Steel waited for Amy to get Anne to the other side of the base. She had no need to see Steel like this. He picked the unconscious raider up off the floor, took the man to an empty room, threw him in and waited for him to wake up. As the man awoke, Steel dragged two chairs to where the man was lying on the ground and sat down. "My friend, you have a lot of explaining to do. Not to sound cliche, but we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Both of them are going to suck for you but you get about two chances with the hard way to ever walk again. Do I make myself clear?"
The man looked at him and spit in Steel's face. "You have no idea who we are, and you never will. Go spend some time with your loved one's fucker, because I'll personally make you watch me burn them alive."
Steel wiped the spit off of his face and stood up. "You people are just horrible at answering questions," Steel said as he hit the man hard across his already bleeding face with the shotgun, knocking out some of the few teeth the man hadn't lost to rot.
"We're going to try again. I want to stress that that was about as nice as I'm going to get if you keep shit like that up. So let me at least ask a question this time," Steel said picking the man up off the ground by the throat and slamming him into a wall. He pointed the gun at the man's knee and asked his question,"Who do you work for?"
"Fuck off asshole, you're wasting your time."
Steel shot the man in the foot, causing the man to scream in pain. "Who do you work for. Next one goes in your kneecap."
A combination of fear and recognition spread across the man's face as he looked into Steel's angry green eyes. "Oh my God... I watched you die... I watched those aliens kill you. How... I watched that Hunter put his knife through your chest," the man pulled himself away as memories flooded into Steel's mind. Steel reeled back as a new portion of his life came flooding back.
"I remember..." Steel said quietly. "Monsters! You killed them! Women, children... all dead because of you."
He stood up, again grabbing the man by the throat. "I just wish I could make your death as painful as you made theirs," Steel said raising the gun to the man's head and leaning in close. "I need you to deliver a message to your boss."
"So you're going to let me live?"
"I never said that." He pulled the trigger.
Steel came over the radio, "Amy, tell Anne I need her to find their ship. I need to send it back to its owner."
He walked into the hangar with the mangled body over his shoulder. He threw the body on top of the sort of pile he had created earlier and found his knife still lodged in the now cold body of one of the thugs. He removed it and wiped the blood from the blade.
He walked slowly back towards the control center, feeling more tired than he had felt in a long time. Not physically tired, but emotionally exhausted. He remembered his own apparent death. The genocidal spree he watched the Decimitians run. How they used humans as their pawns to do the most heinous crimes against their own kind. Cities burned. Innocent people slaughtered, tortured, and sold into slavery. All because the aliens promised men like this just a little bit of power in their new found ownership of the human race.
The Empire was an example. The Decimitians staged a defeat to allow the Empire to take control of the human race as a puppet government. Those in the farther outreaches of space realized the fiction of this. Humans away from the central ring were still subject to the horrors of their true overlords. Random settlements were wiped out when their usefulness ran out. Steel had been living in a bubble. With his memories coming back he realized once how he and men like him had been the tip of the spear, driving towards the heart of the Decimitians. They never made it. He had been one of the lucky ones. Anyone that he had cared about were already a part of the fight.
He looked at the bodies of the men that he had killed. He realized what he was capable of. He had just killed a man in cold blood. He was better than that, but never before had he been filled with such anger, such grief, and such regret all at once. It was too much for him to take. His heart was still pounding, he knew the feeling. He was losing his grip on reality. The killer inside of him was gaining control, something he had never let happen in his entire life. His parents taught him better than that. He wondered if they had ever expected him to make it here. To the forefront of the war
He heard light footsteps behind him. He turned around to see Anne standing next to the pile of bodies, the usual spring in her step gone. She stared at the one that she had knocked out, now dead and faceless. "He was going to take me away..." her voice quiet and shaky, as though she was on the verge of tears.
"You didn't kill him. I did."
"To protect me."
"If that helps you sleep at night."
She stared at the super soldier standing next to her, covered in blood, looking at the carnage in front of him. Before he had been friendly, understanding. She wondered what had happened in that room.
Steel snapped back to reality and looked at the woman standing with him. His anger subsiding "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. These men... they were more evil than you could imagine. Until I find who they work for I can't do any of your missions anymore. I need to end them. These men are no match for men like me or Nash but they terrorize innocent people. They're slave traders, murderers, thieves, con men."
The couple continued staring at the bodies for a few minutes. As Steel began to search the bodies Anne left the room.
About an hour later Steel stepped into the control room and looked around. The computer monitors were blank and Anne was holding a hard drive the size of a large book.
"What is that?"
"Daddy."
"I'm sorry?"
"As I told you before my father designed an incredibly complex series of codes that allows me to access security feeds from across the universe. It takes a few days when he's this embedded in the system but we need to move so here he is. It's quite fascinating really. My father gave me this, it was his life's work and has gone extremely far in sowing the seeds to destroy the Empire. For example, it found you."
"Thank your father for me then."
This was met with a long pause.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Not your fault. The man who was at fault was taken care of not too long ago. Moving on, you looked like you had a question."
"A favor really."
"Shoot."
"I need the team."
"Done. I needed you men boys for security. There were dangerous contacts that I had that knew too much about me. So that's what I had your friends do. Taking out my former friends before they could kill me. It's a fucked up world isn't it Max?"
"So what are you going to do now?"
"Rebuild a network around contacts that you make. You're very well connected Captain Steel, you just don't remember it yet.  Heck, I have someone working for me now that wants you dead. Don't worry though she's not a threat. I'm also going to try to prevent the Empire from acquiring anyone who would even remotely do what I do. Give me a week, Max, and I'll be back to full speed. I've still got all of my security codes that give me eyes everywhere, I'm just lacking in some people who execute my orders. So do you know where you're going to start?"
"Did you find the ship?"
"Of course I did."
"Good. Then we start by sending the bastards back to where they came from."

