Marvel Mayhem - Thunderbolts #19 - Shadows of the Past - Part 4
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Last Issue the Thunderbolts situation went from bad to worse. Smuggler attempted to perform a biopsy on Songbird and revealed that she was dying from exposure to the Vibranium that powered her sonic harness. Meanwhile Abe woke up in a completely different body and learnt that Hard Shell had been planning her revenge for a while. He wasn't the only one going through a change in Tehran, Victoria encountered the rouge titan Arke who joined with her to fight Oort the Living Comet. And if that wasn't bad enough old enemy Flag Smasher turned up and revealed he knew Meteorite secret before leaving her in the sewers to face Piranha and her children.
Flashes of light arched down into the cistern as the swarm of Piranha spawn crawled up the walls, teeth gnashing as they relentlessly headed towards the only piece of live prey in the area. Uttering a few choice curse words Meteorite fired wave after wave of photon blasts as well as creating localized graviton wells, the disturbance causing the advancing monsters to slid back into the toxic looking water, not that it slowed them down for long, they simply joined the end of the queue of piscine monstrosities and restarted their trek up to the surface.
"Damm it Orka I could use a hand up here." Meteorite hissed as the first members of the shoal reached the bottom walkway before the Thunderbolt superheated the rail and sent the creatures spiralling back into the toxic soup below. Technically she knew that her abilities to keep the Piranha spawn at bay were limited, she might hold for hours but that meant nothing when the seismic charge detonated and gave the monsters a free ride to the surface. Amping up the frequency of her energy blasts Meteorite let lose a wide beam of energy that scythed through the supports of the lower catwalks, the metal pathways falling into to the bottom and crushing a few of the attackers but not enough to deter them from advancing. In fact if anything they seemed to be speeding up, almost as if they were even more desperate to leave the area and Meteorite felt a shudder of unease ripple through the shoal as a deep bellow sounded from the deep and Orka erupted from the toxic pool, a row of teeth embedded in his shoulder but otherwise unharmed.
"Orka up here." Meteorite called as she scythed through another walkway just as the Piranha begun to swarm onto it, the fish creature's cries of panic echoing around the chamber as they fell. Orka replied with a roar and begun to climb, his strength allowing him to make quick progress in the hand holds Piranha and ULTIATUM had carved in preparation for the ascent of the next generation, occasionally ripping a lagging member of the shoal off the wall and sending it back to the bottom. By the time he had reached the remaining gantries Meteorite was surrounded and fighting enemies from all directions. As he advanced the Piranha spawn screeched in fear and anger before a large percentage jumped ship, their instincts causing them to flee while their braver brethren were ripped to pieces by Meteorite and Orka's combined brutal counter attack.
"You injured." Orka grunted as Meteorite kicked the last of the spawn off the gantry.
"No I'm fine but we are running out of time." She answered before hovering over to the cistern. "Flag Smasher rigged the cistern to blow and give the kids a free trip to downtown Seattle." she added before ripping off the cover of the cistern and revealing a lozenge shaped disc wired up with multiple timers. "We can't let them escape but I have no idea how to disarm this."
"We can't that's an Atlantean mining charge." Orka stated as she passed the bomb down, "Luckily as a former military man I used these quite a few times mostly to flatten villages held by my enemies. I'm not proud of that but at least that information can be used to save the city." He added as he detached the timers and threw the main body away, the device taking out a small section of the next Piranha assault wave climbing towards them. "Okay I've changed the frequency for a short wave high energy blast and I know just where to put it." He growled as he connected the timers together. "Send the spawn back into the water and keep them there." He told Meteorite as he dropped the charge over the side. Meteorite nodded and sent a crushing gravity field along the sides of the cistern, flattening the approaching monsters back into the pool. Seconds later the bomb exploded an ear shattering wave of sound radiating upwards and blasting a hole to the surface.
"That's exactly what we didn't want to happen." Meteorite screamed before Orka pointed down into the water, the former green water stained brown.
"I modified the device into a short range sonic pulsar." Orka told her. "In water it will kill anything within a fifty meter radius. Now we must hurry, I removed a wireless trigger that should allow us to hack into the other bombs but I will need a place to broadcast the signal."
"I know just the place." Meteorite purred as she picked up Orka and headed towards the surface.
**
Melissa shivered as Donnie put Chen's unconscious body down in the main hall of the meat packing warehouse. Instinctively she looked up at the hung corpses and saw that there was now a third body hanging from a hook, one that was too familiar.
