Cold, it was very very cold. The frost biting the tips of his body were slowly spreading and gnawing at his flesh. As soon as his magic had burst away, Billy was already rubbing his nose and breathing into his gloves,
"Jeez, I think my nose is gonna fall off, and it hasn´t even been a minute!" he said as he then rubbed his arms. Suddenly two big green arms embraced him and held him close,
"Walk close to me, we´re not too far from the building," Teddy murmured with a smile. Billy smiled back as his cheeks flushed. He was thankful to have Teddy´s warm body so close.
"Leave it for later, love birds," Hawkeye sighed. Captain America and Pietro stood nearby making sure their gadgets were in sync and working well.
"Alright, Pietro you stick close until we make sure the coast is clear and Kate, huddle with Hulkling and Wiccan to make sure nobody looses anylimbs. We head forward and as soon as we are near we separate to look around." Captain informed. The three younger Avengers nodded and Kate slipped under one of Teddy's arms. The three began marching forward. Pietro rolled his eyes,
"I guess that leaves us to keep each other warm," He mocked as he poked Captain on the shoulder,
"Let´s go, the sooner we get there the sooner I get rid of you," he said with a smile.
The group began walking at a steady pase but they knew they had to hurry up. Nobody could survive in this weather for too long, not even a group of Avengers covered in coats and leggings and thermal socks and boots. But it was the only way they could approach the building sitting in the middle of the vast Antarctica without being noticed. The Avengers had pin pointed it as a lab made for illegal reasearch. There was one problem though, they realized every time any type of transportation device approached it the whole building seemed to disappear into thin air. Only to appear once more when the device had made its leave.
The Avengers had sent in a group of 5 heroes to spy on the said bulding. The group was made up of Hulkling, Captain America, QuickSilver, Hawkeye, and Wiccan. After teletransporting there, they began moving quickly yet quietly towards the designated area.
...
On the other side of the world, the other Avengers were monitoring the whole situation. Speed seemed incredibly indignated that they sent his uncle instead of him and his mother just giggled at how similar they were.
"If anything I am the faster one! I proved it once already!" He said as he paced (well at his speed it looked like he was in a full run) around the room,
"Honey, the people monitoring the mission are just as important as the people in the field. We need to keep an eye out for them and make sure if they need help we can get to them ASAP." Scarlett Witch explained.
"She has a point kid, and besides, with your reflexes I´m sure you can notice things faster than any of use here," Luke Cage said from his seat in front of the screen. It was monitoring the body heat of each person and tracking where exactly they were and any movement around them. It also had a small camera monitoring the building itself. Even though it wasn´t a clear image they could still make out details like doors and windows and stair cases. "So don´t feel so bummed about it, even if we aren´t there we are still on a mission." Scarlett Witch smiled at that comment but it soon faded away when she turned around,
"Which is why I think certain people should be paying more attention to this screen." She almost literaly hissed. Wolverine sat at the other end of the room playing cards with Hawkeye and Iron Man. All three looked up and winced under the scolding look the witch gave them.
"Alright, alright, we can play later," Hawkeye said and put down his cards. The other two men followed while mumbling in agreement.
"Remind me again why Spidey isn´t here and we are?" Wolverine asked,
"Because he´s dealing with Green Gobbling," Luke answered,
"Can I leave if I say I have to deal with Magneto?" he replied,
"Don´t even think about involving my father," Wanda warned. Wolverine groaned in complaint.
"They´re approaching, we should inform them," Luke pointed out. Wanda nodded and pressed a red-nailed finger against her earset.
...
Back in Antarctica Captain´s earset buzzed to life.
"Captain, you are at about half a block from a safe zone where you can circulate without being noticed. Make sure you don´t get any closer than that." Scarlett Witch announced through the earset,
"Roger that Scarlett, keep an eye on the kids alright?" Captain answered,
"Roger that Captain," The Witch answered. Captian informed the others and as soon as the building came into view Pietro disappeared with a gust of wind.
"Well so much for keeping each other warm," Captain mocked, "Alright kids, Wiccan, spy through the air and see what you can get. Hulkling and Hawkeye make a perimeter and see if you can find the entrances and exits of this place. Meet here in fifteen minutes and then its back to warm old New York." Captian said. The teens nodded and Wiccan lifted into the air while chanting a spell to make him invisible. Hawkeye climbed on Hulkling´s back and took her binoculars out as Hulkling shapeshifted to walk on all four. They headed right and Captain headed left.
