Friends of Hydra ~ End of an era!
Our investigation into the SHIELD internal affairs fiasco comes to an end at last, dear readers. Spycraft and terrorism clashed and mingled in this tale of technology and hatred. The truth will out:
It began with an Emergency Broadcast, commandeering all our screens across the country. A Hydra spokesman addresses the nation "My fellow American humans..."
Above: Terror broadcast begins from an undisclosed location...
The terrorist, declaring himself part of a purity pact within Hydra, praising Friends of Humanity ideals, went on and on about the 'mutant menace' in our midst, and he furthermore attacked SHIELD for lacking the resolve to handle this threat, which he likened to a Phoenix rising from the ashes. Shockingly, the terrorists exposed unseen footage of CLOC executing friend and foe alike. Agents of Hydra and SHIELD were slain in the name of international secrecy!
Above: Fight terror with terror, CLOC executes final judgement!
Out of nowhere, laser fire from off-camera executed the spokesman. CLOC hovered into view, scanned the vicinity, and hunted down the fleeing Friends of Hydra. SHIELD, frantically tracing the broadcast signal, had finally arrived, with heroes of all kinds along for the ride!
Above: Captain America leads the charge with mutant cavalry!
Captain commanded the raid, leading humans and mutants alike into battle against the gears of bigotry. Sentinels powered on and took to the air, surrounding our heroes and firing volleys of powerful energy beams.
Above: Sentinels surround Quicksilver with phasic prism prison!
Quicksilver sped around the scene, dodging with ease and vibrated one Sentinel's head so badly it exploded! Confirming a serious threat, three Sentinels surrounded him with a prism designed with his powers in mind. Helpless, MrMaximoff was being slowly crushed within the phase-prison!
Above: Latverian Verger pummels Sentinel, pronounced mutant!
The relatively unknown Mr Verger, of rumoured Latverian origin, was seen melting away layers of Sentinel armour with some kind of radioactive shield and blasts. Surprisingly, the Sentinels called him a mutant sympathiser at first, but later declared him mutant.
Above: Spider-Man's senses out-flanked by machine logic!
Spider-Man swung around the compound with perfect precision, weaving between attacks. He webbed several of their faces before a tactical ambush by the giant machines lured the friendly neighbourhood hero into an attack-pattern of crossed beams, incapacitating him!
Above: Explosive uncovery, the roof caves in upon everyone!
Further attacks by vigilant mutants Mercury of JGS, Havok of Unity Squad, and X23 of AA, sent Sentinels reeling with failed systems, and blasts from their robot hands struck the cavern ceiling! Above, SHIELD were preparing an infiltration blast, which was prematurely set off by the crossfire. Exploding, the roof caved in, showering the scene with Agents!
Above: Sentinels fall, Sentinels flee, Sentinels bleed...
One of the more shocking revelations was when Magneto himself showed up to save his son from certain death. The master of magnetism might not be as strong as he once was, but in his righteous rage he buckled and tore off the head of a Sentinel, whilst all others began to rattle. The remaining two attacking his son looked at one-another... and fled! The machines actually turned tail and ran from the fugitive father's wrath.
Above: Magneto saves his son from Sentinel death-sentence!
Maria Hill's people busied themselves with tracking down and detaining as many terrorists as possible, while she herself focussed on CLOC, who was still executing summary justice without mercy. She managed to catch CLOC in an EMP grenade, powering it down. She moved in for the 'kill' it would seem, but Captain and Quicksilver had other ideas.
Above: Captain confronts Hill, before both are suicide-bombed!
Maximoff stood sentry between CLOC and Hill, enraged at her treatment of the situation, and other accusations were flung around in heated arguments. The Sentinels were being finished off by X23, Magneto and Havok, meanwhile, but two Hydra mechs activated self-destruct and charged for Cap and Hill! They took cover, using fallen debris to soak the blast.
Above: Mercury rises... angry Quicksilver saves CLOC from Hill?!
In the wake of the chaos, silence fell and so did a large part of a fake wall at the back of the cavern. A whole separate fleet of brand new, grey-blue Sentinels was partially unveiled. As heroes continued to argue the implications, in particular mutant outrage was expressed, a shadowy figure moved between the hidden machines. They all powered on, and blew themselves up!
Above: The penny drops. Heroes handle threat, but what's next?
Almost unrecognisable now, rumour has it that one of the burning panels in the wreckage had a SHIELD logo, but no statement has yet been released from the UN agency. As the mushroom cloud rose into the sky, something fell to the floor between Captain and Hill's feet. A charred, burning eye-patch.
No doubt SHIELD will be conducting a vast internal investigation following the implications of compromised assets, whistle-blowing soldiers, and amidst accusations of a SHIELD Sentinel Program.
~Reported by Jay El Quandry, Co-Editor-In-Chief.
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Follow-up Report: Behind the scenes of machine paranoia!
In the days after the final showdown, it came to light that CLOC, as we know him, had been compromised by superior program code which he himself had integrated with his matrix, as a means to forecast cultural shifts and prevent a second superhuman civil war.
It was CLOC who had silenced the whistle-blowers, CLOC who kidnapped the Wiki-leaks researcher, and CLOC who convinced a US Senator to join him in protective custody while she was replaced by an LMD of herself. That LMD was later found in her panic-bunker, surrounded by dead FOH goons who thought they were interrogating her. CLOC later admitted it used the LMD to counter-interrogate the terrorists before neutralising them, and using their intel to hunt down their HQ.
Explaining that he could trust no-one, not even Maria Hill - given that her agency had both infiltrators and conscientious objectors on the verge of radicalising - CLOC took the entire conspiracy into his own hands, at one point even abusing Sentry's trust to nuke those compromised safe-houses.
It is expected that CLOC will be debriefed, decommissioned, and likely reset to its original programming to serve as Sentry's crisis management tool and nothing more. Sources assure us that CLOC has agreed to all these terms, given an Avenger vote on the matter.
And that, dear readers, concludes our investigation. Do you have any questions? Concerns? Comments from experts? Please, please let us know by contacting the Daily Bugle!
((OOC Words & Pictures: Jay))
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