Steel sat in his quarters sharpening his knife next to the radio, waiting for any news of his friends' missions. Anne was not happy when she found that Steel had tapped into the com lines. That didn't really matter too much to Steel who had spent the last few days doing random work around the base. The transmitter next to him suddenly crackled to life. Bernard's gruff voice could be heard.
"Is this damn thing on?"
"Yes Rob. What can I help you with?" Steel heard Anne's voice reply.
"The target has been neutralized. Requesting you send in some evac. This broad I'm with is bat shit"
A new voice came over the radio. One that Steel didn't recognize. It was a woman's voice and it sounded way too cheerful for the work that she was apparently helping Bernard with.
"Call me crazy one more time big guy and we'll find a new place to put that gun of yours."
Steel heard Natasha charge up.
"Call Nat a gun one more time and we'll see how far you can fly."
"Settle down," Anne said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Hannah, your reward will be deposited to your account as usual. I trust you can find your own way out."
"I always do."
"Good. In that case, Rob, find your way to the evac site. Tell Nash to make sure you don't have any tails."
"Roger that ma'am."
"Bernard."
"Steel?"
"Yeah pick up some gin for me if you don't mind."
"I'll see what I can do," Bernard laughed over the radio.
A few hours later Steel was at work repairing the ship they had come in on. The tail had to be rebuilt from scratch, but Anne, as usual, knew some people who could get the ships blueprints and the materials needed. All Steel needed to do was put it together. A more difficult task than he had originally anticipated three days ago when he began the project. Anne had insisted he use the heavy lift equipment as opposed to his own immense strength so as to not open the stitches. Her advice had proven to be extremely helpful because Anne was able to take the stitches out of his shoulder. His arm was now out of the sling and all that remained was a scar now. He grabbed the blowtorch and continued putting the plating on the frame.
Suddenly the torch died. "Amy, knock it off I'm almost done here, I don't give a damn if it's almost tea time."
He lifted the face shield and dropped down from the ship.
"You picked the wrong damn time to be helping with the upkeep around here, boy," a man's voice came from the shadows.
Steel's only response was to put his hand on his knife. The man stepped into the light. He was a large, dirty looking man with long greasy hair and a beard that came down to his chest. He wore a shirt that looked like it could possibly have been white, but that time had passed. He had a a shotgun slung over his shoulder and and carried a bag in his other hand. "What? Are you fucking deaf?" The man had a strong drawl to his voice and upon saying these words spit on the ground at Steel's feet. "I wouldn't do anything too stupid. As you are now I'll kill you quick. I don't need no information out of the likes of the damn mechanic. As I can see pretty clearly you have no damn idea what you're a part of." He grabbed Steel by the shirt collar and pulled him close. His breath smelled like tar and rotten meat. "So I'd suggest you tell me where the fucking Source is so he and I can have a little chat."
Steel chuckled a little bit. "Well then mate. You found him."
"That was a bad call, my friend. Now my boys and I are going to have to round everyone up and do some work to get the answers."
Steel heard Amy's shotgun go off followed by what he assumed was the enemy returning fire.
"No." Steel said the smile gone from his face. "You're going to wish you never came to this planet." With that Steel broke the man's wrist and kneed him in the ribs, breaking four of them. The man went to raise his shotgun and Steel broke his other arm at the elbow , spinning the shotgun around to face its owner.
"Now. You're going to answer some of my questions"
"Fuck you. My men are going to make you wish you were never born. We'll kill your family, your friends anyone you ever loved will die until finally you pray for death."
Steel shot the man in the knee with the shotgun. "Way wrong answer, mate. I'll come back for you in a minute."
With that Steel dropped the man to the ground and grabbed his radio. " Where the hell are you?" he yelled.
A voice crackled back. "Wouldn't you like to know." A gunshot caused Steel to pull the radio from his ear.
"Steel, we're fine up here. Annie's in the panic room, but any time you want to help I promise I won't be mad about it."
"On my way."
Two more thugs rounded the corner and raised their guns at Steel. He picked the bearded man up and used him for cover. The rounds went into his back and Steel threw the now dying man at one of the men. Steel drew his knife and threw it into the other man's head. The other man pushed the fat, dead man off of him in time for Steel to dispatch him with a brutal stomp to the face. As he raced down the hallway he heard a blast  that shook the base. He raced into the room and found Amy recovering from the explosion  and Anne standing over a man who was bleeding profusely from the face. She had on a set of brass knuckles that looked like they were covered with shards of glass. This looked to be the first time she had ever had to use them. Steel loaded the shotgun. "Amy, please get her out of here. when this man wakes up I have a few questions to ask him."