Wiccan was well into the air and searching with his brown eyes. Today was Saturday, which meant he and Teddy got to stay at the Avenger´s mansion in their room. It was his favorite day of the week and he could barely wait to see his boyfriend after this was over and finally be able to put his hands on him. Because of the mission and the preparations they hadn´t been able to spend time together alone. It had been a whole month without any contact other than the casual hug and the kiss on the cheek. It was driving Billy mad. But he had to focus, it wouldn´t help if the mission was unsuccesful and they had to start over.
Now that would be a nightmare.
Billy flew around the building once and realized that there realy wasn´t anything special about it. But of course, that was just the outside. Billy then concentrated in chanting a second spell,
"LetmeseeinsideLetmeseeinsideLetmeseeinsideLetmese einside," He began chanting as his eyes were consumed by his magic. He opened them and smiled. He could see everything inside the building. Billy almost gasped when he realized how big the facility actually was. It dug deep under the cold surface and even though it looked small on the outside it was vast underneath. Surely enough, there were people in white lab coats in secluded rooms. They were analyzing diferent substances and putting them through machines and a few of them were sitting at computers. There were other rooms, bigger than the ones where the scientists were, that were occupied by people dressed like surgeons. They were hunched over silver tables and were diligently putting things in and out of strange looking bodies. Billy felt his stomach twist. He remembered when he was forced to watch Teddy be dissected and could only feel hatred towards these people. Billy took a deep breath and continued looking around. There were rooms with beds and cells that held creatures Billy had never laid eyes on before. They were of all colors and furs and scales and shapes, and all of them looked incredibly misserable. Billy growled and decided he had seen enough. With that he tracked the airvent and made a mental image. He then consentrated and soon enough the image then printed out in the head quarters of the Avengers mansion. He sighed and got ready to fly back when he noticed something. There was a man standing silently on the roof of the building looking straight at Billy. He was covered in black and had a gas mask on. He did not, by any means, look friendly. Billy was still in the air. Had he stopped being invisible? No, the enchantment was still around him. Then how was the man looking straight at him? He slowly glided down and got closer to the man. The man however kept on looking at the stop where Billy was. Billy sighed in relief. He got closer to the man and silently hovered around him, analyzing his uniform. There was a shield on his shoulder with the initials S.I.O.P.A.R. on it. Billy made a mental note of that but just as he was going to hover away her felt a pain on his back. He fell to the ground and let out a groaned. He reached back and pulled something sharp out of his back so he could analyze it. It was small and colorful and had a needle as the weapon for incision. Sleeping dart. Billy cursed as he began to feel heavy and suddenly he realized the man that was standing near him was turned and looking straight at him, a remote control in his hands.
"Greetings Wiccan, we have been expecting some kind of heroe to show up eventually, but it´s just such a wonderful surprise for you to be the first one! Don't worry, you won´t remember a thing." The man said, his voice kind and brittish. Billy cursed once more as his head fell to the ground and everything went black.
...
"The kid is good," Luke praised as a very accurate blueprint of the building printed out. He held it up once it was done and analyzed it. "Well, what do you know? We were right, those sons of b-" He was abruptly interrupted by an agitated voice.
"Woahwoahwoahwhatisthatlook!" Tommy said suddenly. Everybody turned to face the part of the screen Tommy was pointing at. On the corner of the building there was a tiny opening that wasn´t there before, and out of it was slowly climbing some kind of machine. A machine with 8 legs and made of silver white metal.
"That doesn´t look like the trash vent," Hawkeye pointed out,
"And it doesn´t look safe either, Captain! Captain can you hear me? Get out of there, I think they spotted you, I repeat, abort mission, abo-
"There was a highpitch sound that pierced the Witch's ear and she ripped the piece off with a howl.
"Did they hear you?" IronMan asked,
"I don´t know, I really-"
"AlrighttheyneedmetosavethedaysoImouttahereseeyalt er," Tommy said quickly and before anybody could stop him he had disappeared from the room.
"Yeah, he's definetely Pietro´s nephew," Luke snickered.
"Not the time to admire genetics, gentlemen, it looks like they really are in trouble." Spiderwoman said. They all looked up and realized that the original spider like creature had already climed through the opening and that many more were following.
"Those things are like the size of Captain himself," Hawkeye exclaimed,
"Dammit, Tommy get there soon and get them out of there," Wolverine hissed.