"I know." Donnie stated as he heard Melissa gasp. "I checked to see if his body could be saved but it appears as if Smuggler or Hard Shell decided to play doctor with him. I'm so sorry Mel." He added as he bent down and pressed a concealed plate in the floor. "I saw Hard Shell press this." He added as a console connected to four large glass cylinders rose from the floor.
"My god there are people in there." Melissa gasped as she walked over and put her hand on the glass before withdrawing as the figure inside reached out, the mouths in its palms gnashing at the glass. "Thralls." She spat, "As if this day couldn't get any worse."
"If you thinks yours is bad I'll trade you mine." A voice stated causing Melissa and Donnie to turn round and catch a glimpse of a woman bound to a chair, cybernetic parts gleaming in the glow of the eternal snowstorms whirling around Donnie's hands. "Mel, Don are you guys alright?" She asked.
"Have we met?" Donnie asked.
"Don it's Abe stop prating around and untie me." The woman spat.
"Yeah alright if Abe was a woman then we'd untie you." Melissa stated dryly.
"Mel don't make me reveal what you had tattooed on your butt when we first met." The woman warned. "Because it will destroy the tough image you had as Screaming Mimi."
"That's Abe." Mel gulped as Donnie froze the chair's restraints, the sheer coldness radiating from his body causing them to disintegrate.
"Thanks Don how much time do you have left?" Abe asked as he got to his feet and stretched his cybernetic fingers.
"Minutes at most." Donnie answered, "What happened to you?"
"We don't have enough time right now." Abe answered, "We need to get out before Hard Shell comes back."
"Oh sister what have you done." A dry female voice announced from the doorway as Hard Shell, still dressed in the nurses uniform walked in. "You and your friends are not leaving."
"You don't have your armour on." Melissa spat, "And your unarmed, you really can't stop us."
"Oh that piece of junk is antiquated." Hard Shell answered as she withdrew a syringe from her pocket and stabbed it into her arm. "Bio-Technology is the way of the future. Mattock has been rounding up Thralls for a week now and they have revealed a virtual treasure trove of secrets." She groaned as her muscles expanded and her fingers elongated into hooked claws as she fell to the floor and shuddered, long fins sprouting from her back. Getting to her feet she stared at the Thunderbolts her eyes glowing green. "Welcome to your dooms." She bellowed before screaming in rage and charging towards Songbird and Blizzard.
**
The skies over Tehran, Iran
Oort the Living Comet soared over the roof tops riding on a blazing disc of energy as behind him a silver arrow dragging a rainbow contrail behind her followed. Running was futile, he was going flat out and she was still catching him, but what she didn't know was that his flight would soon be terminating very soon. Turning he fired a blast of energy at the pursuing Thunderbolt only to see her spiral round the beam of heat and continue towards him. With a hollow sounding cough Oort sent a wave of light and heat across the sky that slammed into Victoria causing the silver across her body to retreat and send her plummeting towards the ground.
"Gauntlet." Oort called, "Finish her off while I go back and find the crystal before Whiplash has a hernia."
"Got it." A figure croaked from a nearby roof before standing on the edge, his mottled green skin glowing in the late evening sun as he energized his pulse rifle and leapt off the edge. "She's as good as dead." He added as Oort streaked back to the firebombed remains of Tambushi's store. Stalking through the alleyways he reached the point Victoria had dropped too and bent down, tacking a deep sniff from the surrounding area and smiling before looking up. "You think you could hide from me?" He asked as his cybernetic eye locked onto the figure crouched in one of the windows.
"Nope." Victoria answered as she leapt down onto Gauntlet before he could even squeeze the trigger, "I was waiting for you." She added as Gauntlet blocked her follow up punch and rifle butted her onto the floor.
"You have fight in you and I like that but unfortunately I have work to do." Gauntlet chuckled as he levelled his pulse rifle at her. With an inhuman hiss Victoria lashed out, a silver blade forming around her hand and slicing through the barrel of the gun and causing the fuel cell to explode, the force sending Gauntlet flying into the one of the buildings. With an angry hiss he got to his feet and drew his pistols before opening fire just as the liquid silver crawled up Victoria's body, the bullets bouncing off her second skin.
"Guns not going to cut it." Victoria hissed as a long silver tongue snaked out of her mouth. "It's been centuries since I last feasted on an inhuman." She snarled before sprinting forwards and slapping Gauntlet's pistols away, her tongue wrapping around his neck. With a moan Gauntlet reached up and tried to pry the foul appendage away before realizing his mistake as Victoria stuck her fingers into his cybernetic eye and ripped it out, the electrical feedback causing him to fall to the floor unconscious.
"Gauntlet this is Whiplash come in." The radio on Gauntlet's belt hissed. "Oort located the crystal but we have a problem, Blackheath is back in action and he's between us and what we came for."