Steel watched as Anne's ship took off carrying the only three friends that he had. He was holding on to a pole with an IV bag attached to it. He sighed heavily and turned to face Anne.
"So what have you got for me?"
"At the moment? Nothing. You should go back to your bed and rest, but because I know that you're not going to do that, Amy could show you around."
"I'll take the tour. Anything that'll keep me out of that damn bed."
"Alright then I'll go get her. Besides we could use some help with maintenance, provided that arm stays in the sling."
"I don't even understand why it's in this thing nothing is broken."
"Because you won't stop moving it. It's been three days and you've torn open the stitches six times now. I am tired of taking out stitches and putting new ones in. In fact, if you do it again Amy will be the one sewing you back together and she's not going to be nearly as nice about it. She's still a little bit bitter about the man that you killed."
Amy looked at Steel and smiled a sweet, innocent smile. There was something immensely off putting about it to Steel. He shuddered and decided to listen to Anne and keep the arm in the sling.
"Fine it stays in the sling. In fairness about the assassin, I didn't steal her kill. She got to shoot the man who did this," he pointed at his sling, "I felt it was fair to at least get the man who kicked me in the face for the third time."
"Noted." Amy conceded. "Are you ready to start?"
"Um, yeah. First though how about something other than a hospital gown."
"Amy, there might be some civilian clothes for him in the armory. If not there's always the uniforms."
"Hooray. Jeans and a t shirt will be fine if you happen to have them."
"I think we can manage that."
A few minutes later Steel was now able to move freely (with the exception of the sling) in a grey t shirt and a pair of dark jeans. Anne had even managed to find him a pair of comfortable, brown boots. "I can't believe you actually have jeans. These are damn near impossible to find these days."
"Look who you're talking to. Besides they're far more durable than the synthetic crap that's become so popular in this age."
"And they don't light on fire quite as easily either." Steel said looking distractedly off into space.
"I don't even want to know. Anyways, I have to make sure your friends are at least headed towards Earth and not tearing each other to pieces in that thing for the next few days. Amy, tea time is at 1400."
"Tea time?"
Amy shot Steel a look that stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Never mind, I'm sure I'll figure it out."
"Good call Steel, now if you'll follow me we can get this tour over with," Amy said, clearly not pleased with being a tour guide.
The pair headed down a hatch away from the small hangar as Anne walked quickly back to what she called "the Anne Cave", a small room filled with monitors in which she simply waited and watched for anything interesting. She didn't like to be away from it, even though her immensely powerful operating system could do the work for her, she felt it would lack a personal touch. She rarely slept and was constantly working herself to the bone. If it weren't for Amy, Steel doubted she'd still be sane.
Amy and Steel headed down a tunnel and Amy showed him where he would be sleeping once Anne let him get out of the infirmary.
"So how did you two meet?" Steel asked stepping into the comfortably sized room and plopping himself onto the bed.
"It's a long story."
"We've got plenty of time as far as I can tell."
"And by it's a long story I mean I'm not going to tell you the story."
"Touchy topic?"
"Let's go."
"So what have you got to drink around here?" Steel asked begrudgingly getting off the bed.
"Tea. Water."
"Gin?"
This question was rewarded with a dark stare."Call me crazy but I don't think you like me very much," Steel laughed. "So is that a no? Damn it. What about tonic?" Another blank stare. "Mental note, when Nash radios in I'll have him pick some up. So is there really anything else I should see around here?"
"Not really anything important but if she asks be sure to say how impressive the servers were."
"Absolutely. So is there a shooting range or armory around here?"
"Not at this particular base."
"You have more bases?"
"Of course we do. Why would you think otherwise?"
"Because this place was attacked a few days ago and one would think that would cause you two to want to get the hell out of here."
"We will be. Anne is downloading everything to a more portable drive."
"Great. When do we leave?"
"Whenever she decides we leave."
"And what do we do with this place?"
"What do you think we've had Bernard doing for the past three days?"
"Gotcha. That makes sense. Seeing as how we have nothing better to do, how about we go see the servers?"
"I was afraid you'd say that."
As they headed out of Steel's temporary quarters a loud scream filled the air. "Anne!" Steel said flipping a large pocketknife open and cutting off the sling. He took off down the hall, climbed the ladder and ripped the door open, pulling the metal door off of it's hinges. Steel looked in the room at Anne, huddled in the corner, pointing at the ceiling.
"S-s-spider" Anne stammered.
"Seriously? I just ripped a door off it's hinges to kill a spi- Holy Mother of God!" Steel yelled as he turned to look at a black, hairy spider with a body the size of his head and legs that made it three times that size.
"Son of a bitch, son of a bitch, son of a bitch," Steel repeated frantically, not being able to take his eyes of of the large monstrosity slowly descending from the ceiling between him and the terrified computer genius. Steel stepped to one side of the small room, never taking his eyes off of the creature that hung before him. "Annie, take my hand," Steel said quietly, voice shaking. She grabbed his hand, he pulled her off of the floor and moved her behind him as they moved to the door. The spider screamed a high pitch blood curdling scream and dropped to the ground, running at Steel and Anne. As the ran through the door way Steel went to slam the door and angrily realized he had pulled it off.
"Again, son of a bitch."
As the beast ran towards them continuing it's unholy scream a shotgun blast stopped it dead in its tracks. Amy stood and shot at the writhing mass of legs on the ground. "Thanks Amy, you're a lifesaver!" Anne said giving Amy an enormous hug.
Steel stood staring at the dead bug wide eyed and visibly shaken. Anne kissed him on the cheek and walked away.
"A spider. You rushed down a hole to fight six trained killers but a spider turns you into a child."
"I am uncomfortable with spiders."
"Clearly. Also you can do your own damn stitches Superman," Amy said turning and following Anne.
Steel looked down at his shoulder which was bleeding again.
"Damn it. I liked this shirt."

