest and a few weeks with nothing excessive and he will be as good as new." Beast explained. "Are you sure we should not contact Scott?"

"Positive, I am not dying so let him continue to decompress." Alexander declared as he sat up. "Was I right? About it, being Doctor Faustus?"

"Possibly, it would be too dangerous to dive too deeply into Logan's mind. So all we can pick up is anything from the surface. Jean would know better than me since his mind has gone dormant and closed off." Professor Xavier explained as he looked at his protege.

"I did hear something, a series of code words." Jean explained as she remembered what she heard and then her eyes shot open, "Doctor Faustus used a different name for him, X-1."

Those words caught Storm's attention as well. "In that case we have a lead."

"Agreed, but we should take it slow." Jean suggested.

"A lead?" Professor Xavier asked.

"Yes Professor, while Jean was looking through the files from that Hydra base she found a file containing the failed transport of an X-23. They were coming from a Canadian Military facility." Storm explained as Jean gathered her thoughts.

"Where is this X-23 now?" Professor Xavier asked.

"She escaped them and disappeared into the streets of New York. With no picture of physical description it would be too difficult to locate her. So we figured it would be easier to find the facility she came from, it was supposed to have been scrapped because of a loss of funding." Jean cut in.

"Why do you not try to use Cerebro to find them or a lead?" Alexander Summer asked as he adjusted himself.

"Military installations have a natural insulation by way of concrete and steel, but it is also abandoned making it even harder to find. As for finding the people, I doubt they refer to themselves as X-23. So there would be no point unless we went through every single person's mind." Professor Xavier explained.

"How about Doctor Faustus or any of the other doctors from the Hydra facility?" Beast asked as he perked up from his work desk.

"The Hydra doctors and commanders have been given some inhibitor, it does not stop me from reading surface thoughts but it would be impossible to read their memories or their minds." Jean explained as she thought through all the other possibilities.

"Meaning the best course of action would be to investigate it like we are normal people." Professor Xavier declared before thinking of something, "it would also prevent them from realizing who is on their tale. If we play this right we should catch them unawares."

—-----------------------

Ethan stepped out of his workshop for the first time in several days he clicked on the news on the television and walked into the kitchen. He listened as the news anchors analyzed the most recent 'ground breaking' news.

Mainly about the cooperation between Iron Man, Captain America, the X-Men, and the U.S. Air Force to capture a giant Hydra base that was hidden under the government's nose. They also talked about the FBIs complete failure to be able to assist. Mainly due to the lack of trust since the X-Men suspect that there is corruption or moles within the organization.

It brought questions and worry about how deep that Hydra has embedded itself within the United States Government. The FBI even announced that they already have an internal investigation to disprove the claim.

Ethan sighed as he turned off the television just as the front door opened and Felicia walked in exercise clothes, "hey, school is coming up and our internships start next week are you all ready?"

Felicia looked over and smiled, "it is good to see you out of your workshop. Yes, I am ready. By the way, Jean wants to come over this upcoming weekend."

"Sounds fine to me, it is not like we have anything important going on. I am going to clean up and then make dinner. Care to join me?" Ethan asked as he walked towards the master bedroom.

"Okay."

—---------------------

Director Nicholas Fury frowned as watched the news from his Helicarrier. It had been an eventful last few days for him. He has gotten his ear chewed off by everyone from the World Council to the Director of the FBI.

Everyone wanted to know two things. For one how Hydra was able to operate such a large facility so close to home without being noticed. For another, how a bunch of Vigilantes managed to find and raid the facility without anyone noticing.

He gave no answers for either question. But he already knew the answer to both.

They could operate such a facility because Hydra had people in almost every branch of government and even within Shield, which is why he had to keep his investigation limited to those he trusted and only those people. He also noticed that Iron Man, Captain America, and the X-Men were on the move. He was not aware for certain but he figured it was related to Hydra since Captain America got involved.

Not even the subordinates he trusts know his suspicions, he has kept everything limited so no one saw the full picture. But now he had to start official and open investigations to get everyone focused one way.

But there was another thing he could do. For a while now he has suspected something and now he had to hope Hydra did as well so they would expose themselves in the middle of the investigation.

"Hill, Coulson get a group of specialists together for an investigation." He called out to his two most trusted subordinates who had been waiting for his orders.

"What is the focus of the investigation sir?" Hill asked as Coulson began scrolling through Shield's assets.

"The infamous hacker known as The Reaper. I want him found, if he has hacked into every branch of the government then he more than likely already knows more about any Hydra cells then we do." Out of the corner of his eye he saw one of his agents flinch, Jasper Sitwell. He was a good agent but a little too confident.

He might be just the kind of lead he was looking for. It was just about time to pull some old tricks out of his figurative hat.

""Yes Sir!"" They answered in unison before leaving.