"Gauntlet can't come and play." Victoria hissed down the radio, "If I were you I'd run before I get there." She added before flaring her wings and taking to the sky, rainbow energy forming behind her as she soared towards the shop. From her ariel post she could see the woody form of Blackheath growing shields of bark up around the outside of the shop whilst Oort burnt them down in a desperate attempt to get inside. With a screech Victoria dived down and tackled the villain to the ground before flipping him over and raining blow after blow at his faceplate before it cracked and the light inside went out.
"I warned you." Victoria hissed. "None have defeated the Falcon of Acheron."
"You will pay for this." Whiplash snarled as she removed her teleportation trigger. "All of you Thunderbolts will pay." She screamed before she disappeared in a burst of energy, Oort's body following as the living silver retreated to a thin band around Victoria's neck and arms to form a gleaming chocker and bracelets.
"What was that?" Blackheath asked as the bark splintered around him.
"I don't know." Victoria answered, "But I like It." she added as a mischievous grin spreading across her face.
**
Seattle, Washington
Flame streaked across the floor as Hard Shell snarled and snorted, eddies of fire whirling around her face as Blizzard erected a shield of ice thick enough to survive the onslaught and start creeping out across the floor from where he stood. "Guys a hand would be nice." He moaned as Hard Shell came barrelling in and slammed through the ice and him before heading to where Songbird was crouched next to Radioactive Man.
"Donnie I can't use my powers." She yelled as Abe stepped forward and went to grab Hard Shell only for his body to stall.
"I told you that I you were not programmed to hurt me." Hard Shell hissed as Melissa picked up a coffee mug and threw it at the vile former Mattock employee. With a crash it smacked on her head and Keira turned and unleashed a massive fireball that ignited the table and trapping the two Thunderbolts in a ring of fire.
"Mel." Abe yelled as he struggled to free himself from his programming and accessed the Strike Back cybernetic packages referring to his body's new offensive hardware. He was still cracking firewalls when Keira accidently caught him with her arm sending him flying as Blizzard sent fist sized hailstones at the mutated monstrosity. As if a switch had been pulled the cybernetic system painted Hard Shell's outline red and asked for confirmation of foe analysis. Pressing yes Abe watched as an optimized weapon package activated, one suited to exploit the weakness of the foe he faced; a long range sonic canon and a pair of visible light cutting lasers. Choosing the later he watched as they popped out of his shoulders and he fired only to see the emitters spark and repack just as Blizzard was thrown across the room.
"Your deep level encryptions will prevent any system from targeting me." Hard Shell smirked as she saw Chen stir from inside the ring of fire. "Anything else is fair game but I am the one person you can no longer hurt." She snarled as Melissa picked up a metal bar and slammed it into Hard Shell's face only to see it melt from the sheer heat produced by the freaks internal flame. With an ear splitting screech Hard Shell slammed Melissa face first into the floor and stepped on her back. "I am the new face of warfare." She hissed as Donnie created a blade of ice and rushed in only to see Hard Shell pick up Melissa and use her as a shield. "You can't touch me, none of you can."
Angrily Abe activated the sonic canon and locked onto his target only to see Hard Shell huff in amusement. "You are less then useless in this fight Leila."
"My name is Abner Jenkins." Abe roared, "You may have a new body but it has limitations." he yelled before firing, the blast shattering the tanks with the thralls in, the mutant slaves writhing and twisting to escape their restraints. "Your just about to become a prisoner of your own biology." he added as the Thralls escaped and surged forwards towards Hard Shell, their hunger increasing their ferocity as they recklessly attacked with no regard to their own safety. "I think it's time to leave." He added.
"No." Donnie groaned, "Abe take Mel and Chen out of here."
"But Donnie." Melissa gasped, "We can help you get better."
"No it's too late and I don't fancy thinking about what would happen if Hard Shell and those other thralls escaped into Seattle." Donnie stated as Hard Shell beat off a thrall with lizard skin only to have one with feathers for hair skink teeth into her neck. "Besides the next bit gets messy, Abe knows he saw it back with the original Blizzard when the B-Team was still running interference for Justin Hammer."
"It's not pretty." Abe sighed, "Don is about to become a Freon Bomb, one that will flash freeze anything within thirty meters." He added as he helped Chen to his feet, the pair of them walking to the door. "Give em hell man."
"Thank you Don." Melissa whispered as she followed her team mates out. "You just became a real hero." She added as Hard Shell picked herself up, proto teeth already protruding from her hands.