"These missions will be the most dangerous you have ever been on. Each of you will be going immediately on separate missions. Max, you'll most likely going to be bedridden for a few days. You can thank the Demigod Project for that because you should be dead. Amazingly your body has already started to heal the injuries that you sustained. The shoulder will be stiff but back to one hundred percent in a few days. Now boys, to understand your missions you need to understand a bit of how I am able to do what I do. After these missions my resources will be significantly limited. I am preparing for it however and I am expanding my team. There are a few other operatives who work for me, however they will never meet me and I prefer that it stays that way. These others are... less reputable than yourselves."
Bernard looked around at the three other men. "Less reputable than a vengeful ex-Imperial hitman fighting for a different team, a crazed explosives expert, a SWAT officer turned grifter, and my personal favorite insane ex Republican spec ops officer with a hero complex. "
"I like that. Grifter," Wakefield said, smiling.
"I'm not insane," Steel said squeezing the IV bag until it was empty.
Bernard stared for a moment. "Says the man who jumped down a ladder after a team of six Imperial Assassins to save some girl you've never met, no offense Anne."
"None taken."
"Noted. But I have more fun than you do." Steel said ripping the IV out of his arm. "Besides, out of the two of us who is carrying enough explosives on him to blow the planet up, not because he needs to but because it would be pretty?" he asked pointing the IV at Bernard absentmindedly while reaching for some gauze.
"Well I don't have them all on me now." he admitted, moving Steel's hand away from his face.
"Left pocket."
"It couldn't blow up the planet..." Bernard said sheepishly. He turned back to Anne "Anyways my point is, if we're the best you could find what hope could we possibly have?"
"All the hope in the world."
"You mean universe?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"Great."
"Anyhoo, I need you boys to go on missions for me. Each one of these will obviously fall into your skill set but they are individual missions. The reason these must be individual is because they are time sensitive. I need my network to be destroyed."
"What? Why?" Steel asked leaping out of the bed and realizing he was attached to monitors by the crashing sounds behind him.
"Must you always be so impatient?" she exclaimed angrily.
"Yes? I don't really know how to answer that question," he said ripping off the electrodes.
She rolled her eyes and proceeded to answer his question. "The reason my network must be disassembled is because they have been bought out by the empire. I found their goal is for power while mine is for freedom. They once fought with the Republic against the Empire but now they believe their cause to be lost and have found it to be more profitable to turn on me."
"Is that why there were Imperial forces outside your damn door?" Nash asked. "We were told we were meeting, hell if you hadn't told us we weren't coming back we'd have walked in empty handed. We weren't expecting the Imperial Army!"
"Tyler, I told you what you needed to hear to get the job done. You all lived, I see no problem with what happened."
"Steel lost three liters of blood on your goddamn carpet!"
"Why does everyone care so much about the fucking carpet?" Steel yelled sitting back down on the bed ripping the LEDs attached to his chest.
"This is the kind of shit that I'm talking about, Anne, Steel almost died fighting people we weren't expecting."
"And I'm sorry about that but-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Steel interrupted, "I did not almost die."
"Max, there are three liters of blood out of your body that say otherwise. Tyler, I am trying to explain why you didn't know about those men. It is because for the first time I didn't know about them.
The men that are a part of my network have betrayed me and sent men to kill me. The assassins, as you know, are not only the most dangerous men in the Empire's control, but they are also the best at getting information out of people. Hence the reason this planet was not just destroyed... Amy would have killed me before they could try." Anne shuddered at the thought of the entire situation as though this were the first time she realized how close to a horrible death she had been. "I want these men dead as soon as you can do it."
With that Amy handed her three files, which she gave to Nash, Wakefield, and Bernard.
"What, no mission for me?" Steel asked. "From my understanding I was kind of the lynch pin in this entire thing."
"Somewhat, but at the moment you went and got yourself pretty badly injured and I need you here."
"There has to be something I can do."
"Make sure that no more assassins come after me."
"Really? Bodyguard?"
"No, not really, now that I think about it Amy's got that covered. I guess you'll have to lie around until you're back to full strength."
"I'm fine," Steel said becoming extremely irritated "And I'm not just saying that. I legitimately can say, now that I have some of my memory back that I have done more than what you're asking with worse."
"And you may not remember these parts but most of those missions you went and got even more hurt and almost failed the missions."
"I'm sorry Anne, but this is bullshit. I finally feel like myself again and you have me sidelined," Steel said rising to his feet shakily.
"One reason you can't go," she said holding one finger out,"is this." With the one finger she pushed an extremely dizzy Steel onto the bed, which was an impressive feat considering the significant size difference between the super soldier and computer genius.
"You suffered multiple concussions, lost most of your blood, and had a knife the size of your hand driven in until it hit bone."
"Steel, she's right we're going to need you a lot more in the future. Just rest up, maybe try actually sleeping. Which as far as I know in the past few days the only times you've been unconscious are when you either lose blood or severe head trauma," Nash said, clapping his hand on Steel's back as the man got back into the hospital bed."
"And let's get that IV back into you shall we?" Anne said getting a new needle ready and putting it in the crook of Steel's arm before he could react.
"Sure why not. Do I ever have any say in medical procedures happening to me?"
"No."
"Well, at least there's the honesty. What's in this IV, I already feel dizzy."
"A tranquilizer so you'll stay in the damn bed. And nutrients, obviously. We can't have you starving to death while you heal."
"Of course-," and with that Steel was out cold.
"Well gentlemen you best be going. There is a network to disassemble and there are probably more teams after me than the ones we encountered today. If you need anything your armor is already linked into my communications network I only ask that you do not refer to me by my name out in the open."
"Yes ma'am. Where is our first mission?" Nash asked.
"Earth."

Wakefield, Bernard, and Nash were pinned down under heavy fire by the Imperial Special Forces. "How many  of these bastards are there?" Bernard yelled over the gunfire.

