Dazzler tensed significantly as adrenaline continued to flood through her body.
“S.W.O.R.D.?” Polaris said. “They’re the ones shipping the MGH?”
“What’s S.W.O.R.D.?” Rachel asked.
“The Sentient World Observation and Response Division,” Sage answered, then eyed Dazzler, “once a division of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Dazzler heard an accusatory edge to her voice.
“It can’t be,” Polaris said in disbelief.
Dazzler turned and walked away from them. She suddenly felt claustrophobic. Did S.H.I.E.L.D. know about this? Was this more information they were hiding from her, that her clearance level did not allow her to know? Was this why they wanted her as Mutant Liaison? S.W.O.R.D. was S.H.I.E.L.D.’s counterpart in space, dealing with extraterrestrial threats to world security. Had S.H.I.E.L.D. sent her to investigate this because they wanted her to handle the staff of S.W.O.R.D., who were largely made up of mutants and extraterrestrials, that regular S.H.I.E.L.D. agents may not be equipped to handle?
What was going on? What else weren’t they telling her?
Dazzler’s anxiety rose, her trauma clawing its way back to the surface and choking her, as memories of lies and betrayal flashed through her mind. Of Mystique and Madripoor. She pushed it back down to focus on the present.
Who betrayed Magneto in the bar, and who warned Rosenthorpe to move the MGH shipment?
“So, what do we do?” Polaris asked. “Confront S.H.I.E.L.D.?”
“No,” Dazzler said firmly, turning back to the women. “I think they already know.”
“How do you know that?” Rachel asked.
“How could S.H.I.E.L.D. not know? S.W.O.R.D. was their counterpart.”
“We should tell Frost,” Sage suggested.
“You didn’t discuss this with her when she gave you the consignment note?” Polaris said. “Frost doesn’t know this is related to S.W.O.R.D.?”
“No,” Sage told her.
“Why not?” Dazzler asked.
“I wanted to be sure first. Now that I am, we should tell her.”
“So, you withheld information from Frost?” Dazzler asked, unable to hide her tone of accusation.
Sage tapped the knife she held against her thigh. “I have learned along the way to be sure of something before taking action. Or making accusations.”
“I think Frost already knows,” Dazzler said, positive the pieces of this puzzle were beginning to fall into place, however raggedly. “She’s been around long enough to know about S.W.O.R.D. She was the one looking into this warehouse. Someone warned Rosenthorpe that we were coming, and he had the shipment moved. We forget, Frost has a long history, and she hasn’t always been on the right side of it.”
“She wouldn’t be involved in this,” Sage said.
“How do we know we can trust her?” Dazzler questioned. “Magneto and Cyclops have disappeared. She was their counterpart.”
“Frost wouldn’t betray them,” Sage insisted.
“Do you know that for sure?” Dazzler asked. “You’d trust her with your life?”
Sage considered this for a moment. “It depends on what hung in the balance. If she could save me, she would. If she risked many other lives to do so, she wouldn’t. Like me, she will do what needs to be done.”
“So, she’d sacrifice you,” Dazzler said.
“If it meant saving many others from the MGH, yes.”
“Do we know if she has links to S.W.O.R.D.?” Polaris asked. “We need to know for sure so we can figure out what to do.”
“That would be easy if I knew who I could trust around here!” Dazzler said, unable to help the accusatory looks she threw at her companions.
“Hey, we’re in this with you, aren’t we?” Polaris said, offended. “You can trust us!”
“Can I?” Dazzler asked, anxiety rising up again and anger trembling her body.
“What’s wrong with you?” Sage asked.
“What’s wrong with me?” Dazzler’s stored light energy pulsed through her clenched fists. “What’s wrong with me is that I’m being lied to! And I’ve been here before. I’m not going back to someone’s dungeon because I’ve been betrayed!”
“You need to calm down,” Rachel said, eyes turning white.
“Who are you?” Dazzler demanded, waiting for the telepathic press in her mind.
Rachel’s face screwed up. “Who am I?”
