Total TXP = 102 TXP, 3 TAP

1. Upgrade Daredevil from the XP Rookie (32) to the CM LE (37). Cost: 5 TXP
IXP: [6, 1] - 5 = [1, 1]
TXP:102 - 5 = 97

2. Now that DD has had three upgrades (From CM Rookie, to IC Rookie, to XP Rookie to CM LE), I can sell him off for full cost. Refund: 37pts x 2 = 74 TXP

TXP: 97 + 74 = 171

3. Recruit Power Man Rookie (72 pts). Cost: 72 x 2 = 144 TXP

TXP: 171 - 144 = 27

4. Upgrade Spiderman from the Ult Rookie (31) to the Universe Starter (40). Cost: 9 TXP
IXP: [14, 3] - 9 = [5, 3]
TXP: 27 - 9 = 18

5. Upgrade Elektra from the CM Exp (22) to the CM Vet (26). Cost: 4 TXP
IXP: [6, 2] - 4 = [2, 2]
TXP: 18 - 4 = 14

I could also upgrade Dagger and get Spider-man up one more to his Exp Ultimate, but I'll hold off on that until after the Annual, since I may need the TXP elsewhere by then,

Remaining TXP: [14, 3]

Great game, WM. The dice gods certainly had a hand here. I blame myself for leaving DD earlier when I thought his Super Senses was Toughness. Taking out that was also wasn't my best move - if I had Bullseye just walk around it then I could have had Electro base DD in the following turn & DD would have either sucked Poison or pushed to death. Ah, well... we all learn from our mistakes so look out next time!

Poor dice rolls aside, you're a formidable player & I look forward to playing you again.

Looks good WakandaMan.

After the annual it looks like you'll be able to afford to buy Panther up to full.

We'll see if you get R or E Panther. Hopefully Exp :-)

Nice team!

Here is a summary of my team as it stands:

Marvel Knights

Spider-man
Current IXP: 5, 3
Versions Available: Universe Starter (40), Rk Ult (31)
Next Version: Exp Ult (44)
Feats assigned: Pounce (15)

Punisher
Current IXP: 11, 2
Versions Available: Exp (65), Rk (50)
Next Version: Vet (80)

Elektra
Current IXP: 2, 2
Versions Available: Vet CM (26), Vet CT (26), Exp CM (22), Exp IC (22), Exp CT (22), Universe Starter (21), XP LE (19), Rk CM (18), Rk IC (18), Rk CT (18)
Next Version: Vet IC (32)

Moon Knight
Current IXP: 2, 3
Versions Available: Exp (27), Rk (18)
Next Version: Vet (34)

Black Widow
Current IXP: 6, 3
Versions Available: Rk Ult (34), Rk CT (30)
Next Version: Exp CT (41)

Cloak
Current IXP: 8, 2
Versions Available: Exp (61), LE (55), Rk (47)
Next Version: Vet (75)
Feats assigned: Passenger (5)

Dagger
Current IXP: 12, 1
Versions Available: LE (55), Rk (53)
Next Version: Exp (60)

Black Cat
Current IXP: 5, 1
Versions Available: Rk (16)
Next Version: LE (29)

Blade
Current IXP: 1, 0
Versions Available: Rk IC (26)
Next Version: Rk MM (28), Exp IC (28)

Power Man
Current IXP: 0, 0
Versions Available: Rk (72)
Next Version: Exp (87)

Reservists:

Black Panther
Current IXP: About 8 I think
Versions Available: Rk (27)
Next Version: Exp (36)

Forgot to mention in the previous post...

[b]Team Build Total:
40 + 65 + 26 + 27 + 34 + 61 + 55 + 16 + 26 + 72 + 13.5 = 435.5

Squad build total: 450 divided by 2 = 225 + 50 = 275.

I am planning on doing more upgrading recruiting after the annual, so there's a good chance that my Squad size will reach 300 by the next arc.

Speaking of the annual, here's my team in plain black and white for the big showdown:

R Power Man 72
E Punisher 65
E Cloak 61*
LE Dagger 55
Starter Spider-man 40**
R Black Widow (Ult) 34
E Moon Knight 27
V Elektra (CM) 26
R Blade (IC) 26
R Black Cat 16
*Passenger 5
**Pounce 15
Total: 442 pts

The story so far:

Electro approached Miguel, his hands crackling with electricity. "Time for you to die Spider!"