"We've got another ship coming in!" Nash yelled. "Bernard, take care of it! Wakefield. Lay down cover fire."

"On it," Bernard grunted as he hefted Natasha into a steady firing position and blew the ship out of the sky with a quick barrage from the rail gun. 

Wakefield threw a grenade taken from Bernard's satchel and lobbed it at the enemy. A huge explosion sent him flying back over the wall the men were using for cover. "Jesus Bernard, what the hell was that thing?"

"A little something I've been testing out. Explosion could have been bigger."

Wakefield surveyed the thirty foot crater that had laid waste to the incoming forces. "Yeah, that's what it needs. More bang."

About a quarter mile beneath the hatch in the tunnel leading to the Source, Steel faced the four remaining assassins, pistol and knife in hand. "Which one of you wants to go first," he said a cocky smile on his face, contradicted by the excessive amount of blood coming from his nose and mouth. As he brought his pistol up to fire an assassin threw one of their deadly blades. Steel dodged the best he could but the blade hit him in the left shoulder. The hooked weapon stuck in as Steel's arm dropped for a moment allowing the assassins time to close the gap between them and the man with a death wish. The first assassin punched the blade farther in until it hit his shoulder blade. Steel ducked another assassin's blade and tackled the assassin to the ground. He stabbed the man in the heart, his knife punching through the light armor as though it was tinfoil. The first assassin came up behind Steel and grabbed him but Steel was too fast, He threw the man over his shoulder, making the wound in his arm even larger and causing him an excessive amount of pain. The assassin had been expecting this. He recovered landing a brutal kick to Steel's jaw and moved to the door. They blew the door Steel couldn't see clearly through the smoke but he heard two gunshots ring out and could see the outline of an extremely tall woman, just short of Bernard's height standing over the bodies of assassins. One of them reached for his weapon but she kicked it away and put a knife to his throat. "How did you find her?" The assassin grabbed her hand and pushed the knife into his own throat laughing maniacally as he did so. The assassin who had dealt the most damage to Steel, recovered from the gunshot and tackled the woman to the ground as she stood stunned at the dedication these man had to their secrets. Steel shook off third blow to his head, calmly walked to the assassin, who was slowly losing the upper hand to the woman, and snapped his neck.
"I didn't need your help," the Amazon looking woman said angrily. Steel extended his arm and helped woman to her feet. She had dark blonde hair that she had put into braids and she looked livid.

"I know. That guy just really pissed me off," Steel said as he heard footsteps behind him he turned to see the man with Steel's knife in his chest running at him. A gunshot rang out and the man dropped to the ground, Steel's friends standing behind him, Wakefield's gun smoking. "You got your ass kicked down here didn't you."

"I'm still standing aren't I?" Steel asked taking the knife from the assassin's chest.

"True enough. Good job killer."

"Thanks, hotshot"

"Anytime champ."

"I swear to God I will end us all right now if you keep going." Bernard said reaching into his satchel.

"Enough," the woman said, her guns raised at the newcomers.

"Sorry, ma'am," Bernard said, removing his helmet, clearly smitten with the woman.

"You must be the men that she sent for," her voice changing into a a more relaxed, friendly voice. "You guys sure did make a mess."

"You should see what it's like up there," Wakefield said. "By the way it's Bernard's fault. All I did was steal the wrong grenade from his pouch. If he had been paying attention that would never have happened."

"Noted," she replied.

"You're an asshole," Bernard shot back to Wakefield.

"Bernard come on, you can't use that type of language in front of a lady."

"Wakefield, leave the man alone," Nash said sternly. 

"Gentleman, meet Anne."

As the smoke cleared Steel looked past the apparent Amazon standing in front of him and inside the room was a beautiful woman sitting at a table drinking what appeared to be tea, dark brown hair tied back in a bun. She looked completely unfazed at how close to death she had been. The room was filled with computer monitors showing constant feed from security cameras across the galaxy. "Wow," Steel said softly.

Anne looked up at Steel, "Hmm?"

"The, uh, computers. Wow. That's pretty incredible."

Bernard leaned in close behind Steel, "Smooth, Romeo."

Steel elbowed him hard in the gut and smiled at Anne.

"Yes they really are. By the way you're bleeding."

"What?"

"The knife sticking out of your shoulder."

"Oh, this?" he pointed to the large knife. "Don't worry about that it's fine." Steel said visibly wincing as he was reminded of the blade protruding from his left shoulder. 

"You're sure?"

Steel hesitated for a moment. "Yes."

She raised an eyebrow, "Ok, just don't get blood on my carpet."

Steel reached up for the blade lodged in his shoulder and quickly removed his hand as pain shot like lightning from the wound. Steel grunted loudly and fell against the wall. Anne turned around. "You're sure you're alright?"

"Oh, he's fine," Wakefield said yanking the knife out of the wound quickly out and slapping a piece of cloth onto it. "He's a tough son of a bitch."

"Thanks mate," Steel grunted.

"What are friends for?"

"So, Anne, is it?" Steel asked pulling himself off the wall.

"It is. And you must be Captain Max Steel."

