In the dim lit room, Danny stands up, uncomfortable. "What we do, now? Naecken was one of us, should we feeling responsible for what is happening? CAN we do anything?"

"With Mxy sick, surely we can do a lot less of what we could have" responds Chance. Then, turning to Grimm: "Where's the Order in this? Will they fight Naecken?"

Grimm shakes his skull. "No, it's not an attack from an outside realm. He may be a demon, but it's not Hell attacking the planet. So the Order will not take side. It's up to the humankind to solve this".

Grissom Montag turns on his seat, to face the others: "Mates, this thing is big. And I don't think we are good enough to handle it by ourselves. Besides, the United Nations have just created their beast, the Strikeforce 1, let's wait to see how they handle it." Said that, Montag presses a remote, and on the screen new images begin to be played.

quote:
...I am Barbra Penn for Skynews Channel, live from New York. Here, at the United nations Organization Palace, the General Secretary ... has started the Conference on Global Security with the amazing announcement of the creation and founding of a new permanent peacekeeping force aimed at fighting metahuman terrorism around the world. All the Heads of state of the most important world countries, with the exception of the United States, have gathered in New York for the presentation of the...

...the image shift from the face of the auburn haired newswoman, to the recorded footage of an assembly of mostly young people, dressed in shiny silver and orange suits, with a black S embossed on the left shoulders...

Strikeforce 1, the all-humans, high tech force created to assure a brighter future for the humankind. Composed of all non-metagene enhanced people, their uncanny abilities are derivative of the most advanced researches in the field of quantum physics, artificial intelligence and biogenetic. Representative of all the world, they are...

...the image zooms over the tallest one, a golden haired man in his forties, square jawed, with piercing sky-blue eyes...

Olaf Ekorre, code-named "The Captain", from Reykjavik, Iceland, former test pilot for the ESA, the European Space Agency, field leader and commander of the orbital ship Nebiru, headquarter of the Strikeforce 1...

...the camera shifts to a very fat child, very pale, bald and with round spectacles...

Pedro Delgado, codename Albino, twelve years old, from the Caribbean Island of La Perdita, child genius and master tactician...

...now it's the time of a young man in his mid thirties, sleek, long nose and silvery white hairs, a walking stick in his hand, with a deep-green emerald on top...

...Jack Merlin, The Walker, from Dublin, Eire, specialized in aerial combat and geared with anti gravity and tele-porting experimental technology...

...the fourth member of the Strikeforce is a twenty-something, strongly built young man, tan skinned and with short, curly black hairs...

...Frank Mullarney, Hero, from Wellington, New Zealand, ex champion of the rugby national team, has been "enhanced" for street fight: thanks to cybernetic implants, he is now faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than a locomotive, able to leap... well, you know the rest...

...the camera continues his panoramic, stopping over the metallic face of what is clearly a robot... a mechanism of human resemblance...

...the true marvel of the team, A.C.K., the Automated Calm Keeper, the first anthropomorphic robot in the world, created by the Sony Research Center on Artificial Intelligence of Osaka, Japan. Virtually indestructible, made of a magnesium alloy with an exoskeleton of vanadium steel, the robot is able to fly on his own, and his armed with laser guns...

...next to robot, noticeably not at ease, stands a very tall dark skinned man, with long black deadlocked hair and glowing blue eyes , holding a long staff in one hand...

...Inkwennkwezi Emnyama, codenamed Darkstar, from Nairobi, Kenya, ex-agent of the President of the Republic personal guards, the staff he carries gives him control over the local weather, trough the manipulation of the Earth magnetic field...

...the camera now pass over the beautiful face of an oriental young woman in his mid twenties, with pale skin, long black hairs, a single lock multicolored on one side of the head...

...professor June Ho, from the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, China, called "the Inventor" for his ability to create things out of the available materials...

...then it's the time of another oriental looking woman, seemingly older, very tall, dark skinned and with short, curly crimson hairs...

... Adalia Perigord, called Mindgame, from Papeete, French Polynesia, a cyber-neural enhancement installed into her right brain lobe allows her to project images inside the mind of her adversaries......

...the next woman is European, seemingly young but with a haughty bearing that made her ageless, black medium long black hairs, black eyes, full red lips and a long nose...

Aphrodite Xinidakis, Greek from Cyprus west, known as Morphina, former head of the Department of Reasearch for Bayer Chemical, Monaco, Germany, her world renowned knowledge on narcotics are a guarantee that the work of the Strikeforce will be done with the higher respect for the human rights...

...the camera indulge over the green iris of the next Strikeforce member, a woman whose eyes are the only visible feature, under the Islamic chador that covers her head...

...Myram Kahameini, from Nukus, Uzbekistan, has been enrolled in the Strikeforce after her discover of the G.A.I.A. growth factor, during her time as an employe of the Lake Aral Regeneration Project. The application of her discovery, made possible by the joined effort of Professor June Ho and Bayer Chemical and Pharmaceutic, one of the main sponsor of the Strikeforce 1, has brought to the creation of the so called "green ray", whose effect it's still an undisclosed secret. Appropriately enough, her codename is Eden...

...then it's the turn of another oriental woman, on her mid twenties, her features indian; she sports short, spiky platinum hairs, with an heavy make-up...