Dazzler turned to Polaris. “And who are you?” Then she turned to Sage. “And who the heck are you?” She looked at them all again. “Who do you work for? Whose side are you on? Because if you’re going to betray me, let’s get this over with now!” She jerked her hands and a bright ball of light emanated from each fist. The women shaded their eyes.
“What are you doing?” Sage said.
“Protecting myself!” Dazzler said through gritted teeth.
“Quiet!” Rachel said, snapping her head around and looking for something with her pale eyes.
“What are you doing?” Dazzler hissed, raising her hands up toward Rachel, ready for any tricks.
“They’re coming!” Rachel said, staring off into the dark.
“Who?” Polaris tensed.
“People! Lots of them!” Rachel said, looking all around. “I can’t get a lock on any one thought. There’s too many!”
The overhead lights suddenly came on. The warehouse lit up as though it were in full sun.
Dazzler turned her balls of light around to the aisle as they heard footsteps headed their way.
“Get ready to fight,” Sage said, knife still in hand, as Rachel moved behind them.
“Er, I’ll do what I can but I’m not really a fighter,” Rachel said.
The adrenaline continued to surge through Dazzler. She shoved her second earbud in, pulled out her phone and selected her favorite playlist, aptly titled Songs for Butt-Kicking, and she cranked it loud.
“Lucky for you,” she said, unable to hear her own voice over the music in her ears, as her body came alive with light energy, “the rest of us are.”
Four guards, dressed in black uniforms, sprang around the corner of the row, weapons raised. They shouted something, but Dazzler didn’t give them much time to say anything. She sent a bright flare from her hands as though wielding a flame thrower, and they all reeled back, stumbling to the floor, stunned.
She saw Sage yell something and point behind them. Dazzler felt a thud and looked around to see a guard on top of Rachel and three more flooding into the aisle behind them. There was another thud, and Polaris went down. They were coming from the roof now. Dazzler looked up to see another just in time as he collided with her, slamming her down onto the floor and rolling away. Winded, she looked up to see two more guards swarming down on her. She greeted them with kicks and punches, knocking one of them over, but the other one pounced, grabbing her arms and heaving her over onto her stomach. Dazzler was a powerful mutant, but her power lay in transducing sonic energy into light energy. Her physical strength wasn’t much greater than the average human woman.
She groaned in pain, as the soldier on top twisted her hands behind her back tightly, while nearby Sage fought another two. Channeling the rock ’n’ roll screams in her ears, Dazzler flicked her wrists and sent an electric charge through each of her fingers at the man pinning her arms. Suddenly his weight was off her, and she looked around to see him writhing in pain from the shocks. She quickly looked back to Polaris and saw her on the ground, wrestling with two guards. Dazzler swiftly raised her hand, blasting one with light, then the other, to give Polaris the upper hand.
Dazzler moved to get up, placing her hands on the floor, as the first guard swooped back in and grabbed her. As she wrestled with him, she felt more thuds as some of the soldiers she’d stunned earlier were now on their feet and running her way.
They didn’t get far, though.
The carriage the women had used to get the crate down earlier suddenly flew across the aisle, knocking them down like bowling pins. Dazzler saw Polaris gritting her teeth, her powers more efficient as she reacted without thought.
Dazzler pressed her hands over the eyes of the man she wrestled with, blasting him with light. He fell away stunned and screaming, though she couldn’t quite hear it over the music. Dazzler and Polaris exchanged a quick glance, before Polaris turned to help a bloody-faced Rachel, whose hands were clasped on a soldier’s head as she mentally tried to overpower him, while another tried to drag her away by her legs.
Dazzler moved in the opposite direction to aid Sage who was now overpowered by three attacking guards. Dazzler flared her lights, stunning one, then another, allowing Sage the time and space to lift her strong leg and kick the third away. The few soldiers who remained standing backed away.
“No, you don’t!” she saw Sage mouth, as she ran after them, wiping her bloodied nose. Dazzler followed her. They couldn’t let any guards get away. She needed answers. As they reached the center aisle between the racks, five guards in red uniforms suddenly stepped out, and she realized the others had led them into a trap. Dazzler quickly raised her hands and pulsed a blast of light out at them.