Meanwhile, Captain was starting to realize something was out of place. First he heard Scarlett Witch saying something about getting out of there when his earpiece went dead. Captain hissed but he had gotten the message. He pressed the locator on his wrist and soon the locator watches of every person on the team were blinking.
"Uh oh, we got caught," Hawkeye stated. Hulkling looked up in a worried manner, "Don´t worry Ted, he can take care of himself. Let´s meet up with Captain ASAP!" She said. Hulkling nodded and shifted his wings out. They were stiff but he managed to get airborne and head back to where they were meant to meet. Captain on the other hand was tring to locate the Warlock of the group,
"Wiccan, do you copy, we need you out of the air and on the ground NOW." He said in a hurried manner. But suddenly he heard the crunching of snow. He whirled around and tried to find the origin of the sound of but suddenly it was deathly quiet. He could only hear the cold whin in his ears, his eyes squinting through the thick snow and cold fog that surrounded him like a heavy blanket that provided no warmth at all.
"Wiccan?" He managed to say before a laser shot his way. He managed to dodge but soon he felt something on his back and he whacked it off himself with his shield. "What the," he turned around to face whoever had attacked him and froze. There was a creature about his size that resembled a spider. It was completely white and had a single red eye staring back at him.
"I´m guessing you aren´t into eating flies, are you?" Captain said softly as he prepared himself for any type of agression the beast would provide. Suddenly something dawned on him. There wasn´t just one red light, there were more. Much much more. "Oh shi-" he didn´t get to finish because suddenly they were jumping on top of him and then there were strong arms around him and wind going through his hair at an inmense speed.
"I don´t know what they are but they aren´t friendly!" Pietro yelled as he carried Captain away from the mob of spiders. Not far away Hulkling and Hawkeye were becoming overwhelmed by the same creatures,
"They just keep on coming!" Kate yelled as she exploded another one with one of her arrows. Hulkling took one by its legs and managed to whack two other ones with it. He cried in pain when he let it go,
"Don´t go for the legs, they´re sharp like knives!" He yelled as he saw the red blood drip from his palms. The wounds were already starting to heal but he still had to defend himself from the non-stopping mob of spiders. Suddenly there was a whoosh of air and Pietro was ripping through the spiders at full speed like they were styrophoam.
"You kids holding out alright here?" Captain said as he punched a spider straight in the eye,
"Yeah, wait, where´s Wiccan?" Teddy asked quickly as he whirled around and pierced through the red eye of another spider.
"I can´t get ahold of him! You think you can fly up and see if you can spot him?" Captain asked. Teddy didn´t have to think about it twice. He stepped on a spider to propell himself into the air and was flying before anybody could object. He rose as high as he could and he felt as the piercing cold cut at his cheeks and eyes and nose. It hurt to breathe and the more he noticed these things the more worried he was about his boyfriend. With as much strength as he could put together, he whipped his wings open to cause as much of an airburst as he could. It cleared away the nearby fog and he looked around,
"Billy!" He yelled. His eyes studied everything. From the fight going on to the spiders that kept on arriving and the lifeless tundra that surrounded them and finally the building. And that´s when his heart almost stopped. Billy was lieing on the roof of the building, his cape spread out beneath him and his face was in such peace it was almost ghastly. A spider was hovering over him and its two front claws were opening Billy´s mouth and reaching into it. Teddy felt something inside of him clench,
"NO!" He yelled as he closed his wings in and dove towards the building. His heart in his throat and anger pulsing through him. But as soon as he was near the building there was a hissing sound and he felt as his body was shoved to the right by strong metal, making him miss his target. Teddy winced at the pain as he hit the hard and cold surface but he was on his feet in less than a second. Apparently the spiders could jump too.
"Get off him!" He yelled as he tried to approach the spider again but this time there was a zip and he felt pain in the right side of his torso. He winced and realized there was a tranquilizer burried into his skin. He ripped it out and fell to his knees, the world becoming blurry and moving too fast. It was like his head was bobbing but his body was still and he couldn´t get ahold of himself. He fell on his side and felt as his eyes began to feel heavy. His eye lids were broken shades and no matter how much he tried to keep them up they kept on slipping. All he could see was the spider still working over Billy and taking something red from him. He could barely even register what it was until he was turned to look towards the sky. His view was interrupted by a red eyes staring directly into him. That was the last he remembered before it all went black.