"I am," he said, offering his blood soaked hand
"Again, blood on the rug."
"Right. That is a huge problem," Steel said withdrawing his hand and rolling his eyes.
"This is the rest of the team, Tyler Nash, Travis Wakefield, and Rob Bernard," at this he gestured to the men behind him. "Now, we're under the impression that you called us here for a reason other than tea time." He was getting paler and paler from the wound tat was pouring blood.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you. This is my computer system, it was built by my father. I would tell you why I chose you, but we all have our secrets, don't we? This woman over here is Amy." She said nodding to the tall woman beside her.
 "Travis, I know what you're thinking, and yes Amy the Amazon would be a great nickname. If you want a knife wound like Max's somewhere a little less pleasant. I have been here for years I would tell you where I'm from but again, the less you know about me the less you can hurt me. It's simple logic. You have my first name and that's all you will be getting. Consider the fact that I have information on every single one of you and could take you down using a few simple strokes of the keyboard, yes, I do consider it a weapon."
"What could you possibly have on me?" Wakefield asked.
"Pink. Bunny. Slippers."
"You wouldn't."
She simply smiled an innocent smiled and turned to address Steel, "By the way Max, we have excellent medical equipment here to take out that chip in your head. Also fix that nasty wound in your shoulder. Rob, will you take Max and follow me? He should be passing out soon. That knife cut an artery."
"I feel fine," Steel replied leaning back against the wall.
"Mhmm, Rob catch him when he takes his next step."
Steel glared at Bernard with a look that dared him to follow her orders. Bernard raised his hands in a surrender.
"Stubborn as ever," Anne said under her breath. "Max, follow me and let's get you fixed up."
"You betcha beautiful," Steel slurred as he stepped forward and collapsed. Bernard caught him with one arm and slung him over his shoulder.
"Easy lady killer."
"Holy shit, did I say that out loud?" Steel asked barely coherent.
"Yes. Yes you did brother."
"He's also bleeding all over the rug. Just follow me quickly. That's never going to come out," Anne said exasperated. "Also we ran out of anesthesia so that blood loss may help out when I have to rip a chip off of his brain stem."
"Gotcha. I'll hold him while you do that."
"If I may have a say in the matter of digging around in my brain."
"No you may not."
"Ok." Steel was barely able to get these words out as his world went black.
A day later Steel lay in a hospital bed more comfortable than he had been in years. For a few moments he thought he may have died. He chuckled a little bit at the thought that after all he had gone through he died of blood loss to a nicked artery.
"Three liters of blood. How in the name of God is he still alive, much less laughing in his sleep?" Nash's voice was fuzzy as Steel came back to the waking world.
"Hey buddy," Wakefield said leaning in close to his friend.
"Get. Out. I haven't felt like this since one of my missions went wrong about 10 years ago. Three days in an Imperial prison. The escape was fun though."
Steel looked at the wound in his arm. It was already scarred. He was always amazed at what they had made his body capable of enduring.
"Lovely, it worked!" Anne exclaimed. "You won't remember everything at once but things will prompt memories to come back. Things like people you used to know, places you've been. Something will have to trigger the memories. I'm sure you'll find this out as you go along. Now about my plans for you boys."

The black ship rocketed through space flown by one of the best pilots in the universe, Tyler Nash. Standing behind him, staring out at the empty planet that was fast approaching was Max Steel, one of the most dangerous men ever trained by the Republican Navy. He was a broken man though, his memory shattered by the Decimitians, a race of ruthless aliens who killed or enslaved all who stood in their path. He wanted answers and the person they were going to meet could provide them. "Steel, you may want to take a seat, this is going to be a rough landing," Nash said looking behind him.

"I prefer to stand," Steel said quietly.

"Suit yourself." Nash replied hitting a button turning on he intercom, "Bernard, Wakefield! Suit up when we hit the ground we move out."

"You're sure you don't want to take a seat?" Nash asked putting on his helmet.

Steel raised an eyebrow and put on his helmet. "Stubborn son of a bitch," Nash said under his breath.

"What the hell is that?" Steel asked pointing at a an object launching towards them.

"Oh you know, just some anti-air defenses. Aimed at us."

"Great."

"Oh yeah."

The ship entered the atmosphere roughly. "Nash, I swear to God if you crash another ship, I am going to take the lovely mines that Steel gave me and shove them up your-" Bernard was cut off by Natasha falling from the compartment and striking him in the head. Luckily he had managed to put the helmet on. "That's it I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill that bastard."

"Settle down big guy," Wakefield laughed. An explosion rocked the ship and it started to roll and shot straight down. 

"Steel. Sit. Down."

"I can't!" Steel said pinned against the rear bulkhead of the cockpit by the incredible amount of pressure.

A mountain range appeared in the window. "Oh shit." 

Nash regained control of the ship just in time and the ship dodged the highest peak by mere inches.

