The Tragedy of Cerulia

Meanwhile, Nightlock was behind the others on his way to the meeting room.

"You certainly hide your little secret very well," said a woman's voice behind him. Nightlock whipped around to face a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent walk up to him.

"What secret?" Nightlock asked.

"You know what I mean," the woman said, and Nightlock noticed her eyes briefly flash yellow. He narrowed his eyes.

"You." He growled.

The woman nodded: "You know, you still have a chance to be with us, your brothers and sisters."

"When are you gonna get the friggin memo? I told you, I don't want any part of your boss's little brotherhood, nor am I interested in that cueball's little school. I'm fighting on my own."

"Even after what happened to your family?"

Nightlock leaned in close to the woman's face, his eyes burning with anger: "THAT is none of your concern," he whispered, "My decision stands. Now, stay out of my way, or I take my fight to you. Got it?"

The woman stepped back, holding back the fear building up in her.

"Suit yourself," she replied, and she walked off. Nightlock watched her leave, the turned and continued heading for the meeting room.

…

A few minutes later, everyone had gathered, along with Star Knight, Tyserian and Talia.

"So," Assimilate said to the newcomers, "You're the ones Shade is after?"

Tallia nodded.

"Can I ask why?" Assimilate continued.

Tallia held up her necklace, showing an orange jewel hanging on it.

"He's after this," she explained, "The Cerulian Jewel."

"Why would he want some necklace?" Karmi asked.

"Maybe because there's some kind of power that it has." Liz Ock replied, "the sensors in my goggles are getting some SERIOUS energy readings from it."

"The Cerulian Jewel is indeed a symbol of power," Tyserian said, "It helped protect the people of our homeworld. With it, the wielder of the jewel could sense approaching enemies from afar, giving our people enough time to prepare for a potential attack."

"But not even it would prepare us for the attack that nearly leveled our home only a few days ago." Talia said solemnly.

"What happened?" Nightlock asked.

"I had sensed a large fleet coming with the power of the Jewel and notified the defenses to prepare for attack. But, when it came, it was bigger than we had thought. A whole army of both Trisectoids and Chitauri came down, leveling our armies and cities. The Trisectiod leader, Dex'tro, approached and demanded that we give the Jewel over, and in return they would leave, but it was too late; Tyserian and I managed to get to a ship and escape.

"We tried to jump here, to Earth," Tyserian said, "As we had heard of powerful heroes here that might be willing to help us."

"Well, you heard right," Artillery said.

"But once we came out of the jump point," Tyserian continued, "We came under fire from Trisectoid ships that had followed us."

"Which is where I come in," Star Knight said, "I got their distress call and took out the little bugs. Then I followed them down and helped them out a bit. You probably know what happened next."

The others nodded.

"So, this Shade guy is after the jewel," Liz concluded, "But we can't let him get to it because the power it has shouldn't be in the wrong hands."

"More or less," Tyserian said, "it won't be easy though. From what we've heard, Shade is one of the most ruthless hunters in the galaxy. He won't stop until he gets what he came for."

"I think I might be able to help with that," Assimilate said, "He's tough, but he still has a weakness."

"He does?" Tallia asked.

Assimilate nodded: "He's bonded with a Symbiote, that's what makes him so powerful. However, being bonded with one myself, I know of his weaknesses."

"Yeah," Star Knight said, "Didn't you say he was weak to fire and sound when we were fighting him?"

"I did. The sound has to be REALLY high pitched, like in a sonic weapon, but yeah. It probably won't kill him, but it will weaken the symbiote enough for us to get a few good hits in."

"The question is," Liz said, "how do we find him?"

"I agree," Crusader said, "After that last fight, he'll probably have learned to be more careful now."

"I say we let him come to us." Nightlock said, "Use the jewel as bait and lure him into a trap."

"That could work," Artillery said, "but we'd need to make sure that he's close enough to sense the bait. Plus, we don't know if he's even gonna take it."

"If we make it convincing enough, I'm sure he will."

"And we make it convincing enough how?" Assimilate asked.

"Still working that out." Nightlock said.

"Well, for now I say we try and track him," Artillery suggested, "We have the equipment to track symbiotes. I say we use that."

"There are thousands of symbiotes on Earth," Assimilate said, "You're gonna need a better strategy than that."

"I actually agree with Nightlock," Karmi said, "We can use the princess herself as bait to lure Shade here. With her stone's power, she can let us know when Shade is coming. Once she lets us know of that, we can prepare a trap for him, then spring it at the right time when he gets here."

"That could work," Tyserian said.

"I agree," Talia said, "It's risky, but I'm willing to take it."

"I don't have any better ideas at the moment, so I say we try it." Liz said.

"I agree," Crimson Crusader said.

"So, it's a plan then." Star Knight said, "Well, guys, let's start getting ready."

…

Meanwhile, Shade knelt in fear before the angry holographic form of Dex'tro.

"You LOST them?!" Dex'tro demanded.

"I wasn't expecting those other humans to show up and fight me off. They were actually able to weaken me. I had to retreat." Shade said.

"My partner is getting impatient; I don't know how much more time I can give you."

"I know. Don't worry. I still have a plan to find them. The scent of the jewel is still fresh; I can follow that. Plus, they'll most likely have the princess in a very hidden yet very obvious base of some kind, now that they know I'm after her. I find that, I find the princess."

Dex'tro sighed; his partner/client was not one for late excuses, but Shade was the only hunter he could spare, so he had no choice.

"How much more time do you need?" he finally asked.

"As much as you can give me." Shade replied.

"Do what you must. But be warned; if you fail, you will answer not to me, but to HIM."

Shade felt a twinge of fear rise up in him, but was able to keep his composure.

"Of course," he said, and the hologram went dark. Standing up and grabbing the projector, Shade set off again, all the more determined to succeed in his hunt…