Seattle King Dome, Seattle, United States of America
“So this is how it ends.” A female voice stated seconds before a glowing axe was slammed down through her neck, her head rolling to join the other six lined up on the rack. Throwing the weapon aside her executioner turned to look at the wall, talons formed of shadow dragging the broken figure out of his hiding place, his body thrashing as he tried desperately to get free.
“Ghost, you are the last.” The executioner hissed as tendrils of darkness pulled his victims armour from his body, before dropping the bitter, broken man down next to where the woman’s body was lying. “Finally, no more Thunderbolts!” He snarled, as he brought the axe up, before slamming it down through his victim’s neck.
**
Credit Union, Beacon Hill, Seattle Exclusion Zone - Three Months Later
“And Seattle is open for business once more.” The voice on the television stated. “Thanks to the efforts of the EPA and SHIELD all contamination from the ULTIMATUM attack has been removed, and the lawless element that was so anchored into the wasteland the city had become has been reduced.” It added, as a shotgun blast sounded, followed by a body hitting the floor.
“Okay all of you hand over your wallets!” A man dressed in black jeans and a hoody yelled, the skull like mask covering his face muffling his voice just a bit. “The Hellraisers are looking for donations to the ‘Screw Seattle Fund’ and if we don’t hit our target amount, we start killing people. Do I make myself clear?”
“They get is Skull.” A woman dressed in a mini skirt and corset replied, her face covered with a demon mask, a sack in her hand.
“I don’t think they do Devil!” Skull barked, as the third member dressed in a suit, a mask of Bill Clinton tied to his face using a string strung round the back of his head. “Bill, shoot another one!” He ordered as ‘Bill’ pumped the shotgun he was holding and aimed it at a hostage down on the floor. Pulling the trigger he stared wide eyed as the shell bounced off a pink shield covering the victim he had been aiming at.
“Crud not these guys!!” Skull swore, as Devil dropped the sack and removed a pistol from a shoulder holster, as Bill threw his gun away and drew his own sidearm. “The Thunderc***s!! Why can’t they just leave us alone?!” She added, as a sonic boxing glove flew through the air and socked her in the jaw, the blow sending her sprawling to the floor.
“Because if we did, we wouldn’t be good at our jobs.” A voice called from the door of the bank, one that caused all three thugs to glower at the figure stood there.
“Decibel!!” Skull snarled, as the young woman with black hair accented with pink bangs dressed in a black jumpsuit emblazoned with a white bird motif and stripes on her legs strode into the room. “It’s people like you that forced us into crime in the first place what with your civil wars and bomb scares!”
“And I suppose we were responsible for your crimes before the ULTIMATUM bombings as well?” Decibel asked sarcastically as Skull and Bill opened fire one her, their bullets snatched from mid-air by a sonic whirlpool that robbed them of their speed before dropping them on the floor in a pile.
“Don’t worry about it Mel.” A new voice replied as a slug phased through the glass before snapping back to reality and smashing Bill in the head, the mask cracking upon impact as the thug staggered for a few seconds and fell to the floor. “This Micro-Intangibility Generator Ghost worked up is a stroke of genius.” It added, as Decibel sprang into action and threw a sonic bolas round Skull, before delivering a spring kick into his chest and knocking him to the floor.
“Don’t get too used to it Abigail.” Melissa replied, as a woman dressed in sleek grey armour with folding swing wings on the back walked in. Removing her helmet, the dark skinned woman shot Decibel an annoyed look, before policing the gangster’s weapons and removing the ammo clips.
“Very funny, remind me next time I see Mentallo to throttle him for putting my mind into this body.” Abigail replied. “I’m still Abe Jenkins where it counts you know, including when I’m in the MACH V armour.” She added as the pair of them stood aside to let the hostages leave the scene.
“Not everywhere.” Melissa snorted, as her eyes gravitated down towards the woman’s crotch, a wicked smile on her face. “You know I’m still trying to figure out what I should put as my orientation on the census forms we got sent.”
“Put other, there can’t be too many of those.” Abigail replied, as sonic chains lashed the three would be bank robbers together. “I must say, that a simple bank heist is a relief after that business with ULTIMATUM, Ronan the Accuser and Solstice, it’s just a shame we lost so many people fighting them, Donnie, Sam and Sybil all deserve to be here.”
**
Thunderbolts Headquaters, Capitol Hill, Seattle Exclusion Zone
“Having trouble deciding how to address your public Baron?” A mocking tone asked, as the scared figure of Baron Zemo stood naked save for his trademark hood looking at his costume and the business suit laid side by side on the cot in his tiny room.
“It’s Mayor Zemo as you well know Clint Barton.” Zemo replied as he turned to look at his tormenter, the man dressed in purple ceramic armour, a modern crossbow slung over his shoulder and a thigh quiver of boots magnetically adhered to his belt. “Or do you still prefer Hawkeye, even after you killed a well-known business man.”
“Who turned out to be an alien mass-murderer and would-be world conqueror” Clint answered in a smug voice. “If you want to be thought of one I’d take the old purple number.” He added. “Oh and its Crossbow now, I know some Irish guy is using it but I doubt he’ll pick a fight with me over it.”
“Well Crossbow,” Zemo sighed as he picked up the business suit, “thank you for your help, and thank you for remaining with the Thunderbolts despite the recent problems.”