The ship hit the ground and somersaulted through the jungle that lay on the other side of the mountains, tearing through the trees as through they were straw. Steel crashed through the door into the passenger area at the sudden impact. The tail had been ripped off and Steel was headed straight for the hole.
"Gotcha!" Bernard said grabbing Steel's foot before he could be ejected. The ship came to screeching halt in a clearing. "Second time.Second time you've crashed. What's your excuse this time?"
"I had to. We're not alone and I think it's better for everyone if the people who shot that think that we're dead. It was an Imperial missile. I'd say they've set up a perimeter around wherever the Source is hiding and will probably be moving in shortly. But first I'd probably say that they're going to be headed for us first."
"What makes you say that?"
"I crashed inside the perimeter." Nash replied. "I'd say the men headed for us will be the lower ranking less experienced squad. Nonetheless they are still extremely dangerous. These men will be like Steel and I. Not invincible but don't expect to be able to wound one and have them stay down. Weapons ready men we have the element of surprise still. They expect us to be dead."
As if on cue a squad of 12 men came around through the bushes.
"Or you know. They could see a group of us just standing around." Wakefield said bringing his shotgun up and blasting at them.
"Steel, Wakefield, move up to the coordinates the Source gave us. They're about a click away from here. We'll take these guys and follow behind you Nash ordered.
Steel and Wakefield sprayed the squad with gunfire forcing them into cover. The two of them stayed close to the ships wreckage to blend in with the smoke and made it impossible to track with the thermal scopes the enemy squad were using to see in the dark jungle night.
Bernard slug Natasha onto his shoulder in a special mount that his armor had built into it. "Alright babe, let;s show these sons of bitches why they shouldn't be here." With that the large, heavily armored man launched an extremely heavy barrage at the squad killing three of them instantly. As the bullets and plasma flew through the air Nash calmly looked down his scope at the squad leader and pulled the trigger.
"Hostiles neutralized sir, go ahead and move into her base," one of the members of the squad said into his radio when suddenly a bullet tore through his helmet and he fell to the ground dead.
"Steel, you guys need to get there, ASAFP! They're going to kill her!" Bernard yelled over the radio.
Steel and Wakefield stepped into a clearing and saw a surprisingly small structure surrounded by two squads of Imperial Special Forces. Six of the men stood out, their armor a pure jet black and looked to be lighter weight than the others. Wakefield recognized them. "Son of a bitch."
"What is it?" Steel asked
"Imperial Assassins. I've never seen so many. Ruthless, sadistic bastards. They get called in when the Empire wants to make an example."
"Great. So we have eighteen members of Special Forces, and six assassins to deal with all trying to kill some chick on a computer. As far as I can see she has no body guards, or they've been killed. They're expecting us and they really outnumber us." Although his memory was gone, Steel's skills were still as sharp as ever. He had been trained for years on how to deal with these types of situations and in his current state it was the only time he felt like himself.
"You ready?" Wakefield asked.
"Always ready," he said, chambering a round on his assault rifle. "On my mark"
Wakefield drew the hammer back on his sidearm and loosened the knife in his belt.
"Remember. Nice and quiet."
"And you remember I'm the one they call for exactly this type of situations."
"Fantastic."
The special forces lined up outside the door to the shack and breached it. An explosion lit the night sky as more than half of the operators were instantly killed.
"Still going quiet?"
"Hell no. Mark!"
The two men ran out of the jungle guns blazing, taking the surprised men out with ease. The enemy recovered quickly however and the assassins rushed into the remnants of the shack and blasted through the heavy steel hatch. "Wakefield! We need to get inside now!" Steel yelled as he leapt into the newly opened hole in the ground.
"I'm a little busy," he said surrounded by five operators and an empty shotgun. "It's cool I didn't need help or anything." Wakefield dropped the gun and put his hands in the air. One of the operators raised his weapon and aimed it at his head. The operator dropped to the ground with a hole in his helmet. Wakefield drew his sidearm and shot the two men in front of him and grabbed the third using him as a shield. "Drop the weapon and your friend may live." Wakefield said to the other. The enemy soldier shot his comrade in the chest several times before Wakefield returned fire with a single, deadly shot. " See. I totally had that, he said dropping the now dead human shield.
"Jesus these guys are ruthless," Bernard said stepping from the jungle with Nash.
"Nothing I didn't already know," Nash replied. "Where's Steel?"
"Went down that hatch a second ago after those assassins."
Just then a dropship appeared and dozens of Imperial operators dropped out of them.
"Save Steel or fight here?"
"No point in saving him if we don't take care of these guys first. Plus I'm fairly sure he can handle himself," Wakefield said reloading his shotgun."Bernard you still have one of those mines?"
"You know I do," the big man said taking one from the pouch on his side.
Steel ran after the men in black armor as they reached a door in a narrow hallway. He noticed there were only three until he turned around and was stunned to find he had been surrounded."Well shit. I should have seen this coming," he said as he faced the assassins none of whom were carrying guns of any kind. Instead they each had twin, hooked blades.
"This should be interesting," he said drawing his pistols.
He fired at the one closest to him. To his amazement the assassin dodged past it and grabbed Steel's hand,  slamming it into the wall causing his gun to go flying. The next hand went for his throat and a swift kick knocked the other hand out of the way. The assassins were incredibly acrobatic, brutal killing machines and let no one stand in their way. They were laying charges on the door. Behind that door was a woman who had all the answers to the questions he had to ask. If that door opened she would die.
Steel was pinned to the wall as another assassin moved in for the kill. Steel kicked the man holding him in the chest as hard as he could muster knocking him into one of his comrades. He unsheathed his own knife in time to use it to block an incoming blade. He grabbed the arm and stabbed the assassin in the elbow, shattering the bone. He took out the knife and cut the man's throat. As the man hit the ground clutching at his mortal wound the man who held Steel had recovered and continued his assault. The assassins had a new goal: keep Steel occupied to get their job done. Steel wasn't about to let this happen as he viciously stomped his assailant's knee and elbowed him brutally in the throat. Before Steel could finish the crippled assassin he was kicked hard in the back of the head, causing his helmet to fly off. Before he could turn to face it a fourth man joined the fray delivering a violent punch to Steel's face. He reeled as his head was bounced like tennis ball and he fell to the ground. Believing they had won the assassins continued putting charges on the door.
Steel recovered far faster than they expected and picked up his pistol and his knife. "Is that the best you can do?" he taunted, wiping the blood from his mouth and taking aim at the first one to turn around. He fired, hitting the assassin in the chest. The bullet penetrated the armor and killed the man quickly. "That's three and a half men left. You hurt the woman behind that door and I swear to God, you'll wish that you had been the first to die."

Steel couldn't believe what he saw when Nash opened the doors to the armory. The room was massive, much more than one might expect from a small resistance.

