Thunderbolts #5 - Cleaning House
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Superia advanced on the three people standing at the end of the corridor, with Rock Python and Songbird forming a determined, if somewhat fragile looking barrier between her and Nightshade.
"What do we do Songbird?" Rock Python asked, his hands clenched around a pair of his trademark bolas.
"Get Nightshade out of here." Songbird ordered, as Superia's hands cracked with energy. "Get her as far away as you can!" She yelled, as her foe advanced on the group of villains.
Don't go far." Superia called, as Rock Python picked up Nightshade, and kicked open the door. "You won't last long enough for them to get past these walls." She added, as she fired a blast of energy at Songbird, only for the beam to be reflected by a hastily formed sonic shield. "How did you do that?" She screamed, "You don’t have your sonic harness?!"
"Doctor Dorcas restored my voice and all my sonic abilities!" Melissa hissed, before flashing Superia a determined grimace. "I'd wager that would buy a little more time for them." She added, as a salvo of hard sound daggers flew out of her fingertips, the majority of the blades ricocheting off of Superia's skin, although a few left stinging welts on her skin.
"Congratulations Miss Gold," Superia grunted through gritted teeth, "before I thought you were the impotent buzzing fly, but now," she announced as she flew towards Melissa, "now you are the annoying biting flea." she snarled as Melissa sheathed her arm in sonic armour. "But fly or flea, I will crush you like a bug!"
**
Abe hoped that he was being stoic, not that he could tell, the audio sensors in his MACH VI armour had pretty much burst into flame. Watching he saw Titania gesture towards Erik, the later standing like a pillar of fire, silently blazing away, no emotion showing on his face. Pain burning through his body, Abe still felt shocked by what he saw next, as Erik grabbed Titania by the arm, and shot up like a rocket.
"What is he..." Water Witch croaked, before something struck her from behind, as steel cables wrapped around her body.
"Oh man what is that smell?" Nightshade asked, as Rock Python placed her against the wall. "I thought this guy was MACH VI not the Stink Bug?" She added, as Rock Python cracked a pair of orbs over Abe's back, a torrent of water washing over the armour.
"Coolant burnt out..." Abe gasped, "...where is Melissa?" He asked, as a torrent of hissing steam, rose from the MACH VI armour. Before anyone could say anything, a hissing screech sounded from below them, the walls of the prison cracking as a pink crack spider-webbed below them.
"Guess." Nightshade announced, her voice almost lost in the cacophony of sound emanating below them.
**
Erik heard Songbird's scream as he soared into the sky, his hand clenched around Titania, her blows and kicks doing little damage to the ionic man, whose grasp she now found herself in.
"I didn't want to do this." Erik told Titania, as she tried to bite him on the hand. "I made the choice not to harm anyone." He told Titania, as the pair of them burst through the clouds. "Even someone like you Titania." He added as they came to a stop. "And I'm going to keep that promise." He finished, before letting Titania go, the prisoner flailing as she fell.
"I thought you were a pacifist?!" She screamed as she fell.
"No I told you I wouldn’t hurt you." Erik answered, anger creeping into his voice. "But people like you and your troll of a husband, they deserve to be hurt."
"But you promised..." Titania called, her fear now evident in her voice and across her face.
"I did," Erik replied, his voice now level, "but gravity didn't."
**
Melissa screamed, a pair of sonic leg cuffs wrapping around Superia's legs, only for the warden to snap them off in seconds, sonic shrapnel striking Songbird in the face. Taking advantage of her opponent's attack backfiring, Superia grabbed Melissa by the neck and slammed her violently into the wall.
"You are not strong enough to stop me little flea." Superia cackled, as Melissa levered herself off the wall, only to be slammed back into the wall. "No whore in service to a man is a match for me."
"You really are going to go there aren't you?" Melissa hissed, as a swarm of sonic magpies flying at Superia, the bird's pecking at her eyes and face, the distraction giving Songbird time to slip out of her captors grip. "You worked with Osborne, you don't have the right to use the 'female supremacy' angle."
"Norman was just a tool for me to use!" Superia screamed, as she lunged at Melissa, her hand wrapping around Melissa's leg, before upending the Thunderbolt, with her landing face first into the floor. "And you're just a pathetic lost little girl playing hero, I know about your priors, I know everything about you, Melissa Gold; thief, prostitute and murderer."
Melissa's answer may not have been verbal, but it was loud, as a hard sound train slammed into both women, the pair of them slamming through the wall, and into the yard below, as a hail of masonry rained down around them.
**
Abe lunged, grabbing Nightshade by the scruff of her neck, as the wall they were standing on collapsed. Rotating mid-fall, Abe landed hard on his back, the armour suspension cracking from the blow, with Rock Python landed hard next to him.
"You guys okay?" Abe groaned as he got to his feet, only to receive a kick to the visor, the blow cracking the hardened acrylic.
"Uhm no." Nightshade deadpanned, as Rock Python attempted a clumsy tackle on Superia, only to be redirected into a pile of masonry. Now unopposed, she advanced on Nightshade, a twisted re-bar in her hand. "Do it Superia, but it just proves that you're no better then the men you despise."
"You always were to smart for your own good Nightshade!" Superia hissed, as she slammed the re-bar into Nightshade's cheek, blood spraying over Superia. Bringing back the bar for a second blow, Superia looked up to see an ionic meteor come crashing towards her. Seconds later Titania slammed into the yard, ionic energy and dust filling the courtyard. Squinting through the haze, Superia saw something pink streak towards her, before being slammed into the far wall.
"We're not finished yet Warden!" Melissa screamed, as she came walking out of the haze, only to be answered by an energy beam streaking towards her.
"Nice try," Erik stated, as ionic energy sparked around the beam, before it collapsed into a burning shower of ash. "Looks like the warden needs to be caged." He added as ionic bars surrounded Superia, only for her to rip them into pieces.
"No man may cage me!!" Superia yelled. "No man is a match for me! I am going to rip you all apart!!"
"No you won't." Nightshade replied calmly, "Your about to be Superia to nothing." She added, as the villain hissed and spat, before slamming her fist into Songbird, only to see Melissa tank the blow, with little effect.
"How did you..." Superia gasped, only to notice the odd look on Melissa's face. "What are you looking at?"
"You're looking a little different Superia," Nightshade announced, "Before you arrived, I tricked Songbird into injecting me with a special serum I developed, just in case you tried to get rid of me. I didn't have enough time the first go, but it did the work the second go around." She added as Rock Python threw his bolas at Superia, the cables exploding out of the balls, the constriction sending her falling to the floor.
"This won't hold me!!" Superia snarled, as the awestruck Thunderbolts gathered round her. "I am Superia, punisher of all men!!"
"You're also a hypocrite." Abe announced, as he walked over, with Superia getting a look at her reflection.
"Did I mention, that I decided to add a little irony to my revenge? In addition to the power draining properties, I added a genetic component as well." Nightshade asked as Superia screamed, a deep masculine scream, as she saw a male face reflected back at her. "Paybacks a b***h but you no longer are."
**
Valerie Cooper sat at the desk as she browsed through Black Oak's files. Her eyes scanning over each folder, the contents being downloaded to an attached portable hard drive.
"Agent Cooper, prison secure, all inmates accounted for save one." Abe called over the team communications link. "Joystick is missing, despite records stating she was in a coma."
"Joystick is low priority, we have other things to worry about," she answered, as she paused the download and dragged a file labelled, CSA Funding, to the recycle bin icon, "a lot of things."
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