“I do it to keep you honest, all of you. Even Mel and Abe, or Abi or whatever were drifting awfully close to something illegal before I re-joined the team.” Clint stated, a touch of malice drifting into his voice. “Remember I have an arrow for everyone should any of you step out of line.”
“I remember, and hopefully with Seattle re-joining the rest of the world we won’t have to.” Zemo told him, before removing a purple tie accented with a silver thunderbolt pin from a rundown chest of drawers. “Now what do you think of this tie?”
**
Mel and Abi walked through the doors to the sunken manor house that acted as the Mayor’s office and the team’s unofficial headquarters, at least for the moment. Heading down into the basement, the pair of them stripped off their costumes and pulled on jeans and blouses, before heading back upstairs just as a hulking blue skinned figure wearing a gold belt ducked through the door, a bleeding bite mark on his right arm.
“You okay Orka, looks like something took a chunk out of you?” Abigail asked, as the giant looked down at his open wound.
“Oh that, the Atlantean ‘Hook’ Dealers had one of Piranha’s children on site, still there is nothing left of their operation.” Orka grumbled as he removed a blade like tooth stuck into his arm. “Zemo really is serious on his war against crime.”
“So it seems.” Abigail replied as Melissa took the tooth from Orka and raised it to her eye, before slipping it into her pocket. “I still don’t trust him, it’s why I contacted Clint and supplied him Boomerang’s costume so he could join the team. Remember he hasn’t revealed his end-game yet and Zemo prides himself on staying many steps ahead of both his allies and his enemies.”
“That’s not a pleasant thought.” Melissa replied, as Orka removed another tooth from his wound. “I’m going to go check on Dr Chen, he mentioned something about training with Kona.” She added, as she headed off towards the gym.
“How’s that going Abe.” Orka asked, as Abigail rubber her neck nervously.
“It’s hard, I’m going to clock some lab time, Ghost and I are going to overhaul Milos’s Unicorn gear to limit the amount of radiation leaking into his skull.” Abigail stated before following Melissa’s departure with her eyes. “If Mel asks I should be finished in a few hours.” She added, as she trudged off in the opposite direction.
**
Melissa walked into the gym, just as Kona Lor slammed her foot into Dr Chen Lu’s chest, the blow sending him toppling onto his back. Groaning, he lashed out, the lithe blue skinned warrior placing her hand on his blow and springing off his massive fist to slam her leg into her opponent’s face. Pushing himself off his back, Chen’s movement sent Kona flying, his skin rippling as green veins began to form on his skin.
“This is an unarmed combat session Dr Chen.” Kona purred, as she positioned herself into a defensive stance. “No powers save for physical abilities, if you want to use your powers you’ll have to wait for me to get my weapons.”
“In real combat you wouldn’t get the chance.” Melissa stated, as she stepped onto the ring. “I need a word with the doctor so you can get what you need.”
“I’ll step out then.” Kona replied as she straightened up and walked out to the stair leading to the weapons locker in the room below. As she left Chen’s skin flashed green as his radioactive energy surged and his human form melted away.
“What is it you need Melissa?” Chen asked, as Melissa leaned against the wall.
“You lost a portion of your power recently thanks to Solstice draining the radiation out of the land to restore Seattle.” Melissa stated as she looked Chen up and down. “As co-field leader with Abigail I just wanted to know if you were fit to return back out there again.”
“My power is weakened as you say.” Chen sighed. “That is why I have asked Kona to train me in some unarmed combat styles. I have relied on my powers for too long, a wise woman once told me that my powers should be used to support my physical abilities.”
“I’ve never been called wise before.” Melissa answered, her eyebrows raised in surprise whilst her cheeks blushed slightly. “I’m sure Kona will make you regret ever saying that when she returns. One more thing, Zemo wants us all with him when he meet his investors tonight, I’m not expecting any problems but it would be stupid not to prepare for interruptions.”
“I’ll let Kona know.” Chen told her. “I would be more concerned about sabotage from within the team. Ghost will not be happy that Zemo is getting into bed with big business.”
“Honestly Doctor Chen, I don’t think anyone is happy to think about that.” Melissa replied as she headed for the door. “It is a disgusting image whichever way you think about it.”
**
Abigail ran the wires from the horn like structure into a series of radiation absorbent plates mounted around the helmet. As she did a man looked over her shoulder, his muscles rippling under the orange and black jumpsuit he was wearing.
“The vibranium weave in this aluminium plating will reduce the radiation that reaches your brain Milos.” Abigail stated. “It also keeps the stress on you neck down compared to the lead design the Soviet Union supplied you when the suit was new. We’ll need to keep an eye on degredation though, that’s what lead to the problems last time.”
“Thank you Miss Jenkins.” Milos said, his Czech accent tinging his words, as he took the helmet and felt the weight of it. “I do not wish to lose my mind again. I owe Sybil that at least, and I’d rather face Flag Smasher again as a sane man and give him what he deserves for killing her.”
“Don’t go too far Milos, you’re a good man and I know you wouldn’t forgive yourself if you were to kill him.” Abigail replied as she looked round the room. “Ghost was meant to be here helping us, I don’t suppose you’ve seen him today?”
“Not since this morning.” Milos answered as an invisible figure floated in the corner of the room, his eyes fixed on the readout being played in the HUD of his helmet, a contract for the assassination of Baron Helmut Zemo floating before him. Silently he turned and floated out of the room, his mind made up on his course of action that evening.
Log in to comment