"I'd rather not..." the Spider-man of the future replied, spinning to kick Electro in the face. Electro's head snapped backwards sharply, but then he brought it back menacingly and wiped the blood from his lip. "You'll pay for that." Power arced from his hands into Miguel's body, causing the Spider to spasm violently.

Meanwhile the Punisher, who hadn't had time to reload, spun his rifle around and tried to hit the Vulture in the face with it. "Didn't you ever learn to repect your elders?" Vulture cackled as he swooped out of the way, when rammed into Punisher, knocking him across the room and into a cabinet. As Castle rolled out of the way of Shocker's follow-up blast he stood and pressed the end of his gun into Vulture's head. "Well at least you had a nice long life" he smiled, shrugging as the Vulture's face turned to fear.

Spider-man flew around the corner and slammed a table into the back of Vulture, knocking him out cold. "You weren't really just about to kill him were you?" Spider-man asked.

"Nah..." Punisher said with a smirk, "my gun was empty. I was just distracting him for you."

"Oo-kay...but what if it wasn't?" Spidey replied, and then got slammed by a wave of concussive force, and knocked unconscious into a wall. "Didn't forget about me did ya?" Shocker yelled. "You morons talk too much."

Daredevil had picked up a scent that was all too familiar. He ran across the wall, and landed gracefully in front of his old foe.....Bullseye! "Who's your overweight friend?" DD asked him, referring to the large man standing nearby.

"I wouldn't go p!ssing him off if I was you." Bullseye replied. "He's the Controller...why don't you show him why big guy?"

"With pleasure" The Controller replied. He handed Bullseye a disk, and the marksman rocochet it off the floor, anticipating Daredevil's attempt to avoid it. The Disk landed perfectly at the back of DD's skull.

"A tasty morsel. Let's see what he can do..."

Under control of the Controller, Murdock ran into the next room and flew at Elektra. She carefully ducked his attack. "What's going on Matt?" Daredevil didn't reply, but just kept swinging, but Cloak sensed what was wrong.

"His actions are not hit own. Another has stolen his will..." He phased his cape through DD, shorting out the control device. Daredevil shook his head to clear it.

"Uhhh..sorry 'lektra. Cloak's right. C'mon dakr and mysterious, I'll need your help to take these two, Elektra, you help that new Spider-man."

"Right..." she said, wondering how on earth she was going to stop Electro. As the other's left, The electricity was arcing right through Spider-man and crackling into the surrounding equipment, his costume catching on fire from the intensity of it. Then a stapler flew in from the other room, and clocked Spidey on the head, knocking him out.

"Was that who I think it was?" Elektra turned in the direction that DD had just gone, suddenly enraged. Bullseye here? How dare Matt ask her to stay in here while he dealt with the man that killed her. She turned to follow Matt, but a thousand volt blast hit her in the back.

"You shouldn't turn you back on me babe." Electro grinned, standing over the charred body of the future Spider-man.

"####!" Castle said. "They're getting slaughtered out there, while I'm pinned in here by those goon in his body armour." Everytime he stuck his head out from cover, Shocker had nearly taken it off with a concentrated shock wave. Caslte quickly jumped up, fired a few rounds at Electro, and ducked again....but his bullets were vaporized by the electricity surrounding him. "This stinks."

The story continues:

Electro turned in the direction he'd just been shot at from. "You think bullet's can hurt me? You're dreaming a-hole!" He started walking towards where the Punisher was holed up. Castle cursed himself for getting cornered like that. He was done for with the Shocker coming one way and Electro the other.

Elektra stirred. She'd taken enough voltage to kill a normal man, but she pushed herself up. She glared at Electro. "You're not done with me yet."

"Why don't you just die already." Electro yelled at her.

"I already tried that once. It didn't take." Elektra ran at him, fists clenched and letting out a martial arts scream, only to recieve another massive strike of power, the electricity rattling her very bones. She screamed and then finally passed out cold. "About bludy time." Electro sneered.