"Go." Donnie ordered as Melissa lifted Chen's other arm before she and Abe left the building. "You stay." He ordered as the thralls begun to stalk past him, "The day you escape is when Hell freezes over, and until then you get the Captain America special on ice" He added as his body glowed blue and exploded, the force showering the whole building with ice and snow until the walls collapsed revealing five frozen thralls trapped in ice and an empty Freon tank.
"He's gone." Melissa gasped before feeling something land on her head. Looking up the Thunderbolts saw snow falling all around them.
"But not forgotten." Chen answered softly his face wrapped with agony. "May he find peace or at the very least an open bar."
"Amen to that." Abe added before looking inland. "We have to warn the world about what we saw here today."
**
Orka and Meteorite ran through the destroyed streets heading for the grove of greenness that Blackheath had managed to create. They had surfaced close to Camp Falx but Mattock had stubbornly denied them the use of their radio mast insisting that it would better serve to look for a missing fire team. Heavy heartedly the two Thunderbolts had decided to regroup hoping that the others would have an idea but already the remote trigger showed that they were rapidly running out of time. Reaching the field Meteorite landed and ran to the spot where Victoria and Blackheath had left from only to see them digging their way out of the earth.
"Guys thank god, listen we have a massive problem stirring under the city and only five minutes to quell it." Sara gasped.
"What problem?" Victoria asked as she watched a slither of living silver run up her arm before shaking it and watching the creeping protrusion retreat back to the bracelets she wore."
"Flag Smasher is back." Orka stated causing the new arrivals to look horrified. "He has bred an army of Piranha's children under the city, one that is almost ready to surface. We need some kind of transmitter to disarm the breaching charges remotely but the only one in a central location has been denied to us."
"Then we'll make them give it to us." Victoria hissed causing Blackheath to give her a nervous glance. "And when they beg us for mercy then we will show them the meaning of true power."
"Okay that's creepy and too time consuming, we need a contingency plan." Meteorite stated as Blackheath sat cross legged on the floor. "Or we can meditate here as if it's a normal Sunday."
"I am connecting to the Green." Blackheath snarled, "It will provide our solution." He added as writhing vines sprouted from the ground spiralling up towards the sun. His whole body shuddering Blackheath got to his feet and raised his hands above his head as if forcing the structure to rise, elegant plazas and graceful arches following the spire until and entire fortress formed from the living plant matter had emerged to form an awe inspiring structure ready to be used.
"Give me the trigger." Blackheath ordered. Hesitating for a second Meteorite threw it to him before watching as a vine snaked out grabbed the trigger and stabbed it into Sam's chest causing him to screech and moan, the entire fortress vibrating until a single concussive wave of energy reached out from the structure before everything fell quiet. Collapsing to the floor Blackheath sent a tendril out of his body, the appendage dropping the trigger and the glowing Kree data crystal. "It is done." He moaned as Orka helped him to his feet. "The creatures will most likely consume each other now that they are trapped underground."
"What is that thing?" Victoria asked.
"Base, Bastion, Brigg, Performing Centre and Power Plant. It will serve our needs whatever they are." Blackheath told her.
"Wow." Meteorite gasped.
"Yes I must admit it is a wonder." Blackheath answered smugly.
"Not that." Meteorite snorted. "It's beginning to snow."
**
"And so I'm surrounded by Inner Circle." Baron Zemo sighed as he looked at the assorted figures standing before him. "And yet I sense failure from all of you."
"I'm sorry my friend." The man dressed in white announced. "If it's any consolation ULTIMATUM agents have cleared the wreckage and allowed the surviving Piranha to escape into the ocean."
"Then you have salvaged something Flag Smasher." Zemo stated. "And what of you Europium?" He asked as the glowing humanoid crystal glared at Flag Smasher. "What tidings do you have for me?"
"Iridium returned with the sample of DNA from the Super Skrull." Europium buzzed, "With a few modifications it will be a viable match for the genetics of other species. He also stated that Songbird was recognized by the Thunderbolt Meteorite."
"It wasn't my fault." Songbird snapped, "If you had let me use my old costume instead of my doppelgangers threads then she would be none the wiser."
"Dr Sophen won't tell anyone." Flag Smasher snorted, "If she does then we can easily reveal her secret. In a sense we have power over her."
"Don't believe that." Zemo purred. "It will only serve to increase the deviousness of Moonstone's actions. And what of you?" He asked the glowing red eyes gleaming from the shadows. "What do you have for me?"
"The biometrics you wanted." The figure announced before floating out of the shadows to reveal a gaunt armoured figure. "And a new suit." He added before waving his hand and revealing the imposing armoured exoskeleton behind him. "One that will serve your cause well."
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