But they were too fast.
The guards ducked and weaved her blasts, two running at Sage and three running for her. She gave another pulse and again missed. One soldier swooped past swinging his fist. It connected with her face, and she stumbled backward. Another ran past landing a punch to her abdomen. She curled over as the third elbowed her in the back, sending her toppling to the floor. Her knees hit concrete, and she groaned.
These guards were not like the others. They were too fast and too strong.
Dazzler felt a pain at her scalp as one of the guards grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, ready to land another punch, but he was suddenly thrust aside by a metal crate, which sent him into one of the racks.
Then another metal crate went flying, then another, knocking the guards off their feet. Dazzler turned to see Polaris, her arms extended, swaying in a symphony of revenge. Dazzler took the opportunity to get to her feet, saw some of the black uniformed soldiers standing again and aiming for Rachel, who stood not far from Polaris. Dazzler pulsed her light, stunning them, before she felt another thud and saw the red sleeve of a soldier wrap around her neck.
She felt her throat crushing in his strong grip. She had no doubt now that these humans were jacked up on MGH.
She reached her arm back and slapped her hand against his skull, sending a current of light energy through it. The man fell away limply. She spun around to see Sage lying on the floor, possibly unconscious, and being dragged away by her ankle. Two more of the red-suited guards charged Dazzler. She ducked and dodged, pulsing light at them as they passed, but she missed hitting them. They came back at her. One was taken out by another carriage thanks to Polaris, and the other dodged her pulses and rammed her into the rack wall, knocking one of her earbuds out in the process. Dazzler, though winded, clasped her hand on his shoulder and sent a sharp current through him. The man groaned and stepped backward, as Polaris charged in from the side, knocking him down to the floor.
“Dazzler, watch out!” Rachel yelled, staring past her toward the end of the row, hand to temples.
Dazzler spun around to see another red-suited soldier appear, this time with a gun in his hand. He moved to fire at Dazzler, but his face suddenly screwed up in pain, no doubt thanks to Rachel. He winced then raised his weapon and fired anyway. Dazzler dropped low, just in time, then quickly raised her hand to pulse light at him, stunning him. He stumbled back, firing aimlessly. They all ducked for cover. As soon as he hit the floor, Dazzler raced to him and kicked his gun away, then she knelt over him, hands over his throat, sparking intermittently in threat.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “Who are you working for?”
The man refused to answer as his face strobed in the light of her hand.
“What have you done with the MGH? Where is it?” she asked.
She darted a glance to the others. Polaris crouched in front of Sage who was awake now but dazed, and Rachel moved carefully toward Dazzler. The stunned soldiers around them were starting to groan and awaken.
“We need to leave,” Rachel said, looking about.
“This was a trap,” Dazzler said. “They knew we were coming.”
“That’s why we need to get out of here,” Polaris said. “Before more come.”
“Another!” Sage yelled, pointing down the aisle.
Dazzler saw a lone, red-suited guard with his gun aimed at her. The man fired, as something shoved her aside.
It was Rachel.
The mutant groaned and grabbed her arm as she rolled onto the floor. Dazzler and Polaris immediately raised their hands. Dazzler stunned him with a bright blast of light, and Polaris threw one of the metallic carriages his way. The man went flying, then skidded along the floor until he stopped, limp and unconscious.
Panting with effort, Dazzler looked back at Rachel, who held her arm and then brought the fingers away, bloodied.
“You’re shot?” Dazzler said, moving to help her.
Rachel winced with pain. “It’s just a graze.”
Sage and Polaris were soon by their sides.
“Let’s get out of here before they wake up,” Sage said.
“We need answers!” Dazzler said, wanting to stay.
“Someone sent these men, and they could be sending more,” Sage panted. “Like you said, this was a setup. We need to retreat. Now!”
“C’mon,” Polaris said, hauling Rachel to her feet.
Dazzler hissed in frustration, but followed, as they quickly headed for the exit, on alert for further attacks.