Meanwhile, Cloak and Daredevil approached Controller and Bullseye. Controller tried to attach one of his disks on the billowing Cloak, but he went intangible as he did so. Cloak put his hand into Controller's chest, and the big man howled in pain. Daredevil flipped and ran around the room while Bullseye flicked an entire packet of staples at him one at a time. Bullseye was getting frustrated. "Stop MAKING me MISS!" He yelled.

"Be happy to." DD replied. Spinning around, he kicked the remaining staples out of Bullseye's hand, leaving him unarmed.

"Time to withdraw." Bullseye said, and Controller nodded weakly in agreement. The two of them ran, and DD had to supress a laugh.

"You go help out Castle. I'll handle Bullseye from here." Cloak nodded and teleported into the tiny room that the Punisher was trapped in, just in time to see Shocker unload an incredible shockwave through the floorboards. Punisher was knocked off his feet, and hit by falling debris, and Daredevil, although he was still two rooms away, grabbed his ears in agony, his sensitive eardrums threatening to burst with pain. Cloak, however was unaffected by the blast, and hovered across the floor towards the Shocker, who was suddenly gripped by fear.

"No, no, don't hurt me...I just burnt out my power cells, I'm unarmed...you wouldn't hurt an unarmed man would you?"

Cloak's eyes blazed with fury. "You beg for mercy that your own soul would never give. You are a wicked creature! Your punishment is well deserved!" Cloak wrapped him inside the folds in his Cloak, causing the man to suddenly vanish, as if he had never existed.

Meanwhile Bullseye spotted the wounded Daredevil through a hole in the wall. "You're mine now!" He threw a candlestick at the broken wall, causing a massive chunk of it to break off and fall in Murdock's direction. At the last possible moment. Daredevil rolled out of the way. "Nice try, but you're just too slow." DD taunted his old adversary.

Controller had broke through the wall behind Cloak. "What did you do with him?

Cloak turned towards him. "He was punished for his sins. Now turn and face your own, you who takes away the free will of innocent men." Controller let out a mournful cry as Cloak also covered him with his cape, and the huge man dissappeared.

Daredevil called to him from the other room, as he tried to revive Spider-man. "This whole place is coming apart after that shockwave. We've got the tablet, it's time to cut our losses and get out!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Electro roared, sparks flying all over, and all the electrical equipment suddenly exploded around the room. Bullseye had found a tool box, and lugged it through the doorway, pulling out some nasty looking instruments. "You're meat now Devil!" He laughed and then there was a blue flash of light around all the villians. Bullseye expression changed to surprise, right before he dissappeared.

"Well that was wierd." Spidey said, rubbing his head as he woke up. "I don't think he was quite expecting that."

Daredevil looked frustrated. Bullseye had been a thorn in his side for far too long. He and Spidey helped up the future Spider-man. "We got your tablet."

"Good." Miguel replied, then looked tdown at his torn Spider-man suit. "Man! Why does this always happen to me?"

"I'm hearing ya." Spidey replied. "These things are a pain in the butt to clean, and even worse to repair."

To be continued....

Written by Wakandaman and that hack, DM


Elektra, looking very worse for wear with blackened skin in patches, motioned to a nearby form. "Hey look what I found- one of the villains was left behind." She went to lift up Sable, who spun and put her boot knife to Elektra's throat. "You morons!" She snarled, "You've just totally messed up my operation." Then suddenly both Spider-men cried out simultaneously...."Uh-oh, Spider-sense is tingling, and it's a doozy!"

Sable quickly keyed a hidden comm in her collar, “Verify volatile threat.”

The silver clad woman heard the response almost immediately, ‘Confirmed, twenty five charges active.’

"They're thermal detonator's all over the floor of this complex. They must have just triggered them! We need to get out of here now!

"I've got our fearless leader!" Spider-man said as he picked up the unconscious Moon Knight and helped Miguel. They ran to the edge of the building and shot out a pair of web lines, swinging down to the street below. Daredevil helped Elektra, while Sable picked up Castle and brought him to Cloak, the five of them teleporting to another building 4 blocks away. The looked back just in time to see a massive explosion engulf the entire top section of the skyscraper.

"Phew, that was close!" Spider-man said as he set foot down on the sidewalk below, taking cover in a bus shelter from the raining debris.

"You don't know the half of it." Miguel said. "I have to get back to my time right away. The longer I'm here, the greater the chance of permanent chronal displacement."