Rayna Bedi, codename Digigirl, comes from New Dheli, India. for many years an agent of the Mandelovian Security Corp, she was expelled from that country following the ban of foreigners last year. One of the most endowed hackers in the world, it's the foremost resource of the Strikeforce in the war toward the informatics terrorism...

...and lastly is a young Caucasian woman, red hairs, a beautiful face.

...and the twelfth and last member of the Strikeforce, Franziska Schmidt, codenamed "The Rose", from Karlsbaad, Germany. A keen markswoman, former members of the "leather helmets" special forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, Franziska is the heavy armory expert of Strikeforce 1.

Together, they are the front rank of the world wide war on metahuman terrosim.

They are...

... the Strikeforce 1.

The image jumps back to the TV studio, on the face of a older newsman.

Thank you Barbra. Actually, on a side note, it has to be underlined the absence of the USA President Robert Brown from the ceremony of aperture of the conference. Mr. Brown officially declined the invitation due to a previously appointed official visit to the metropolis of Promethean City, Delaware, the fourth biggest city of the continent. Inside source from the Brown administrations claims the real reason for the discourtesy lies in the irreconcilable divisions over War on Metaterrorism matter.
The light turn back to full power in the room. Grissom chair turn back to face the teammates. "This was the official presentation of the Strikeforce, and was aired just minutes before the destruction of Promethean City."

"And now the question is? Who are them?" says Danny.

"Tobias has something to say about" suggest Chance.

"Yes.WhenyouwereawayIstoppedatsunami, tofoundthecausewasaspeedsterlikeme..."

quote:
The object is a man. Bruised, beaten... covered in blood. Little remainings of a silver and orange suit hanging, shredded, from his torso. On the biggest piece T.C. recognizes a codename, Relàmpago.

Tobias raises the head of the man. The scars are not from the crash. He has been abused much earlier.

"You... are... with Vanguard?" asks the man, an heavy Portuguese accent affecting the words.

"Yes, but you.. who..."

The man lift a hand, with difficult, to stop Tobias' words. "The Strikeforce... is not... what it seems..." he whispers. Then his jaw drops, his eyes rolls.

Relàmpago dies.
"The Strikeforce is not what it seems. Thank you, TC. This enforces Danny's question. Who are they?"

"I found out something, Kris" says Velo. "First of all, we have met some of them. And the bio given by the press release are false. I personally met the African called Darkstar during the Virus mission*, with Tayden and Jackie. He was the "protector" of a village of natives, and I assure you he was a meta, not in any way a norms with cybernetich enhancements. And right then, he met for the first time other members of the Strikeforce, that by then was a privately owned little company called "Taskforce", basically super-guardsmen for hire. Then, thanks to having managed to keep one of the vial of virus, and given it to the international community after the menaces of the evil MBL, they have stepped to the big league. Then, they have protected the United Nations Palace during a well hidden tentative of coup, in which our Euro had no small part.**"

"Euro? How do you know?" asks Chance.

"I have my sources... In any case, the mind behind all is Jack Merlin. He was in Africa that day, along the one called hero and the speedster that came here to seek help, and that TC had found dying".

"We know anything about them?" asks Danny.

"Unfortunately not. But we have met another one, the woman called Rose. it was with Omikron, when we were searching for the Book of Life. In Berlin, don't you remember her, Danny?"***

Grissom made the tape going back to the moment it featured the face of the woman, and stopped over it.

"Sure!" said Danny.

"Yes, I remember her. She was in peru, too. We brought her back along with the others on the Stormloader

Velo nodded gravely "Right. I have checked. There are records of her presence in the Leather helmet papers, but just on the current ones. it happens that I have old records, from a time I looked for a mole in the NATO special forces, and there is no evidence of her. Instead, I have looked here and there, and I found that she was for a long time one of the most renown professional killers, before it went to work for Omikron".

"Anything else?" ask danny.

"Just that the Greek girl never worked for Bayer" says Velo.

"She has an extraordinary resemblance to one of the gods we met in Malta. Don't you remember, Grissom?" asks Grimm.****

Grissom plays with the remote until the face of Aphrodite Xinidakis fills the screen. "Right, the one called Morpheus! And her codename's Morphina"

"They are like brother and sisters" adds Grimm.

"Or father and daughter" add Grissom.

"So, to recap, what we know about the Strikeforce?" says Danny. "First, they are not what they clam to be, norms with tech enhancement, but, at last some of them, metas. But this, with the meta hate there is around, it's understandable.
Second, many of them have a different past from what it has been declared, and for some it's a criminal past.
Third, their true leader is the one called Merlin, not the so-called Captain, a man probably power-hungry, and maybe with an agenda on his own...
Four, and last, one of the first members of the Strikeforce, evidently abused and tortured, had faced death to come here to advise us of the danger of the Strikeforce."

All the others remained silent.

"I guess we can't let them to face Naecken by themselves. I don't know you, but I still consider Naecken my friend. The Naecken I knew was not a fiend, I want to understand what's happening right now, and help him to return to what he was. See what it happened with Euro. If we would have helped him sooner, maybe we could have spared many lives..."

"Danny, it's not so simple. We have helped Euro when he let us to help him... before he would had done too much resistance..."

"Easy, Grimm. I am just saying that we can't simply ignore that Naecken was... is... one of us..."

"I don't think going blindly in Antarctica would be a wise move, Danny..." says Grissom, when the communicator on the table buzzes.

"Shirley?" asks Danny.

"There is a man looking for you. He says that his name is Mr. Smith."