StormWatch: Team Achilles (StormWatch: Team Achilles #5)

"Enemy Manipulation"

Team Achilles is in Chechnya. More specifically, Blake Coleman is in the hand of a giant that's trying to eat him in Chechnya. Blake's holding his own though, firing endlessly into the open mouth of the giant. In hidden spots relatively close by Golovin and Pickney wonder if they should help him out. They decide that he can handle himself and they're right. Coleman drops a mine down the giant's throat and frees himself from the SPB's grip. Once he's loose he triggers the mine, killing the giant almost instantly. As he's running out of the path of the falling body, the story goes back to five days previous.

Santini is outlining how their mission is going to go down. The main target is Dhul Fiqar and after he's dead everyone gets to go home. Pickney questions where they got all their info, stating that almost any government agency would only supply their unit with half-truths. Golovin sees something above Santini's head and asks permission to kill it, but Santini states that that's where they get their intel from. The thing above him is Buzz Dixon, an SPB with a body tailored to infiltration, stealth and observation. He goes on to talk about Buzz and then gets back to telling the team about the mission.

Back in the present Blake Coleman is getting attacked by another monster, this time a six-breasted werewolf. Another flashback shows Marie Grunier trying to convince Santini to remove Cisco from the mission since he's suffering from psychological issues after the last fight. Santini refuses and because of that, Cisco is able to save Coleman from the she-wolf. He goes a little overboard though and brutally kills her when it wasn't necessary. Coleman reprimands him but does nothing else.

At a remote location, Tefibi and Santini are monitoring the mission and going over why The Authority (Earth-50) controls Chechnya. It turns out that the only way they're able to monitor the mission is by looking at it through the Authority's technology. The Authority knows what they're doing though and after arguing amongst themselves about what they're going to do about it, Jack Hawksmoor, Midnighter and The Engineer decide to Door down to Chechnya.

However, the tech-wizardry Tefibi pulled at the end of the last issue had some benefits other than just letting Team Achilles spy through Authority tech, it also allows him to redirect their Shift-Doors, keeping The Authority away from where the team is fighting. By the time they finally make it to Chechnya, most of Team Achilles is out of site and for some reason Hawksmoor is incapacitated just by being in the area. The Team Achilles snipers shoot at the downed Hawksmoor and Angie shoots back at where she thinks they are, but misses. Before she can realize it, Team Achilles' plan starts to come into shape. More terrorist SPB appear in the area and upon seeing The Authority they pick a fight with them and ignore the members of Team Achilles that are sneaking around.

At the base where Santini and Tefibi are watching, a Russian ambassador that had been working with them comes in to chat. He asks about their progress and then unexpectedly pulls out gun and shoots Santini point blank in the chest!