"And I take that's a bad thing." Spider-man replied. "Well I've got this tablet thingy right here. Kinda weird looking." Just then Moon Knight stirred. "Hey, welcome back to the land of the conscious." Spidey quipped, but Moon Knight's attention was on the 'tablet'. He reached out and grabbed it out of Spidey's hand, fascinated. It's was a small metallic encrusted stone about the size of two hands, silvery-gold, with an intricate pattern on it's surface.

"I've....seen this...before.....with Konshu..." Miguel's eyes widened.

"You know Konshu?" Miguel asked. Spector nodded weakly, indicating the crescent insignia on his chest. "Well you're the ideal person to safeguard this then. I can't take it with me- so hold onto it okay? Don't let anyone, and I mean anyone get their grubby mitts on it" Moon Knight nodded, finding strength from his new mission. With that the future Spider-man put his hands on the tablet in specific places and uttered a few words under his breath.” He nodded his head once and them handed the artifact to Moonknight.

Spidey looked confused. "Er……..shouldn’t you be gone or something. Do we to get a DeLorean?"

Miguel just smiled. "It’ll just take a moment to take effect, Peter I need you to remember something for me. Can you do that?"

"Sure...but how did you know my na.."

Miguel started to fade, becoming transparent from the bottom up. As his head was about to vanish he said a single word. "Yahoo."

With that, he was gone. Moon Knight turned the tablet over in his hand to look at it and put it inside a pouch in his belt.

"Hey there." Cage said, as he wandered across the street with the rest of the Heroes for Hire. "Those robot geeks all just quit on us, and our man Fisk took off. How'd it go with you lot?"

Moon Knight sighed. "Well I guess we won but it sure doesn't feel like it. Good work today guys, you'll be getting a nice fat bonus out of this. Let's go pick up the rest of the team in the Flyer and we'll head home."

------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Keep:

Black Widow, Dagger and Black Cat met the group as they exited the hangar bay. They were surprised to see that Silver Sable had come with them back to their HQ, and was mighty angry....

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done!?!” yelled Sable, “It took me nine months of deep cover to even get that far into the Kingpin’s organization and it only took nine minutes you armatures to ruin the whole operation. I’ll never get in again and he’ll be on high alert from now on.”

Spector couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “But you stabbed me, twice. You could have killed me!”

Sable drew out her sword and slashed at the candle holder and the 4 candles that it held before she returned it to her scabbard.

Natasha was unimpressed, “What is that supposed to prove?”

As Sable bent closer to the candles she blew on them and all but the third candle fell to the ground.

“If I had wanted you dead, you would be. I’m leaving now, don’t get in my way again.”

With that Sable sauntered off as calm as could be.

"All this talk is boring me to tears." Castle said, "While you're all in here gas-bagging, who's out working the streets? I'm outta here. Call me if you need some scum cleaned up."

"Ugh!" Daredevil said, as Castle left. "How can you all stand by while that amoral psycho murders people? I can't believe that you're letting him be a part of this?"

Moon Knight shrugged, "But he is effective, and let's face it, we need his firepower. That reminds me, I'd like to invite the Heroes for Hire to be permanent employees of our group. I think they more than proved themselves today, and would be a valuable asset."

Luke Cage beamed. "'Preciate the offer, really, it's cool of you. But we've got our own business goin'. It might be humble, but it's ours, ain't it girls?" Colleen and Misty both nodded in agreement. "We'd still be happy to get occasional jobs from you lot though, right Danny?"

"Hm?" Iron Fist said. "Oh, yeah, it's a good idea Luke." His mind was clearly elsewhere.

Daredevil was unimpressed. "So now we're hiring mercenaries? Do you know how many laws we are breaking?"

"Well thanks for your help anyway. We'll be in tough" Moon Knight said, not bothering to comment on DD's remarks, "Which brings me to something else I'd like to address, and that's leadership."

Daredevil's steeled himself. 'This ought to be good'. he thought.

"When we are in the field," Spector continued, "there needs to be a clear chain of command in order for us to be effective. There should be just one person giving orders, not just whoever feels like they know what's best." Moon Knight looked directly at Daredevil as he finished his statement. Clearly, he didn't like the way that DD had taken charge during their last mission.

