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| - -I don’t get the point of this, Daisy.- Elena Rodriguez asked, running after her friend without using her powers. -It’s just a quick workout run… I know your powers are all about running but it’s fun to do it with someone else.- -If you say so…- The other Inhuman shrugged. Suddenly, as they were running under a bridge, a winged figure flew towards them. -S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Secret Warriors!- The creature exclaimed. -Who are you?- Quake raised an eyebrow. -We have never met, but I’ve heard about you from a friend of yours… Grant Ward.- The creature smirked. -How do you know him?- Daisy muttered. -Him and Garrett freed me when they raided the Fridge.- -You’re John Horton…- Johnson looked up at him. -That was before. Now… I am Griffin!- The man flew towards them, ready to attack. Daisy held her hands up and extended her arms, creating a rock barrier around her. The creature ran against the barrier, falling to the ground. Right as he stood up, Slingshot ran past him repeatedly, punching him. Quake made the ground underneath them tremble, as Griffin covered his ears. -STOP!- The villain yelled, swinging his tail at Daisy. Reacting quickly, Slingshot ran towards her friend, getting her away from the attack and then going back to her original spot. Elena pulled out her gun and started firing her I.C.E.R. at Griffin from multiple angles, who was completely unaffected by the shots. -We’re gonna need more than an I.C.E.R., apparently.- Quake looked at her friend. -I guess it’s time to shake his everything.- Elena started running in circles around the villain, who desperately tried to catch her. As his tail swung around, Daisy got to her knees and grabbed it firmly, sending shockwaves through his body and knocking him out. Slingshot threw the Electric Net Grenade at Griffin and upon contact, it deployed a wired net charged with electrical currents around him. -Coulson,- Daisy took her hand to the intercommunicator behind her ear. -Can you bring the Zephyr over? Elena and I got our hands on one of the Fridge guys from Garrett’s time.- A man walked inside a meeting room, where Anton Ivanov and Felix Blake were waiting for him. The latter was communicating through a holographic projection in order to hide his paraplegia from his fellow Watchdogs. -Robert Hunter…- The Russian muttered. -We didn’t expect you to actually come considering how you’re a…- Blake looked for a word to describe Hunter’s origins. -Mutant.- Nitro replied firmly. -I know you consider Inhumans monsters… But us mutants have proved we are just an evolutionary step forward. Inhumans, on the other hand…- -… Are genetic cheaters.- Ivanov completed his sentence. -Their DNA was manipulated. They do not deserve their powers just because an alien species used them as guinea pigs.- -We have also exposed mutant DNA to the Inhuman Terrigen Mists… And they have proved lethal.- Blake folded his arms over his chest. -It makes sense that your kind is willing to help us.- -Absolutely.- Hunter nodded. -I am willing to do anything to help you… Even blow myself up.- He smirked. -It was only a matter of time before this happened.- Senator Devi Deol said in an interview with WHiH World News. -We can no longer pretend like the Inhuman threat doesn't exist. Each and every one of them is a lethal weapon and now those weapons are aimed directly at us. Make no mistake; this is an act of war. Unless we take a stand and fight back now while we can, we will be complicit in our own extinction. People are scared that Inhumans don't share our core values, and who could blame them? How many of our citizens have died under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s watch? S.H.I.E.L.D. was a puppet of HYDRA, and now they'll be puppets of the Inhumans.- -I can’t watch her anymore.- Quake turned the TV off. -Neither can I.- Lincoln Campbell shook his head. -People always try to put the blame on someone else who isn’t like them. I’m no stranger to this kind of stuff.- Joey Gutierrez commented. -People, enough chit-chat.- Coulson walked inside the room where the Inhumans were gathered. -The Watchdogs are on the move right now.- -During the Senator’s speech?- Daisy raised an eyebrow. -How convenient.- -Why is it so important that they’re moving around?- Mack wondered. -The important thing is WHO they’re moving around.- Coulson turned around the tablet. -This is Robert Hunter, a.k.a. Nitro. He has faced the X-Men before, as a member of both the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the Hellfire Club.- -Why is he with the Watchdogs? I didn’t think they would accept mutants while rejecting Inhumans.- Daisy scrunched her face slightly. -He doesn’t look like he’s been captured.- Melinda May commented. -In fact, I think he looks quite happy about it.- -What does he do?- Joey asked. -According to the Index datafile provided by our friends at Westchester County,- Agent Nekhene informed, leaned down to access the computer. -His powers include self-detonation, self-disintegration and reforming.