"Where did you find all this?" 

"Find it? Steel, we aren't some ragtag group of rebels barely putting together scraps. We are a shadow unit. We have no real chain of command. My men and I report directly to Fleet Admiral Oliver Hayes."

"That man saved my life."

"I thought you couldn't remember anything."

"It's very fuzzy. I remember important things. Childhood. Family. Neither of which I had much of thanks to the Empire. But thanks to Hayes I was able to live through it. Also apparently thanks to Hayes we have this," Steel said in a sweeping gesture to the enormous room.

The armory was filled with every kind of equipment ever used by the Republic. Rows upon rows of armor,  weapons, and explosives. "So this is where Bernard gets it?"
"No. We have actually no idea where he gets the amount of explosives he uses. In fact if I can only ask the Source one thing it will definitely be where the hell does he find enough explosives to blow this planet to hell six times over. If I could have a second one it would be how he plants it without anyone knowing about it."
"It's a secret," the large bearded man said with the ever present smile on his face. "And you'll never know it."
With that, Bernard walked over to a red and orange, beaten up power armor and began putting it on.
"You really think we're going to need that kind of heavy equipment?" Nash asked.
"Brother, I don't know what we're going to need. All I know is that if she's asking to meet us she probably needs help."
"Grab mine and get Wakefield his. If you're right and she does need our help in such a bad way then it's going to take all the heavy equipment we can get our hands on. Bernard, see if you can find something for our friend here."
"No need, there was a box of equipment that came with the orders," said a man standing by the door. He was average height with a muscular build. Like the rest of the crew he appeared to be in his early to mid thirties. Judging by his disheveled, light brown hair and several days of scruff, he had been extremely busy. "Captain Steel, I presume?" he said offering his hand.
"That's what they tell me," Steel said smiling. "And you are?"
"Travis Wakefield. I'm the guy they go to when shit hits the fan."
"Meaning?"
"Close quarters, sabotage, things of that nature."
"He's kind of an asshole too," Bernard said clapping the man on the back.
"Yeah fuck you too man. Anyways I did you the favor of not opening the package and going through you're stuff."
"My stuff?" Steel asked, confused.
"Yes sir, this huge ass box is addressed to 'Cpt. Maxwell Steel, Republican Navy Special Operations'. I'm assuming that's you."
"Must be. Let's open it up."
"About damn time. I've been dying to see what she sent you."
Wakefield tossed Steel the crowbar he had been carrying and they opened the crate. Inside they found a note.
'Captain Steel,
Enclosed you will find brand new equipment that was put together based on your preferences from past missions. I trust you will put it to good use as it was not easy to obtain. Even for me.
See you soon,
The Source'
A suit of black and dark green armor gleamed from the fluorescent bulbs overhead. Next to the armor were two black handguns, a long curved blade, and an assault rifle. What was next to it was what got the most attention from Bernard. "Are those-!" The large man bit his knuckle to conceal the complete joy he was feeling.
"Are they what?" Steel asked.
"Hydrogen mines!" Bernard managed to squeak out.
"Get a hold of yourself man," Wakefield laughed. "What's so special about those?"
"You set one of these things and boom everything within a hundred yards, poof gone. No radiation."
"How does that even work?"
"No idea I just know it does. I also know that I've been searching for some for years. Hell even tried some people who work for both sides. Nothing. I don't know how she does it."
"They're yours then." Steel handed them to the large, bearded man. "Are you crying?"
"No. The dust from the crate got in my eyes," Bernard said.
"There was no dust on the-"
"Don't make me get Natasha."
"Gotcha. We're good then.
 "So Wakefield is the ship ready?" Nash asked, staring dumbfounded at the man now hugging a handful of grenades.
"Walker is doing the final checks but we should be good to go in about 20 minutes. Go grab some chow and clean yourselves up. Particularly you, Steel. It's like you you've never looked in a mirror."
At this point Steel became suddenly aware that he hadn't had a haircut or shaved in years. "Holy shit," He said noticing his reflection in the visor of his armor. "I look like Karl Marx"
"Who?"
"No idea. Just kind of popped into my head."
"God I can't wait for you to get that brain of yours straightened out." Nash said, shaking his head as he left the room.
"Remember brother. I've let it slide so far but I'm the only one allowed with giant beard. It's kind of my thing."
After years, Steel finally got a look at his face after years. Relatively handsome, he had hazel eyes and dark brown hair, now cut short and combed to the side. Standing at about 6'1", whatever program he was a part of had allowed him to keep his physique after years of exhaustion and starvation. He put on his armor and  stepped out into the main hangar to join the others.
"Everyone ready to go?" Nash said over the intercom. Steel took notice of the ship for the first time. It was about 50 yards long, with swept back wings. The ship was a matte black so that it would not be easily detected. It's small size meant limited room but it could also land anywhere without attracting attention. Most ships would be unable to pick it up on radar and the ones that could would discount it as a glitch due to the size. Steel stepped aboard. "How long until we reach our destination?"
"About six hours."
"Isn't this ship a little small to have a hyperdrive?"
"Seeing as it's going to take us six hours to get to another part of the damn solar system I'd say no." Wakefield, the helmet of his gray power armor sitting nest to him, offered.
"Thanks asshole."
"I warned you about him.," Bernard said.
"Cut the chatter, men." Nash said from the cockpit. "Carson are we cleared for take off?"
"Yep."
"Real professional."
"Just go already. Jesus."
"Roger."
With that the blast doors opened and the ship hurtled out of the valley into the dawn.