"And I suppose that person is you?" Daredevil asked, his tone dripping with anger.

"Well I thought it was clear that this was my venture..."

"Actually," Spider-man interrupted, "I think it was my idea."

"Well, my financial backer has paid for everything..."

"So that means you are automatically in charge?" Daredevil snapped. "You know, I thought that this group might actually be able to make a difference. That working together, the streets might be better off. But I was wrong- it's half the members of this so-called team are just as bad as the people we're trying to stop. I'm out." He threw his Spider-tracker down on the table. "Come on Natasha. The Black Widow didn't move, just looked at DD pleadingly. "Fine then." Daredevil said finally, and walked out. After what had happened today, he had a good idea who the Kingpin really was, but it was going to have to be up to him to take him on alone now. He wasn't about to trust it to the Knights to mess up.

"He's got a point though." Spider-man said, breaking the awkward silence. "We've never really talked about team stuff."

"We should take a vote." Dagger said. Everyone looked at her. "On who's our leader I mean."

"Well, okay." Moon Knight said, he handed out pens and paper to everyone. "Write the name of the person you think should lead us on this." Everyone wrote a name, then revealed them one by one.

Cloak was first. 'Moon Knight' it said in a very untidy scraw. "He has been adequate."

Next was Spider-man. His paper read 'Black Widow' in small neat letters. "Well she's like, all smart and all with the James Bond training and all that. Seems like the smart choice to me."

Black Cat turned hers over next. In beautiful script, with a love heart dotting the i, was the name 'Spider-man'. Everyone rolled their eyes, including Spidey. "Sorry", the web-slinger said, "but I have trouble leading a waltz, little own a super-team."

Moon Knight voted for himself. "What?" he said, after receiving a couple of looks. "I've got military training too you know."

Black Widow also voted for Moon Knight. "With reservations..." she added. "You do need to stop making decisions without consulting the rest of us."

Dagger voted for Black Widow as well. "She's been very kind to me. I think she would be the best leader."

Elektra really wasn't sure. She felt so torn after seeing her former lover's angry outburst. She has almost followed him, but then he had asked Widow to follow instead and her heart sank. But she had to admit, she was beginning to understand what he saw on her. Black Widow has a strength of character, that she only wished she had. She voted for; 'Black Widow'.

"It's a tie." Moon Knight said. "Three for me, and three for Widow."

"Black Cat better change her vote then." Spidey put in. Felicity shrugged, looked at Spider-man's vote, and then wrote down Black Widow. "Girl Power!" she said with a grin as she held it up.

Natasha was stunned. So was Moon Knight.

--------------------------------------------------------------

One week later:

The phone rang at the Keep, and Cloak answered it.

<<Hey there little buddy, it's Cage. Is the white dude there?>>

"If you mean Moon Knight, he is not right now. Black Widow is here though. She's in charge now...apparently"

<<Oh okay....could you put her on?>>

"One moment." Cloak phased upstairs with the cordless phone in hand and passed it to Natasha. "It's Power Man. He sounds unsettled."

<<Hey there boss lady....listen...about that offer. I'd like to reconsider if I could.>>

"Oh? A change in circumstances, or a change of heart?"

<<Door number one. Some real bad mojo's been at us. Some jerks suing the pants off us on bogus charges, but they offered to drop them if we disincorporate Heroes for Hire inc. Danny's taken off, and the girls are job-hunting elsewhere, but I was hoping I could still hook up with you lot. What's worse, the banks screwed up and wiped all my accounts. I've been kicked out of my apartment.>>

Black Widow almost told him to forget it. Daredevil had made a good point about Cage being a mercenary, but on the other hand, she had seen him in action at the pier, and he clearly had the heart of a true hero. "I tell you what, why don't you come stay here at the Keep. We've still got a couple of spare rooms. I'll talk to the others about it, and we'll see what we can do."

"Sweet!" Cage replied. "I'll bring my stuff around right away. Thanks for the crib boss-lady!"

Natasha put down the phone and smiled. It was hard not to like that guy.

========================================

Will we be seeing more of Silver Sable?

Will Daredevil find the answers he's looking for?

Will Natasha be able to lead the team to victory?

Check back soon when the Marvel Knights are in for the fight of their lives!