- -What does that mean?- Mack looked down at the Agent. -He’s basically a living bomb that can reassemble itself over and over again.- Mockingbird looked at her friend. -Alright, so we know he can control it but, how do we control him?- Coulson asked. Fitz and Simmons walked over to Quake, smiling. -What?- She asked, looking at both of them. -You guys know that I can’t…- -Yeah, you know, but you did absorb tremors before.- Fitz noted. -Yeah.- Jemma nodded. -Yeah, but this could be a counter-vibration. It’s not the same thing, I can’t just…- Soon enough, she knew she wouldn’t convince them. -I can try.- She rolled her eyes. -Excellent.- Jemma smiled. -Now we just need to devise a way to contain him.- -However we do it, we need to do it fast. Nitro is the perfect weapon, an undetectable suicide bomber who gets to walk away.- Coulson commented. -Just imagine the damage he could do.- Quake walked to Nitro’s encounter, who had just blown up a cafe. -Simmons, you copy?- She asked through the intercommunicator. -Copy.- The other replied, as Mack and Fitz worked on a device behind her. -We’re about half a mile away.- -Okay, well, hurry up. If you recall we haven't been able to pull this off yet.- -Why don’t you come closer?- Nitro asked. -You scared?- -Looks like he’s back to his own self.- -Really? Incredible!- Simmons exclaimed. -He’s gone from an explosive gas to a fully functional…- -Jackass?- The Inhuman asked. -Just consider the sheer amount of kinetic energy required to reform, it’s remarkable. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.- -Exhausted… I can work with that.- Quake muttered, blasting him with a shockwave and forcing him to explode and rebuild himself. -Did you just explode Mr. Hunter?- Jemma asked. -Well, I thought if I can’t keep him together I might as well just blow him apart.- -Whoo! Can’t kill me that way!- Nitro exclaimed happily, but Quake was already blowing him up again. -I thought Daisy was supposed to stop him from doing that.- Mack asked Simmons. -She’s going to wear him out instead. We need to hurry.- -I’m good to go.- Fitz informed after placing the last part of the device. -Shall we?- Alphonso asked, as the agents were ready to get on the S.H.I.E.L.D. S.U.V.s. However, they heard vehicles coming their way. -Those aren’t ours.- Agent Davis informed. -The Watchdogs…- Mack muttered. -It was a trap, Nitro’s the bait.- Joey put together. -They’re here for us.- Lincoln commented. -See, it's pointless!- Nitro yelled after regenerating himself once again. -I’ve already won! I don't have to kill you, just deliver you! You stupid…- Quake put her hand up and delivered another shockwave, as he detonated once more. Drained for using her powers, Johnson fell to her knees. -Simmons, I can’t take this much longer.- The Secret Warriors were left behind, ready to fight the Watchdogs as Fitz, Simmons and the other agents drove away carrying the containment device. Daisy looked up at Nitro. -Your friends aren’t coming to help you. You’re just another freak like me.- -I’d rather…- Hunter panted. -Blow us all to hell.- Quake fired a final shockwave, right as Fitz and Simmons drove by with the containment unit which sucked up his ashes before he could reform. With his ashes now contained, Fitz and Simmons locked the device and successfully captured Nitro. Senator Devi Deol walked to her brother, Dinesh, and hugged him tightly. -Mind joining me for a flight?- She gestured towards the helicopter that was landed near them. Once they were inside the vehicle, she smiled at him. -How was it?- She asked. -It was dark, lonely. For a long time, all I could hear was your voice.- He replied. -Telling you to fight.- -And I did. It just took a long time. I heard your voice when I was inside, telling me to fight, that's why I was in there for so long. I was fighting.- -That was only wishful thinking.- She shook her head slightly. -No, it wasn't! Do you see any scarring, any special abilities?! That's because it didn't change me. I'm the same person I've always been. I beat it, just like you said I could.- He argued. -You and I were both there when the Chitauri killed mom, aliens invading our world. Everything changed that day.- She replied, looking at her brother. -The Inhuman Epidemic was the next phase, the aliens are now here, contaminating us, changing us to be like them, which is why we made each other a promise, that if either of us was ever infected by the alien plague, it was up to the other to do the right thing.- -Please, Devi… You don’t have to do this.- He begged, crying. -I am unchanged.- -Keep calm…- She whispered. -Look at me.- When he did, she shot him point blank in his center mass, keeping her promise. -I’m sorry.- She whispered, as a Watchdog pushed his body to the water. After sinking to the bottom, Dinesh underwent another Terrigenesis in response to his apparent death.
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